Home Sales Fall Again: Take Note Commissioners–No Rosy Picture for Real Estate

Take note City Commissioners (I am sure you will).  This is not the right time to hit the taxpayers of Coral Gables with more taxes.

Sales of U.S. previously owned homes slumped more than forecast in July and the number of unsold houses swelled, evidence the market is depressed by foreclosures and limited job growth.

via Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Fall More Than Forecast (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

Coral Gables Exceptionalism?

Do the leaders of Coral Gables believe in exceptionalism–perhaps?

Exceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is “exceptional” (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles. [emphasis added]

via Exceptionalism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I trust that our leaders do not think that Coral Gables is immune from the current economic crisis in the US and Florida.

We are still in a crisis that has led to companies closing in Coral Gables, a dramatic decline in family assets, the failure of major real restate projects, sluggish retail growth, decline in new construction, increased unemployment, uncertain retirement income, a breakdown of the Biltmore Hotel and the Country Club of Coral Gables and, especially, slow reform of the City of Coral Gables because of a reluctance of the City Commission to make mature, hard decisions.

The City of Coral Gables as an “International Organization”

The more I learn about employees’ benefits at the City of Coral Gables it seems to be an international organization like the World Bank,  the UN or the Inter-American Development Bank with their independent sources of income, back-up capital contributions from sovereign governments and stable income and reserves to cover their operating costs.  Please note that these international organizations have often been accused by the US Congress of paying salaries and other benefits that are outlandish, disproportionate and self-serving.  The City of Coral Gables seems not unlike the accused organizations.

The City of Coral Gables pays better pensions, medical insurance and salaries  similar to the above mentioned international organizations.  In the multilateral organizations employees pay 10% of their salaries into pensions funds, pay about 50% of their medical insurance, international (non-US employees) employees get education allowances similar to those paid by Coral Gables, employees receive merit increases and inflation adjusted incomes (the adjustment now would be 1% or less) and they follow the rule of 85 for retirement (rather than the rule of 70 of Coral Gables) for retirement eligibility.  They do not get many other benefits received by Coral Gables employees such as loyalty pay adjustments.

In short, Coral Gables provides better or equivalents benefits and salaries than many international employees for similar types of work.

Miami in the Global Cities Index 2010

Find where Miami is in a list of 60.

(Okay–its 33rd and that’s not bad with its 58th by population and 54th by GDP.)  How did they get to 33? It must be Miami Beach, or could it be Coral Gables?

Global Cities 2010: The Rankings | Foreign Policy.