Good News From Florida’s CRAs

Mexico Beach was ground zero for Hurricane Michael, destroying 70 percent of the resort community’s homes and businesses with its Category 5 winds and 18-foot storm surge. Because its flood maps hadn’t been updated in 10 years, 80 percent of those structures were uninsured because FEMA placed them in flood zone “X” – areas that…

Big cities and big data tend to get most of the attention in publications and on industry panels. Rapid urbanization and the explosion of data are headlining trends. In reality, however, the United States is a nation of small towns. According to Census Bureau information, the median American lives in a city with a population…

No one enjoys paying for parking tickets, but Las Vegas is now accepting a new currency that might take some of the sting out of paying the fines. The Las Vegas City Council has approved a month-long plan that allows parking tickets to be paid by donating school supplies, according to a press release from…

When the city of Columbus, Ohio, submitted its bid to become Amazon’s HQ2, city officials rolled out the usual fanfare: an assortment of tax incentives, promotion of its major educational institutions and real estate deals. But the hallmark of its proposal was a pitch to create a smart city by “embracing the reinvention of transportation…

Walking through the streets of New York City, you can feel the thrill of being lost in the crowd. As throngs of people filter past, each going about their days, it seems possible to blend in without being noticed. But as municipalities and companies pursue the dream of “smart cities,” creating hyper-connected urban spaces designed…

Local governments face a number of challenges when determining how to best deliver services to their communities. With fiscal stress, environmental concerns, and state policies affecting local government resource allocation, many leaders face decisions about the tools they use to address service delivery. “Pragmatic local government managers seek to maintain services and continue to serve…

“More likely than not, your elected officials are basing mobility policy decisions not on cost-benefit analysis or strategic foresight, but on a classic modern insecurity: FOMO.” That’s David Zipper’s theory, explained in an article for CityLab. When transportation decision makers start make the FOMO mistake, cities get saddled with expensive demonstration projects for autonomous vehicles…

A natural disaster may be the very worst thing that happens to a county and to its elected officials. A community or portions of it are ruined and everyone looks to the elected and appointed leadership to make things right, and make things right, right now. No matter what has happened in the community before…

Dozens of cities and counties from across the nation pledged to purchasing hundreds of electric vehicles and buses by the end of 2020. The Climate Mayors Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative announced that 142 cities and counties from 38 states have committed to purchasing more than 2,100 EVs by the end of next year. The collaborative…

On sunny days, the Grand Venezia at Baywatch condominiums offer a view of Old Tampa Bay that calms the mind. “It’s just gorgeous,” resident Don Dwyer said recently. “One morning I sat on my balcony for two hours. I saw five manatees, 12 dolphins and I can’t tell you how many stingrays.” But the history…

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is encouraging Florida League of Cities and Florida Association of Counties officials to take advantage of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resources to bolster cybersecurity efforts. Rubio recently forwarded correspondence to both organizations in response to reports two Florida cities used taxpayer funds to pay cybercriminals following ransomware attacks, officials said,…

Miami Beach is once again opening its wait list for affordable housing — but residents will have to act fast. From now until Friday, July 5, residents will have a chance to get a spot on the city’s wait list for affordable housing properties with studio apartments. They can apply online, not in person. This…

To be a code compliance officer requires a couple of key qualities — a sense of humor and a working knowledge of each and every code in the city of Destin. But to David Bazylak, a sense of humor might be most important. “It’s a complaint-driven type of profession,” Bazylak, who has worked in code…

Since its inception in 1984, the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has worked diligently to make the District’s waterfront more accessible to everyone. One of its newest initiatives on this front is the equipment slated for the Riviera Beach Marina Village that is designed to assist visitors who may find it challenging to navigate…

City leaders now have two new opportunities to help ensure their residents live in healthy housing free of indoor environmental hazards, including a $1 million minimum grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a technical assistance initiative from the National League of Cities (NLC). By placing a priority on…

Don’t let George Knight’s age or flip phone fool you. This 95-year-old is wading knee deep in a technology boom that’s spreading throughout retirement communities across the country. Thanks to a phone service called GoGoGrandparent, Knight, who lives in downtown Sarasota, is using the same on-demand ride sharing apps as his smartphone-savvy children. Knight is…

While eyes frequently look up to the $2 billion in offices, hotels and apartments sprouting in West Palm Beach, the city itself completes dozens of projects at ground level every year that arguably have as much impact on everyday citizens. These range from boat ramps to bicycle lanes, road widenings, playgrounds and other park improvements,…

When Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on October 10, 2018, it was the strongest storm the region had ever faced, and the first Category 5 hurricane in the U.S. since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Panama City, a municipality with around 40,000 people located between Tallahassee and Pensacola, was hit particularly hard. Ninety…

If you live in Tampa, a designation you may never have even heard of could drop your property’s value. The city’s attempt to manage storm water issues could cause a flood of financial problems for homeowners. A Tampa resident showed FOX 13’s Sorboni Banerjee the South Tampa lot where her dream retirement home was supposed…

Public support for Hurricane Michael recovery efforts in the Florida Panhandle is lacking, according to a REBUILD 850 survey released Tuesday. The results showed nearly half of respondents would do nothing to help people affected by the hurricane and nearly 75 percent said they would not consider donating money to help with relief efforts. The lack of public support…