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Posted on Tue, Jan. 25, 2005

THE EVERGLADES

Skyway might help bridge water-flow gap

Support is growing for a scenic skyway along historic Tamiami Trail, but it may not be as long as environmentalists would like it to be.

BY CURTIS MORGAN

[email protected]

The idea of a scenic skyway along Tamiami Trail, rejected a year ago by the federal government as too expensive, has been pulled from the bureaucratic trash can.

It may not measure up to the dramatic 11-mile span environmental groups tout as critical to Everglades restoration and a potential tourist attraction. But a four-mile bridge, sort of a mini-skyway over the sawgrass, has emerged as a real possibility.

''We all want to see the causeway but the incremental costs are high,'' said Bob Johnson, chief scientist at Everglades National Park, which supports a four-mile compromise proponents say would be much better for nature and about half the price of the longer $200 million-plus proposal.

While a tight budget remains a big hurdle, a bigger bridge got a key public endorsement from Bill Leary, a White House environmental advisor, at an environmental conference in Naples last week. Federal agencies say they are exploring new ways to pay to upgrade a short bridge picked last year. Environmentalists believe that could include tapping federal highway funds or charging tolls.

''They've got to find a solution for where the money comes from,'' said John Adornato, co-chair of the Everglades Coalition, which includes 45 groups. ``The park has got to get wetter. The best way to get not only a lot of water in but to restore the flow is to raise the trail.''

TRIBE DISAGREES

Others disagree, notably the Miccosukee Tribe, which believes the focus should be on getting the job done faster. The tribe has long complained that high water bottled up on their land north of the Trail is rapidly eroding tree islands and animal populations.

There is no argument the two-lane road is strangling the Glades, particularly the parched Northwest Shark River Slough, headwaters of Everglades National Park.

Considered an engineering marvel when it was opened more than 85 years ago to allow easy driving between Tampa and Miami (thus the name), the Tamiami Trail also became an asphalt dam squeezing the slow southerly ''sheet flow'' of water through culverts.

Disputes over how to fix it have dragged on for more than a decade, bogged down in bureaucratic disputes and lawsuits, particularly over protecting homes in the oft-flooded 8.5 Square Mile Area.

While the Trail would be the first major Everglades-related project visible to the public, it technically is not part of the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan passed in 2000.

Now the Trail work stands as a legal as well as a physical barrier to restoration. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will do the work, can't spend money building other Glades projects until it finishes the road job.

Last year, the Corps finally settled on a $25 million, 3,000-foot bridge but noted that a long skyway was the ''environmentally preferred option.'' The Corps also acknowledged it might have to redo the work in the future to meet more ambitious restoration aims -- not just delivering a volume of water but duplicating the sheet flow.

The agency is now reconsidering a four-mile $120 million bridge and the 11-mile $200-million-plus skyway.

The reassessment has more do to with engineering concerns than environmental ones. Florida's Department of Transportation warned that the old roadbed, built on muck, probably wouldn't stand up to higher water.

''The roadway in a matter of a year and a half would deteriorate very quickly,'' said Alice Bravo, DOT's district environmental manager.

Dennis Duke, the Corps' Everglades program manager, said road materials have skyrocketed in price, doubling projections to some $55 million for a structure that might not meet future demand.

''We don't want to be in the position of coming back and having to pull out something we already put in,'' Duke said. A decision is expected in months for a project that could begin as early as 2006.

''It's not necessary. It's not essential. It's just one of these feel-good things,'' said Tribe hydrologist Terry Rice. ``People say if we just get the obstacles out of the way, we'll be flowing like the natural Everglades. Nothing could be further from the truth.''

The road might need to be raised when, and if, other projects are completed in the coming decades, Rice said, but the immediate focus ought to be on moving water as fast as possible.

Environmentalists want the road elevated sooner and argue it makes economic and environmental sense to do the Trail job once. They plan to pitch funding ideas, including making the Trail a toll road like Alligator Alley.

A skyway would amount to a fraction of what Florida spends on roads and will spend on the Everglades, said Frank Jackalone, Florida director of the Sierra Club.

ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS

''An additional $80 million is really nothing,'' he said. ``Here we have a road project that if it is built has tremendous ecological benefits.''

Top restoration scientists are updating computer studies to make a case to open the Trail by at least four miles.

John Ogden, chief scientist of the interagency restoration team, said while questions remain about the role sheet flow plays in shaping the complex Everglades landscape, there is no dispute the slow and steady movement of water is a defining characteristic of the River of Grass.

''What was distinct about the Everglades was sheet flow,'' Ogden said. ``We substantially fail if we do not recreate sheet flow and reconnect the system.''

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Buy more land for Everglades restoration before development, study warns

By CORALIE CARLSON

Associated Press

Posted January 25 2005, 4:13 PM EST

MIAMI -- The state and federal governments should buy more land, and do so quickly, in order to restore the Everglades before the property becomes developed or too expensive in coming years, according to a new report.

The report released Monday is the seventh and final in a series by the National Academy of Sciences to advise federal and state agencies and others engaged in restoring the greater Everglades.

The government is already spending $100 million to $200 million each year to buy land for the restoration, according to the report.

But ``it seems certain that some land not soon acquired will be developed or become significantly more expensive before the two-decade-long acquisition program can be completed,'' the report said. ``Protecting the potential for restoration, i.e. protecting the land, is essential for successful restoration.''

The 30-year, $8.4 billion federal-state program is intended to restore some of the natural water flow through the sensitive Everglades ecosystem, which once stretched uninterrupted from a chain of lakes near Orlando to Florida Bay.

The report said many parts of the restoration project would involve a lot of engineering and maintenance _ such as one plan to pump water underground for storage.

It suggests considering the use of Lake Okeechobee for additional water storage.

The report is saying ``exactly what the environmental community has been saying for years,'' said John Adornato, Everglades restoration program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. ``The bottom line is, we need more surface water storage.''

But some oppose storing large amounts of water at the lake because raising water levels there would flood out the lake's marshy wetlands.

David Bogardus, a field officer for the World Wildlife Fund, said he interpreted the suggestion to raise levels at the lake as a last resort. Otherwise, he said, the report's findings were positive.

``It's really groundbreaking for us because it really validates a lot of issues that we've been talking about for a long time,'' Bogardus said.

Officials at the South Florida Water Management District said they were still reviewing the 140-page report, but pointed out the state has already accelerated several projects.

``We're kind of leading with our hearts and our checkbooks,'' said Chip Merriam, deputy executive director of the water management district. ___

On the Net:

National Academy of Sciences report: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11215.html

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Miami-Dade film impact reached $208M in '04

The numbers are in: Location filming contributed more than $208 million to the Miami-Dade economy last year, up more than 25 percent from the year before.

The numbers, from the Miami-Dade Mayor's Office of Film & Entertainment, show the county hosted more than 3,500 location productions in 2004. Still shoots contributed nearly $87 million to the total, television shows more than $49 million, commercials more than $45 million and feature films nearly $27 million.

"Last year's big increase in location production revenues reconfirms the film and entertainment industry as an important economic growth sector," Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Films included "Transporter 2" and "National Lampoon's Pledge This" while television shows included "CSI: Miami" and the MTV Video Music Awards.

The more than 120 commercials shot in the county included spots for Coors, Crest, McDonald's, Verizon, Lincoln, Levi's and Virgin Mobile.

Jeff Peel, director of the Miami-Dade Mayor's Office of Film & Entertainment, credited the county's picturesque locations, multicultural diversity and skilled talent and crew base for attracting productions.

"In addition," he added, "our office works closely with our partners in the city of Miami, city of Miami Beach and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau to assist this industry in having a successful experience while doing business in Miami."

In 2004, Spanish-language television productions included eight telenovelas, while still photo shoots included Coca-Cola, Reebok and Billabong.

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Mardi Gras festival set to start

Cultural celebration begins next month

By JACQUELINE CHARLES

[email protected]

The streets of downtown Miami will become a kaleidoscope of colorful costumes, lavish floats and pulsating rhythms as the Greater Miami Mardi Gras floats into town.

The third annual parade and festival, representing more than 20 nations, takes place Feb. 12 along Biscayne Boulevard between Southeast First and Fourth streets. Joining masked performers and elaborately garbed dancers will be some of the hottest musicians on the Caribbean and Latin music scene, including Machel Montano and Xtatik, T-Vice, Wayne Wonder, Spragga Benz, Oro Solido and Mr. Vegas.

''This event promotes cultural diversity,'' said Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who hopes Miami's Mardi Gras will one day rival similar events in New Orleans and Trinidad and Tobago, which is celebrating 100 years of carnival next month.

Ringo Cayard, executive director of the Haitian American Foundation and Miami Mardi Gras founder, said Tuesday that the event has steadily grown in popularity over the years.

Sponsors have provided more than $890,000 in financial support to help keep the event free and pay for the performers.

Last year, more than 300,000 revelers blanketed downtown streets, dancing to the sounds of samba and soca and feasting on ethnic delicacies.

Cayard said he is hoping more than 400,000 people will attend this year.

Among attractions are performances by troupes from Cameroon, China, Japan and the Polynesian Islands.

During a news conference Tuesday in front of Coconut Grove's CocoWalk, attendees were treated to a preview as a Spanish flamenco dancer and Polynesian flamethrower strutted their stuff.

''This is a day for all of us to enjoy ourselves,'' Diaz said.

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We're doing so well on building housing that it's scary

By Michael Lewis

Was I the only one scared to death by an upbeat report on our front page last week that in the City of Miami alone, 66,648 housing units in 233 projects are in the pipeline?

I was scared because I have no idea who's going to live in them all when they're done.

And if they aren't occupied, what's going to happen to our economy?

Maybe I'm just a worrier. A Builders Association of South Florida panel last week said, hey, we've got plenty of people moving here to buy everything we can build. We're not long on housing - we're short. The Europeans can't get enough of what we've got.

But Miami isn't alone in its unprecedented building boom. Look at the rest of the county.

Unfortunately, there's no way to get an accurate total. Subrata Basu, assistant county planning director, says each city tracks its own permits and construction progress and the county can't get a total until buildings are done and get certificates of occupancy - far too late to figure out how many housing units are in the pipeline.

But we know that Homestead alone has 16,000 to 20,000 rising or about to, a number that would more than double that city's population.

Sunny Isles Beach is condo heaven, with housing planned everywhere. Aventura is booming. Doral is looking at a moratorium but has 3,000 units already approved from developer Sergio Pino alone that won't be affected.

In fact, virtually everywhere in the county but Key Biscayne, which is flat out of land, is bulking up on housing like a Barry Bonds on steroids.

Given Miami's 66,000-plus total, far more than 100,000 units must be in the pipeline in Miami-Dade County. Who, I repeat, is going to live in them all? Or will anywhere near all of them ever get built?

Use a figure from Mr. Basu as a yardstick: each year this county's population grows about 30,000. That, he says, equates to a need for 10,000 to 12,000 added housing units every year - a substantial need indeed.

Until recently, in fact, the cry was not that we were overbuilding but that we were lagging. There was nowhere for people to live.

So on the surface, our boom seems like a godsend.

It would be if most of that housing were for the people who most need it, at the bottom and middle of the income scale. But, as we can see out our windows, that's hardly the case. We're building luxury and more luxury.

How many of those 30,000 newcomers can spend $400,000 and up for starter housing?

But let's assume that each could afford what we offer. If their need is 10,000 to 12,000 units a year and we're building or planning more than 100,000, we've got at least eight to ten years' supply in the works. Will some of these units have to sit vacant that long - or will some projects die before the first shovel of dirt is ever turned?

My concerns have nothing to do with either quality or the need for any given project. Most seem anywhere from good to great. And in isolation, any one would sell like hotcakes to clamoring buyers and all would be good investments.

In fact, they all seem to be selling to clamoring buyers waiting to get a piece of the action. But a large percentage of those buyers are not occupants. They are speculators, expecting to sell the units quickly for a fat profit.

It's not developers who'll get hurt if the boom turns sour. They'll have sold out. But what will speculators do with vacant units the day enough projects rise to outpace demand? Will they have the deep pockets to pay the mortgage and condo fees month after month for one or a dozen condos they'll have to rent out for a fraction of the carrying cost?

That's what scares me.

Every unit we build today will be valuable infrastructure for this vibrant and growing community - in the long run. They'll be great investments - in the long run. We'll have plenty of newcomers at 30,000 a year to absorb them - in the long run. We can't get enough of them - in the long run.

In the short run, however, too many speculators seem to be counting on too much demand - again, assuming that everything that's planned is built.

Every condo sold today to an end user is a good sale. It's good for the developer, the user and the community. It meets a real need and we're glad to have it, thank you.

But, as Mr. Basu points out, a dark condo doesn't fill streets with people, support retail establishments or build our economy or community. It just drains speculators' wallet.

And what scares me most is whether the flippers who are loading up on condos have fat enough wallets to carry units until enough people flood into this area, at 30,000 a year, to absorb an unprecedented 100,000-plus new housing units.

I love the new housing - but how much is enough?

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Posted on Wed, Jan. 26, 2005

TRANSPORTATION

As development push continues, poll confirms worsening traffic

Most Miami-Dade people think traffic is only getting worse. A poll, ordered by environmentalists, is timed to coincide with a push to expand the county's urban development boundaries.

BY LARRY LEBOWITZ

[email protected]

A majority of Miami-Dade suburbanites say they are spending more time in traffic than they were a year ago and that it is damaging their quality of life, according to a poll commissioned by the Urban Environment League of Greater Miami.

Environment League President Nancy Liebman, a former Miami Beach commissioner, said the new data was released as ''an opening salvo'' in the upcoming battle over expanding the urban development boundary starting next week at the County Commission.

''The message has got to get out to the people,'' Liebman said.

``They live their little lives. They complain about the traffic, but they miss the bigger picture.''

The poll of 400 registered voters in Kendall, Hialeah and South Miami was conducted in English and Spanish between Jan. 17 and Jan. 20 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.

THE POLL

Some highlights:

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Posted on Fri, Jan. 28, 2005

UNIVERSITIES

Little enthusiasm for an FIU med school

BY GARY FINEOUT

[email protected]

GAINESVILLE - On the day that Florida State University lost its bid to open a chiropractic college, Florida International University made its own pitch to open the state's fourth public medical school.

The response from the Board of Governors, the panel in charge of the state's 11 public universities, was tepid and at times even hostile.

While no final vote was taken, several members said they did not know if tens of millions of dollars should be spent to open additional medical schools around the state.

The University of Central Florida in Orlando is also proposing a medical school. Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, which already has a partnership with University of Miami's medical school, is also expressing interest in having one.

Part of the reason for the board's hesitation is a recent study that said the quickest way to boost the number of doctors in the state is by having the state pay hospitals to offer residency training posts to new medical-school graduates, not by opening more medical schools.

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A local legend...

Posted on Sat, Jan. 29, 2005

JOSEPH FLANIGAN, 75

`Big Daddy' dies of cancer

The man who made Flanigan's restaurants and Big Daddy's lounges a South Florida institution died Friday at age 75.

BY KEVIN DEUTSCH

[email protected]

When Joseph ''Big Daddy'' Flanigan was a U.S. Navy crewman on a minesweeper in the 1950s, he couldn't have predicted his future success.

Even with his passion and enthusiasm for work, he could not have dreamed that his rugged, bearded face would become the symbol of Flanigan's Bar and Grill -- a South Florida icon.

Flanigan, 75, died at his home in Sea Ranch Lakes Friday morning after a two-year battle with cancer.

''Joe was a one-of-a-kind combination of a bigger-than-life icon and a regular guy,'' said Augie Bucci, the chief operating officer of Fort Lauderdale-based Flanigan's Enterprises. 'He was and will always be Big Daddy, and the `Big' stood for his magnanimous heart.''

A former stockbroker and graduate of the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Flanigan opened the first Big Daddy's Liquors in Hialeah in 1959, teaming up with two former clients from his stockbroker days.

Together they invested $1.5 million to get into the bar business. The first Big Daddy's lounge opened in the early 1960s. Flanigan said it was one of the area's few year-round businesses back then.

''Those days in the summertime in Florida, you could get out on Federal Highway and play tennis,'' Flanigan said at the time. ``All of a sudden we had a business. We went and bought eight more stores.''

By the mid-1970s, Big Daddy's Liquors had more than 80 bars and lounges in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, California and Pennsylvania. But by the 1980s, things had started to unravel under the strain of long-term leasing agreements.

Flanigan's Enterprises filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1985, reemerging 14 months later as a series of full-service, casual-style restaurants called Flanigan's Seafood Bar and Grill.

Flanigan, an industry leader for 45 years, was at one time the largest independent lounge operator in the United States, with 80 locations and nearly 800 employees.

Big Daddy's lounges were popular watering holes for South Florida natives and tourists.

But Joe Flanigan's strategies were criticized when his businesses slumped in the 1980s, falling $4.2 million into debt and forcing Big Daddy's to file for bankruptcy. Some said his properties attracted seedy clients and were no longer the friendly neighborhood hangouts customers had once known.

Realizing there was a trend away from lounges, Flanigan recasted his restaurants as ''family'' eateries. The company shed its stores outside South Florida, and started specializing in value-priced ribs and seafood.

''The public is not stupid. They recognize value,'' Flanigan said in 1998. ``We took these wornout lounges and reformed them into first-class food operations.''

Flanigan's idea worked -- slowly. Traded on the American Stock Exchange, Flanigan's Enterprises took two years to emerge from bankruptcy and about five more to turn a profit.

''He was on the forefront of the entertainment industry,'' said his son Jim Flanigan, president of the company.

Joseph Flanigan, who grew up in Philadelphia, was often flamboyant and outspoken. He used to drive a green Excalibur while wearing a beret, thick gold jewelry and green slacks and jackets. He battled alcoholism and was occasionally hostile to even longtime friends.

As his restaurants prospered, Flanigan vigorously cultivated the company's image. Keeping the Flanigan name sacred was so important that he sued his nephew Paul Flanigan for continuing to use it on his Fort Lauderdale Quarterdeck restaurants after failing to renew their franchise agreement. The lawsuit ended in mediation in 1998 with Paul Flanigan paying his Uncle Joe $110,000.

Flanigan, whose own company stock was worth about $4 million in 1998, always longed for a return to his company's early years.

'There was a time that everybody knew the name `Big Daddy,' '' he said. ``I want people to recognize my name the way they did in the '70s.''

Flanigan is survived by his wife of 48 years, Ann Nock Flanigan; their five children, Patricia Flanigan Motta, Margaret Flanigan Fraser, Patrick Flanigan, Michael Flanigan and James Flanigan; his brother, James Flanigan; and 16 grandchildren.

A memorial service is 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Assumption Church, 2001 S. Ocean Blvd., Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

The Palm Beach Post contributed to this report.

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SOUTH FLORIDA ECONOMY

New homes keep coming in rush

South Florida home construction surged in 2004, much higher even than record national figures. Miami-Dade is enjoying a boom. Broward also saw growth, but construction is short of its heyday.

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN

[email protected]

The number of new single-family homes built in Miami-Dade County jumped nearly 40 percent in 2004, and Broward County home construction grew 27 percent, according to figures released Monday by housing market research firm Metrostudy.

Those strong statistics were released on the same day the U.S. Commerce Department announced that new-home sales across the country grew 8.9 percent to a record 1.18 million last year.

Neither the U.S. nor the South Florida numbers include condominiums, which are being built locally at unprecedented levels.

The Miami-Dade and Broward figures represent a roaring housing market where builders cannot keep up with buyers' appetite for new homes.

''It is a very, very strong market right now,'' said Stuart Miller, chief executive of Miami-based home-building giant Lennar Corp. ``The only limiting factor is land availability.''

That has set off a construction rush in South Miami-Dade and driven Broward County prices skyward.

More than 8,600 single-family homes were built in Miami-Dade in 2004. A year ago, about 6,000 new homes were built , and in the past 10 years the average number of new home starts hovered around 5,000 annually, said Bradley Hunter, director of Metrostudy's South Florida division.

The surge was attributed to massive new home construction in Homestead, the South Miami-Dade city that is one of the few remaining places in the county with large tracts of developable land. But Bradley said the fact Broward is largely built out has also forced builders to refocus on single-family development in Miami-Dade communities like Doral.

''Outside of Homestead, there has been surprising resilience and success on behalf of builders in finding sites in Miami-Dade,'' Hunter said. ``When Broward ran out [of developable land], Dade has had to turn in on itself and get more creative in finding housing solutions.''

Despite its land shortage, Broward County saw growth in new home construction in 2004 compared with a year ago. Hunter attributed the progress to town-house development in Broward but cautioned that the county's numbers are not a sign of significant growth because the once-thriving market there has slowed considerably.

''The Broward numbers were more of a bounce off the bottom than a sign that suddenly new frontiers of land are opening up,'' Hunter said.

In 2004, fewer than 5,000 new homes were built in Broward, but even fewer -- 3,911 -- were built in 2003, according to Metrostudy. Contrast that with six years ago, when some 11,000 homes were built.

Limited land supplies have led to soaring prices. More than one-half of the homes under construction in Broward will be priced at $400,000 or higher, Hunter said. ``Affordability is clearly going to become a more serious issue in Broward.''

With shrinking land supplies in South Florida, residential developers have turned to condominiums. Thousands of condo units are now planned from Fort Lauderdale to Miami.

Economists credit strength in the nation's housing market over the past four years to the aggressive credit easing undertaken by the Federal Reserve in 2001.

But some market experts predict that the pace is about to slow down. Nationally, it already has: Sales rose a lower-than-expected 0.1 percent in December after having fallen by 13.1 percent in November.

Since June, the Fed has been gradually raising its benchmark federal funds rates, pushing it from a 46-year low of 1 percent to 2.25 percent currently, with another quarter-point increase expected from the Fed this Wednesday.

So far, the Fed's rate hikes have had little impact on mortgage rates. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages last week dropped to 5.66 percent, compared with 6.25 percent in late June when the Fed started boosting rates.

And some think that the Fed's actions have actually spurred buying in South Florida. ''There is always a phenomenon with increasing rates that it is a call to action for people that have been waiting on the sidelines,'' said Alan Levan, chief executive and chairman of BankAtlantic Bancorp and builder Levitt Corp. ``As rates continue to go up, more and more renters who are interested in buying a home will want to jump in before rates get away from them.''

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Posted on Tue, Feb. 01, 2005

Merger may benefit Florida

AT&T's operations in Florida, especially its Latin American unit based in Coral Gables, should complement the combined company if the former Ma Bell and SBC Communications can complete their merger.

BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA

[email protected]

AT&T's Florida operations could figure prominently in SBC Communication's goal of being a truly national player in the communications business.

''When you look at our strengths and their strengths, there aren't many areas'' where operations overlap, said Rick Qui

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Saltwater conversion possible Everglades fallback

The water district is exploring drinking-supply alternatives.

By Robert P. King

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Just like the desert-dwelling Saudis, residents of water-rich South Florida may turn to the ocean to quench their thirst.

It would be expensive. But water managers say ocean desalination could be the surest way to meet the needs of a rapidly growing populace

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County's housing outgrowing population, expert says

By Tom Harlan

Miami Today

Though Miami-Dade has a record 2.4 million residents and a boom may quickly add 100,000 housing units, county demographers predict population growth of only about 30,000 a year requiring 10,000 units.

Real estate observers, however, say all the planned housing can be absorbed.

The county forecasts a population of almost 2.6 million by 2010. Average yearly growth has ranged from 28,648 to 35,800 in every decade since 1970, according to the US Census Bureau.

Based on 2.9 persons per household, said Oliver Kerr of the county's planning department, the area needs to add about 10,000 housing units a year.

But that doesn't mean housing supply will outpace demand, said Jason M. Robertson, president of Urban Habitats, because population doesn't gauge demand. Foreigners, who aren't counted in population numbers, are buying real estate due to the weak dollar, he said.

"Even though county statistics project new residences to increase by 300,000 over a 10-year period," he said, "it does not address the millions of dollars in real estate that is sold to second-home buyers from the Northeast, Latin America and Europe."

Population can't be compared to planned units, said Brad Hunter, South Florida director of Metrostudy, because projects can be cancelled and it can take years to absorb condos.

Yearly growth of 30,000 may be the 10-year average, Mr. Hunter said, but county single-family housing starts leaped to 8,614 last year despite a trend of about 5,000 over the 10 years.

"That's a huge increase," he said, that coupled with thousands of rising condo units suggests population is growing faster than anticipated. "There's a lot of evidence that seems to point to a faster population growth than 10 years ago or than even a few years ago."

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^That just goes to show you that not all these units will be "24/7 urban dwellers". If/when they all get sold, a large portion of them will be for "investment purposes". Just this morning, I heard on the radio that Shaq was looking to buy a condo downtown, mainly for investment reasons. C'mon Shaq, you could live downtown, and WALK to work, lol!

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New FPL plant at Turkey Point wins state's OK

Gas-powered unit to be added to Turkey Point complex

By Joseph Mann

Business Writer

Posted February 2 2005

Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet on Tuesday approved Florida Power & Light Co.'s plan to build a $600 million natural gas-powered generating plant at the utility's Turkey Point complex near Florida City.

The new generating unit, which will be able to generate 1,150 megawatts, will be added to FPL's two nuclear generators and two existing fossil fuel plants on the 11,000-acre Turkey Point site.

Juno Beach-based FPL, a unit of FPL Group Inc., announced its intention to expand capacity at Turkey Point in August 2003. Public meetings were conducted to discuss the facility, and it was approved in June 2004 by Florida's Public Service Commission. The project was also reviewed by several federal, state and local agencies.

Construction will begin this spring, and the plant is scheduled to be operational in 2007.

FPL said the Turkey Point expansion is needed to meet burgeoning demand for electricity in its 35-county service area. "The plant helps FPL keep up with customer growth, and its proximity to large population centers in Miami-Dade enhances the reliability of the electric grid," Armando Olivera, FPL's president, said in a statement.

The gas-fired combined-cycle generating unit will produce enough power to supply the equivalent of 230,000 homes and business, the company said. A combined-cycle gas plant uses exhaust heat from a gas turbine generator to produce additional electricity. Natural gas from the Florida Gas Transmission pipeline will supply the plant.

FPL Energy LLC, another FPL Group subsidiary, said Tuesday that it and an investment group bought a majority interest in five solar energy generating sites in the Mojave Desert.

About 141 megawatts generated at the sites will be sold to Southern California Edison under long-term contracts.

The partners in the deal, FPL Energy and affiliates of the Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund II, a private equity fund specializing in energy investments, did not reveal any financial terms.

With this acquisition, FPL Energy said it is now the largest generator of solar power in the United States.

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Posted on Thu, Feb. 03, 2005

AVIATION

Traffic volume rises at MIA

Numbers rose in 2004 for the first time in six years, but a consultant's prognosis for growth is far from bright.

By INA PAIVA CORDLE

[email protected]

After six years of declining passenger traffic, more travelers flew through Miami International Airport in 2004 than the previous year, as both domestic and international volume showed slight gains.

MIA's dominant carrier, American Airlines, which had a 6 percent growth in traffic, was mainly responsible for the 2004 turnaround.

But a new study projects that the airport's overall traffic will not return to its pre-Sept. 11, 2001, level until 2010 -- two years longer than previously expected.

Hit hard by the fall-off in travel after the terrorist attacks and an exodus of passengers to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, MIA has reported a loss of thousands of travelers each year since traffic peaked in 1997 at 34.5 million passengers.

In 2004, the airport saw a 1.92 percent increase in volume, to 30.2 million. Domestic traffic rose 2.8 percent to 15.7 million, while international travelers increased 0.9 percent to 13.9 million.

Carlos Bonzon, Miami-Dade's interim aviation director, attributes the 2004 gain to nationwide traffic growth as fear of travel has dissipated.

''After 9/11, people were scared to death, but slowly [volume] has been growing nationwide,'' Bonzon said. ``And all the airlines are having low fares. The legacy carriers, trying to remain competitive, have restructured their fares, so that is another incentive for people to travel more.''

SHY OF 1997 HIGH

Still, MIA's 2004 figure is about 12.5 percent shy of the airport's 1997 high.

American Airlines contributed to the 2004 increase at MIA by flying a record 17 million passengers, said spokeswoman Martha Pant

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Posted on Mon, Feb. 07, 2005

China business helps, challenges S. Fla.

BY JANE BUSSEY

[email protected]

Towering teal-and-white gantry cranes, direct from China, glided into Miami's seaport last month, while mobile rubber-tire gantries, also from China, might soon be darting among stacks of containers, loading and unloading cargo.

A decade ago, the port's new gantry cranes were manufactured in Germany. Today no manufacturers can match the China price.

''We have to go to the Far East,'' said Christopher C. Morton, chief manager of the Port of Miami Terminal Operating Co., which is considering investing $15 million to buy the mobile gantries.

''It's not that we want to -- we have to,'' he said.

Consumers and companies throughout South Florida are feeling the China effect.

This special report profiles companies that have reshaped their businesses to stand up to withering Chinese competition, others that have benefited from the low-cost of sourcing products there, and a law firm that has carved out a China niche. There's also a story on Florida International University's plans to establish a hospitality management campus in China.

In a metropolitan area intensely focused on Latin American and the Caribbean, the explosive growth of trade and business ties with China is matched only by the growing dependence on Chinese imports.

Nowhere is China's growing role in shaping our economy more visible than the Port of Miami-Dade where there's been a sea change in the port's trading patterns in recent years. Even five years ago, the port's top trading partners were in Latin America. Chinese merchandise was not a major factor, and until recently not a single shipping line came directly from China to Miami.

Today, China is the second largest trading partner in terms of volume at the bustling port and half a dozen shipping lines now haul containers directly from Chinese harbors into Miami. Only Honduran trade, mainly to serve the apparel industry, ranks higher.

''If you put China and Hong Kong together, they are our No. 1 trading partner,'' said Port Director Charles A. Towsley.

Towsley, Morton (who worked in China for six years) and other port executives plan a trip to China this summer to make a pitch for new business -- a mission needed in part because trade with Latin America and the Caribbean is no longer growing at the fast clip of the 1990s.

Port Everglades only recently began to cash in on China trade, lining up its first direct shipping route from China last year.

For South Florida, the imbalance between imports and exports is even more pronounced than the growing U.S. trade deficit with China. Nearly $2 billion in Chinese merchandise entered South Florida in the first 10 months of 2004, compared with only $76 million in exports.

As outsourcing of jobs to China and concern over mounting trade imbalances became a campaign issue last year, business groups began staging their own presentations about Chinese opportunities. At the U.S.-China Business Forum, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and FedEx in Miami last fall, U.S. officials and executives spent as much time discussing the challenges in China -- the rampant counterfeiting of brand-name products, for example -- as the potential in a country that is building 140 hotels and four new subway lines in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

Brian Neff, vice president of the South Florida Manufacturers Association, insists that American business and its leadership need to change their world and business vision to survive.

''American businesses need to think strategically,'' Neff said. 'We think `business plan,' but there is a big difference. A business plan is how we make money and is frozen in time. A strategic plan is [deciding] where things are going.''

That may take the form of fighting the competition.

As companies go out of business because of the plummeting price of imports, some industries have fought back with trade complaints.

Southern shrimpers, including many in Florida, recently won an anti-dumping suit against China and other shrimp-farming countries after the U.S. Commerce Department found that the domestic industry had been harmed by foreign producers selling shrimp below the cost of production. The practice is illegal under international trade rules.

U.S. trade authorities also have slapped tariffs on other Chinese imports, from furniture to televisions to apparel, after complaints by U.S. manufacturers.

But the anti-dumping disputes pale compared to other issues the United States faces as its ties with China deepen.

For starters, China pegs its yuan to the dollar at an undervalued rate that has been in effect for a decade, making Chinese goods artificially cheap against the dollar.

Most economists agree the practice must end. But any change will have its own costs: A revaluation of the currency will push up the cost of imports and in the short run increase the U.S. trade deficit.

Chinese companies also enjoy government subsidies, tax holidays and even bank loan forgiveness -- making it hard for American companies to compete against them. (Chinese banking reports estimate that bad loans make up about half of all loans in the country.)

Some local companies find it is better to take advantage of opportunities China offers than to do battle against Chinese competition.

But doing business in China isn't for the faint of heart. Companies are forced to transfer their technology to China as part of contract awards. There is irony in this since from the 11th to the 14th centuries, the then technologically-advanced Chinese supplied Europe with the maritime advances (such as the magnetic compass) that permitted the exploration and colonization of the New World.

Although the China boom is shaping South Florida's economy, Chinese culture remains uncharted territory for many. It may be time to take the first steps toward learning Mandarin. Like saying q

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S. Florida AIDS rate increases sharply

Drug failure, more tests cited as possible reasons

By Bob LaMendola

Health Writer

Posted February 17 2005

New AIDS cases in Florida leaped by a surprising 24 percent last year, fueled by a growing failure of drug cocktails and an increase in patients who didn't know they were infected until they got sick, health officials said.

The state's first real jump in AIDS in more than a decade -- since before today's drug cocktails -- may signal a resurgence in the disease. Infection rates have climbed for several years as young adults have grown cavalier about practicing safe sex.

But officials said they hope the AIDS spike is only a temporary blip caused by a major campaign of HIV testing that found many new cases. Also, 2004 figures released Wednesday carried good news: New HIV cases dipped 3 percent. HIV causes AIDS, but patients can live for years without getting sick.

"We are seeing some patterns we don't like," said Thomas Liberti, AIDS director for the Florida Department of Health. "I would not feel so secure if we saw a big jump in HIV, too, but we didn't. I'm encouraged by that. We are going to be watching the trend closely in the next few months."

Among big metropolitan areas, Broward County had the biggest jump in AIDS cases, 49 percent higher than 2003. Cases in Miami-Dade County were up 33 percent last year.

"Am I concerned? A couple years ago I might have said yes," said Lisa Agate, AIDS coordinator for the Broward County Health Department. "We have done a lot of testing. I think that's all catching up."

The exception was Palm Beach County, where AIDS cases were flat and HIV cases fell by 17 percent last year.

"The numbers went down, but it wasn't a good year," said Larry Leed, deputy director of the Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm Beach County. HIV is still spreading among young adults, and patients moving from out of state soak up federal program grants, which have been flat, he said.

A big portion of the increase in new AIDS cases are patients like Sam, of Fort Lauderdale, who unknowingly carried HIV for perhaps 15 years until the virus crippled his immune system enough that he got sick. The accountant, 60, who asked to remain anonymous, said he never got tested until he was diagnosed in June with an eye infection that signals AIDS.

"It's called the ostrich effect," he said. "I think I always knew. I was in a state of denial. `I don't have anything because I feel fine.' I never wanted to know, and my doctor never insisted."

Doctors have put him on antiretroviral drugs that he says reduced the virus and helped his immune system. But he and others like him missed the chance to catch the disease early, when it's easiest and cheapest to control with drugs.

Illnesses since his diagnosis have put Sam in the hospital six times and left him unable to work, to walk or to stand for long. The pills caused diarrhea and dehydration. Tell that, he says, to the young gay men and heterosexual adults who are ignoring or missing the message of safe sex.

"I'm on a cane. I feel like an old fart," Sam said. "I always thought AIDS was a death sentence. It's manageable. But it's still a chronic disease, and you have to deal with a lot of different things all the time."

South Florida has been a center of HIV/AIDS for years. While AIDS cases steadily dropped since the early 1990s, new HIV cases began climbing again in 2001.

In 2003, the latest year for which data are available, Miami-Dade County had the second-highest rate of AIDS cases per capita in the nation, behind New York City. Broward County was fourth and Palm Beach County sixth. Florida had the fourth-highest rate among states.

"In the black neighborhoods, they wait until the last minute before they get tested," said Carl Roberson, an HIV patient who chairs the Broward County HIV Planning Council. "That's for economic reasons. If it comes to paying the doctor or paying their rent, they're going to pay the rent."

Liberti said the state's campaign that has tested almost a million people since 2001 has found thousands of people who didn't know they were positive, some with AIDS.

Liberti said he was heartened that HIV infections had dropped in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and in every major metropolitan area.

Other AIDS experts said they were worried by a growing number of patients who progressed to AIDS because the virus had grown resistant to most or all of the drugs available. No figures on drug failure were available.

Studies show the virus can become resistant if the patient does not take drugs properly and on schedule 95 percent of the time. Patients who fail with one drug switch to another.

"Some people go on and off the drugs," said Dr. Michael Sension, a Fort Lauderdale AIDS specialist. "Maybe they have drug troubles; maybe they are in and out of jail; maybe the drugs are too hard on them."

But "it's not doom and gloom" on drugs, Sension said. Patients are failing on the early cocktail drugs from the mid- and late 1990s. Back then, patients had to take as many as 18 pills a day on complex schedules and experienced debilitating side-effects that made it hard to comply.

Newer drug combinations require only three pills a day, and a one-a-day drug might not be far off, Sension said.

Another factor could have affected the jump in new AIDS cases. A 2003 state policy requires doctors to log HIV patients' test results, which prompted them to retest many patients, said Dr. Luis Garcia, director of HIV surveillance at the Miami-Dade County Health Department. As a result, some of those were found to have progressed undetected to AIDS.

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It's great that they're recognizingthe history here. Burdines goes way back here in Miami.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/10939096.htm

Signature signs bring back earlier era

Preservationists say Burdines is such a part of local history that as the chain converts to Macy's, some of its old signs should be saved.

BY ELAINE WALKER

[email protected]

As the Burdines name fades into the sunset to make way for Macy's, some are still hoping to save the signs from the landmark stores in downtown Miami and Miami Beach.

While the signs don't meet any requirements for historic preservation, they're certainly part of Miami-Dade County's history. Burdines has been synonymous with Miami since its founding in 1898 as a frontier trading post.

The sign on the downtown Miami store has already come down and been replaced by a Macy's nameplate, but the Art Deco-style sign at the Miami Beach store that also proclaims Sunshine Fashions in swirling letters is still intact.

IT'S HISTORY

''It's a sad state for our community that an entity synonymous with Miami for over a century is completely wiped out with no regard,'' said Herb Sosa, former executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League and former creative director of Burdines. ``There are ways to still honor that heritage through the architectural integrity of the signs.''

But time is running out. Burdines signs have already started coming down all over South Florida and the rest of the state, as Burdines-Macy's prepares for the changeover to the Macy's brand that takes effect March 6.

Burdines-Macy's officials say they plan to keep elements of the signs in their corporate archives.

Sarah Eaton, the City of Miami preservation officer, said she had no jurisdiction to do anything about the signs on the downtown Miami store.

''It's the end of an era,'' Eaton said.

A COMPROMISE

Tom Mooney, design and preservation manager with the city of Miami Beach, is hoping to strike a deal that will keep at least some of the signage on the Beach store intact, particularly the Sunshine Fashions sign that was the Burdines trademark slogan in its early years.

''It was one of the first major department stores on the Beach, and signage is very indicative of that era,'' Mooney said. ``It's important to the architecture of the building.''

But unfortunately since it's just outside the Lincoln Road historic district, Mooney can't force Macy's to keep the sign.

Mooney's suggestion is more of a bargain: Keep the Deco-style Sunshine Fashions sign in place and city staff will recommend granting the retailer a waiver to allow more signage than the 30 square feet currently allowed under city codes. The current Burdines signage occupies at least four times that amount of space on the building, Mooney estimates.

Burdines-Macy's officials say they will agree to keep the Sunshine Fashions sign.

Whatever signs do end up coming down, the South Florida Historical Museum might consider adding the signage to its collection, said George Zamanillo, curator of object collections.

''I wouldn't mind looking at it to see if we could keep parts of it,'' Zamanillo said.

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Posted on Fri, Feb. 25, 2005

INCENTIVES

Miami-Dade offers $5.38M to BK

Burger King will receive a multimillion-dollar incentive package if the company agrees to keep its headquarters in Miami-Dade.

BY ELAINE WALKER AND TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE

[email protected]

Miami-Dade County commissioners on Thursday approved a package of $5.38 million in incentives that is expected to keep Burger King's world headquarters from moving to Texas.

With its lease at the Waterford office complex in Blue Lagoon expiring in summer 2007, Burger King has considered leaving town for Texas, where its chief executive and ownership group have their roots. Burger King has called Miami-Dade home since founder James McLamore and his partner David Edgerton opened the first restaurant in 1954.

''Miami is our home; it's our heritage,'' Edna Johnson, Burger King spokeswoman, said Thursday after the county vote. ``We're very, very grateful for the support we received today.''

Johnson said the company had not yet made a final decision on whether to relocate its headquarters, which has only been in its current location for 2

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