The South Florida Story
To highlight the pressing challenges and opportunities facing our region, CUES, in partnership with the South Florida Regional Resource Center, produced a video called the South Florida Story. This video, broadcast at several South Florida events over the course of the previous year, can be viewed by clicking on the “South Florida Story” link on www.cuesfau.org.

Florida Indicators Network
CUES and Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. hosted the fifth meeting of the Florida Indicators Network (FIN) on March 7, 2007 in Jacksonville, FL in conjunction with the Fifth International Conference of the Community Indicators Consortium. It was the largest FIN meeting yet with over 25 participants representing 17 different organizations. Since its inception the network has grown to include almost 50 people from over 20 organizations around the state, and continues to expand its reach. There are representatives from South Florida, Central Florida, Tampa Bay, Southwest Florida, Northeast Florida, and Northwest Florida, along with state agencies such as the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Chamber Foundation.

CUES Scans Regional Visions for Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida
Florida is facing new and exciting challenges as it prepares to add almost 10 million more people over the next 25 years. From its large metropolitan areas to its rural inlands, Florida’s regions will all be affected by growth-related changes that many regions in the state are already experiencing. It is critical to manage population growth effectively to be prosperous in the new global economy, while maintaining the quality of life that Floridians enjoy. As requested by the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida, CUES reviewed visioning projects throughout the State of Florida to identify key issues of primary concern as defined by Florida’s 11 regional planning councils and other key sources. Each regional scan is a compilation of summary statements and key vision statements and/or goals that address various issues in three key areas: environment, economy, and quality of life. The regional visions are being used by the Century Commission as the basis for developing a statewide vision for Florida. To review the report, see http://www.floridaindicators.org/pdf/FinalFLVISION82.pdf.

Rail-Volution Comes to South Florida
From October 31-November 3, 2007 North Miami Beach played host to the Annual Rail-Volution Conference, a national event dedicated to promoting the role of land use and transit as equal partners in the quest for greater livability and stronger communities. CUES Director Jim Murley opened the Plenary Session by providing a historical perspective of rail in South Florida. His presentation focused on Henry Flagler’s effort to successfully establish a rail system that greatly impacted the region’s growth as well as the role of rail in the South Florida region. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj-hCX71v1c&eurl=http://www.sfrrc.net/ for a video that was produced for and shown at this event.

Regional Indicators
CUES is currently engaged in writing its fourth regional indicators report. The first publication, issued in 2001, and entitled Imaging the Region: South Florida Through Indicators and Public Opinions, served to raise awareness about South Florida’s common regional identity. The second in the series, Regional Shift: South Florida in Transition, highlighted important updates from the 2000 census. 2005’s report, Charting the Course: Where is South Florida Heading? included information on hurricane impacts and comparisons to other regions along with four future scenarios that the region may face. The current report, tentatively entitled Preserving Paradise: Soflo’s Call to Action, tells the story of our rapidly changing region with an eye towards the importance of crafting a vision for a prosperous tropical paradise as its future. This report will be released in mid-spring. Data for our reports is continually updated and housed on our website, www.soflo.org.

Fourth South Florida Regionalism Summit
The future of the South Florida region hinges on how quickly and aggressively we address the challenging quality of life issues confronting us. Collectively, we could decide whether or not to build and maintain housing we can afford, transportation systems that move people and goods efficiently from place to place and local services that reasonably match our ability to pay for them. This summit included the voices of those who have been working hardest to address the issues, face the challenges and resolve the problems. Participants actively learned what they could do, individually and collectively, to make a difference. The event, sponsored by the South Florida Regional Leadership Council, of which CUES is a member, took place on May 23rd, 2007. For a detailed agenda from the day, see http://www.sfrrc.net/leadership/2007summit/agenda.htm.

CUES Co-sponsored Summit Exploring Relationship Between Affordable Housing and Economic Development
On November 8, 2007 CUES and the Economic Development Research Institute held a one-day symposium intended to stimulate discussion about current gaps in affordable housing and economic development research in South Florida. The conference provides an opportunity for academic researchers in fields such as planning, architecture, and business to engage with regional practitioners and policy makers to share ideas on an array of issues pertaining to affordable housing in South Florida. The symposium enabled stakeholders from the South Florida region to collectively raise the bar on local research that explores the nexus between the high costs of housing—both ownership and rental—and other real estate and economic development.

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Our coastal and ocean policy work is focused on beach management, the marine industry, coastal planning and climate adaptation, and hazard mitigation.

Projects that CUES has undertaken have helped policy and decision makers address the important coastal/ocean issues include:

• Studying hurricane vulnerability and the impacts of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne on Florida’s Treasure Coast. The “Living on the Edge: Coastal Storm Vulnerability of the Treasure Coast Barrier Islands” report analyzes the relationship between the growing cost of hurricanes and demographic trends, development practices and planning policies.
• Determining the importance of beach management to state and national economies The current phase of this project will provide estimates on the level of coastal use in six areas (beach visitors, recreational fishing, SCUBA diving and snorkeling, recreational boating, surfing, and others) and the economic value of each use, maps of these usage types for each of Florida’s 35 coastal counties, an economic analysis of coastal tourism, including estimates of the value and characteristics of tourist-related businesses, such as hotels, restaurants and retail stores.
• Calculating the cumulative impact of marine industries and development on coral reefs (scroll down to “Maritime Industries and Coastal Construction Impacts” for the “MICCI Project 26” documents.)
• Identifying statewide public water access
• Assessing South Florida’s Marine Workforce
• Analyzing Miami River maritime businesses
• Participating in the Monroe County Marine Management Strategic Plan
• Staffing the Florida Ocean Alliance, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public/private partnership of government, academic, and private sector interests formed in 1999 to promote awareness and understanding of the ocean’s importance to the state’s ecology and economy.
• Partnering on an Intracoastal Waterway Plan for Palm Beach County
• Planning for Monroe County Evacuation by providing an update to and modification of socio-economic data used for evacuation planning in the Florida Keys.
• Developing the Palm Beach County Manatee Protection Plan
• Analyzing Holistic Planning Opportunities for Coastal High Hazard Areas as part of the Florida Hurricane Alliance
• Developing a State Policy Framework for Adaptation to Climate Change in Florida’s Coastal Communities
• Preparing a Hazard Mitigation Plan for FAU’s Boca Raton Campus

More detail on many of these efforts can also be found at http://www.cuesfau.org/newsletter/07_Nov_text.htm

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CUES Redevelopment and Revitalization of Southeast Florida Project
CUES has organized the only web-based redevelopment resource for Southeast Florida redevelopment agencies and related stakeholders. The web page, http://www.cuesfau.org/cra/index.asp, includes announcements of major conferences on redevelopment being organized by the Institute of Government as well as other organizations, and has major planning and implementation documents of the more than 50 community redevelopment agencies within the region available for downloading or accessible via links. In addition there are resource sections with articles organized by topic as well as case studies and student papers.

CUES Design Institute Promotes Sustainability Through Design
Two sessions of the award-winning Florida Public Officials Design Institute at Abacoa were held in 2007. The ninth and 10th sessions were held in June and November 2007. The June session included the Village of Palm Springs, City of Miami Beach, City of Riviera Beach and City of West Palm Beach. The November session included the City of Bradenton, the City of Hallandale Beach, the City of Vero Beach, and the Village of Pinecrest.

Both sessions began with teams of design experts visiting the communities for site tours hosted by the officials and presentations by staff on day one. Later that evening, participants enjoyed a keynote address by John McIlwain, Senior Resident Fellow, ULI/J. Ronald Terwilliger, Chair for Housing at the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in Washington, D.C., during the June session and Phil Myrick of the Project for Public Spaces, during the November session. The second day of the Design Institute consists of an all day workshop during which the design team addresses the challenges of each project. Through brainstorming sessions, the team suggests ideas, develops alternative solutions and makes recommendations. The Florida Public Officials Design Institute at Abacoa is dedicated to improving South Florida communities by offering training in smart growth and design and by promoting sustainability through design. For more information please visit www.floridadesigninstitute.org.

Palm Beach County Strategic Economic Development Plan Adopted
CUES worked with the Palm Beach County Economic Development Office to produce the 21st Century Palm Beach County Strategic Economic Development Plan. The plan is aligned for implementation with the emerging State of Florida Strategic Economic Plan, Palm Beach County’s five year Capital Improvement Plan and the Business Development Board’s five year performance contract. At the March 13, 2007 meeting, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously adopted the Plan. Five strategic directions are outlined: Prosperity, Sustainability, Quality of Place, Equity and Education and Positioning. The Plan recognizes that Palm Beach County is on the tipping point of change with an economy that is linked to national and international trends. It also recognizes that to compete and thrive, the County will have to adopt economic development strategies and actions that are flexible, innovative and sustainable. This Strategic Economic Plan is a roadmap to effectively compete within these new realities. To review the plan, see http://www.pbcgov.com/edo/pdf/PBC_EconPlan_Adopted_March13.pdf.

Educating Government Officials on Green Developmen
Working with the FAU Institute of Government, CUES organized and a new seminar in the annual Redevelopment Series, on “Redeveloping Green” in June 2007. This program, held in Coconut Creek, brought together public officials from more than 20 local governments to listen to and discuss the issues and options relating to green redevelopment as well as examine a number of case studies in detail.  The “Redeveloping Green” seminar will be repeated in Hollywood in February 2008. See http://wise.fau.edu/fiog/pdfs/HOTTOPICSWINTER2008-14.pdf for upcoming seminars.

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CUES assisted Broward County School Board on School Concurrency Issues
On January 12, 2007 CUES convened a Peer Review Panel for the draft Broward County Amended Interlocal Agreement for Public School Planning (ILA). The Panel was made up of experts selected for their knowledge of public school concurrency and their familiarity with the provisions of Senate Bill 360. Panel members included Maria Cahill, Planning Director of Morris-Depew Associates, Inc. in Tallahassee; Lorraine Duffy Suarez, Manager of Growth Management for the School District of Hillsborough County in Tampa; and Nancy E. Stroud, Esq., with Lewis Stroud & Deutsch, P.L. in Boca Raton.

Miami-Dade Climate Change Adaptation Task Force
Director Jim Murley and recently deceased Senior Fellow, Nick Bollman both served on the Miami-Dade Climate Change Adaptation Task Force throughout 2007. The 32-member group is comprised of area opinion leaders including county and state officials, scientists, engineers, business executives, regional planners and other experts. Miami-Dade County was one of the first areas in the country to officially recognize global climate change as an important concern and take necessary steps toward planning for and preventing serious climate change issues. Miami’s location and other issues, such as rising seas and the intrusion of salt water on the county's drinking water system are some of the topics the Climate Change Task Force addresses. The task force has also discussed a number of initiatives that would reduce greenhouse gases and attempt to reverse the effects of global warming. The "Climate Resilient Communities" campaign is the most recent community action effort implemented by the Miami-Dade Climate Change Adaptation Task Force. Click here for more information on the County’s efforts.

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CUES underwent a strategic planning process in 2007. Although our plan will be impacted by changes in the FAU’s funding infrastructure, CUES plans to achieve the following goals:

Goal 1:
ASSIST IN EFFORTS TO MEET THE COMMUNITY'S TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN THE AREAS OF LEADERSHIP, PROFESSIONAL, AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions will continue to provide training and development opportunities to government employees and elected officials throughout the region and will explore bringing its successful programs to other places.

Goal 2:
BUILD, ENHANCE, AND DEVELOP THE CENTER'S RESEARCH CAPACITY AND EXPERTISE
Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions will continue to improve its research capacity and areas of expertise to reflect the needs of FAU’s service area.

Goal 3:
ASSIST FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY IN MEETING COMMUNITY NEEDS AND FULFILLING UNIQUE INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES BY ADVANCING SUSTAINABILITY AND REGIONAL COOPERATION
Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions will continue to serve as an important outreach arm of the University and will build its capacity to respond to pressing regional issues.

Goal 4:
INCREASE CENTER'S VISIBILITY WITHIN AND BEYOND FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions aims to increase visibility of its activities both within FAU and in the greater South Florida community.

Meeting these goals would not be possible if not for the congeniality the Center shares with its many partners and collaborators and if not for the support of FAU and its College of Architecture, Urban, and Public Affairs. Please contact us with project ideas and other activities that will help us meet our goals, serve the university, and the South Florida region.

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