December 6, 2019

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

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week there was much discussion about a Constitutional Amendment in Florida about raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Let me be clear, all my employees already make more than this rate, but I think government impacting business decisions is bad policy. Currently, the $8.46 hourly rate is nearly 17% higher than the Federal rate, and just moving is to $10 would be another 18% higher. Preliminary numbers show about 200,000 jobs would be lost if implemented, but factoring in indirect jobs, this would be over 500,000 jobs which will disproportionately impacting the most needy.

Looking ahead: Billions of dollars in federal fundingﾗalong with congressional representationﾗare at stake for Floridians in the 2020 census. While children aged 0-5 have been a historically hard to enumerate population, children can also play a critical role in explaining the importance of the census to their parents and other relatives. This rings especially true for those who live in immigrant households, as children and teens can help mitigate fear and mistrust of the census that has permeated immigrant communities. With an estimated 2.5 million people becoming Florida residents since 2010, we must achieve nothing less than a complete count!

November 29, 2019

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

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week, HB 707 was filed that essentially sunsets all licensure in Florida that is run through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). In rolling groups over five year, every profession will have licensure eliminated unless the legislature takes action to continue the license that benefits the public safety, health and welfare. As a citizen of Florida, I’m in favor of removing needless barriers to entry for some professions, but as a Licensed Professional Engineer, I sincerely hope that the Legislature recognizes the importance of engineers to the public’s well being.

Looking ahead: For the past 40 years, Florida TaxWatch has led the way, serving as the eyes and ears of Florida’s taxpayers. TaxWatch has made Florida a better place to work, live, play, and run a business by shaping some of the most significant policy reforms on businesses, residents, and the Sunshine State’s quality of life over these past four decades. Next week, TaxWatch celebrates those 40 years at the 40th Annual Meeting to be held at the Breakers. I’m certainly looking forward to celebrating those unsung heroes.

November 22, 2019

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

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Earlier this week, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, a short-term spending bill to avert a government shutdown through mid-December. While short-term spending measures are by no means ideal, the good news is the bill included an allocation of $7.3 billion to the Census Bureau so the agency has the resources needed to achieve a complete count in the 2020 census. This funding could not come at a better time, particularly in light of newly-updated reports showing the Census will impact the distribution of $1.5 trillion dollars, up from previous estimates of $880 billion. #GetCounted!

Looking ahead: Kudos to the Broward County Commission, County Administration, and Office of Economic & Small Business Development (OESBD) for consistently proactive efforts to include our entire community in the benefits generated by the penny transportation surtax. When the County Commission voted to place the surtax referendum on the ballot, there was unanimous approval for a 30% small business participation goal. This means hundreds of millions of dollars being pumped into our small businesses over the course of 30 years. Broward’s small businesses are the backbone that drives our economy forward, and they’ll continue to do so well into the future.

November 15, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: This past Wednesday, the Dutch Assembly passed a measure lowering speed limits on all roadways to 60 mph in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Major building projects for roads and airports have been put on hold in the Eurozone’s fifth-biggest economy as the government seeks ways to meet the mandating court order. It has also brought in changes to farmers’ working methods, for example for animal feed. These represent major economic sacrifices for climate change. What would this mean if the US had to comply? Logistics, construction and agriculture mean so much to our economy.

Looking ahead: In addition to its impact on government funding and representation, data gathered by the 2020 Census will have an extraordinary influence on both short and long-term economic activity. In fact, the business community is the largest consumer of census data in the country. Companies of all sizes rely on the Census to make decisions on opening new stores, marketing products, investing in new services for customers, and so much more. In total, businesses use data from the Census to make decisions that determine the flow of almost $4 trillion in annual private investment! On April 1, 2020, get counted! #ShapeYourFuture

November 8, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: Last week, SB 710 was filed requiring that the entire envelope of certain buildings being constructed or rebuilt be impact resistant and constructed with high wind-resistant construction materials. While this is second nature to those of us in South Florida, it could bear significant cost for other areas of the State. This is a great reminder that while the Florida Legislature won’t start session until January, it is truly during the Committee Weeks that the real activity gets started.

Looking ahead: With the 2020 Census just around the corner, the Census Bureau is looking to hire between eleven and twelve thousand Broward County residents to work as Census enumerators beginning in January. In addition to competitive wages, weekly paychecks, and flexible hours, you can help shape your community’s future and ensure that Broward has the resources it needs for schools, roads, housing, hospitals, healthcare, and more. Did I mention it impacts our representation in Congress? For more information or to fill out an application, visit https://2020census.gov/en/jobs.htmlor call 1-800-JOB-2020. You may also use the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY/ASCII.

November 1, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: With the 2020 Census on the horizon, Broward’s Complete Count Committee has been hard at work identifying trusted community members to motivate their neighbors to participate. To ensure a complete and accurate count of all Broward residents, the County has partnered with a local marketing firm to plan and implement a robust marketing campaign for reaching historically hard-to-enumerate communities. Last week, The Village Square, in partnership with Broward College and Florida Tax Watch, hosted a forum on the critical role cities, counties, and communities will play in achieving a complete count. There’s just too much at stake for anything less. #BrowardCounts

Looking ahead: With the 2020 Census just around the corner, localities across the U.S. are investing in the necessary infrastructure to ensure a complete count in their communities. Nowhere are the stakes higher than in Florida, the third largest and fourth fastest growing state in the country. Undercounts result in losses of millions, even billions, of dollars which Floridians are entitled to for schools, roads and highways, education, safety, and more. I applaud the League of Women Voters of Florida for recently encouraging Governor DeSantis to form a statewide complete census count effort, and I echo their sentiments. Make every Floridian count!

October 25, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: It’s unfortunate such discord has been sown in our community surrounding Bonnet House. There is a reason why the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation is reorganizing the current management of Bonnet House, Inc. which by the way the Florida Trust created in 1990. The Florida Trust’s sole purpose is to preserve and protect Historic Properties in Florida, and they are good at. We all need to let the reorganization run its course. I’m confident that Florida’s preeminent organization of preservationists and historians teamed with local Broward leaders will reorganize leadership at Bonnet House to bring back a fiscally successful grounds, our last UNDEVELOPED Gem on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Looking ahead: Census 2020 is just around the corner. Everyone in Broward needs to be counted. Federal dollars related to population fund programs for children, the elderly, and lower-income households alleviating the need to supplement programs with local taxpayer revenue, not to mention our representation in Congress. As a father of a young child under five, I too need to make sure my child gets counted. It is vitally important that influential leaders and residents of our community participate to ensure a complete count in Broward. The county will be rolling out a robust marketing plan in the coming months. For more informations visit www.browardcensus.org. Lets #GoBroward #BrowardCounts

October 4, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: This past week I attended a project review meeting with a municipal client for the projects they submitted for funding under the one cent sales surtax monies. I am appreciative of the MPO staff and consultants who are wading through 506 projects from 28 municipalities. While the final process is still being worked out, I do want to be sure that all the cities (and Broward County) recognize that these monies are intended to be additive to existing budgets and not a replacement for funds that should have already been dedicated to our vast infrastructure needs.

Looking ahead: Next week, the 2019 Annual Convention for the American Society of Civil Engineers comes into Miami. While this is normally a meeting for a very specific technical audience, this convention is special. There will be an unveiling of the Proof of Concept for the Future World Vision. Future World Vision uses data-driven, in-depth, scenario-planning analysis to reimagine infrastructure through five potential future worlds. The first “world”, called the Floating City, will be featured in a booth where participants can “tour” a floating city of the future through a virtual 4D experience. Come experience the future.

September 6, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last Week: While South Floridians have been complaining about the state of their water and sewer infrastructure, I think it is important to note “how good we have it”. Last week, I was in Jackson, Mississippi for a conference. I was impressed with the history and hospitality in this State Capital. After a short time, I realized the negative trend the city was actually on. With a shrinking tax base and degrading infrastructure, businesses are leaving in droves. A local brewery was forced to shut because the City couldn’t supply consistent water. We need to get better, but it could be worse.

Looking ahead: Next week, I’ll be heading to Tallahassee to attend the TaxWatch Productivity Awards. Since 1989, the Awards program has publicly recognized and rewarded state employees and work units whose work significantly and measurably increases productivity and promotes innovation to improve the delivery of state services and save money for Florida taxpayers and businesses. Over the 30-year program, more than 16,000 nominations have been received, and awards have been given to state employees for saving or maximizing state dollars to the tune of approximately $10 billion.

June 2019
Brent Whitfield, P.E., ENV SP
Director of Water Resources, Chen Moore and Associates
Since the earliest days of development in Florida, flooding has been an ever-present threat to property and safety. Considering that much of the stormwater infrastructure in Florida requires repair or replacement, now is the time to begin planning for how to manage the flooding issues of the future. Thankfully, for the 16-county region within the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), a planning process has been initiated. A basin by basin Flood Protection Level of Service (FPLOS) assessment is being done to identify the existing level of service provided by State and Federal drainage infrastructure and to identify what projects are needed going forward.

On a local scale, the FPLOS program is being applied in two phases. Phase 1 consists of using computer models to assess the level of flood protection provided by the existing infrastructure for a range of future development and sea level rise scenarios. The results are reviewed to compare: (1) maximum stage in primary canals, (2) maximum discharge capacity into the primary network, (3) structure performance, (4) peak storm runoff, (5) maximum depth of flooding, and (6) duration of flooding across the basin. Where problems are identified, Phase 2 studies are proposed to identify flood mitigation projects and establishes thresholds for project implementation.

This analysis is critical to understand the current and projected state of flood protection provided by State and Federal owned infrastructure. In a similar fashion, many municipalities across the State have done their own evaluations through stormwater management master plans. Identifying flood protection issues at the local and regional level is the first step. The most critical piece is funding and constructing the necessary improvement projects. A program like FPLOS provides the tools for technical professionals to explain to policy makers and taxpayers the importance of that funding.

This post is an excerpt from an article published in the June 2019 Issue of FES Journal. To download the article, visit the following link:

https://chenmoore-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/p/bwhitfield/ETKvivM4pP1MiusGCL559nUBXQXl2A6DXP84mf_rpVK_4g?e=hw385n