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IN DELRAY BEACH, EVERYDAY IS EARTH DAY

Delray Beach, Florida:  In several coastal cities throughout the country, waste water and sewage are dumped into the Ocean - not the best scenario for beach towns looking to enhance Quality of Life for their residents and visitors - including the fish swimming in that ocean.  In one coastal “Village By The Sea”, this is no longer the case.  Delray Beach, Florida, over the past few years, has been “greening” itself - and the changes in waste water management are just the beginning of what this vibrant, future-thinking City has accomplished.  Now the City is seeking “Green” and “Eco-Friendly” companies to move their businesses to the City and commercial Realtors are helping in the efforts.

In 2007, the City Commission appointed a “Green Task Force” with the responsibility to assist in the review of City operations and policies to ensure they meet Delray Beach’s environmental sustainability goals to lead the City into a “greener” future. In addition, the GTF was tasked to provide financially-effective ideas and recommendations.  The results of this Team so far are astounding - and have permanently changed the way in which the City operates.  A 32-page report, detailing recommended changes to each department and City property, is tracked on a monthly basis and includes such “planet-saving” ideas as:

• Partnering with Florida Atlantic University to complete a Green House Gas Inventory at no cost to the City
• Providing a paperless option for Public Records requests
• Installing various building retrofits, including energy-saving light and water fixtures in ALL City-owned properties
• Securing and receiving “green” grants totaling $638,500 for future planet-saving projects
• Installing “small-scale” solar systems at the Lakeview Golf Course for irrigation and in City Bus Shelters for lighting
• Establishing environmentally friendly landscaping codes
• Developing on-line versions of all Public Information Office materials and information, including press releases, newsletters and other documents, thereby drastically decreasing paper use.

And these are just the start. 

Other “Green” programs & projects implemented and/or started by Delray Beach recently include:

• Creating a Sustainability Officer position to coordinate the City’s green effort
• Working to revise the City’s Special Event Permit Application and Special Event Policy to encourage green practices, including recycling and education
• Incorporate Green Practices (i.e., Recycling, Energy Efficiency, Water Usage, water reclamation, etc.) for City’s Tennis Facility and Golf Course
• Began an aggressive Pilot Recycling Program within City Hall (started with 2 Departments) and early result show an almost 50% reduction in weekly garbage sent to the landfill.  Will implement City wide and promote to business community
• Implemented a tiered water rate structure to encourage water conservation
• Established environmentally friendly landscaping codes within the City’s Land Development Regulations (LDR’s) and
• Implemented energy-saving procedures and systems throughout the City’s parks and buildings in order to cut down on the City’s “carbon footprint”.

And what’s next for this vibrant, forward-thinking City?   It’s working with local Commercial Realtors to bring more industry - especially “Eco-friendly” types - into the area.  “Delray is working on incentives for new employers.  These will be in addition to those currently offered by Palm Beach County and the State of Florida,” says Commercial Real Property Consultant Christina Morrison Pearce.  “The amounts and conditions are still being finalized but Delray Beach is serious about securing new businesses and we’ve got space for them”, says Morrison Pearce.  Commercial Realtor Ted Ciaccia echoes these thoughts:  “This is the perfect time to re-locate business to Delray - because of the sluggish economy, industrial space is available from 2100 to 70,000 square feet - all well-located near I95 and most within a stone’s throw of public transportation.  Delray has it all”.      

Getting ready for a “green” future is a City priority, so research is being done on installing electric vehicle charging stations, bicycle rental kiosks like those that are so successful in European cities, furthering the storm water irrigation program and so much more.  And what else is in the works?  You’ll just have to come and see for yourself…

For Publication/Circulation on or about Earth Day, April 22, 2010

For Questions, Comments, please contact:  CHRISTINA MORRISON PEARCE

                                                                                    561.573.7083

                                                                                    ChristinaPearce@comcast.net

Christina Morrison Pearce is a Commercial Real Property Consultant and Commercial Realtor based in Delray Beach and Lake Worth, Florida. 

The Commercial Collapse of 2009 Could Dwarf the Sub-Prime Mortgage in Florida Along With a World Crisis

A warning from three experts and the predictions from a great spiritual master from India. The pundits are telling us that there is a global crisis coming to us in stages. The next stage will be the collapse of 09. We are going to see it around March of this year. The first feeling of it will come when we see more retail chains go belly up. Let me put it all together, back in 2008 we saw the closings of Star Bucks, Home Depot, Linens & Things and The Sharper Image. Now when we look at the retail sector nobody is going to rent and take all these vacant stores.

Occupancy of the buildings in the real estate sector will be difficult after the failures of Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns and Wachovia. We hear the announcements of three hundred and fifty thousand layoffs here and fifty thousand there. Commercial real estate is collapsing and will dwarf the sub-prime problem because everything is leveraged.

We are at the doorstep or walking into a depression right now. The key is the combination of a collapsing equity market, a collapsing real-estate market and a collapsing commodity market. Its extremely rare that those three trends are now occurring together and the last time this happened was during the great depression.

In the worst case scenario we can back off but people better realize that the worst case scenario can actually happen an economic 9/11 the likes of which we have never seen. By the year 2015 you could see gold at eight thousand dollars on ounce and why do people buy gold? Because the value of money won’t be worth the paper it is printed on.

The worst case scenario would turn our shopping centers and pedestrian promenades into “ghost malls” and our cities would be like “Dodge City” with uncontrollable gangs competing for territory, motorcycle marauders, not enough police or Federalies just like in Mexico where the rich people will have to live in fortresses with armed guards because the gated communities will not be safe. With so much criminality we could see gangs like we have never seen before. When people have nothing left to lose and they have lost everything, they lose it and with a descending society with the high school graduation rate under fifty percent in major cities we have more ignorant people functionally illiterate, whacked out on drugs, hillbilly heroin, meth, you name it and they have nothing to lose. Some cities may become like Calcutta with pick pockets, petty thieves and hookers.

With the stimulus package you can give a guy some extra cash and tell him to go out and spend but the business man or the consumer knows the difference between standing in front of an electric fan and a windy day. He knows that one of them is artificial and limited and the other is a major climate change so when he gets the check or he sees the temporary up-kick in sales he’s not going to do anything about it because he knows it can not be replicated tomorrow.

It is so irresponsible to tell anyone to go out, take this money and spend it. This is the worst possible advice for the individual consumer right now. It might be good for the economy and certain businesses but it would be irresponsible for a consumer who is trying to raise cash to pay down debt. They won’t do it because they too see prices are going down and the longer they wait the cheaper things will get. Consumers need to raise their cash levels and prices need to get cheap enough so that people feel compelled to buy. The only way out of this is deflation. We have to go through the process and pain of deflation in order for the economic cycle to bring back a recovery.

In every nation we see troubled times that were foretold by the masters, economic crises, wars, famine, civil strife incurable diseases and cataclysmic disasters. Because of the growing economic crisis there is a rising sense of helplessness and fear in this developing chaos. What could have caused these afflictions to come among us? The ancient Egyptians were stricken by calamities, misfortune and plagues for having disregarded the Divine Will as was written in the scriptures which is not unlike our situation. We tend to brush off any suggestion that such biblical occurrences couldn’t happen in modern times, but this is not true. We have these calamities and plagues among us now and most of us thoughtlessly think we could not have caused these disasters through our own transgressions and that it is probably a coincidence or a twist of fate. This is no coincidence.

The spiritual master gives us some critical advice. There is a great crisis coming, as we have never seen. It is such a crisis that’s going to batter this country. There is too much emphasis on spending and not enough in lowering taxes. What will people do when the false economy collapses and millions are unemployed. Do not live in blissful oblivion, uninformed of the imminent crisis. The financial system of the world is changing but with the good karma America has she will be better off than what the rest of the world will go through. But she will still suffer wide-spread misery and changes. You are used to the good things in life and you won’t like it when you are forced to live simply. After being rich its not easy to be poor. This change is going to deeply affect us and you have no idea how it will over the years. Never in our history will there be such a contrast between poverty and riches as it will visit our country and there will be such a difference in our standard of living.

How can an individual meet the global crisis? The right way is to adopt a plan of high thinking and plain living. Many will be rudely surprised if immediate radical changes in living habits are not made. In ways you can’t imagine things will change around you. We have luxuries, clothing and food that people of other countries don’t have. Now is the best time to adjust to a course of simple living.

1. Choose an adequate living place that is not larger than you really need or more than you can afford.
2. Choose an area where living expenses and taxes are sensible.
3. If you can sew make your own clothes.
4. If possible grow your own food and vegetables.
5. Have a few chickens to have your own eggs.
6. Eliminate a gardener and work the garden yourself to save money.
7. Enjoy an uncomplicated life and keep life simple.

Regardless of where you live and work purchase inexpensive clothes and leave out luxuries. Buy only the things you really need and save money regularly. Instead of thinking how to spend money think of ways to conserve. Soon you may learn to do without so don’t be wasteful. Exercising self control will enable you to save. Heed the warning of the masters and spare yourself much grief. You will not be spared if you waste money on luxuries. Do not borrow or use credit cards. Pay cash as you go and do not buy if you have no cash. Keep your assets in cash or federally protected accounts.