Things To Do In SW Florida

Vice President Kamala Harris, as part of her presidential run, pledged recently to spur construction of 3 million new housing units in her first four years.

The campaign said Harris would propose a new tax incentive for companies that build homes for first-time buyers, and other programs, said The Wall Street Journal.

Promising the construction of new homes hasn’t worked out well in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged in 2017 to build 3.5 million new homes by 2025. As of this summer, he’s roughly 87 percent short of the target.

Harris also proposed a $40 billion fund to help local governments develop innovative solutions to the lack of housing supply and repurpose some federal land for affordable housing.

Question: Could a Harris administration spur construction of 3 million new housing units?

Economists

Caroline Freund, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy

NO: But campaign promises are often excessive and prioritizing construction will support a much-needed increase in the supply of housing. In recent years, there have been about 1.4 million privately owned housing starts annually, according to U.S. Census data. Achieving 3 million total would take herculean subsidies and unprecedented deregulation. Currently there is limited fiscal space for such an effort, and deregulation happens at the local level and tends to be stymied by NIMBYism. read more

Amazon plans on expanding its footprint on the Space Coast with another $19.5 million facility in its efforts to launch thousands of internet-providing satellites for Project Kuiper, the company’s competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink.

To date, only two test satellites from Project Kuiper have flown when they took to space atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in late 2023. Those two, though, paved the way for Amazon to sign off on the satellite design and begin manufacturing of what is planned to be a 3,232-satellite constellation.

While the satellites are built in Washington state, they will be prepped for launch and fueled up at the new $120 million satellite processing facility that is near completion at a nearly 80-acre site at the Kennedy Space Center’s former Shuttle Landing Facility.

Amazon to set up $120 million Space Coast shop in competition with SpaceX’s Starlink

Adjacent to that 100,000-square-foot building will be this 42,000-square-foot expansion that will allow Amazon to process and store more satellites for a busy schedule of launches from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. read more

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state was awarding $5.8 million to Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville to build road infrastructure connections to a forthcoming industrial park designed to attract more aerospace business to the region.

Appearing Thursday at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum located on the airport’s grounds, DeSantis said the funds are coming from the state’s job growth grant fund.

“We’re in a situation where we’re in this great commercial space investment boom, and I think we have a lot more runway to be able to do on that,” he said. “Though the federal government clearly is playing a role, but our role, I think, is to say, ‘What infrastructure do we need?’ particularly in this area, to be able to continue to make this part of Florida the number one place for space anywhere in the entire world.”

DeSantis said launch companies, for instance, have indicated to him that they would be happy to not only fly from Florida, but build here as well.

“I was talking to some of these guys who are involved in the launches, and they’re like, you know, we want to make everything in Florida and then just launch it right there,” he said. “You don’t want to be bringing stuff from around the country. So there’s a lot of industrial possibilities here.” read more

Quarters are usually worth 25 cents. But quarters featuring the Queen of Salsa? In Miami, those are priceless.

Longtime fans and local businesses have been racing to get their hands on new quarters embossed with a portrait Celia Cruz, the iconic late salsa singer. Cruz, the first Afro-Latina on U.S. currency, was one of five historic female figures selected for the U.S. Mint’s 2024 American Women Quarters Program.

The coins were designed by Mint artist Phebe Hemphill who said she wanted them to capture Cruz’s “greatness and vitality.”

Though the coins are now in circulation this month, you’d be hard pressed finding a Miamian willing to spend these quarters at a laundromat, ventanita or gumball machine.

“These are keepers,” said Elena Santayana at Santayana Jewelry, a family-owned Miami jewelry store that specializes in Cuban-themed charms and mounting silver Cuban coin pendants. “Everybody’s talking about it. It’s exciting for our town, exciting for our culture.”

Born Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso in Cuba in 1925, Cruz became one of the most celebrated Latin singers of the 20th century, known for her booming vocals, colorful wigs, beaming smile and signature catchphrase: “¡Azúcar!” read more