Florida wage growth at lowest level since the Great Depression
Growth of wages in Florida, where pay already lags the nation, has nearly ground to a halt, reaching its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the state Agency for Workforce Innovation. And people who are laid off or fired in this recession are likely to suffer not only the loss of a job but the loss of salary stature when they finally return to work. The fact that wages are growing at all might seem like good news in a recession, but economists say such statistics mask other problems. "Generally, those that are less skilled, less educated, less experienced lose their jobs first, and those are people who are paid a lower wage," said Rebecca Rust, chief economist at the state Agency for Workforce Innovation. In other words, some lower-wage workers whose earnings bring down the average during the boom years aren't figuring into the current numbers because they're not working. While wages grew in Florida by 4.6 percent or more between 2004 and 2006, increases began slowing in 2007. By 2009, they'd trickled to 1 percent, which is believed to be the lowest level in about 70 years. [Source: Palm Beach Post]
With 'coolest job ever' ending, astronauts seek next frontier
What happens when you have the right stuff at the wrong time? Members of NASA's astronaut corps have been asking just that, now that the space shuttle program is ending and their odds of flying anywhere good anytime soon are getting smaller.
Florida's Legislature's in Session: Meet the Freshman Class More than one-third of the new lawmakers are lawyers, and 14 of the House's 44 freshmen are millionaires. |
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Florida's pension administrator touts transparency ... with exceptions
Want to find out how the state of Florida invests your money? Try. Despite a professed goal of increased transparency, the people who manage $156 billion in pension funds and other public money have taken steps to get in line with a law that requires secrecy. The result:
- Taxpayers are kept in the dark about many business decisions of the State Board of Administration, the agency that runs the nation's fourth-largest public pension system for about 1 million current and former public employees, including teachers, police officers and state and county workers. It also manages a fund that pools money from hundreds of Florida towns, counties and school districts.
- No ordinary retiree can monitor dozens of private investments bought with $20 billion of public money.
- The public can't track fees proposed by some law firms. They can't get information from contracts or reviews that could help them decide whether vendors are delivering on their promises.
Gov. Rick Scott, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi all ran for office last year vowing to bring more openness and accountability to the SBA board they now serve on as trustees. In recent years, the agency has come under criticism for risky investments and lax oversight. Now SBA executive director Ash Williams wants to renew the state law that keeps secret most information about a growing number of private investments.[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Legislature eyes cuts in Bright Futures
The Florida Legislature is poised to cut the popular Bright Futures scholarship program, meaning thousands of college students and their parents will be paying higher costs and less affluent families may have to get loans, seek other financial aid, get jobs or maybe go on a low-cost diet. Cuts to the merit-based scholarship program would come as the Legislature is also raising tuition at public colleges and universities. The only question is how much will the Legislature cut? A House-passed budget would cut Bright Futures by 15 percent — anywhere from $330 to $480 annually depending on the type of award. The Senate version would slash everyone by $960. "I would just have to get really resourceful on eating really cheap food," said Florida State University junior Charlie Hittinger, 20, a social work major from Tallahassee. "Like, pizza rolls every night or something." Hittinger has a warehouse job at his father's business and is on the state's prepaid tuition plan so — other than a possible overdose of junk food — he won't be effected as much as Latitia Davies, 22, a junior biology major at Florida State University from Sunrise. "I'd have to take out loans or get a job, which would take away time I could use to study," Davies said. She's already taken out $8,000 in loans and said she doesn't want to get deeper into debt. How to cut Bright Futures is one of many issues House and Senate negotiators are expected to wrangle over in the coming days as they begin trying to resolve budgetary differences. Both chambers have proposed spending cuts in nearly every part of the budget to avoid a potential $3.75 billion revenue shortfall. [Source: AP]
Effort to privatize Florida prisons raises questions of cost
Florida lawmakers are poised to make dramatic changes to the state's prison system, turning over as many as 14 prisons to private companies in hopes of trimming the cost of housing the state's criminals.
But as the Legislature moves aggressively to expand the reach of private prisons, fundamental questions remain unanswered. Such as: Do private prisons really save Florida taxpayers money? And if so, how much cheaper are they?
Florida has been experimenting with private prisons for 16 years, with almost 10 percent of the state's 102,000 inmates now held in seven private facilities.
The state agency that oversees these prisons says they will save taxpayers almost $90 million over the next three years. But state financial analysts say they cannot show with any certainty how much money they save over state-run prisons.
At a Senate hearing in February, legislative analyst Byron Brown said differences in how public and private prisons operate and account for expenses "limit the conclusiveness" of any cost comparisons.
"There's never apples to apples," Brown told lawmakers.
While the benefits of prison privatization may be hard to see, the problems have been obvious.
[Source: Miami Herald]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› From the back of a napkin, a business takes flight
Joe Ambrefe can't remember where he was the day he invented a new business. Denver, maybe?
It was December 2001, and Ambrefe, the frequent-flying national sales director of a pharmaceutical company, had already endured post-Sept. 11 security at two or three airports that day.
This much he recalls vividly: people dropping watches, car keys, cameras and jewelry in bins that looked like dishwasher racks. He'd seen other airports use milk crates and what looked like wicker baskets.
Slow lines and lack of standardization in the security process led Ambrefe to conclude that "there's an opportunity with a lot of people standing around focused on containers holding personal, prized possessions.''
Ambrefe sat down at an airport bar and ordered a bottle of Bud Light. A better system would require standardized bins. But how would that make any money? Then, an idea: Sell advertising.
He grabbed a cocktail napkin and sketched out a rough business plan that included the types of companies that might buy ads. Today, Ambrefe is co-founder and CEO of Security Point Media.
› A year after BP oil spill, Apalachicola oysterman keeps business going
Tommy Ward stood on his dock and looked out at the green water. He took off his ball cap and ran a huge hand through thinning red hair. He was thinking about oysters. They're fat right now. They're plentiful right now. But business isn't as good as it should be. The oil never quite reached Apalachicola Bay last year. But some oystermen, who took money from BP to look for the oil that never arrived, stopped fishing anyway. Seafood businesses such as the one he operates no longer could supply their customers with oysters. Like scows that had lost their anchors, old clients drifted away. "So now we're starting over," Ward said. "We're going to be smaller. It ain't easy." From the dock he peered across the bay and saw oyster skiffs bobbing on the waves. He watched the oystermen lean over the water and pick up oysters with long wooden tongs. "So we're getting oysters now," Tommy said. "It's pretty good for oysters right now. But listen. It's a hard business. I'm telling you, it's real hard." Commercial fishers are superstitious souls. When something good happens they automatically want to knock on wood. They are always waiting for the other rubber boot to drop. Luck is too much like the tide, here today and gone tomorrow. Like most commercial fishermen, Tommy Ward knows about hard times. He knows about death and disaster and finding a reason to believe.
› Membership up at Gainesville area churches
As more than 2 billion people worldwide gather for the holiest day in Christianity, area churches say the economic downturn in recent years has not hurt their membership — with several saying they actually have grown. Some church officials say they have struggled to meet their budgets, however, as area families lost jobs and could not give as much to the church as they might have hoped.
Cindy Bevilacqua, parish manager of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, said a new church building constructed in the past two years has helped to invigorate its membership.
"It was almost like a revival," Bevilacqua said. "It gave our parishioners hope, and it did draw new parishioners in." She said, like other churches in the area, money has been tight but that the church has managed to meet its $550,000 annual budget. The church has about 1,200 members.
"It's a congregation that continued to step up and meet the demands of the church and the community," she said.
Officials with Trinity United Methodist Church, one of the largest churches in Gainesville, said it has seen membership steadily rise over the past three years by about 160 people per year.
› LeMieux can't shake Charlie Crist legacy in Senate bid
George LeMieux could only think of one major difference between him and Charlie Crist.
"I like the Dolphins better than the Bucs," LeMieux said in August 2009 just before Gov. Crist appointed him to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat temporarily.
Today, LeMieux is running for the U.S. Senate.
And he's running away from Crist, whose name is toxic to many of the hard-core conservatives LeMieux is courting in a wide-open Republican primary.
"I had many things I disagreed with the governor on," LeMieux said last week.
But Crist administration insiders say they're hard-pressed to remember differences between Crist and LeMieux — his onetime chief of staff, adviser and close friend.
LeMieux didn't just advocate for Crist's policies, he helped shape them. Some are unpopular with conservatives: a global-warming initiative, voting rights for felons, a gaming deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, acceptance of President Barack Obama's stimulus money, an Everglades land purchase that benefited U.S. Sugar, and expansion of the role of government in the property insurance market.
LeMieux once called himself a "Charlie Crist Republican." Insiders chuckle at the idea that Charlie Crist was a George LeMieux Republican.
» Climbing the Hill
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Crist's 'Maestro' Going Private
› Documents show Gov. Scott pushing to shutter Citizens
Gov. Rick Scott has secretly pushed to kill Citizens Property Insurance before his first term ends, a goal that alarmed even representatives of private insurance companies seeking to remove Citizens as a competitor, documents show.
In a February meeting with the industry lobbyists writing bills for the upcoming legislative session, documents show Gov. Scott's top staff sought to force the 1.3 million property owners who now have a policy from the state-run carrier back into the private market, "phasing out Citizens completely."
The industry lobbyists protested that Florida carriers could not absorb all of Citizens' business, records show. The gap would force many Florida property owners to turn to the unregulated surplus lines market, where rates are unchecked and policies are not backed by a state guarantee fund.
A lobbyist who attended the meeting advised others by email that Gov. Scott knew about the gap, but was not bothered.
"He doesn't seem to care whether they are insured in the voluntary market or surplus lines," the lobbyist wrote.
The concept of shutting down Florida's largest and, at the moment, best-capitalized insurance company outraged lawmakers whose constituents rely on the public company.
"He's clueless. The governor is clueless as to what is happening throughout the state, and the burden on homeowners and condominium owners and business owners," said Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican who opposes most of the insurance legislation offered by the industry this year.
› Hillsborough cabdrivers keeping close eye on taxi reform plan
If pending legislation passes, Hillsborough County will likely go the way of Manhattan and Miami and base its taxi industry on medallions — cab permits that can accrue immense value for their owners.
If that happens, a debate awaits. At issue would be how to deal with the 598 existing cab permits potentially worth millions as medallions, and where to direct the flow of new medallions.
Local cab companies tout a plan that would automatically turn their permits into medallions. It also woos drivers with a sweetener: Some new medallions would be reserved for a drivers-only auction, with five-year financing on winning bids.
In a private meeting earlier this month, cab company executives and the county's top taxi officials championed the proposal to three veteran drivers seen as unofficial emissaries for their peers.
After the meeting, John Bailey, one of those drivers, said: "We would definitely be in favor of it. ... It's a small step in the right direction."
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› Scientists fret over BP funds for Gulf research
Scientists say it is taking far too long to dole out millions of dollars in BP funds for badly needed Gulf oil spill research, and it could be too late to assess the crude's impact on pelicans, shrimp and other species by the time studies begin.
The spring nesting and spawning season is a crucial time to get out and sample the reproduction rates, behavior and abundance of species, all factors that could be altered by last year's massive spill. Yet no money has been made available for this year, and it could take months to determine which projects will be funded.
"It's like a murder scene," said Dana Wetzel, an ecotoxicologist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida. "You have to pick up the evidence now."
BP PLC had pledged $500 million — $50 million a year over 10 years — to help scientists study the spill's impact and forge a better understanding of how to deal with future spills. The first $50 million was handed out in May 2010 to four Gulf-based research institutes and to the National Institutes of Health.
› "Green" consultant Dwell Green shuffles lineup
The Sarasota-based consulting company Dwell Green has a message for homeowners. But connecting with cash-constrained consumers has been a challenge.
Dwell Green, the brainchild of building scientist John Lambie, evaluates existing homes (for $299) and offers owners a "sequenced action checklist" of steps and upgrades that would make it more energy efficient and sustainable. Owners get their own web page for keeping track of their house's status and schedule of improvements.
It seems simple enough, but not in this economy.
"We are getting some traction with Dwell Green and how to communicate with homeowners," said Lambie, speaking on the eve of Earth Day 41. "But there is very little discretionary money around. The average homeowner is used to maintenance, or tolerating a slow decline, and they aren't thinking about having a plan in place so that maintenance turns into improvement.
"That is a message that is hard to get across."
The company, though, is thinking big anyway. Franchising is its goal, and to make that happen, it has shuffled its staff.
› Collateral damage: Tenants of foreclosed properties
Whenever Michel Joseph wants to shower, cook or use the bathroom, he has to leave his Little Haiti apartment and drop in on a neighbor who has running water.
Water has not run in Joseph's derelict apartment since his landlord abandoned the four-unit building to foreclosure, and skipped town in November. The landlord's absence led to a water shutoff, and for the past four months, Joseph has not been able to turn it back on because of a long-standing rule at the Miami-Dade Water & Sewer Department.
That rule — which restricts renters from re-opening a closed account — has come under increased scrutiny as more landlords have fallen prey to the foreclosure crisis, some leaving tenants without basic utilities.
"The tenants have become the hidden victims of the foreclosure crisis," said Purvi Shah, a Florida Legal Services attorney who defends tenants of foreclosed properties. "There are hundreds of tenants in Miami-Dade County living in really serious conditions."
› Potential buyers of Bay Area retail complexes need creativity
One in Tampa. One in St. Petersburg.
Both were exciting urban retail centers when they opened. Both became gathering places and retail icons at their peak. Both have since lost their luster, their crowds and many of their stores. Both landed in foreclosure. Worst of all, both languished as owners squabbled and the Great Recession struck.
And now both are — finally — going up for sale. Tampa's Channelside Bay Plaza, located down by the cruise docks, this month said it officially will be up for sale this summer once it spruces up and fixes a few code violations.
Opening price? Still unknown.
Downtown St. Petersburg's BayWalk hit the market in March with an asking price of $8 million, a fraction of what it took to build.
It will probably go for a lot less.
That these two locations are hitting the market are major events for the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg. Both cities are still trying to sustain and nurture their respective iffy downtown renaissances.
› Winter kind to Southwest Florida tourism
Boosted by good weather, a recovering economy, a lack of beached oil and a late Easter, Southwest Florida tourism bounced back significantly this winter. The traditional high tourist season, from the beginning of January through Easter, brought superlatives to an industry that has been staggered in recent years by a poor economy and a lackluster climate.
The Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau reported last week that hotel and condominium rentals had their best March occupancy since 2005.
In Manatee County, tourism-related tax collection in February rose 8.3 percent, according to figures unveiled last week.
"The signals are there that there's been significant improvement all along Southwest Florida," said Roger Miles, president and chief executive of Miles Media, a Lakewood Ranch-based integrated marketing firm that produces the official website for Visit Florida, the state's tourism agency.
"My sense is there's real optimism out there."
› Florida's culinary creators
When he was a little boy, Duncan Mendoza's mom bluntly informed him that she wouldn't "always be around to cook," so he climbed a stool and started making a hodgepodge of Nicaraguan and American food for himself.
That began a love affair with the kitchen that led the 20-year-old to Miami Dade College's new Miami Culinary Institute, which unveiled its $22 million headquarters at the college's downtown Miami Wolfson Campus on April 14.
"I could be the first one from the school to become a top chef," said a starry-eyed Mendoza as he sliced cabbage for an Asian salad at the school's kitchen lab. "I'm here to take it to the next level."
It's no less than what the school itself is trying to do, with a program put together with the help of top local chefs including Norman Van Aken and Michelle Bernstein, built around a state of-the-art building and equipment, focused on sustainability and local sourcing, featuring a trendy fleet of student-run food trucks and offering continuing education training seminars for food industry pros. Miami Dade College soft-launched MCI in January with 48 students and is planning for 400 total when the fall semester starts.
The fourth large culinary school in the Miami-Dade and Broward area, along with Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts, Le Cordon Bleu and the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, the school comes at a time when the demand for trained cooks (the Art Institute boasts 98 percent job placement) is matched by the highest interest ever in cooking school enrollment, say officials from the area's culinary schools.
› Florida Tech energy innovations win two $10,000 grants
With the cost of energy from oil rising, a pair of projects at Florida Tech in Melbourne might help the U.S. wean itself from fossil fuels that produce electricity, while it helps engineering students learn to develop business.
Two teams of students, each led by an engineering professor, have received federal grants of $10,000 to develop business proposals to harness energy from the wind or sun. They are among 10 groups from Florida universities in competition for a $100,000 prize to be used to start a company.
"We're still beginners at business," said Florida Tech engineering graduate student Adithya Nagesh, who founded BladeWorks last year with an idea for a more efficient wind turbine blade.
› In Sarasota church conversion, sustainable spirit
Rosemary and Ed Chase wanted to live within walking distance of a church. They ended up buying one.
The Grace Fellowship church at 1702 Laurel St. just happened to be for sale at the same time the Chases were hiking downtown Sarasota's neighborhoods, searching for homes not too far from Church of the Redeemer. They strolled past the little 1926 Spanish-style church, which had outgrown its parking lot.
They ended up buying it in 2005 and converted it into a house. Having survived that, they are just completing the construction of a green-certified guest house and sustainable landscape.