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November Student Spotlight Alex Ruiz – Political Science
and Statistics – is a data anal-
ysis intern. He is also a legis-
lative intern for Representa-
tive Jared Moskowitz (D) at
the Florida House of Repre-
sentatives and a player on the
FSU Men's Rugby Club.
N'Namdi Green – Econom-
ics and International Affairs
– is a policy analysis intern.
His research for the DMC
focuses on faith-based organ-
izations and their role in eco-
nomic development.
On June 13, 2017, the FBI served subpoenas
to the Tallahassee City Hall and another to the
Tallahassee Community Redevelopment
Agency.
These subpoenas requested records of commu-
nication between city officials and local busi-
ness owners regarding redevelopment pro-
jects. The DeVoe L. Moore Center worked in
partnership with the Tallahassee Democrat to
gain access to the records for its long-term
research on urban redevelopment policy in
Florida.
The aim is to provide a meaningful and signif-
icant contribution to public discussion about
urban redevelopment. Local government
transparency and accountability is a continu-
ing focus of the DeVoe L. Moore Center, and
these unique data will provide new opportuni-
ties for understanding the practical workings
of the redevelopment process.
“By using subpoena records from the investi-
gation in Tallahassee,” says Austin Eovito,
manager of the center’s Data Analytics Group,
“we are able to compile a list of individuals
involved in the development process and their
relationships with each other and with the
Community Redevelopment Agency. In part-
nership with FSU’s computational science
department, we have been able to extract qual-
itative information from the e-mails. There are
a lot here: tens of thousands of records, up-
wards of a hundred thousand.”
DEVOE L. MOORE CENTER VOLUME 3 ISSUE
1
Dr. Samuel Staley
Director
(850) 644-9694
Val Rodriguez
Social Entrepreneurship
Projects Manager
(407) 617-0389
[email protected] Giovanna Da Silva
Blog Content Manager
(954) 696-7700
Gdasilvia06 @gmail.com
Mike Avi
Outreach Manager
(954) 654-6466
Austin Eovito
Data Analytics
Group Manager
(904) 477-7612
Judy Kirk
Business Manager
(850) 644-3849
Dr. Mark McNees
Director of Social
Entrepreneurship
(850) 973-7687
Catherine Annis
Policy Research Group
Manager
(850) 766-0108
Kathy Makinen Senior Editor
photo by Plaza Tower Condos. Downtown Tallahassee.
by Mike Avi
Data Analysis Team Works to Increase Transparency in the Tallahassee Government
Dr. Keith Ihlanfeldt
Eminent Scholar
(850) 644-3849
The DeVoe L. Moore Center
hosted the first in a series of
workshops on empirical meth-
ods for undergraduate students
in October 2017. Martha Evans,
adjunct professor in the Depart-
ment of Economics and a prac-
ticing business economist, gave
students insight into visual
With the national spotlight on
flooding caused by hurricanes
Harvey and Irma, the National
Flood Insurance Program
(NFIP) has come under scruti-
ny. The federal program focuses
on offering flood insurance
coverage and reducing the im-
pact of flood damage.
The NFIP is currently $25 bil-
lion in debt to the U.S. Treas-
ury. The program also charges
higher premiums to those in
lower-risk flooding areas, leav-
ing many questioning the effi-
ciency of the NFIP as a whole.
Jennifer Wriggins, professor of
law at the University of Maine,
notes flaws with this: by giving
threats from terrorist attacks, un-
employment, and slow economic
growth. Panelists such as Dr. Ma-
son pushed back, pointing to wage
inequities between native born
workers and recent immigrants.
Panelists further tackled immigra-
tion concerns, citing evidence
such as economic advancement
and the cultural empowerment of
minorities.
man Rights), and Deana Rohlinger
(Sociology).
Rojas argued that immigrants do
not harm the economy as many
would suspect. Rather, he says,
immigrants make up an important
part of the labor market. Borders
themselves operate like regulations
on the labor market, artificially
disrupting natural equilibrium. He
addressed common objections to
immigration such as increased
Fabio Rojas, acclaimed sociologist
and professor at Indiana University-
Bloomington, met with students at
FSU on November 2, 2017. He
spoke in favor of open-border im-
migration policies and offered a
wide array of arguments to dubious
audience members.
He was joined by a panel of FSU
faculty, including Patrick Mason
(Economics), Terrance Coonan
(Ctr. for the Advancement of Hu-
A well-known and often preva-
lent issue on the FSU campus
is the matter of parking.
With some 40,000 students and
6,000 staff, finding a parking
space is often survival of the
fittest. By lumping transporta-
tion costs into regular tuition
fees, parking appears to be free
and accessible for all students.
This method of combining
costs into one payment incen-
tivize students to park on cam-
pus instead of taking the bus,
biking, or walking.
The first solution that many
instinctively consider is con-
structing more parking garages.
However, this is actually inef-
by Mike Avi and Megan Boebinger by Megan Boebinger, photos by the author
Dr. Fabio Rojas is Professor of Sociology at the University of
Indiana-Bloomington.
ficient and costly. The Victoria
Transport Policy Institute has
shown that parking garages cost
nearly $20,000 per space and
construction costs are not recov-
ered for thirty years. Mainte-
nance, too, racks up $500-$800
each year per space.
The solution may be to use mar-
ket pricing for parking. Charging
more during peak hours and less
during low demand hours would
encourage students and faculty
to find environmentally-friendly
ways to get to campus like car-
pooling, biking, using public
transportation, or walking. This
may improve the university’s
ability to raise funds for trans-
portation maintenance.
Life Center, a recreation center.
The main objective for each pro-
ject is to provide the Frenchtown
community with services and
infrastructure that promote
growth and stability.
Bethel is working
in conjunction
with Frenchtown
Redevelopment
Partners LLC.
Bethel plans to
purchase land on
the 400 block of
West Tennessee Street and con-
struct a mixed-use business and
housing complex ranging from 16
to 150 units. This would include
apartments, townhomes, a local
grocery store, an urgent care fa-
cility, and a community bank.
They hope to revitalize and boost
the local economy.
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church—
a staple in the Tallahassee commu-
nity—has served as a hub for social
and religious engagement for over a
century. Recently, Bethel has taken
the initiative to fund and manage
economic develop-
ment projects to
help stimulate the
economy of the
surrounding
Frenchtown area.
In these efforts,
Bethel is an im-
portant part of a national move-
ment by faith-based organizations
focused on revitalizing key parts of
American cities.
Bethel Church has contributed to
numerous development initiatives.
These include Bethel Towers, which
is an affordable retirement home for
the elderly, and the Bethel Family
by N’namdi Green
Faith-Based Initiative Aims to Empower through Economic Redevelopment
by Giovanna Da Silva First published in Tallahassee Democrat,
Nov. 25, 2017
photo by Chad Cullen. Façade
of the Bellamy building at FSU
discounted rates on old, risky
properties, Congress discourages
replacement. These subsidies in
turn encourage further infrastruc-
ture development in high-risk
areas, which increases liability.
The NFIP fails to accurately
price insurance premiums for the
properties it insures. In Florida,
High risk properties are usually
owned by affluent citizens living
in coastal areas. By artificially
lowering the price of these prop-
erties, low-risk property holders
subsidize the cost to affluent
citizens. Yet, according to the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency one of the NFIP’s goals
is to provide affordable flood
insurance for the everyday citi-
zen.
photo by Bethel Church. Bethel
presentation techniques when
handling data. Evans argued
that well-conceived charts
communicate more effectively
than information presented in
verbal or tabular form. And
anyone in business, econom-
ics, or accounting knows that
visual presentation skill sets
are essential to those fields.
However, poorly designed and
inappropriate charts and
graphs can confuse more than
clarify. To help workshop
attendees avoid these pitfalls,
presenters should take care not
to use the wrong graphical
presentations for the intended
message. The goal is to grab
an audience’s attention and
make an impact that will be
remembered long after the
presentation has ended.
Dr. Mason, Dr. Rojas, and Dr. Coonan answer questions from the
audience.
Dr. Patrick Mason is Professor of Economics and Director of the FSU
African American Studies Program
Terrance Coonan, J.D., is the director of the Center for the Ad-
vancement of Human Rights at
FSU.
Dr. Deana Rohlinger is the Asso-ciate Dean of the College of Social
sciences and Public Policy at FSU.
Editorial Staff
Megan Boebinger – Editing,
Writing, and Media – is a social
outreach intern. She specializes
in publication design, editing,
and assists in photography.
Dr. Samuel Staley, director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center, intro-
duced the panel.
Kathy Makinen,
Senior Editor
Megan Boebinger,
Editor
Mike Avi
Austin Eovito
Giovanna Da Silva
N’Namdi Green
Contributing Writers
The Data Analytics Group at the
DeVoe L. Moore Center has
launched several projects intended
to provide transparency to local
government spending.
The floridaopengov.org transparenc
y website is being reformatted to
create a more user-friendly inter-
face with relevant, informative
graphics to show how Florida gov-
ernments spend money and raise
tax revenues. The website is updat-
ed to display the most current in-
formation available.
Data analytics researchers are also
examining urban redevelopment
initiatives using an interdisciplinary
research approach, working with
faculty and staff from the Depart-
ment of Scientific Computing and
Askew School of Public Admin-
istration and Policy. This research
includes an extensive analysis of
Community Redevelopment
Agency email correspondence
and generation of graphics in
order to better explain local gov-
ernment spending.
This innovative project has re-
ceived media coverage from the
Tallahassee Democrat, WTXL,
and WCTV.
photo by Talgov.org. Suburban
Tallahassee
by Austin Eovito
National Flood Insurance Needs Reform
by Giovanna Da Silva First published on the DeVoe Moore Center
policy blog, October 26, 2017
Samuel R. Staley, Ph.D.
Director, DeVoe L.
Moore Center
