Because there is so much international activity swirling around us both inside and outside the general locale, I am instituting a new approach in keeping the readership informed...

Introducing KUDOs and KOs, a rating chart for those who are moving or not moving, as the case may be, the region's international trade and finance agenda forward...

______________________________________________

KUDO to Dr. J. Antonio "Tony" Villamil and St. Thomas University's School of Business for hosting Enterprise Florida's Global Commerce Roadmap Forum on July 14th in North Miami, Florida......

KO...to Palm Beach County's Economic Development Interests for not attending the Global Commerce Forum. Of particular note is that the Economic Development Director for the city of Delray Beach was there looking for new and expansive opportunities for his city to invest in for their future...


KUDO to Port Everglades, Port of Miami, and JaxPort for participating in the Global Commerce Forum where strong argument was offered for infrastructure and logistics funding designed to improve Florida's competitive posture as the widening of the Panama Canal comes on line...

KO...to Port of Palm Beach for not attending and participating. The "inland port" project was not even mentioned throughout the entire morning. Of course, the inland port is only the most significant project for job creation and business attraction in the county today...


KUDO to the state of Georgia for moving forward in an accelerated fashion to bring online additional "inland port" capacity in readiness for the Panama Canal expansion.....

KO...to all those special interests that are standing in the way of the state of Florida moving forward with the intermodal logistics center on the south side of Lake Okeechobee, in Palm Beach County at South Bay.....

KUDO to Riviera Beach's CRA for taking a bold move to attract international finance for the marine and yachting industry expansion. Riviera Beach is participating in the EB 5 Visa financing program where foreign nationals are encouraged to make investments in business projects that create jobs for employable U.S. workers. Such investments provide the foreign national with a path to permanent residency in the U.S.. Just as an example, the city of Seattle has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars through this legislative source over the last decade...

KO...to Palm Beach County's Business Development Board for ignoring this program and not including it as an incentive to companies locating in south Florida. Palm Beach County is the only "designated region" recognized by Homeland Security on the southeast coastline and, therefore, allows Palm Beach County advantage over surrounding counties in business attraction (see www.palmbeachinvestmentandfinance.com)...

KUDO to Palm Beach County's Sports Commission and Tourist Development Board for making significant progress in bridging the gap between business and tourist interests....There are numerous examples now where tourism is embracing business in the emerging efforts to rebrand our county as a world class business destination as well as a world class tourist destination.....

KO to Palm Beach County itself for not getting the convention center hotel done. There's just no excuse...

KUDO to Kevin Johns, Palm Beach County's Economic Development Director for his visionary three years of service to the people of this community. Last year, the county's 21st Century Strategic Development Plan won an award for excellence in a national competition....Rumor has it that this year's entry may even surpass that lofty achievement.

KO to Palm Beach County budget cuts for the lack of vision as to wealth generation inherent through economic development. Last budget year the Economic Development Office took a 25% reduction in funds to accomplish its tasks. This year, EDO anticipates an additional 30% reduction from their operating budget......Raising taxes is not the answer...generating capital investment projects through good and thoughtful policy is.....no telling how much new tax revenues might be available to spend.....

KUDO to Marty Rogow, Leadership Palm Beach, and Andrew Baumann, Esq. of Lewis, Longman and Walker for the tireless effort at drafting an ethics code and ballot initiative to aid in changing the culture of corruption that hangs over the county due to the very well publicized criminal prosecutions of the past three years...

KO to this writer for being late to accept the necessity of the ethics code efforts. I have become a believer in this effort and look to the day when the cloud of corruption removes itself form our horizons and civility returns to local government.

------------------------- LOCAL POLITICAL KUDOS AND KOS --------------------------

KUDO to term limits. Holding political office for life is unhealthy. After a while, there are less and less new ideas, less and less new voices...county commissioners, port commissioners, city commissioners...8 years is enough...public service works when the elected official serves the public...one wonders who is served by decades old elected officials.

KO to political dynasty. For example, Representative Brandenburg running for County Commission and her husband, Peter, wanting to run for her current seat in the state legislature...what's up with this?????



KUDO to the newly arrived county commissioners... Commissioner(s) Abrams, Taylor and Vana have already changed the face and character of the county commission as a whole...New policy positions...new, more efficient approaches to budgeting and less micro managing may now be anticipated...

KO to those opposing nonpartisian local elections. All government is inherently evil and Partisian government is no different. The party system may be necessary in lofty places like Tallahassee and Washington but, locally, it is not useful and simply detracts from efforts towards good government. Who cares what party politic one subscribes to when the issue is public safety, potable water, road concurrency, planning and zoning, etc, etc, etc...?



KUDO to the Business Forum and the Economic Council for their work in highlighting alternative thinking on how the public's treasure is managed. The hard questions, the reasoned position papers and their measured voice within the budget process are commendable. A big applause to Mike Jones for his steady hand in moving through these tough, often unwelcomed waters.

KO to all those who oppose fiscal restraint. Taxpayers can no longer afford spending at the unprecendent levels of the last decade. In good times and bad, fiscal restraint must be the prime objective. Two well researched articles capture this concept but have gone largely ignored... Florida Taxwatch's paper on fiscal policy is worthy of greater consideration and Sid Dinerstein's letter to the Post raises serious fiscal questions meritorious of greater public discourse and debate.


While there is so much more worthy of comment, I suspect boredom may have set in...Thanks to those of you that continue to contribute to the content of this newsletter...I trust we will continue to appreciate each other...

--Al Zucaro