Miami Economic Development = Engines that drive the community

[MMH]

^ LMAO

[Bobdreamz]

some great economic news!

COPIOUS CAREERS: Miami-Dade County's unemployment rate hit a record low 3.1% in February, the lowest rate since 1983, according to the Beacon Council. It decreased 0.3 percentage points from January 2007 and 0.6 percentage points from February 2006. In February, nonagricultural employment in Miami-Dade was 1,053,600 with a net gain of 9,900 new jobs, a 0.9 percentage point rise over the previous year, says South Florida Workforce, a jobs creation agency. Sectors with increases included construction, financial activities, retail trade, wholesale trade, hospitality, hospitals and professional services.

source: http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/070405/fyi.shtml

Tourism News:

WE'RE NO. 1: Greater Miami and the Beaches topped Smith Travel Research's Top 25 Destinations in the US in February for both hotel occupancy and average daily rate, according to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. It was the first time a destination has reached number one in both categories. Miami was ranked second last year. This is the first time the Magic City beat New York in average daily rate and Oahu Island in occupancy. The February average daily room rate locally was $230.46. It was $216.80 in New York. Occupancy reached 81.7% in Miami and the Beaches and only 79.9% in Oahu Island.

[Roark]

Condo prices rise in Miami, too
As far as existing condominiums sales, Miami was the only South Florida area to report a year-over-year gain in first quarter median prices. The 8 percent rise took median prices to $278,200 from $256,500...

Q1 condo and home prices up in Miami
South Florida Business Journal - 12:56 PM EDT Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Both Miami and Fort Lauderdale eked out tiny gains in year-over-year single-family existing home prices for the first quarter. The decline in West Palm Beach-Boca Raton was 4 percent.

The drop took median prices in West Palm Beach-Boca Raton to $378,200 from $392,900 as the number of homes sold fell 20 percent, to 1,781 homes from 2,222 homes.

The slight increase in median price in Fort Lauderdale pushed the first quarter median price to $366,900 from $366,600 as the number of homes sold declined 21 percent, to 1,557 homes from 1,978 homes.

The 2 percent median price rise in Miami made homes there the priciest in the region, at $386,300, up from $376,900 for the first quarter last year. Full Story

[Bobdreamz]

South Florida unemployment stays low
BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com

South Florida unemployment levels held steady in April, despite worries the housing market slowdown could weigh down the region's overall economy.

Broward's unemployment for April was 2.9 percent, the same as March and slightly below April 2006 when 3 percent of the county's labor force was out of work. In Miami-Dade, the April unemployment rate was 3.2 percent. That is just above March -- when 3.1 percent of workers were unemployed -- but an improvement from a year ago, when the county's unemployment rate was 3.6 percent.

South Florida led the state in over-the-year employment gains, adding 41,200 jobs.

Meanwhile, unemployment in Monroe County was 2.2 percent, largely the same as March and April. The numbers were released Friday by the state's Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Statewide unemployment was 3.4 percent, while the national jobless rate was 4.5 percent for April.

[Hia-leah JDM]

Damn Miami is doing preety damn good in that prespective.

[dave8721]

Miami made Mastercards top 50 Worldwide Centers of Commerce

http://www.mastercard.com/us/company...the_index.html

The methodology:
-Legal and political frameworks (10%) - Degree to which legal and political frameworks enable the emergence of a Global Center of Commerce.
--Economic stability (10%) - Degree to which a Center of Commerce is handicapped by an unstable economic environment, currency, or unpredictable inflation.
Ease of doing business (20%) - Availability of quality, cost-competitive trade logistics; level of interconnectedness; and ability to attract and retain talent due to a high quality of living.
-Financial flow (22%) - Measurement of the city's actual output or financial achievement.
-Business center (22%) - Degree to which the city intermediates the flow of goods, services, people, finances and information, etc.
-Knowledge creation and information flow (16%) - Degree to which information flows freely and knowledge is generated.


The top 50:
1 London
2 New York
3 Tokyo
4 Chicago
5 Hong Kong
6 Singapore
7 Frankfurt
8 Paris
9 Seoul
10 Los Angeles
11 Amsterdam
12 Toronto
13 Boston
14 Sydney
15 Copenhagen
16 Madrid
17 Stockholm
18 San Francisco
19 Zurich
20 Atlanta
21 Miami
22 Houston
23 Washington D.C.
24 Berlin
25 Milan
26 Munich
27 Montreal
28 Vancouver
29 Brussels
30 Vienna
31 Dublin
32 Shanghai
33 Barcelona
34 Melbourne
35 Geneva
36 Bangkok
37 Dubai
38 Kuala Lumpur
39 Santiago
40 Budapest
41 Prague
42 Mexico City
43 Rome
44 Tel Aviv
45 Mumbai
46 Beijing
47 Johannesburg
48 Sao Paulo
49 Warsaw
50 Moscow

[Hia-leah JDM]

So Miami the 7th center of commerce in the United States.

[brickell]

Not sure where to put this but here it is:

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/138835.html

DeVito feeds a South Beach crowd

After a torrid afternoon of drenching rain and hail, the skies cleared Wednesday evening for the opening of DeVito South Beach, a high-end Italian chophouse co-owned by Danny DeVito.

''I'm proud of every single inch of it,'' DeVito said. ``The food -- you're gonna be floored. Your heads are gonna spin.''

Guests munched on Parmesan popovers, salmon croquettes and clam balls at the VIP bash.

Miami Beach Commissioner Simon Cruz presented the Get Shorty star with a key to the city during a small red-carpet ceremony outside the Ocean Drive spot.

''I can park anywhere now,'' DeVito joked, then added seriously, ``This has been a dream come true . . . [South Beach] is the damn hippest place on the planet.''

DeVito's date was daughter Lucy, an actress who appeared with Dad in the F/X comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Wife Rhea Perlman (Cheers) was in London filming a play.

[spellbound]

LOL...funny stuff.

("clam balls??")

[Roark]

Originally Posted by brickell

Not sure where to put this but here it is:
DeVito feeds a South Beach crowd

It's as good a place as any...there is a segment of the tourism industry where travelers choice Urban environments in the sole pursuit of fine dining and celebrity chefs. South Beach is one of those destinations.
I beleive that the entire Bravo Network's Top Chef program will feature South Beach this season.
Sadly, the producers passed on Flamingo as a location because pool is too close to the bay and the breezes comprimised their audio equiptment on their 3 site visits.

[kevinkagy]

Yeah, it's called "Top Chef Miami".

[Hia-leah JDM]

I know that the kitchen set where the chefs do the challenges was filmed in a warehouse in downtown.

[thetallerthebetter]

I love inside scoops.. what part of downtown? east or west of n miami ave? north or south of 395?

[Hia-leah JDM]

It was filmed in a warehouse south of 395, but thats as much as i know, the warehouse has also been a set for other shows or movies but i dont know the specifics.

[Roark]

I was at a luncheon today where the POTUS and a distinguished panel talked about the importance of the Columbian, Peruvian, and Panamanian Trade agreements. These mean big bucks especially to Miami.
When it seemed that the FTAA was all but dead, the Bush Admin. has kept carrying the torch of the Clinton Admin. to push for Free Trade Agreements in the countries in South/Central America and the Carribean Islands.

The crème de la crème of Miami's political and business community gave President George W. Bush a standing ovation after he endorsed free trade agreements with Panama, Peru and Colombia during a Friday afternoon speech. more....

The strategy seems to be to settle these agreements, and then one day weave them back together as a FTAA.

[intresant]

Yeah, the one with Chile has been an astounding success.

The problem with these three is getting them through congress. The peruvian and Panamanian one should go through, but the Colombian is having a harder time than the others because congress says Uribe hasn't done enough with the guerrillas which is absolutely preposterous. Hopefully at least the other two will go through.

Worst case scenario, none of them go through and poor countries will continue to be just that. Poor for ever and ever. Until we get another Bill Clinton or something. (Hillary seems sceptical of free trade for some reason which is a pitty). I would like to think she's just catering to her base for now. Hopefully...

[Roark]

Originally Posted by interesan-t

The problem with these three is getting them through congress. ... Colombian is having a harder time than the others because congress says Uribe hasn't done enough with the guerrillas which is absolutely preposterous..

That's right. Congress needs to get real. Walking away from an agreement with Columbia is going to make things worse. Especially when the Panamanian and Peruvian deal is signed. We will be trading like crazy with those countries and the brains of Columbia will cross the borders for higher paying jobs. The only ones left in Columbia will be easy marks to be recruited by drug trafficers and NARCOs.
What a shame that would be.
It was great to be there to see the bipartisan support from economists, politicians and stakeholders today. Now, if those select anti-immigration constituents could see the positive aspects of free trade and these agreements, we would progress significantly.
For a lame duck term, it's good to see Jorge Bush out advocating for something so important to the future vibrancy of Miami.

[Roark]

This post could go in several places; the Transportation Thread, The CBD Development News, or the "What the hell is wrong with these people" thread. But here it goes...The City of Miami will approve $50M over several years to get about $850M in matching funds from the County & State. 3-2 vote in favor of the no-brainer.

Posted on Fri, Dec. 14, 2007
Port tunnel survives a crucial vote
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ
The gents in the well-cut suits slapped high-fives and thumbed BlackBerry e-mails to their partners back in France: The Port of Miami Tunnel is nearly a done deal.
Miami city commissioners voted 3-2 Thursday to bankroll $50 million toward the $914 million tunnel -- days before a deadline that threatened to kill a megaproject discussed for more than two decades and nearly left for dead.
Yet the port tunnel survived, in part, because it was included as one piece in a far-reaching revival plan pitched by Mayor Manny Diaz.
Two other development projects that also had encountered opposition secured funding as pieces of the larger, historic whole: paying off a $2.5 million yearly debt for Jungle Island and helping underwrite a $200 million Miami streetcar.
The tunnel, Jungle Island and streetcar contributions are part of a global agreement with Miami-Dade County that would expand the Omni Community Redevelopment Area boundaries to include the tunnel portals on Watson Island.
''We're very pleased. But we still have a lot of work to do,'' said Paul Boucher, the Toronto-based project director for the global investment bank Babcock & Brown.
The bankers are partnering with the French construction giant Bouygues Travaux Publics and others to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the tunnel over a 35-year period.
The bulk of the tunnel construction money is coming from the state, $457 million, and Miami-Dade County, $402 million.
Miami-Dade's approval is needed next.
County commissioners, who ratified their portion of the tunnel financing in August, must now endorse the new CRA boundaries and spending plans.
Johnny Martinez, the state Department of Transportation's Miami chief, said he didn't want to celebrate until county commissioners vote Tuesday.
Yet he and others envision a tunnel that will provide direct access to the port from the expressways and interstates -- instead of choking downtown streets with cargo trucks and buses shuttling cruise passengers.
It is not yet known whether a toll will be placed on the tunnel. Under the county's portion of the plan, the port is responsible for a minimum $43 million contribution.
Boucher said the tunnel consortium is hoping to hammer out the final contract with the state DOT by early May. Final designs should be completed by spring 2009.

A special tunnel-boring machine will be built and brought to Miami to dig the twin tubes more than 100 feet below the surface of Government Cut. If all goes as planned, the tunnel could open by late 2012.

[theDirector]

Wow. That is some good news. it is getting there. keep fingers crossed.

[intresant]

YESSS!!!! Now on to the submersion of 395 around the pac!!!