"I have dual passions, the arts and local government."

As Clearwater’s new Community Redevelopment Agency director, Amanda Thompson’s main charge is to help revive the struggling downtown. It’s a feat nobody has been able to achieve.

In a decade with Decatur, Ga.’s, planning department, she reshaped land use codes and helped bring $150 million of mixed use development to the downtown. A professional choreographer, she moved to Miami in 2015 to oversee $2 million in arts grants across four cities for the Knight Foundation. Now she’s hoping to combine creativity with government for Clearwater’s revival.

Read more at the Tampa Bay Times.