Week 5 Case Studies: Large Jurisdictions

The American Bar Association (ABA) is a professional organization dedicated to educationally and professionally developing its members. These members can be licensed, practicing attorneys and also current law students. It is a completely voluntary program, and therefore, not mandatory for legal professionals to join the organization. In addition, the general public can contact the ABA, which can utilize the membership directory to help individuals find qualified attorneys offering either paid legal advice or sometimes free-of-charge. The ABA is committed to enhancing the profession as stated in its mission statement “to serve equally our members, our profession and the public by defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession” (ABA, 2016).

If nothing happens to improve the current issues, rising waters will continue to rise, corrosion and erosion will worsen, and further damage will be inflicted on buildings, homes, cars, roadways and infrastructure as a whole. Additionally, not only will the infrastructure face failure, fishery and wildlife will experience extinctions and continue to drop in numbers, farms will face struggles of production and disbursement. Consequently, the export market for Florida commodities will see a huge drop in numbers, damaging the state of the market for imports and exports in Florida. These problems are severe and will cause residents to flee the area. If residents move away, then the budgets of both the City and the County governments will take a huge loss. It seems as though the cycle does not end. The Tampa Bay area needs residents, because with residents you have an income of tax dollars. Tax dollars are important for the sustainability of public goods. When the income of tax dollars is reduced, then the effects are felt in all areas of the budget system. But with and influx of residents comes more pollution and use of resources. This “gloom and doom” outlook does not have to be the case. To ensure a brighter outlook and future for the Tampa Bay area, we must consider

People living in Miami are in the face of danger, and for the most part they are not aware of it. Due to high population, Miami is the fourth largest city to become affected by sea level rise. (Ankum et al.) In the next 32-50 years, sea level is expected to rise by as much as two feet. (Ankum et al.) This two-foot rise will have detrimental effects on the urban settings of Miami. The amount of soil erosion that is undergoing at our beaches will greatly increase if a two-foot rise occurs. At a four-foot rise, road connectivity would begin to become affected. At a six-foot rise, Southern Florida would no longer be habitable as it would, for the most part, be underwater. Not much is being invested in mitigation efforts, most of what is being done are short term solutions. Instead of coming up with ideas to prevent and try to slow down the effects of climate change on our environment, we are focusing on ideas such as building up a sea wall, relocating power plants, and redesigning structures.

South Florida is home to 5.8 million residents. This area consists of Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County. Through out the year these residents and also tourists have to deal with different hazards. I will be choosing Fort Lauderdale as my community. Fort Lauderdale has to deal with severe thunderstorms and hurricanes. Both of these hazards bring with them multiply hazards themselves. They bring severe wind, lightning strikes, flooding, and storm surges. South Florida also has to deal with wildfires in the Everglades. Wildfires are a threat to the communities that are located near the Everglades. The smoke that is created from the fires can also be harmful to communities near the fire and even farther away.

Many communities are suffering due to coastal erosion. One example is the village of Cocodrie, LA in Terrebonne Parish. This village’s small population and its 220 residential and commercial buildings are surrounded by marshes. In Cocodrie, there is no barrier against hurricanes. Local marinas play host to recreational and commercial fishing, and The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium is located in Cocodrie. This facility of around 100,000 square ft houses laboratories, classrooms, and a research center. Infrastructure that will be affected by coastal erosion includes paved highway, dirt roads, a bridge, water supply systems, and natural gas lines. By 2050, Cocodrie will be surrounded by open water as the marshlands around the village give way to rising sea levels. Another community affected by this issue is Yscloskey, LA in St. Bernard Parish. The most important part of the economy here is fishing, and highways link the parish to New Orleans fishing communities. The Yscloskey area lies outside of the protective levees and is quite vulnerable to storms. Though losses in Yscloskey are not predicted to be as great as those in Cocodrie, a 16 percent loss by 2050 leaves the infrastructure of Yscloskey even more vulnerable (Coast 2050, 1998, p. 64-66). Local residents in these areas are watching the land disappear along with the beachfronts and Cyprus swamps that were on that land (Marshall, 2014).

The topic of this research paper will be the tree island communities in the Florida Everglades and the different conditions that affect them. While conducting preliminary research on the topic, my hypothesis is that the effect of flooding shortly after a fire will have a positive effect on the tree islands. I believe that the flooding will bring in other resources that have been carried with the current and provide the community with enough resources for healthy growth following the fire. I believe the communities could benefit from have a source of water, instead of having more droughts after the fire.

I returned Ms Dunlap call. She said wants to place a formal complaint against the CPS worker Miranda Larson because she illegally removed her children based on false accusations. She stated that Miranda, like the entire CW are doing criminal activities. She then asked me if I had talked to her attorney? What was my conversation about, What did I disclose to them? What did they told me about her? "Be honest" she said. I informed her that I do contact her attorney because in one her DHS 0170 form the Discrimination Complaint form, she provided us her attorney's phone number and my conversation was about how can we contact her. She said that we should not be talking to her attorney because she just fired her.

Laws have been put in place of the years to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities when it comes to getting a job, keeping a job, and having access to goods, services, and locations. Several of the laws that have been enacted over the years include the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, the Age Discrimination Act of 1967, and the Americans with Disabilities of 1990.

The 2004 hurricane season established new records for hurricane landfalls in the state of Florida. More major storms struck the state then in any other time in recorded history. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jean crisscrossed the state wreaking tremendous damage estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. The city of Coconut Creek was just one of a number of municipalities affected by the storms. Coconut Creek a suburban “bedroom” community known for its trees and tropical landscape looked a lot like a barren wasteland devoid of its lush flora and magnificent canopies. The City Council determined to restore the natural beauty of the neighborhoods developed and implemented the “Tree Canopy Replacement Program”. This program was created to improve the overall environmental heath of the City and increase the percentage of canopy citywide. This policy has been considered successful because of the significant benefits the trees provide including the capacity to sequester green house gases, provide a habitat for wildlife and improve property values.

Life’s a beach and I’m playing in the sand (lil Wayne lyrics). Imagine how wonderful living on a beach could be. Walking barefoot through the surf and sand with your pant legs rolled up as the sun sets. Most of us would like to live a carefree life and not have to worry about bad things happening in everyday life. Indian River County Florida is a wonderful coastal community to live in. Unfortunately, living near the ocean isn’t always smooth sailing. The trouble is unexpected and unforeseen events could happen at any time, anywhere. Natural disasters occur everywhere; tropical storms are common occurrence in coastal areas. After all the safety of such a diverse community, and the preservation of the historically rich area of Indian River County

Planning also takes into consideration the level of state and local demand for outside help. “The most devastating disasters may require the full range of Federal response and recovery assistance. Less damaging disasters may require only partial Federal response and recovery assistance, and some disasters may require only Federal recovery assistance” (p.10).

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, almost 40% of the population lives in high population-dense coastal areas. Around the world, eight of the world’s ten largest cities are situated near a coast, with about 250 million people living by a coast line less than 5 feet above sea level. It is projected that all of these people will be directly affected in some way by seawater rising in the future (Siegert, 2017). For the county of Orleans Parish, the rapid loss of coastal land is not a future scenario, but a current reality. Due to our unique geography, Louisiana loses about 16 square miles a year; the rapid erosion of Louisiana’s cost is only expected to accelerate over time. (Wernick, 2014).

In the wake of the highly controversial and newly-proposed rule clarifying the Environmental Protection Agency’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ interpretations of the phrase “waters of the United States,” the Supreme Court was recently asked to determine whether or not Jurisdictional Determinations issued by the Corps constitute “final agency action” under the Administrative Procedure Act. Such a distinction is important, because if considered “final agency action”, such determinations would be subject to judicial review. Under the Clean Water Act’s “arguably unconstitutionally vague” definition of “waters of the United States,” the exact scope of jurisdiction is murky at best. The indefinite scope of jurisdiction that CWA imparts has been criticized as expanding the Corps’ and EPA’s jurisdiction so vastly, it caused Justice Scalia to speculate that “[a]ny piece of land that is wet at least part of the year is in danger of being classified by [Federal] employees as wetlands covered by the Act . .

I think when closely located communities come together to prepare mitigation plans it inevitably helps all members of the community when disaster or emergencies occur. It would be wasted time if each community would create a separate mitigation plan when all these communities are prone to a specific type of disaster. For example, communities that are located within the eastern coastal region are all prone to hurricanes, storm surges as well as coastal erosion. Local governments have come together with North Carolina and have produced some of the best mitigation strategies available to mitigate, prepare, and recover from the most common natural disasters that occur, which was proven by the efforts of emergency management before, during,

The Topsham community in Portland, Maine pertinent risks and hazards will be discussed. It 's current state of readiness is exceptional. The purpose of the Topsham community Hazard Mitigation Plan is to provide a comprehensive set of guidelines for hazard response and mitigation in the community. The plan identifies potential risks with appropriate mitigation responses to significantly reduce loss of life, injuries, economic costs, and destruction of natural and cultural resources. As the occurrences of the hazards identified in this plan are unpredictable, the plan itself will continue to evolve and be evaluated. With this, the mitigation strategies and maintenance process will be labeled as ongoing. The mitigation strategies and maintenance of the plan provide direction for the future of mitigation activities within the state and the process will continue until changed for any valid reason. The community has made progress on