How strategic city planning is helping Miami Gardens grow its economy
Oliver G. Gilbert Mayor – City of Miami Gardens
What has been the city’s steps to improve development?
While the City of Miami Gardens was created in 2003, it had evolved in an unplanned way. There was neither a central commercial area nor a stream of commerce unique to this area. For this development, we needed control over the largest piece of property, taxpayer or economic generator, but we were the only city in Miami-Dade County that didn’t have any zoning or building control over Hard Rock Stadium. Miami-Dade had that control. We eventually started a series of discussions and we were able to come to an agreement and now share control and we’re the primary voice in what goes there. Having control is important because we are going to develop this area in a way that meaningfully affects how services are provided and what people can do in the city. The latter is the one that transforms the city into a community. We have seen community involvement in the referendum on the stadium. We are now working with Calder Race Course Casino to the north. We are decoupling the racing and gambling. Calder sits on 170 acres of land, and if we decouple the racing from the casino, they can have the casino without expanding gambling, and we can develop the area around it into a place where people can spend money. It will create jobs, improve the tax base, improve the general quality of life and decrease traffic. One way to improve traffic is by having restaurants, shopping and movie theaters closer to where people live. We are developing businesses by helping them to function more effectively. Hard Rock Stadium was a part of that and now we are moving on to Calder. My message is “I’ll be as fast as you are, and make it as easy as I can. What I need you to do is come here and make your money but provide services in a way that creates an added bonus for the people who live here and creates a reason for other people to visit.”
What is being done to attract business?
One of the things that is interesting is that a lot of major commercial corridors in this area were zoned for residential uses, so we changed that and added things like an entertainment overlay that allowed more uses. That means that when you bring your business here, you have more money. You can incentivize people to do things because people act in their own interest. You find a way to make your interests match theirs. The back part of Calder has now been rezoned to part commercial and part industrial. This is because we want to build an office park back there. We can keep the front edge for retail. Property developer Bridge has a huge site that used to be a landfill. We are working with them to transform that into a modern industrial park so that we can bring in more businesses.
How Florida International University is nurturing students to create the best opportunities
Mark Rosenberg President – Florida International University
What policies could be implemented so as to further expand research?
We have to find a way to incentivize faculties to be more innovative and creative. That involves giving them a significant part of the revenue created by anything they might invent. Great faculties also need great graduate students, and they need postdoctoral scholars. Postdoctoral scholars are individuals who have got their PhD, but are willing to work as assistants to professors who have already been on the field for a long time.
What are the main challenges to remaining leaders in research? What differentiates the facilities of Florida International University facilities from others?
The main challenge is to continue to maintain the talent here and to continue hiring great professionals. The facilities are critical because advanced research is expensive we need great facilities. We are fortunate that the state has been willing to invest in science and laboratories, as well as engineering laboratories, at Florida International University (FIU). We have been able to double our research since 2009. In 2016, Forbes named us as one of the top large companies to work for in the U.S. We were ranked 64, with more than 5,000 employees, and were ranked second in Florida.
How can the universities better connect academia with industry?
You have to look at what we’ve done with The Beacon Council with the One Community, One Goal initiative where, of seven sectors, we identified six and developed a plan to work directly with industry. Secondly, we are in discussions with The Beacon Council’s advisory group, academia and the business community to determine how we can collaborate. Third, is that we set up the talent development network, which is a portal providing internships for students to work in industry. Industry often claims that we aren’t responsive to their needs but it’s a shared responsibility because the occupational spectrum is so specific and so detailed that it’s hard to believe that industry thinks that we could produce specialists for each of the specializations that they have in their respective company. The Talent Development Network, which isn’t just FIU, has placed over 200 students in careers. All of the institutions of higher learning in Miami-Dade County working together assure that students can understand what their career is going to look like and that they are going to have a potential opportunity with a company. The company can train students and they can come back and take full-time positions. The national data is that 65 percent of students who take internships eventually work with the same company at a salary premium of $12,000 to $13,000.
How University of Miami is capitalizing on the county’s unique location
Dr. Julio Frenk President – University of Miami
What is the main role of University of Miami as an institution within Greater Miami?
This university was opened only 29 years after the City of Miami was founded. The founders realized, as early as 1925, that the city needed a higher education center. We have developed a hemispheric strategy, which has five pillars. First, we need to study the hemisphere. By this, I mean the entire continent from Canada to the southern parts of Latin America. Because our hemisphere is the New World, you cannot understand it without also understanding the Old World, emphasizing a global perspective. Our advantage in Miami is that we are truly a cross road between the cities of the Americas. To better study the hemisphere, we have created the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas. The second pillar surrounds education exchange. We want to take education exchange to a whole new level, and for this, we have created the Hemispheric University Consortium where students will be able to move around universities and get credits for the courses they take. The third pillar is research. We already have an extensive and vast network of very talented researchers. The fourth is technological innovation. By partnering with businesses, government and civic organizations in Miami-Dade and South Florida, we can become the most comprehensive research university of the region. And the last pillar is healthcare. Our aim is to expand our already vast amount of patients and forge strategic and collaborative arrangements.
What are the main challenges in preparing today’s youth for an ever-changing job market?
Our success will be measured in how well we prepare our students for the rapid changes they will face in the labor market. Our graduates are entering a labor market that has never changed as fast as it is doing so right now. This is mostly because of advances in automation and artificial intelligence. This means that machines will displace plenty of jobs, but it also means that an important number of new jobs will be created. Some studies show that children entering elementary school this year will, by the time they graduate, work in jobs that don’t exist today. The way to address this is to have a university with an open architecture that allows people to enter as many times as they need to keep themselves updated. In addition to developing certain specific skills in specific areas, we also develop cross-cutting competencies that have to do with critical thinking, creativity, good communication skills, emotional intelligence and entrepreneurship.
What business advantages do you enjoy from your home base in Miami Gardens? 
From an education standpoint, what are the main challenges to prepare the workforce for an ever-changing job market? 
