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WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 24, 2008
OSCEOLA COUNTY:
Will Eco-Friendly Development Be Orlando Area's Destiny?
Picturing a city of a quarter-million people doesn't conjure images of green and blue.
But renderings of Destiny -- planned for more than 41,300 acres of the southeast corner of Osceola County -- show a city center with a floating market, biking and hiking paths and hundreds of miles of navigable waterways.
Under the concept to be unveiled today, water would be used for transportation as well as a way to contain sprawl.
Touted as the country's first "eco-sustainable" city, Destiny is being planned near Yeehaw Junction at Florida's Turnpike and State Road 60.
Construction probably won't start until 2011, says Chief Operating Officer Randy Johnson. But in 50 years, as many as 250,000 residents could call the community home.
Right now, the area is mainly sod farms and cow pastures.
[Source: Orlando Sentinel]
SARASOTA:
A Local Bailout?
It looks like Southwest Florida's battered community banks might be able to dip into the $700 million bailout being weighed this week by Congress, but some question whether help will come soon enough for the region's most troubled lenders. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson -- seeking unprecedented fiduciary power to dole out a rescue package aimed at thawing the nation's near-frozen credit markets -- was asked specifically about community banks during testimony Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee.
"To have this work right, we're going to have to go broadly," Paulson said. "That is something we have very much in mind. If this were about going to just a few big banks, we would have designed an entirely different structure." [Source: Herald-Tribune] Also: Bailout hits major resistance
JUPITER:
Planck Sees Operations Starting in Early 2009
The Max Planck Society hopes to hire a chief scientist for its Florida institute by November and have scientists working here early next year, a Society representative said Tuesday at a meeting of biotechnology firms.
As many as 180 will eventually work at the German biotech institute's 100,000-square-foot home on the Florida Atlantic University campus, Claudia Hillinger, the society's representative in Palm Beach County, told a meeting of BioFlorida's Southeast Florida chapter at FAU. Of Max Planck's 180 South Florida employees, 135 will be from Max Planck and the rest from organizations it partners with.
The internationally renowned firm develops technologies that can image biological systems at the molecular level. Along with Scripps Florida and the Torrey Pines Institute, it's been courted by state officials armed with hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives.
[Source: Palm Beach Post]
ORLANDO:
Water Czar Idea Returns
A controversial proposal to route water from one part of the state to another, scuttled after a huge uproar five years ago, may be revived as part of an Orlando gathering this week to plot the future of Florida's water supply.
The two-day gathering of more than 100 utility officials, developers, bureaucrats, lobbyists, lawyers and environmental activists has been organized by the Century Commission on a Sustainable Florida.
At the meetings of the Florida Water Congress on Thursday and Friday, the agenda calls for discussing topics, including conservation, desalination and whether the state needs a water czar with the power to order drinking supplies piped from the regions that have it to the regions where developers need it. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
›Fort Lauderdale Issues Water Contamination Warning [Sun-Sentinel]
A small amount of gear oil spilled into the water supply Tuesday, causing Fort Lauderdale to warn its 250,000 customers not to drink or cook with water from the city system.
›Struggling R.J. Gator's Shuts Two More Eateries [Palm Beach Post]
R.J. Gator's parent company, J&D Restaurant Holdings LLC, paid $2 million for the financially struggling but popular chain last September, pledging to revive the company as it brought it out of bankruptcy court.
›The Party's Over for Disney's Pleasure Island [Orlando Sentinel]
We are in the end days for the six nightclubs of Pleasure Island. Patrons and performers of the Downtown Disney entertainment complex, which opened in 1989, have been gathering for final rounds of merriment before the last-ever last calls Saturday.
›Florida Banks Slipping, Say Bauer Financial Data [St. Petersburg Times]
Florida has seven "zero" star banks that, in the greater Tampa Bay area, include: Freedom Bank of Bradenton, Ocala National Bank, Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast in Cape Coral, and Community National Bank of Sarasota County in Venice. There are just two one-star banks, in Sarasota and Immokalee.
›Child Killer Executed by Lethal Injection [Sentinel]
Richard Henyard was executed by lethal injection Tuesday night as the state carried out the death penalty against the 34-year-old Lake County man for the 1993 killings of 7-year-old Jamilya Lewis and her 3-year-old sister, Jasmine.
›Republic Services Completes Funding for Allied Buyout [Sun-Sentinel]
Fort Lauderdale-based Republic, the No. 3 U.S. trash hauler. expects to finalize its buyout of No. 2 hauler Allied of Phoenix, Ariz., by the end of the year. Last week, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates upped his stake in Republic to 19 percent.
›Dems Yield on Offshore Drilling Ban, But Florida Stays Off-Limits [Sentinel]
Democrats conceded defeat after a months-long struggle with the White House and Republicans, who demanded offshore drilling after gas prices rose to $4 a gallon this summer.
›Some Who Can't Sell Homes Try for a Trade [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
While there are no statistics on the number of successful swaps, local Realtors and attorneys say the figure is low, in part because the process can be complicated.
›Do Not Pack Up Red Sox Yet, Lee Says [Herald-Tribune]
Lee County officials say they have upward of $30 million in hotel tax money for a new or renovated stadium, and an hope will keep the ball team from leaving.
›Advocates Want Autism Center Taken From UF [Florida Times-Union]
First Coast parents are alleging that widespread problems within an agency charged with helping autistic children have wasted taxpayer money and diminished the quality of services for their children.
›Lee County Buys Pine Island Mangrove Swamp [Fort Myers News-Press]
Mangroves are the key here, the reason Lee County recently bought 189 acres around Big Jim Creek on Pine Island for $321,300 through Conservation 20/20, a program that taxes county property owners for the purchase of environmentally sensitive lands.
›Fla. Rep. Apologizes for Abramoff-Funded Trip in New Ad [Wall Street Journal]
Tom Feeney’s ad apologizes for a 2003 golfing trip to Scotland that the disgraced lobbyist paid for calling it “a rookie mistake.” Watch it here.
›Lennar Reports Smaller Loss [Sun-Sentinel]
The Miami-based home builder's loss for the quarter ended Aug. 31 was $89 million, or 56 cents per share, compared with a loss of $513.9 million, or $3.25 per share a year ago.
›Businesses Tighten Squeeze on Travel Expenses [St. Petersburg Times column]
Steve Huettel: Back of the plane, pal. American Express says just 49% of international business travelers fly in business class — the lowest share since 2004. Nearly 90% of domestic business travelers booked by the company fly on discount coach fares.
›Some Drivers Using Florida's Turnpike Experience Expensive Toll Glitch [Sentinel]
Toll booths along Florida's Turnpike and Alligator Alley will soon begin receiving new axle-counting equipment to keep sensors from overcharging motorists.
›Some Wonder if Marriott Ocean Village Resort Will Ever Happen [Sun-Sentinel]
There's an ugly old parking garage in the middle of Hollywood Beach that's not supposed to be there.
A breathtaking, $100 million resort is envisioned for that spot, a project on Johnson Street and A1A touted as the most important development in the city's history, and for its economic future.
›Baptist Health S. Florida Among Top Companies for Working Moms
At Baptist Health South Florida, employees adopting children are given $10,000 to cover their expenses, up from $4,000 in previous years. It's the type of benefit that has landed it on Working Mother magazine's "100 Best Companies" list for 16 years.
›Lee County: Office Depot Overcharged [Palm Beach Post]
Delray Beach's Office Depot Inc. overcharged Lee County by almost $60,000, according to a report by that county's internal audit department.
›Navy Wants a Sonar Range Off Jacksonville [Florida Times-Union]
The Navy wants to build an undersea sonar range off Jacksonville's coast where antisubmarine warfare operators could train and receive immediate data from their operations. Jacksonville is one of four East Coast sites considered.
›Pinellas Is Backdrop as Obama Prepares for Debate [St. Petersburg Times]
The Tampa Bay area is the biggest regional battleground in the war for Florida's 27 electoral votes. Barack Obama is there today.
Related: Florida Hispanics sticking with GOP
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