“What’s the value of a clean beach? Here’s how economists do the numbers”

“What’s the value of a clean beach? Here’s how economists do the numbers”

Photo: Florida Trend

“…In one recent study, I worked with other researchers to estimate increased travel and time expenditures that people incurred to avoid trash and debris on 31 Southern California beaches. No one wants to go to a beach littered with hypodermic needles, plastic bottles and discarded fishing nets. But cleaning up marine debris is expensive, and it is hard for communities to recover the costs, particularly for public beaches with open access. Understanding the value of cleaner beaches can help build support for funding trash collection.

To measure the amount of debris, we hired workers to walk the beaches tallying quantities of trash. Then we surveyed Southern California residents about how often and where they went to the beach, which enabled us to correlate numbers of visitors at each beach with quantities of debris. Finally, using travel time and expenses for each visitor to visit each beach, we modeled the relationship between where they chose to go to the beach, how much they spent to get there, and the cleanliness of the beach.

Using this model, we found that visitors to these beaches would be willing to incur $12.91 in additional costs per trip if each of the beaches had 25 percent less debris. This translated into a total willingness to pay $29.5 million for action to reduce marine debris by 25 percent on these beaches…”

— Timothy Haab, The Conversation, Florida Trend
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Legal: Beach trash collection Vs. private property  “Walton County trashes private beach garbage collection”

Legal: Beach trash collection Vs. private property “Walton County trashes private beach garbage collection”

Photo: NWF Daily News

“…Walton County is notifying coastal private property owners that its crews will no longer collect garbage from the beaches at their homes or condominiums.

County Attorney Sidney Noyes told county commissioners Tuesday that enough owners had refused to back off previous requests to keep county vehicles off their land to warrant the decision to halt all garbage collections.

‘Unfortunately, even though some of these individual private property owners have rescinded their requests, others are not willing to, so it looks like we will not be able to continue the garbage collection service on private property,’ Noyes told the board.

Noyes said letters would be sent out Tuesday or Wednesday to inform all owners that as of Aug. 13 they would be responsible for picking up their own beach trash, something Walton’s Tourist Development Council has done for years…

The county’s move is the latest fallout from the July 1 implementation of a new state law. HB 631 wiped out Walton County’s customary use ordinance and gave private beachfront owners the ability to post no trespassing signs on their property and prevent people from accessing dry sand areas there…

Sheriff Michael Adkinson, whose deputies have been called upon regularly since July 1 to mediate property disputes on local beaches, has said consistently his deputies are not going to charge anyone on the beach with criminal trespass.

Nonetheless, Commission Chairman Bill Chapman argued at Tuesday’s meeting that the county couldn’t risk collecting trash on private property for fear an arrest would result.

‘I don’t want to see legal action taken, criminally, by our guys going up and down there and picking up the trash,’ Chapman said. ‘I don’t want guys driving being subjected to arrest by the sheriff because we’ve violated a demand letter.’

..Litigation seems to be on the horizon. Attorney and customary use advocate Steve Uhlfelder warned commissioners Tuesday that by refusing garbage collection the private property owners were strengthening an argument against customary use. He urged them to continue sending crews to pick up trash in defiance of the no trespassing warnings.

‘Don’t go along with it. Go pick up the trash and maintain the beaches, otherwise you will be giving up some legal arguments,’ Uhlfelder said. “I don’t think you should be dictated to’…”

— Tom McLaughlin, nwfDailyNews.com
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“A solar ring and retractable roof will soon hang above a premier Miami concert venue”

“A solar ring and retractable roof will soon hang above a premier Miami concert venue”

Illustration: A rendering of the solar ring and retractable cover by José Suárez

“The amphitheater at Bayfront Park, one of Miami’s signature performing arts venues downtown, will soon get a halo-like ring of solar panels and a retractable roof…

FPL says the solar ring will be one of the largest urban solar projects in the country. But it won’t be a moneymaker for the city. The proposed contract says FPL would pay a $10 annual license fee, and the power generated would go into FPL’s grid…

In addition to the solar ring above the amphitheater, FPL plans to install a large canopy of solar panels to provide shade next to the venue, as well as seven “solar trees” nearby. All told, FPL estimates there will be nearly 1,700 new solar panels at Bayfront Park generating about 500 kilowatts of energy for the grid.

Illustration: A rendering of a solar tree in Bay of Pigs Park from Florida Power and Light

Solar trees will also soon be sprouting in parks around the city, another result of FPL’s push to invest in solar. The commission on Thursday gave the green light for installation of the curved pole structures in several parks in Commissioner Manolo Reyes’ District 4, including Bay of Pigs Memorial Park, West End Park and Coral Gate Park.

The city will receive slightly more in licensing fees for the solar trees than for the amphitheater — $50 per kilowatt, with a 2-percent annual increase over the 15-year contract. FPL project manager Kathleen Campanella told commissioners that would likely come to $1,000 to $1,500 per year for the city.

Parks in other districts could get solar trees if their commissioners express an interest. At least some would feature charging stations for electronic devices…”

— Aaron Leibowitz, Miami Herald

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/downtown-miami/article215591500.html

Forbes Analyst Overview of 5G Cell Tower Providers

Forbes Analyst Overview of 5G Cell Tower Providers

Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
“In the July edition of the Forbes Real Estate Investor (monthly newsletter) I explained that “major telecommunications companies will soon begin to roll out ‘new’ 5G technology in the U.S., and I’ve been reviewing the issues, reliability and impact—for REIT investors.

For investors, Connected Real Estate’s Rich Berliner says, ‘Delivery of 5G service will require wireless carriers to invest in more cell towers, as well as in small cell and fiber networks to broadcast 5G signals into specific areas. Implementation of 5G should be a massive home run for cell tower REITs and is expected to buoy revenue growth for the better part of the next decade. Companies with a specific focus on small cells may benefit the most.’

American Tower told Bloomberg ‘(that) ‘single tenant’ towers have gross margins of 40% from rentals… two tenants have 74% margins…three tenants have 83% margins…”

— Brad Thomas, Forbes
For a summary of the top providers of 5G towers read article

“City of Melbourne looking to eliminate snipe signs popping up around the area”

“City of Melbourne looking to eliminate snipe signs popping up around the area”

Photo: City of Melbourne

“The City of Melbourne is asking for the public’s help in eliminating the blight of illegal snipe signs…

‘Snipe signs are illegal in the City of Melbourne primarily for safety reasons,’ said Officer Cheryl Mall.

‘They are visually distracting– especially when they are posted on stop or other traffic signs. They are also a hazard during a hurricane or strong storm and are a form of litter that blights roadways and neighborhoods.’

Code enforcement officials remove snipe signs whenever they see them. However, often as early as the next day many more are put in their place.

In order to put a stop to this illegal behavior, code officials need to know who is placing the signs so that they can contact that person and begin the compliance process…

If you see someone posting a sign like the image shown above, officials ask you to send a photo of the person, the person’s car and if possible the license plate to City’s Code Enforcement Division at Code.Compliance@mlbfl.org.

Code enforcement officials will then use that information to contact the person who is placing the illegal signs and inform him or her that the placement of snipe signs is illegal…”

— Space Coast Daily
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