Corporate Gift Guide for a Struggling Economy

Like it or not (not), the economy still isn’t doing so hot. So if you’re thinking about what to give to your clients and people in your business circle in the fourth quarter (read: holidays), go easy. OK, the good news: No one is expecting much in this climate, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst of The NPD Group, Inc., a market research company. But things aren’t as dire as last year, when a nice holiday note on good paper sufficed. “We’ll see more corporate gifts than last, as companies move back to giving within and outside their own businesses,” Cohen says. “It will be all about rewarding those that helped us through the economic hurdle.” [Source: Miami Herald]

Scott Could Join Other New GOP Governors to Snub Rail Funds

Just as it looked liked a nationwide high-speed rail system was taking off, a backlash by conservatives who now control many state governments is threatening to knock it off the tracks.

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And Florida is on the verge of becoming the biggest derailment yet. Florida has received $2 billion from the federal government -- 70 percent of the total cost -- to build a line from Orlando to Tampa. It is envisioned as an alternative for workers and tourists to the state's often snarled interstate system, promising, roaring along at 168 mph, to deliver them to their destinations in a fraction of the time. But Gov.-elect Rick Scott and the state's leading transportation force in Congress, Rep. John Mica, are signaling that it is not too late to stop the project -- and that they may be the ones to do it. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune ]

Q&A with Janet Stevens of AAA: Tips for Tampa Cruises

Cruises are big business for the AAA Auto Club South's 63 travel agencies in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, making up 60 percent of revenue. That's why the nonprofit organization's top executives work closely with Tampa tourism officials and the port to attract new cruise lines and bigger ships. Their latest catch: Norwegian Cruise Lines and its Norwegian Star, which starts sailing from Tampa in October 2011. Janet Stevens learned selling cruises as a AAA travel agent in training 27 years ago. She now is manager of agent services for the club. She talked recently with the Times about how Tampa's cruise business has evolved, cruise trends and tips for novice cruisers. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]

Charities and Jobless Brace for Benefits to Expire

Congress has debated another benefit extension, but it is unclear if the measure can pass in a political climate dominated by deficit concerns.

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Agencies ranging from homeless shelters to food pantries are already coping with record caseloads as Florida's economy -- which fell into recession in 2007 -- sputters toward 2011 with only modest signs of improvement. Yet just as demand for charity programs is poised to increase even further, the agencies' funds are running low. Government stimulus grants that helped charities provide direct financial assistance are winding down. Private donations are also shrinking, said Bryan Pope, general manager at the Salvation Army in Sarasota. "This is the perfect storm of increasing demand," Pope said. "We have put in some extraordinary resources in the last 18 to 24 months which has attempted to deal with the situation but has not fixed it. Until the economy rebounds, the need still exists." [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

Scientology Benefits When Miami Dentist Runs up Patient Bills

Rosa Hernandez remembers this about her dentist: He sure could close a deal. She and her husband, Mauricio, had gone to Dr. Rene Piedra with a host of concerns. She had sensitive gums and a paralyzing fear of dentists. He needed bonding. Piedra, dressed in a business suit instead of a dental coat, showed them computerized models of how he would fix their teeth. He offered them a discount because they came in together, and helped them with a loan application. The couple walked out with a "treatment plan" covering several months. Cost: $17,189 charged to the Capital One account the doctor set up for them. They had no idea, going in, that they would spend that kind of money. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Column: Should Marion County Go It Alone to Create Jobs? [Ocala Star-Banner]
When Munroe Regional Medical Center CEO Steve Purves took the gavel as chairman of the Ocala/Marion County Economic Development Corp. two months ago, he famously declared that "economic development is a team sport" that required the talents and muscle of the city, the county, the state, the private sector and the EDC. But last week, the County Commission caused an uproar when it announced it was going to develop its own economic development program, and some immediately wondered whether the County Commission had quit the team. Ocala City Councilman Kent Guinn, for example, fretted that the community's job creation efforts would be fragmented, and Councilwoman Mary Sue Rich complained of being pushed to "the back of the bus." And then Thursday, Purves fired off a letter to the EDC membership insisting that the organization would forge ahead with its strategy for attracting new businesses and helping existing businesses expand.

› Tampa's Sypris Electronics Training for Digital War [St. Petersburg Times]
The United States does a pretty good job flexing its military and defense muscles in four out of five fields of battle: land, sea, air and space. Tampa's John Walsh wants to make sure this country can hold its own against anybody in the fifth: cyberspace. To help make that happen, Walsh, 51 and CEO of Sypris Electronics, last week unveiled plans to create an international "Cyber Range." Walsh hopes it will become the go-to practice battlefield for digital warfare where the military, government agencies and, later, businesses like power companies and major banks running critical infrastructure services can test their defensive — and offensive — firepower against cyber enemies. "Traditionally, people can go to a gunnery range and practice" with conventional weapons, Walsh says. Why not a cyber range?

› Asian Tourists Wanted on Space Coast [Florida Today]
With strong ties to the European and Canadian markets, tourism leaders are setting their sights on new territory: Asia. Specifically, tourists from India and China. Rob Varley, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, said those segments, have great growth potential for Brevard County. Speaking of India, he said, "We'll see some great future business out of there. I think we probably have tours coming out of there in 2011, and they're talking about coming on tours and bringing a couple hundred students at a time." During these visits, Varley said, the travelers will be staying about 7 days on average. That means more revenue in the area, in both hotel stays and money spent on restaurants and other services. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Chinese students have visited Brevard County over the last two years, Varley said, and the TDC is working on luring more Chinese families to the Space Coast.

› Lockheed Martin Exceeds Job Promise [Ocala Star-Banner]
While Marion County leaders bemoan the lack of jobs for local residents, one of America’s biggest companies has quietly done its part to make a dent in the community’s unemployment rate. Lockheed Martin, one of the nation’s leading defense contractors, has expanded the workforce of its Ocala plant by 205 new employees over the past 20 months. That put the company well in excess of the pace of new hires it was required to make under a joint state-county economic development grant. And these jobs aren’t paying peanuts.

› St. Petersburg Dealing with Homeless Who Prefer Street to Shelter [St. Petersburg Times]
He has been here 687 days, in the same spot overlooking the same serene view of Mirror Lake. He's surrounded by a piles of stuffed plastic bags, left by other street people who bring him food for watching over their stuff. His friends, who know him only as Joe, wonder if he's depressed. When a reporter approached him on a rainy afternoon, he refused to speak, holding an umbrella in front of him like a shield. "He's a really nice guy," said Joey Phillips, who was homeless for almost a year before recently getting a job and an apartment. "He just wants to be left alone." But to many people living and working downtown, people like Joe are a blight. Mayor Bill Foster wants them to move along, and he has an ambitious plan.

› Column: Florida's Failed Tax Policies Have Our Economy in the Tank [Orlando Sentinel]
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, then Florida politicians are downright deranged. This state's failed economic policies have left Florida worse off than most every other state in America. And yet, Gov.-elect Rick Scott and the simpletons in Tallahassee want to double-down on disaster. Their plan is to cut the corporate income tax, which is already one of the lowest in America. They claim this will help you. But it's really just part of the continuing assault on the middle class. They claim this will put people back to work. But there is proof to the contrary.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Phosphate Lawsuit: Wetlands vs. Jobs [St. Petersburg Times]
After a hitch in the Navy and work handling psychiatric patients in lockdown, Billy Griffis held a prized job in this corner of rural Central Florida. Mosaic Fertilizer paid him $42,000 last year as "wrencher" laying big pipes and fixing pumps at its South Fort Meade phosphate mine. Griffis, 35, didn't worry about job security. Fertilizer prices soared in recent months, and the world's largest phosphate fertilizer producer hadn't laid off a worker during the mine's 15-year history. That changed in September. After the Sierra Club and two Florida environmental groups won a federal court ruling to stop work on new section of the mine, Mosaic warned that hundreds of jobs were at risk, then cut 60. The company blamed the Sierra Club. Environmentalists shot back that Mosaic was playing hard-ball to sway public opinion. The two sides worked out a deal that will bring all the employees back for a while. But neither is ready to quit. Too much is at stake.

› The House You Can Get - for $1 Million [Florida Times-Union]
Security gates and tight-knit upper-crust communities have worked to keep Jacksonville's $1 million homes safe from everything but the economy. But, unlike many sales at lower price points, homeowners at this level seem to be more protected from losing gobs of money in panicked sales simply by virtue of their own wealth. Of eight Jacksonville area homes ranging in price from $900,000 to $1.2 million and chosen from listings on realtor.com last week, none is listed for less than the owner owes on their mortgage, commonly called a "short sale." Only one of the eight has been foreclosed against and is bank-owned. And of the four with previous sales listed in county property appraiser records, four are listed for more than the owners paid when they purchased them. The other four homes have no previous sales information, which likely is due to the fact that their original owners are the sellers.

› Retail Therapy [Ocala Star-Banner]
Retailers are known for their boundless optimism, but this holiday season they are downright giddy. Considering the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is predicting holiday sales to be 3 percent to 3.5 percent higher than last year and the National Retail Federation (NRF) expects sales to rise 2.3 percent, maybe there's good reason for the giddiness. While the numbers aren't staggering — a 4 percent sales gain is considered healthy when inflation is low, as it is now — the forecast is much brighter than last year's 0.4 percent sales increase and considerably better than 2008, when holiday sales actually decreased 3.9 percent. A lot is riding on holiday sales: They can account for as much as 40 percent of annual revenue for many retailers. Last year, sales for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa accounted for 19.1 percent of all retail sales, according to the NRF. “We've had a couple of bad years so it's getting easier to make numbers,” said Rick McAllister, president/CEO of the Florida Retail Association.

› Economic Developers Set Lofty Goals Amid Grim Business Realities [St. Petersburg Times]
In the same month that Hillsborough County voters gave a big thumbs down to a new tax for regional mass transit, you'd think a luncheon of 450 of this region's business elite would gather to lick their wounds over such a resounding political defeat. On the same day that Florida announced the state jobless rate remained stubbornly stuck at 11.9 percent, you'd think an annual meeting of the region's top economic development group would stop and ask: Are we doing enough to generate jobs here? Talk of lofty goals displaced a more grim reality at the Tampa Bay Partnership's annual meeting Friday, held over salmon and salad at Tampa's A La Carte Event Pavilion. Outgoing two-term Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio set the tone early with a win-one-for-the-Gipper speech. Iorio's personal quest to win support for light rail and improved bus service failed to win over voters. But she urged the room of executives to persevere.

› Naples Ritz Hits 25, Celebrates Business Achievements [Fort Myers News-Press]
Puttin' on The Ritz put Southwest Florida on the map, and not just for its upscale vacationers and corporate clients. An estimated 1,400 people from the region are employed by The Ritz Carlton Resorts of Naples, equating to a yearly payroll of more than $30 million, plus benefits. And, as The Ritz-Carlton beach resort in north Naples prepares to kick off its 25th birthday celebration in early December, regional business leaders are quick with the compliments. "It changed the face of the area - gave it class," said Myra Janco Daniels, CEO and founder of Philharmonic Center for the Arts. Jerry Thirion, former manager of The Registry Resort (now Naples Grande), worked outside Atlanta at the time The Ritz was developed. He still remembers the hospitality industry in the southeastern United States being abuzz when former Ritz executive Joseph Freni flew over the mangrove-lined northern shores of the young Pelican Bay residential development, and deemed it a fitting location for the luxury brand's fourth resort. "Here was this little fishing town," Thirion, who's currently general manager of Bay Colony Golf Club, Naples. "It was a little risky, starting up here." The risk paid off.
Related:
» Naples Community Portrait
» Philanthropy: Florida's Best, Worst Charities
» Upscale Upgrade

› Tensions Brew in Tampa over Cigar City's Tasting Room [St. Petersburg Times]
oey Redner was making plans for Cigar City Brewing years before it opened. He picked out the names of beers. He considered locations. But he didn't expect problems with his neighbors. He thought they would be proud to have some of the world's highest-rated beer brewing down the street. The brewery's quick success and national following allowed the business to grow from two employees to 22 in two years. National and state awards line the walls inside the brewery's tasting room at a Spruce Street warehouse, behind a Home Depot. But some residents of nearby Lincoln Gardens don't like having a bar so close to their homes. The brewery is licensed to manufacture beer, but has only temporary approval for the tasting room. That temporary approval is set to expire and Redner wants the Tampa City Council to make the wet zoning permanent.

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RSM US LLP, Central Florida