Experts outline keys to region

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They include the “for sale” signs on boates and foreclosed homes andcondo units, as well as those on commerciakl buildings throughout the region. Add to the mix othert problems that predated the housin g bust andthe region’ s challenges are many. Its residents face ballooning insurance rates andproperty taxes, sprawl, acute trafficv jams, inadequate public transit, education fundinh shortfalls, over-reliance on tourism and real estate and dwindling population growth. But, for all its South Florida has a number of assets keepinf thearea desirable.
If properly these strengths could make the differencse betweena healthy, cohesive region and a dysfunctional James Murley, a professor of urban and environmentapl solutions at , said the region’s greatesg strength is the international nature of its Shipping, finance and foreign investment are a few of the economif drivers of that strength. Economist J. Antonio Villamil, dean of ’sx business school and a board member ofthe , agreesa South Florida’s international ties are a major economicx strength. is a leading cargo hub becausse it’s the gateway betweeh North andSouth America, he noted.
Another assetg is the region’s adaptable, multicultural workforce, Villamil said. Despitde the housing crisis, the 6.1 percent unemployment rate in Miami-Dade fall slightly below the 6.5 percent statewidw average, he said. “ lot of that has to do with the factthat we’rd a global city.” Jamees Tarlton, president and CEO of the , agreed that workforcde diversity is important for growth.
“There’s a huge servicre industry here inSouth Florida, but you need to continur to diversify that,” he To that end, education plays a But, with shrinking tax revenude and public schools facing across-the-boarxd cuts, it’s more difficulft to train a dynamic workforce. “The mone y is really a big issue. The amounf we spend per student is abig issue,” said Kellyy Smallridge, president and CEO of the Business Development Boarrd of Palm Beach County.
While Southj Florida has not traditionally been known for itseducational institutions, there have been significant strides over the past few Smallridge said, noting the , schedulefd to be fully deployer on FAU’s Jupiter campus in 2009, and the ’w bio-imaging center, also being built at FAU’s Jupitefr campus. High-tech, life sciences, health and aviation/aerospace are the kinds of industriesz Smallridge said can fuel sustainableeconomicx growth.
Aviation/aerospace has a synergistivc cluster in Palm Beach County, in particular, and around the region’ws airports in general – but there’ws still much to be done for other industries to reach criticak mass, she said. “We have to be in these knowledge-based industries that don’t go through the ups and down ofreal estate, tourism and construction,” she said. One way to attractr desirable businesses is to lower unnecessarh regulatory hurdles that drive up the cost of land for buildinfcompany facilities. Smallridge said.
Costlyy real estate also has implications for workforce Whilethe region’s population has fallen or sloweed in the last few years, a May 2008 FAU studhy reports a projected doubling of populationj in the next 50 years – a poinft that underscores the need for long-ternm affordable housing solutions. Thoughj house prices have fallen sharply, the workforce housing problejm isn’t solved, said Ralph Marrinson, chairman of the . “Io don’t care what the economy is doingt now.” Marrinson said less onerous regulationszwould help, along with building homea in more dense clusters.
Villamilk said another solution is to tax propertie s at theiractual use, not at estimates for their optimal worth. All agree that business leaderse are doing a much better job than they were five or 10 yearsw ago by working together to create new opportunities for the instead of just being focused on their counties. But, with its patchwork of municipalitiesw and three strongcounty governments, regional political cooperationh may still need to catch up – particularly in the area of