Influence Map
Who shapes downtown Lake Wales
The organizations, people, programs, and institutions that decide what gets built, preserved, funded, and celebrated around the Rhodesbilt Arcade and the historic Northwest neighborhood.
22 actors shown
Civic Power
4 actorsPlanning, infrastructure, and redevelopment policy. Controls zoning, redevelopment approvals, infrastructure projects, and grant allocations.
Controls redevelopment districts, property incentives, and project approvals. Has sold CRA-owned property on vacant lots to spur development and enhance the tax base.
Approves land use and development changes.
Influences redevelopment indirectly by addressing blight and property compliance.
Economic
3 actorsDowntown business development, events, and preservation.
Business recruitment and networking.
Large-scale investment and economic recruitment.
Redevelopment
4 actorsPresident of the Lincoln Community Development Corporation and founder of Sara Jones Law. In 2021 she purchased two CRA-owned parcels on Lincoln Avenue to build a three-story, 3,600 sq ft office complex designed as both law office and community asset — co-working space, event venue, covered balcony.
The legacy of the neighborhood is inextricably connected with my own history, and I am deeply invested in its future.
Focused on revitalizing the Lincoln Avenue historic Black business district — the street that refused to be forgotten — and connecting its legacy to the broader Lake Wales Connected vision.
Award-winning revitalization blueprint for Downtown and the Northwest neighborhood, by Dover, Kohl & Partners. Revives the Olmsted Brothers' 'city in a garden' vision.
FRA Best Planning Project (2020)
APA Florida Plan It Award (2021)
The Coral Gables town-planning firm behind Lake Wales Connected and Lake Wales Envisioned. Portfolio spans Chattanooga to Panama City to Charlotte Amalie. Walkable urbanism, community-driven design, form-based codes.
Institutional
3 actorsThe region's largest tourism draw and cultural institution.
Major employer and student population center.
Influential in regional planning and preservation.
Historic Planning
2 actorsCreated the city's 1929 master plan; also designed the gardens at Bok Tower.
Responsible for the 'city in a garden' planning concept; successors to Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.
Funding
3 actors$22.9 million for street improvements, drainage, and connectivity through the Northwest neighborhood.
Funding trail expansion.
Stack underneath the RAISE grant for street redesign, pedestrian improvements, and bike trails.
Cultural
3 actorsOne of the city's largest cultural events.
Major community gathering place on the lakefront.
Often drive neighborhood-level projects.
The network
More local reading
Context for this map comes from a small family of Florida-made sites tracking Lake Wales, the Ridge, and the people building here.
4 of 4 sites
An independent guide to Lake Wales and the Florida Ridge — tonight's music, weekend markets and festivals, restaurants and bars, parks and lakes, and the city government most guides skip. 131 verified places across 10 Polk County cities.
Source: lakewalesguide.com homepage · Updated
A deep-dive editorial documenting Florida cities one at a time — built environment, local history, culture, institutions, and people. Each edition is a lasting city record, not a disposable travel list.
Source: floridaslice.com homepage · Updated
AI visibility infrastructure — helping organizations become discoverable, interpretable, and citable across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and AI Overviews. Also home to the AI Visibility podcast, recorded in studios like this one.
Source: backtier.com homepage · Updated
Jason Todd Wade — Florida writer and publisher, founder of BackTier, and author of AI Visibility Architecture, the Entity Lock Protocol, and the Agentic Visibility Path.
Source: jasonwade.com homepage · Updated