What this man said about our neighbors is true of Florida

Thoughts shared by a man who has seen what is happening to the tourism industry in the Caribbean. Perhaps his thinking has some relevance for Florida:


The Caribbean: Thoughts on the Way Forward post COVID

By Hugh Magbie

"The discussion about whether to open or not should be easy. Don’t put anyone’s life at risk for [money]. That one is simple. Tourism has been the easy way out for the Caribbean. Slap-up some hotels, a dock, an airport and they will come. A little money trickles down to the “ natives, but most of tourism’s dollars go to the rich mainland owned corporations. Tourism has become the prime source of GDP for most islands.

The pandemic has changed all of that, even if tourism comes back to “normal”, many businesses have closed forever.

The massive layoffs mean increased homelessness, hunger, and crime. All at the same time we’re fighting a pandemic.

Most islands will not have contingency plans for such a catastrophe.

Think of St Thomas, six mega cruise ships a day, a day! The economy of St Thomas is dependent on those ships coming.

That’s not gonna happen for some time. No matter how hopeful and confident the cruise executives are, the fact remains the pandemic is raging in the US.

St Croix gets one or two ships a week but it has a lot of small businesses and an oil refinery, a more diverse economy. It also has an excellent internet infrastructure.

Now is the time for a comprehensive regional plan one encompassing as many islands that would wish to join.

Our mission?

To create a sustainable, growing economy that is diverse in its components, utilizing governmental grants assistance in transforming our islands into technologically advanced, locally invented and developed and sold to the world.

We could be world leaders in renewable energy, being blessed with the everlasting trade winds and abundant sunlight. Windmills and solar would decentralize our electrical systems, now reliant on Inefficient, expensive white elephants. They should also be user-owned electric co-ops.

I have a patent in wireless technology, it’s in every phone. It did not take millions to develop, it took brainpower, the collaboration of five minds, providing sweat equity.

Apple, developed in a garage, Microsoft, in a house, Facebook, in a dorm, and none of us have a degree.

There are thousands of engineers and scientists in the Caribbean and many more thousands working abroad.

There are industries that we need to develop; biotech, gasification plants to convert our garbage into natural gas, finding pharmaceuticals from our natural plants and seaweed, cannabis agriculture, food sustainability and eradicating hunger.

We must also serve the people, setting up some sort of Democratic socialism that provides the basic needs for all.

The engine that makes all of this run is education. Quality, high-quality education dedicated to the potential of each student is vital. Just a few thoughts."

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For more thinking in this line, see this brief talk by Kate Raworth:

County’s ‘bed tax’ revenue up close to $1.5 million for first six months of fiscal year

County’s ‘bed tax’ revenue up close to $1.5 million for first six months of fiscal year

May 17, 2018 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

March collections came close to the $4-million mark, Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office reports

Visitors make their way by Big Olaf’s in Siesta Village. Rachel Hackney photo

Through February, the county’s Tourist Development Tax (TDT) revenue was up more than $1 million year-over-year. Thanks to the traditional big boost in March, the total “bed tax” collections so far this fiscal year are almost $1.5 million higher than they were by the end of March 2017, the latest figures show.

March typically is the month during which collections exceed the $3-million mark, Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates and her staff have told members of Sarasota County’s Tourist Development Council. This year, the March figure came its closest yet to the $4-million mark.

The entities that report the revenue to the Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office collected $3,935,699.06 in March, the Tax Collector’s Office has announced. That was an increase of $401,622.98 compared to the March 2017 TDT figure, the report says.

Overall, through the first six months of this fiscal year, bed tax revenue is up $1,483,768.28, the Tax Collector’s Office data show.

Audits and other revisions of the figures can lead to refined numbers Ford-Coates and her staff also have cautioned. Generally, over the past several years, those changes have been reflected in slight upticks of figures. For example, the numbers for TDT revenue for November and December 2017, as well as for January and February, are higher in the latest report from the Tax Collector’s Office. The February number rose from $249,363,85, as shown in the data reported through March 31, to $276,064, as noted in the report dated April 30.

Yet, the October 2017 number has dipped slightly in the most recent report. Last month, it was listed as $138,779.87. The latest data show it to be $138,777.72.

Oct. 1 marks the start of each county fiscal year.

A chart compares the latest TDT revenue figures to those for preceding fiscal years. Image courtesy Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office

Overall, the county has collected $13,661,068.08 in TDT revenue so far this fiscal year. Of that total, $565,606.05 was reported by residents who rent accommodations through the Airbnb internet service, the Tax Collector’s Office pointed out.

The previous two fiscal years, the county set records in the amount of TDT it collected. The funds are used for a variety of projects, including beach maintenance and renourishment, as well as to cover the debt service on bonds the county issued to assist with the construction of the new Atlanta Braves Spring Training complex in the West Villages community outside North Port.

The March report also shows Siesta Key passing the city of Sarasota as the location for the highest total of collections. Siesta Key entities that collect the bed tax contributed 30.08% of the total thus far this fiscal year, compared to 28.49% for the city of Sarasota. Siesta typically wins recognition for the highest amount of TDT revenue hosts report each year in specific areas of the county.

In its report on the second quarter of the 2018 fiscal year — provided for the Tourist Development Council meeting scheduled for May 17 — Visit Sarasota County noted that the number of tourists visiting the county from January through March was up 2.7% compared to the same three months of 2017. The March figure was 3.5% higher than the figure for March 2017, the report said, with a total of 169,800.

Moreover, those visitors’ direct spending increased 4% for that quarter, compared to the second quarter of the 2017 fiscal year, the figures showed. The total for the three months, based on research undertaken for Visit Sarasota County, was $413,300,400, the report noted.

January saw the highest year-over-year change: 4.4%, followed by March with 4.1% and February with 3.4%. Direct spending in January was $100,809,700.

A Visit Sarasota County report shows data from the second quarter of the fiscal year. Image courtesy Visit Sarasota County

However, the occupancy rate for hotels/motels/condominiums was down 1.3% for February and 0.8% for both January and March, compared to the figures for the same months in 2017, the report said. The average daily rate charged was up 4.9% in March to $256.94; in February, it was higher by 3.2% year-over-year, at $219.47. For January, the increase was 3%, compared to the figure for January 2017. The figure for this January was $178.57, the report said.

The Public Realm is a vanishing species

Rodential devouring of public value by those who solely see the point of private gain:

Prioritizing Economics is Crippling the U.S. Economy 

- James Allworth

Up until (roughly) the end of World War 2, almost all policy were organized around a central theme: impact on democracy. The question would be asked: what was this going to mean for our democracy? From both sides of the political spectrum, there was a common commitment to strengthening and preserving democratic ideals.

But, starting around the time of the Great Depression in the 1930s, and taking full effect by roughly the end of the 1940s, that changed.

No longer was the focus on democracy. Economic growth pushed it into the background.

There was broad recognition in Congress that if anyone managed to gain complete radio dominance in a town, city, region or country, then they would have a lock on political discourse in that region. Because the policy debate focused on impact on democracy, Congress recognized this could happen. And it feared it. As a result, spectrum was retained under Government control, and was licensed out to private parties.

Click image to enlarge

 Fast forward to the 1960s, and a very different debate was happening on allocation of spectrum. It had the same technical and economic elements as in the 1920s — which, of course, is no bad thing. But the nature of the change was stark. The focus on the impact of democracy had largely disappeared. It had been crowded out entirely by the economic focus.

But, starting around the time of the Great Depression in the 1930s, and taking full effect by roughly the end of the 1940s, that changed. 

No longer was the focus on democracy. Economic growth pushed it into the background.
There was broad recognition in Congress that if anyone managed to gain complete radio dominance in a town, city, region or country, then they would have a lock on political discourse in that region. Because the policy debate focused on impact on democracy, Congress recognized this could happen. And it feared it. As a result, spectrum was retained under Government control, and was licensed out to private parties. 

Fast forward to the 1960s, and a very different debate was happening on allocation of spectrum. It had the same technical and economic elements as in the 1920s — which, of course, is no bad thing. But the nature of the change was stark. The focus on the impact of democracy had largely disappeared. It had been crowded out entirely by the economic focus.

"Home Ownership in America Has Collapsed"

An interesting discussion from "On Point" about the collapse of the housing market, and the dilemma facing Millennials - the generation that is larger than the Baby Boomers, now coming to maturity.

Why Homeownership Isn't Catching Up With The Rest Of The Economy

Home ownership rates are at a 20-year low.  Millennials and more aren’t buying. We’ll look at what American’s think now about owning a home.

Realtor Helen Hertz stands in front of one of her listings in Cleveland Heights, Ohio Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Hertz, a real estate agent for more than three decades, has seen firsthand what has happened to the market in the wake of the recession and foreclosure crisis. (AP)

Do you want to own a home?  A house?  A condo?  After everything the country and the economy have been through, fewer Americans own a home today than at any time since 1995.  Almost twenty years.  The headlines on housing – if you care about owning – are dire.  “Home Ownership in America has Collapsed,” is typical.  Some look at Millennials as the no-shows in the market.  Millennials have their reasons.  So do a lot of others right now.  There’s still that American dream.  All cozy in your own home.  But it’s not everyone’s dream.  This hour On Point:  Home ownership in America.

– Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Susan Wachter, professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. (@Susan_Wachter)

Derek Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic. (@DKThomp)

From Tom’s Reading List

The Atlantic: Homeownership in America Has Collapsed—Don’t Blame Millennials — ” In the last 20 years, homeownership has fallen less for young people than for any other age group under 64. Today’s historically low homeownership rate isn’t the result of the cheapest generation abandoning the housing market. It’s their older cousins, Generation-X, who are really running for the exit.”

New York Times: More Renters, Less Risk for Wall St. – “Tightening mortgage rules would no doubt make it more difficult to buy and sell homes. It would lead to more renters and fewer homeowners. That might be worth it, though. Germany is doing fine with a homeownership rate of 45 percent, compared with about 65 percent in the United States, which is actually down from a peak of near 70 percent in 2004.”

National Journal: Four Ways to Help Millennials Break into the Tight Housing Market — “When the housing sector slows down or stalls (see: The Great Recession), it drags down the health of the overall economy. The debate now among economists and industry advocates, like Stevens, is whether millennials will eventually enter the housing market as they age, or whether there’s been a permanent shift that has young people no longer interested in buying homes as prolifically as their parents did.”

Walkability - A good investment

There are strong connections between walkable environments and economic viability.

"Real estate values over the next 25 years will rise fastest in "smart communities" that incorporate traditional chareacteristics of successful cities including a mix of residential and commercial districta and a "pedestrian-friendly configuration." - Walkable Communities, Inc.

Two studies shed light on the issues of Walkability and can be downloaded from the sites below:

From the Local Government Commission, The Economic Benefits of Walkable Communities.

From Smart Growth America, Foot Traffic Ahead.

Walkable communities are not just wealthier, but healthier. More here and here.