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CMA Attends UGA College of Environment + Design Career Fair

February 11, 2020 admin News

On February 11, CMA Director of Planning and Landscape Architecture Cris Betancourt, RLA, AICP and Landscape Architect Stefan Bortak, RLA, CID staffed a table at the UGA College of Environment + Design Career Fair at the University of Georgia. Attendees included undergraduate and graduate students in UGA’s LAAB-accredited landscape architecture program who have a comprehensive understanding of design, including coursework in garden design, community design, urban design and regional planning. http://career.uga.edu/hireuga

CMA Participated in Miami-Dade ASCE Field Day

February 8, 2020 admin News

On February 8, CMA staff participated in the Miami-Dade ASCE Field Day at Zoo Miami benefitting local students studying civil engineering. CMA was an event sponsor and finished in third place overall! Attendees included Greg Mendez, P.E., Patrick Kaimrajh, P.E., Sathvika Ramaji, E.I., Nick Karpathy, E.I., Carlos Tijerino, Manny Caamano, Jazmin Cruz, and Chris Donnelly. Nick Karpathy, E.I. organized the event.

SunSentinel Mention

February 2, 2020 admin Blog

February 1, 2020
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: “Where am I going to get my peppered bacon” and “let’s start a petition” were two of the comments that I read in the story about Lucky’s Supermarkets closings in South Florida this past couple weeks. As a business owner, I was disappointed in the lack of understanding by the general public of how private businesses work. Businesses don’t owe the public anything. They exist to sell a product or provide a service that generates profit. Maybe they have a great culture and performance community service, but that’s ancillary. I’m scared about the potential election results with comments like these.

ASCE In Philly

February 1, 2020 admin News

Representatives of CMA Robert Best, P.E., Teresa Lewis, E.I., Carlos Tijerino, and Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP attended the ASCE Multi-Region Leadership Conference January 31 February 1 in Philadelphia.

SunSentinel Mention

January 22, 2020 admin Blog

January 17, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: My family shopped at Searstown when they moved to Broward in the 1950’s. I’ve had cars fixed and bought corduroys there. But to see the number of “experts” weigh in on what that potential development would require to me is a bit crazy. I’m not affiliated with the development, but the “experts” within our readership need to understand how development works. Developers already do studies to show traffic and utility impacts. They already pay impact fees that pay for additional capacity which also pays for repairs to the existing system. Broken infrastructure is terrible, but development actually helps the problem.

Looking ahead: Next week, I’ll be taking the leadership of my firm on a retreat to “recession proof” our company as the possibility of an economic slowdown grows. I’ve read dozens of articles and recently heard in person the improving outlook of the economy of the State of Florida. Right now, the deficit for the state could be made up by either signing an agreement with the Seminole Tribe OR agreeing to tax internet sales. Doing both would be a windfall for the State. Let’s keep our eye on the ball as we review budgets and appropriations.

SunSentinel Mention

January 13, 2020 admin Blog

January 10, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: I just want to thank the City Commission of Fort Lauderdale for taking swift action to repair the most critical elements of their sewer system while reviewing a potential slowdown in development activity with caution. We need all hands on deck for this situation.

Looking ahead: Next week, the Florida Legislature begins its 60 day sprint that must only end with a balanced budget. In my industry, I’m seeing so many bills that have impacts, minor and major, without much conversation with our actual industry in most cases. I’ll be attending the annual State of the Taxpayer dinner put on by Florida TaxWatch. This annual event celebrates the beginning of session, but also puts a reminder in Tallahassee that regardless of the impacts to individual professions, Florida TaxWatch is looking out for the interests of every taxpayer in the State.

CMA Staff Participates in Future City Competition

January 11, 2020 admin News

CMA Vice President Jose L. Acosta, P.E., F.ASCE served as co-chair and Senior Engineer Patrick Kaimrajh, P.E. and Associate Engineer Carlos Tijerino served as judges for the Future City Competition held January 11 at FIU College of Engineering. Future City is a project-based learning program where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. This year there were 11 local teams competing for top prizes and six special awards. St Hugh Catholic School was the winning school and is pictured with other co-chair Dave Clarke of Stantec, the Dean of the College Engineering at FIU and the Assistant Dean (Dr Osama Mohammed) who served as the lead for the SE Region of Future Cities. For more information, please visit http://aln.fiu.edu/futurecity/

NASA of the Vehicle Assembly Building Dedication Ceremony

January 10, 2020 admin News

CMA President Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP presented a dedication at NASA of the Vehicle Assembly Building designating it as an ASCE National Historic Landmark to the NASA Director. Kevin J. Thibault, Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation and other CMA staff members were in attendance.

CMA 2019 Philanthropic Activities

January 9, 2020 admin News

In 2019, Chen Moore and Associates continued to participate in community service projects throughout the Tri-County area and we look forward to how we can help our communities in 2020! Our projects from last year include:

Adopt a Family Provided holiday gifts for a family in need in West Palm Beach
United Way Supported the United Way green initiative and participated in the 28th Annual Day of Caring in Broward County
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Raised $526 towards breast cancer research and participated in the events in Fort Lauderdale and Miami
Wear Pink Day To support breast cancer awareness
Quantum House Prepared and served meals to families whose children are receiving treatment in Palm Beach County for serious medical conditions.
International Coastal Cleanup Beach cleanup at El Pardo Park in Lauderdale-By-The Sea
ACE Mentor Program Participated in the after-high school program to mentor students interested in the field of engineering
FES Golf Tournament Sponsored a team to play and raise money for student scholarships.
ASCE Bowl-A-Thon Sponsored two teams to play and raise money for student scholarships
Hurricane Donations – Collected items of need for Hurricane Dorian victims in the Bahamas
Back-to-School Drive Collected school supplies to benefit the Broward Education Foundation School Supply Center program
HOPE South Florida Volunteered feeding homeless people through the Shared Meal Program and clothing donations
Habitat for Humanity Prepared infrastructure at new Habitat Houses
Relay For Life Started fundraiser and raised money for American Cancer Society
Broward Partnership Breaking Bread Program – Served dinner to those living in the Broward Partnership Shelter and also prepared sandwiches
Kayak Community Cleanup – Volunteers teamed in kayaks and collected eight burlap sacks of waste along Pelican Island in Miami
SMPS/ABC Cares Foundation – Participated in and donated to the SMPS South Florida Paint & Sip Networking Social at Uptown Art Boca Raton to benefit ABC Cares Foundation
Palm Beach County Food Bank/CANstruction – CMA teamed with Johnson-Davis Construction to participate in this fundraising competition; a design out of food cans were built and then donated to the PBC Food Bank
FES Broward Equestrian Volunteer Program – Assisted Equine-Assisted Therapies of South Florida; the group raised and leveled the barn and installed new scratching posts
Feeding South Florida Participated in the Annual Outrun Hunger 5K Event
Paddleboarding/Trash Cleanup in Miami – Participated in a paddle boarding/kayaking trash cleanup at Morningside Park in Miami

SunSentinel Mention

January 7, 2020 admin Blog

January 3, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: For the past several weeks, I’ve remained silent as letters to the editor have rolled into the Sun Sentinel suggesting that an end to development is the best suggestion to “fix” the water and sewer infrastructure issues in my native Fort Lauderdale and other cities in South Florida. As an engineer, I can assure the public that the problems we are experiencing are, by and large, not a result of new development, but rather the realities of infrastructure reaching the end of its useful life. Development is a chance (and funding source) to build replacement facilities and pipelines.

Looking ahead: Next week, I have the privilege of attending the dedication of the largest single-story building in the world as an ASCE’s Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The Vehicle Assembly Building is the large building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, designed to assemble the large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and the Space Shuttle; and stack them vertically onto the Mobile Launch Platform. The future Space Launch System (SLS) will also be assembled there. What a great reminder of the significance, both altruistically and financially that the history and future of the Space Industry has to Florida.