I-95, Northern Palm Beach County

Southbound on Central Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. (Hood Rd. to PGA Blvd.) where the Florida Dept. of Transportation is planning to build an I-95 interchange (to alleviate growing traffic on PGA).

"A Visual Feel For Where A New I-95 Interchange In Northern Palm Beach County Would Go" by v. johns, 12/10/13, 10:47 PM

The Florida Dept. of Transportation is planning to build a new I-95 interchange somewhere along the Central Blvd. corridor between Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. This clip illustrates the ride between Hood Rd. and PGA Blvd. 

The bridge at the start of the video slopes up and over an Eastward bending I-95. what’s not so easily seen in the video are the large townhome and apartment communities that rest on both sides of Central Blvd. between Hood Rd. and PGA Blvd. Not to mention Scripps Florida and Florida Atlantic University further north in Jupiter.

West Palm Beach, Miami, Jacksonville, Tokyo

"West Palm Beach is Larger Than Miami… and Jacksonville is Slightly Larger Than Tokyo?" by v. johns, 8/11/13, 8:48 PM

According to a Google search I did using the phrases “land area West Palm Beach FL” and “land area Miami FL” West Palm Beach is larger in total land area than Miami. With respects to population, Miami trumps West Palm Beach with a 2011 population of 408,750 versus West Palm’s population of 101,043 in the same year. But at 58.2 square miles in land area, West Palm Beach bests Miami’s 35.68 square mile land area, nearly doubling The Magic City in physical size.

For immediate visual comparison, the Google map graphics displayed on this page illustrate the physical boundaries claimed by each municipality. Above: West Palm Beach. Below: Miami. The maps are probably not to scale, but it’s clear to see that West Palm Beach’s westward sprawl takes it into land area territory slightly greater than the more compact city of Miami.

I think it’s interesting to note that places older in existence and smaller in land area seem to be more populous than newer places with larger land areas. Paris and Miami are roughly the same size (at 40.7 and 35.68 sq. mi., respectively) but Paris proper has nearly seven times the people. Land-wise, Jacksonville, Florida (at 885 sq. mi.) is slightly larger in total land area than the largest metropolitan area in the world, Tokyo, Japan  (at 845 sq. mi.)! But while Jacksonville is roughly 173,000 residents shy of a million people, the Tokyo Metropolis weighs in at over 13 million people. Granted, neither one can touch Beijing, China’s 6,487 sq. mile land area with an astounding population of over 20 million people!

No matter where you go, in this world, a place being considered to be “important” or “major” is a matter of perspective. Bigger isn’t always better but room to grow will always be a rather attractive feature for various prospective parties. Should West Palm Beach experience an economic uptick or sharper than usual demand for jobs and housing, at least on the surface, there appears to be a great deal of room to grow. Since I commute to the area quite frequently for work assignments, I can tell you, first hand, that there’s major potential for that area to become a small but booming hub of local, national, and even international, economic activity and growth. Much like it’s neighbor to the south, Miami.

For your entertainment, and mine as well, I have compiled a sectional list of well-known state, national and international locales to compare, with regards to total land area, that includes and begins with key cities here in the Southeast Florida region. For simplicity, population figures have been ignored.

Key Southeast Florida cities and their land areas:

Ft. Lauderdale: 36 sq. mi.
Key West: 7.4 sq. mi.
Miami: 35.68 sq. mi.
Port Saint Lucie: 76.7 sq. mi.
Stuart: 8.5 sq. mi.
Vero Beach: 12.93 sq. mi.
West Palm Beach: 58.2 sq. mi.

Major cities in Florida and their land areas:

Gainesville: 62.39 sq. mi.
Jacksonville: 885 sq. mi.
Orlando: 216.6 sq. mi.
Pensacola: 39.7 sq. mi.
Tallahassee: 103.1 sq. mi.
Tampa: 170.6 sq. mi.

Major U.S. Cities and their land areas:

Anchorage: 1,961 sq. mi.
Atlanta: 132.4 sq. mi.
Birmingham: 103.4 sq. mi.
Boston: 89.63 sq. mi.
Chicago: 234 sq. mi.
Charlotte: 297.7 sq. mi.
Cleveland: 82.47 sq. mi.
Dallas: 385.8 sq. mi.
Detroit: 142.9 sq. mi.
Houston: 627 sq. mi.
Honolulu: 68.42 sq. mi.
Kansas City: 319 sq. mi.
Las Vegas: 135.9 sq. mi.
Los Angeles: 503 sq. mi.
New York: 468 sq. mi.
Philadelphia: 142.6 sq. mi.
Phoenix: 517 sq. mi.
St. Louis: 66.2 sq. mi.
San Francisco: 231.9 sq. mi.
Seattle: 142.5 sq. mi.
Washington, D.C.: 68.3 sq. mi.

Major world cities and their land areas:

Beijing: 6,487 sq. mi.
Hong Kong: 426 sq. mi.
Istanbul: 2063 sq. mi.
Jerusalem: 48.3 sq. mi.
Johannesburg: 635 sq. mi.
Lagos: 385.9 sq. mi.
London: 606 sq. mi.
Mexico City: 573 sq. mi.
Moscow: 969 sq. mi.
Paris: 40.7 sq. mi.
Rio De Janeiro: 486 sq. mi.
Rome: 496 sq. mi.
Tokyo: 845 sq. mi.
Toronto: 243.2 sq. mi.

Information compiled using Google Search. Actual sources may vary.
Map data: © 2013 Google.
Article: © 2013 www.lostparadisejournl.blogspot.com.

Education, Hobe Grove, I-95

"Let Education Anchor Hobe Grove’s Future" by v. johns, 6/18/11, 1:24 AM

I just finished reading another article on the proposed Hobe Grove development being pitched by Becker Companies for land it owns near Hobe Sound in Martin county. Project representative Tom Nichols told the Stuart News that unlike Tradition in Port St. Lucie or Abacoa in Jupiter, Hobe Grove will bring jobs and education first and that building any homes depends on whether or not a university or corporation can be lured to anchor the project. (Ref: The Stuart News, Fri., June 17, 2011: “Anchor to make or break Hobe Grove”).

I find this approach to be not only in line with my own thinking (that shrinking industrial space should be favored over adding to an already high inventory of homes), but also a refreshing departure from the haphazard “Build it and they will come” approach to home building in the last decade. According to the Palm Beach Post, many of Southeast Florida’s counties are running short on land that can be zoned for industrial use. With more homes being built on this land, the potential for future economic expansion outside limited residential construction (film studios, biotech, small businesses, etc.) could be harmed.

In considering a choice of anchor for the proposed community, I believe a college or university would be the best choice for several reasons:

• First, a college or university would be in line with the higher-education corridor being formed along I-95 in the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast. In St. Lucie county, Indian River State College and Florida Atlantic University are near I-95. In Martin county, Indian River State College is not far from I-95. In Palm Beach county, Palm Beach State College, Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lynn University, and coming soon Florida State University’s digital animation college, are all located either very close to or directly off of I-95. Like Palm Beach county, Martin would do well to have educational institutions on display from our region’s most traveled roadway.
• Second, having a college or university with strong research capabilities would compliment two other corridors being formed along I-95 throughout Southeast Florida. The Scripps Florida-anchored biotechnology corridor has brought along with it University of Oregon’s VGTI, Max Planck, Torrey Pines and several biotechnology companies developing products for the market. The Digital Domain-anchored film and entertainment corridor will bring with it film and television studios and other supporting industries.
• Third, many educational institutions are known as “incubators” for fledgling, enterprising startups and individuals. Several years ago, Florida Atlantic University, in response to the arrival of Scripps Florida, began to bolster its lab space for individuals seeking to start businesses, particularly in the biotech field. With minimal overhead and the ability to conduct research and development on a small scale, the potential for innovative companies to start in and grow out of the basement, so to speak, and add valuable home-grown business and industry to our local, regional and state economies are all but limitless. 
• Fourth, educational institutions are excellent boosters for mass transit outfits. No matter what college or university you can name in any part of the state, there are always invariably problems with parking. Busy-as-a-bee and highly-social college students, while preferring to drive, have no problem taking the bus if it gets them to class on time and prevents the accumulation of parking-violation tickets. Not to mention the many games and tournaments that many sporting events draw the community at large out to.

      

In addition to the above considerations, I would suggest several ways to approach proceeding to build the project. First, I think that the project should be built in such a way that it appears to have been a part of Martin county all along. Many of the newer areas in our county are so fresh and new that they, in my opinion, actually mar the overall relaxed, laid back feel of our area. A project of this size should blend in with the overall character of the county. Second, I’d recommend the project taking a similar approach to the Palm Beach Gardens area in Palm Beach County by avoiding the building of big box retail outfits that will not only take business and charm away from Hobe Sound, but will also create unnecessary overlap in retail services. Look for new types of businesses for the county such as theme parks or waterparks that will compliment, not detract business from, other communities in our county.

Regarding that last point, new urbanism be dammed. Build this and that as close to home as you may, people will travel far and wide to acquire economic or social satisfaction (The local challenge of inter-regional mobility). So the idea would be to make sure our surface transportation outfits can handle the facilitation of that need or preference we have to travel regionally.

I have no firm opinion, one way or the other, on whether this project is good for our county or not. At this time, I’m just impressed with the approach being taken by the proposers of this project to add to Martin county’s industrial base before luring residents here to live.

This project, along with the proposed Harmony Ridge project also mentioned in the article, will no doubt change the character of the county, but in a way that the irresponsible Future Group of Martin County failed to envision. If done right, Martin can still prosper from these new towns without looking and feeling like “the rest of South Florida” (Palm Beach, Broward and Dade). In the meantime, let’s hope that no matter what is decided upon as an anchor, it will bring untold prosperity to our area.

The Southeast Florida Landscape

"Regional Observation: A Basic, Non-Professional View Of The Southeast Florida Landscape" by v. johns, 11/23/10, 12:58 AM

Down below are some terms I have used  - some original, some perhaps not -  throughout the course of composing this blog to describe Southeast Florida and its urban commuter landscape:

*  *  *  *  *

COASTAL URBAN CORE = The densely populated core area of Southeast Florida, between I-95 and U.S. 1, where the majority of Southeast Florida’s residents reside.

CITY-PLEX = A city complex. A “Metroplex” or “Twin City” typed urban area. A metropolitan area with two or more major cities closely aligned (Ex: Dallas-Ft. Worth, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, etc.)

CITY-REGION = The representative description of a region or sub-region by its largest major city. (Ex: “The Miami Region”)

FLAGSHIP MODEL = A regional model in which the largest and most influential metro area, among two or more large, influential metro areas, within that regional structure, functions as the immediately recognizable, representative body of the entire regional structure.

IMMEDIATE MIAMI VICINITY = Miami and its immediate surrounding areas.

LOCAL CHALLENGE OF INTER-REGIONAL MOBILITY = The regional dilemma involving the complex set of problems that concern the best way to achieve optimal citizen, business and governmental logistical mobility, within context of a regional setting.

MASS-TRANSIT BUBBLE = A small self-contained area, within a regional context, serviceable by mass transit, that also feeds into a mass transit loop. (Ex: Palm Beach County is its own service area but feeds into the larger Tri-Rail serviced Tri-County Area.)

MASS-TRANSIT LOOP =  A large interconnected area, serviceable by mass transit, that’s bound by sub-regional borders. (Ex: Treasure Coast, Tri-County, the Keys, Everglades.)

MASS-TRANSIT NEXUS = The dynamic convergence and culmination of all available mobility options within a regional setting.

METRO BELT = A metropolis, region or mega region served by a beltway styled freeway system. (Ex: Jacksonville, Tampa, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.)

METRO NODE: A major urban concentration or point, usually a specific city with surrounding suburbs and towns, within a regional setting. (Ex: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach are major urban points within Southeast Florida’s coastal regional structure.)  

METRO STRETCH = An elongated, densely-populated, highly-urbanized metropolis, megalopolis or mega region formed along a coastal highway network. A flagship modeled region along a major highway system that lacks a beltway freeway system.

MIAMI-INFLUENCED AREA = Synonymous with Southeast Florida. The entire regional structure that includes the city, county and natural areas of Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

PBTC METRO = The general news channel viewing area, within the larger Southeast Florida regional structure, commonly referred to as the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast.

REGIONAL DILEMMA = An issue, want, need or concern that drives an individual, business or governing entity to utilize all available mobility options, within a regional context, to acquire economic, political or social satisfaction.

REGIONAL-INTERFACE DESIGN = The general craft of designing, planning and constructing how residents and visitors will best access resources and mobility options on a regional level.

REGIONAL REALIZATION = The matching of a region’s goals with its vision of itself.

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE = The general common characteristic vicinity of a major metro area, within a regional structure, that includes the largest city or city complex and its surrounding suburbs, exurbs and bedroom communities. (Example: Miami’s sphere of influence extends from Miami roughly upwards to Pompano Beach. Ft. Lauderdale’s sphere of influence extends roughly from Hollywood to Boca Raton. West Palm Beach’s sphere of influence extends roughly from Lake Worth upwards to Indian River County.)

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA MASS-TRANSIT NEXUS = The dynamic convergence of large national and regional mass transit systems that will culminate and interact with smaller mass-transit outfits, throughout the South Florida regional structure.

*  *  *  *  *

These are all just ways of looking at Southeast Florida’s landscape, in simple terms, from the point of view of a non-professional citizen. I’ll be updating this post, as I go along, to match further observations…

Thank you for visiting www.LostParadiseFL.us.

Updated: Dec. 2 at 8:47PM.

West Palm Beach's Transit Village Plans

"West Palm Beach on the Right Track With Transit Village Plans" by v. johns

I’m reading in today’s Sunday edition of the Palm Beach Post about Palm Beach county commissioners’ plans to bring a transit-oriented development called Transit Village to West Palm Beach that would be located between Banyan to the north and Fern Street to the south. It would sit in a wedged area between Clear Lake (Think Channel 5 building) and City Place.

I've been hearing about this Transit Village for quite some time now. The first time I even heard the term “transit-oriented development” was at an SFECC Study meeting in Jupiter awhile back. Although the concept was already in my mind, the vocabulary was rather new.

With Martin County officials seemingly continually making plans to destroy the county’s urban services boundary (I’m not certain about this mind you), I hope residents here are prepared to embrace transit and transit-oriented development the way Palm Beach, Broward and Dade have done, because once its all said and done... We’re definitely gonna need it! I live in Indiantown and I DO NOT look forward to having to travel between other towns to get to and from Stuart. Then again, by the time Martin becomes so-called “Browardized,” I may have already moved to Broward!

So, getting back to West Palm Beach’s Transit Village, I had no idea the project was as huge as it looks on paper. According to the Post, this development will be composed of the following: a SciEnergy Center, an Intermodal Transit Center, hotel towers, an historic train station, new transit overpasses, office towers, a World Trade Center, a parking garage, workforce/student housing, and various retail outlets and shops. My childhood dream was to be an architect and to see this thing conceptualized on paper is just incredibly amazing. The graphic in the Palm Beach Post (on page 6B) is credited to Michael Graves and Associates Inc. and REG Architects Inc.

I once worked on a moving assignment through Manpower at one of the condos that sit off Clear Lake. The view, overlooking the lake and the Okeechobee Blvd. I-95 interchange, is awesome! West Palm Beach, because of its strict zoning requirements and limits on height, has a certain dynamism that even Miami and Ft. Lauderdale can’t capture because of the buildings being built down there blocking everything out of view in some cases. You can drive through Downtown West Palm Beach, on some streets, and actually SEE the skyline as you drive through there. In a sense, the city appears to be larger than it actually is. Still, I’d like to see one signature tall building emerge from its skyline that will make it recognizable around the world.

Aside from the view, the major human capital significance of this development is that it creates the potential for people with absolutely nothing to make a living from scratch. I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey, author of the Total Money Makeover. His idea of having a vehicle that’s bought and paid for, even if it’s a “clunker” holds well. BELIEVE ME: Car payments are no fun and actually impede use of funds that can be better put towards other more important things… Like FOOD. So, what’s the next best thing? The next best thing is having mass transit serve as “your car” until you can actually afford to buy one. Having no expenses related to transportation is one of the most liberating emotions one can experience. Whether you have one or not.

At a whopping price of half a bill, I hope Palm Beach County gets its way in constructing its Transit Village. While these types of projects cost mounds of cash, (1) money spent today is always better than money spent in the future. West Palm should know better than any city around. And, (2) in business the mantra “It takes money to make money” should also be accepted with regard to public matters. Businesses lose money on a lot of things that attract customers to their shops while making even more back on core products that customers actually crave.

Like private enterprise, public commons, through local, regional, state and even national government is one way that Americans can invest in their current and future prosperity. So, let’s not play this game that, sadly, the “Conserva-Dems” and the “Republican rank and file” like to play in always describing public works as a waste of money. This Transit Village will bring in far more money (tax dollars and jobs), over the long haul than can ever be done without it. Still, let’s hope that the “big-spending liberals” don’t get so happy spending it on a plethora of ornamental public works that they forget to save some of the money made from it for a rainy day…

Palm Beach Gardens, Bus Shelters, Biotech

"Palm Beach Gardens’ $500,000 Investment On Its Image as a Unique South Florida City Far From Being a Waste of Money" v. johns

I just finished writing a post on the importance of the marketing and branding of the South Florida region (Please scroll down and read it). In addition to the article in the Palm Beach Post on FPL Group’s rebranding itself as NextEra Energy, I also took note of an article regarding Palm Beach Gardens city council getting shaky on spending money to upgrade its bus shelters and simultaneously boost its image as a city of art.

I think it would be disastrous for Palm Beach Gardens to NOT invest in their city’s aesthetic qualities. With so many other South Florida cities nearly looking the same from over-development and rampant gentrification, Palm Beach Gardens actually stands out among many of them with its unique, unassuming skyline, its palm-tree hidden flyovers and overpasses and its overall visual appeal as a peaceful place that beckons to be lived in. I love driving through there at night when the bridge spheres are lit on the PGA Blvd./A1A overpass bridge. And while I like Lake Worth, I miss taking art classes on Palm Beach State’s Eissey campus. It’s smaller and easier to walk around.

I blame WPBF, one of my favorite South Florida newscasts, for all this second guessing. I like WPBF News. But they had no business, a few weeks ago, getting involved in how the City of Palm Beach Gardens has decided to spend money that can only be spent for the purpose it has been designated for… art. All they’ve done is stir up unnecessary controversy about nothing. Not like them at all. Instead of picking on pre-approved art funds, they should be going after pain clinics and corrupt state officials who seek to cripple the state’s education system just to get rid of the unions...

In my opinion, this matter is VERY important for Palm Beach Gardens. Their image as a city of art must be backed up by none other than… you guessed it… art. While “being seen as a highfalutin city that wants to spend a half-million dollars on bus shelters during a recession” (as Councilman Joe Russo told the Post) only happens once, being seen as a city of art and learning and biotech prowess must happen every day. When Scripps Florida leaves its Jupiter campus for a permanent Palm Beach Gardens headquarters across the road, the city is going to have to really stand out and be recognizable the world over in order to keep its allure and keep the biotech buzz and growth going. It’s got a good start already. Why not let them keep it up?

* * *

CORRECTION (Mar. 29): I made a mistake in saying that Scripps Florida was moving to palm Beach Gardens. Thank you Mr. Keith McKeown, Vice President of Communications for The Scripps Research Institute, for clarifying that the permanent campus is on the Jupiter side of Donald Ross Rd. and that "The property on the other side of Donald Ross Road is reserved for potential Scripps Florida expansion and for biotech companies and services."

Martin County’s Brain Drain Phenomenon

"Martin County’s Attempt to Plug Brain Drain Phenomenon Hinges on its Choice Between More Homes and More Jobs" by v. johns

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an ardent hoarder of newspapers and internet articles. I was shuffling through some old papers today (Mon. Aug 28) when I came across an article in the Palm Beach Post’s Inside Local Business section entitled “Martin seeks ways to attract, retain bright young talent” by Cara Fitzpatrick.

The Aug. 10 article, filed under “Treasure Coast Business” on page 2B (for you other newspaper hoarders out there), describes “brain drain” as “the flight of young, educated people from rural or small communities” and says that it’s a common problem throughout the country. Fitzpatrick reports that to assist in recruitment and retention of these talented young people, generally under age 40, the Business Development Board of Martin County and the Young Professionals of Martin County will be teaming up, this month, to conduct an online survey called “Next Leaders Survey 2009.”

Unfortunately, I failed to comment on this article in time to use a blog post as a bulletin of this survey, but I’m assuming the survey will be ongoing past the month of September. If not, then certainly the results will be well worth waiting for.

This “brain drain” phenomenon almost directly supports my conceptual construct of “the Regional Dilemma of Mobility” which states that “people are simply prone to mobility and will travel, near or far, whenever it is convenient, no matter how quaint the want or need to do so, and regardless of how desirable or convenient the amenities in their own city or town may be.” The lack of varied job and career choices, the lack of a diverse environment and, according to urban and regional planning expert Richard Florida, the lack of a thriving arts and entertainment scene that attracts creative types, only serves to worsen the “brain drain” problem. I believe that while Martin County doesn’t really lack and does possess small components of all of all-the-attributes-above, like much of South Florida, the overall environment of class warfare and income exclusivity detracts from the potential for a more varied and diverse setting that would be more attractive to hotshot young professionals.

While I applaud the Development Board and the Young Professionals in their efforts, I hope they will keep in mind the overall picture of retention and recruitment of homegrown talent on a regional level. A great deal of our young people are not simply, as the article implies, opting to move to larger areas within the region. They are bypassing the community, the region and the state altogether by attending colleges and landing jobs in other areas of the country. Some are simply moving from small communities in our county to similar communities in neighboring counties, south of here, to have access to big places like West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. While others who are determined to continue to reside in Martin, St. Lucie or Indian River are opting to commute to the larger areas of the southernmost portion of the region to work in their chosen field.

I think it’s a very good idea for Martin or any other community, for that matter, to want to retain young people to stay and help build their community into a better place and I believe that this survey will indeed reveal what these young people want and expect of their community… should they choose to stay. For the time being, however, Martin County’s continuing local government-enabled push toward obliterating it’s own well-planned urban services boundary - for the suspected purpose of more kicks for developers - only serves to worsen the minor, but changeable problem of retaining young talented professionals to live, work, study, play, relax and do business where they grew up. These young, talented professionals are not going to want to continue to reside here if the mechanisms by which they are enticed to want to reside here – namely good well-paying jobs; entertainment and dating; a hip, happening party scene; and a vast network of like-minded peers – are not present. So, instead of Martin County continuing to make the same stupid mistake most of South Florida has made in pinning its economy on residential development, shouldn’t job creation and business development be of prime concern now that it has been proven that the last decade of increased home ownership was a sham?

I agree with the Stuart News’s July 26 editorial “Focus efforts on job creation,” (different title online) that “Martin County needs more jobs unrelated to the boom-and-bust cycles of construction, agriculture, service.” I’m not against housing development because in attracting young professional talent to our community and retaining them, it would help if they had nice places to live, but in pushing residential development so heavily in a place that’s screaming for better jobs, where are we going to put these job centers if most of the land is gobbled up by disproportionate residential development?

So far Martin County has not only missed out on the opening bids for biotech research, that have gone primarily to Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, but has also dropped the ball in attracting a digital media arts studio called Digital Domain which was fully supported and nabbed by St. Lucie County. This, once again, according to an editorial in the Stuart News (“Martin should learn from its failure to lure digital production studio”) printed this past Sunday (Sept. 27).

In conclusion: From here on out, Martin County is going to have to make some serious choices regarding the coming heavyweight matchups between job-based growth and growth for the sake of growth. With the possibility of the green and biotech sectors ushering in a completely new type of economy for the 21st century, Martin County, green as it is, by continuing to rely too heavily on “construction, agriculture (and) service,” may put us all at risk of losing out on all the possibilities that lie ahead…

Future Group’s Vision

"Future Group’s Vision Ignores a Regional Dilemma" by v. johns

People have a tendency to go where the action is on any given topic. Though you will find local yokels anywhere you go, in areas where multiple municipalities are clustered or aligned in close proximity, people will generally take advantage of that proximity by patronizing neighboring cities, counties and towns for various necessities and amenities not found in their own immediate jurisdiction. In other words, when people can’t find what they need in their own immediate settings, if possible, they’ll venture out to the nearest locale of opportunity to access their various interests and needs.

The need to travel anywhere outside one’s immediate occupied domain for entertainment, recreation, work, education, etc. is a part of a concept I am developing that I call “the Regional Dilemma.” The concept of the Regional Dilemma assumes that people are simply prone to mobility and will travel, near or far, whenever it is convenient, no matter how quaint the want or need to do so, and regardless of how desirable or convenient the amenities are in their own city or town may be. Thus, the regional dilemma of not only having to travel for economic purposes, but also for personal preferences, asks the question: How is this need to travel best facilitated?

Having said all this, I’m not convinced that the Future Group’s alleged mission to improve Martin County’s land use plan is sufficient to address this question. I haven’t read any of the official amendments or proposals, but I do have in front of me an article by the EAR Working Group that I printed off the Future Group website entitled “Planning for Future Martin County” and I’m already in question of their intent which they claim is to: “foster walkable, mixed use, ‘down home’ towns, communities and hinterlands that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.” Oh, really?

According to some articles and editorials in local newspapers such as the Stuart News and the Palm Beach Post, this group seeks to change the current land use plan in a way that will destroy Martin’s famed urban services boundary by allowing for the building of new towns out west, here in Martin County. I’m trying to figure out how building new towns and attracting more traffic and service demands out this way will contribute to economic, social and environmental sustainability as they put it.

I have heard that these new towns would be built in such a manner that the need to leave their vicinities for day-to-day needs and amenities would be reduced. This is assuming that anything Stuart or Indiantown or Jensen Beach has could be crammed into these towns in a way that people would not want to leave these towns to access these amenities in Stuart, Indiantown or Jensen Beach. Things such as: gyms, movie theaters, bookstores, pharmacies, schools, malls… the beach! The beach? Uh, oh… Problem!

See, the problem with the Future Group’s rip-off of the Town, Villages and Cities concept (TVC), once embraced by St. Lucie County, is that ignores the fact that no matter what, whether it be for small reasons like movie theater preference or big reasons like finding employment, people are going to travel. Period. So unless, the Future Group is proposing that we build a replica of New York City out here near Indiantown, this plan of theirs is just not gonna fly. With the housing market approaching rock bottom, anything even remotely near a boom like the one that just bubbled and burst, is years away at best and probably will never happen again unless it’s precipitated by another baby boom generation coming of age. Thus, even though South Florida will continue to grow, the problems of where to put people have diminished slightly and has presented us with an opportunity to examine how people can best move to and from various destinations, throughout South Florida, in the most efficient manner, given a wide array of choices. So, instead of focusing on yet more new housing development, which nowadays amounts to nothing more than unnecessary inventory, wouldn’t it be more “economically, socially and environmentally” prudent to continue redeveloping languishing communities and provide more efficient ways to connect these –and other- communities within the context of a regional framework? 

At this time, I’m not entirely sure that anything other than our current policy of allowing only 20-acre ranchettes outside the urban service boundary will suffice to achieve such sustainability. While I agree that our land use policies need to be evaluated (It’s required by law anyway) and that the potential for overcrowding in existing neighborhoods might eventually propose a critical problem, I disagree with anything that goes against transit oriented development or against Lawton Childs’ Eastward Ho! Initiative.

I will address this article, or the amendments to which it refers, more in depth, at a future date, line by line if I can, but for now I just want to show how the flawed concept of self-contained, traffic-alleviating towns within a region as dynamic and highly mobile as ours (South Florida) ignores the impact of the regional dilemma (How to accommodate, move people around and provide them with choices in lifestyle and mobility while reducing overlap in goods and services). And as I mentioned in a previous post, our dilemma is a good one to have... The one beauty of living in South Florida is this feeling that no matter where you live within the region, you always feel connected to the rest of the world. You can live in a small town like Indiantown and still feel that Miami is just down the street. I never felt this way in Tallahassee. But, that’s another story. In the meantime, only through answering the questions posed by the regional dilemma of mobility provision will South Florida truly become the premier region in the world to live, work, study, play, relax and do business…