Are Miami's condos and apartments at a disadvantage for storm proofing?

A recent Atlantic Cities piece Why It's so Hard to Storm-Proof an Apartment Building highlights the disadvantages faced by multifamily apartment, condominium and co-op buildings when it comes to getting funds for repairs and protecting against future storms. After Sandy, single family homeowners are applying for FEMA funds for repairs to houses damaged by storm surge but multifamily buildings are not eligible for funds to repair common areas and utility systems. This is despite the fact that more than two-thirds of the New York housing units in the Sandy storm surge area were in multifamily buildings. What's more, New Jersey created a state fund that makes money available for raising homes above the flood plain-- an increasingly common plan in flood-prone areas, especially those dealing with higher flood insurance rates-- but this fund will primarily benefit single family homeowners since it's usually impractical to raise multifamily buildings.  

Along with the many other lessons from Sandy, Miami should be paying attention to this one too. Just like plenty of other cities in the path of hurricanes along the Atlantic coast, Miami has large concentrations of multifamily buildings. According to the latest census data about 38% of Miami households are in buildings with at least 3 units. There are certainly things that multifamily buildings can do to become more resilient to floods, like moving utility rooms off the ground floor and installing mechanisms for moving elevator cars out of harm's way. Cities like Miami Beach have included many of these features in their building codes for new housing, but older buildings need sources of funding to undertake expensive retrofits. 

Part 2: Miami Beach bikes (and walks) to work

In a previous post I highlighted Census data released last fall which shows that Miami Beach is the 10^th city in the nation for biking to work. Approximately 7% of workers regularly use a bicycle for the longest part of their commute. That’s about 3,000 people in our city biking regularly to work, and I was curious – who are they? 

With Miami’s bike scene growing like crazy lately-- thousands showing up for Critical Mass, new bike facilities in the works for Downtown, etc.-- it would be easy to assume that these bicyclists-to-work are bicycle activists, young urban professionals, or the like. But the data indicate something else. 

On Miami Beach those most likely to bike to work are service industry workers with median annual earnings of about $21,000 per year, well below the citywide average of $32,597. Here are the top 10 industries:

Miami Beach 10th city in the nation for biking to work

The annual flooding in October and November that Miami Beach experiences due to high tides was by many accounts some of the worst ever this year. Alton Road, 6th Street, Indian Creek, and other low-lying areas experienced flooded streets and sidewalks twice a day for several weeks. It was so noticeable that local activists decided to hold a press conference on a flooded sidewalk along Alton Road to call for the presidential candidates to address climate change in their last debate.

This struck me as ironic. Miami Beach, due to it's historic urban design of compact development and walkable streets, is one of the most pedestrian and bike friendly cities in the southeast. In fact it is the 10th city in the nation for biking to work, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Approximately 6.3% of workers regularly use a bicycle for the longest part of their commute. Half the cities in the top 10 list are in California, with Davis topping the list with 16.6% bike share of commuters. You can see the full list and some other stats at Governing By The Numbers here.

Being able to bike to stores, hang-out spots, and friends' homes is one of the main reasons I live on Miami Beach. I get exercise, save money, and reduce my carbon footprint. And the City has new sustainability initiatives like the mandatory recycling for rental and condominium buildings, and the popular Decobike program.

So while Miami Beach is arguably in some ways a model for how our cities can work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the fact that climate change is a global problem means that our city's progress does little to reduce our risk if others don't act as well. Other low-lying coastal areas are in the same boat. The Maldives, for example, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean with a land area not quite twice the size of Washington D.C., and a maximum elevation of 2.4 meters. The Maldives have contributed little to climate change--the country ranks 167th in the world for greenhouse gas emissions, about an 8th of U.S. emissions per capita -- yet the islands are risk of disappearing under the ocean due to rising sea level. The Maldives have called on international forums to take action on climate change, even holding a cabinet meeting under water in scuba gear, but to little avail.

Whether rising seas, heat waves, storms, or changes to our food supply, climate change will impact different areas of the world differently, but in some sense we are also all in the same boat. Tackling these problems will mean recognizing our responsibility not just to the environment but to each other.