Sunday, January 24, 2016

Identifying Local Opportunities

Bice fined for New Year’s Eve event


Palm Beach County restaurant Bice Ristorante was fined $1000 for seating more people than the 46 allowed at full capacity. The restaurant accepted full responsibility due to miscommunication with a new hostess.

The problem with this story is that the seating arrangements and capacity would cause a safety hazard for those exiting the building in case of an emergency. Other possibilities include lack of training for the staff, the size of the building, the popularity of the restaurant during New Year’s Eve, and the unpredictable length of time a party will occupy a table.

Here, the problem is mainly the general manager’s, Jose Gonzalez, who was charged the $1000 fine. The problem could have been the customers’ if there was an emergency that night and they were unable to evacuate the building in time.


Ex-tenant starts Playhouse petition - Playhouse advocate continues quest


After losing the building to lack of funds, Playhouse advocate group, The Palm Beach Performing Arts Center, aka National Arts Institute, starts a petition to raise interest in the Royal Poinciana Playhouse and have the theater reopened.

The building was lost due to failure of meeting a fundraising goal.

The problem is inducing enough “support to regenerate Palm Beach’s iconic legendary Playhouse Theater.”

The problem belongs to the advocate group, The Palm Beach Arts Center, or National Arts Institute.


Sprucing up a must with new utilities - Boxes for utilities may need mandate - Mandate may join boxes for utilities


In a March 15 referendum, voters will either approve or deny a new residential electric transformer boxes below-ground system. The town will provide initial landscaping for the boxes that will need to be placed on residents’ front lawns, but property owners must maintain the landscaping in the future. The Town Council wants to make this a legal requirement to ensure the transformer boxes are maintained properly.

The problem here is that all of the town’s residents may not be aware of the major electric transformer boxes system change, and approval or denial of the movement may not reflect true public opinion.

The problem belongs to the Town Council, who looks to please the public and improve the current utilities’ system. The town’s residents also face the issue of awareness of the motion and the future landscaping responsibilities.


Goal: Harder-to-hack phones phones harder to hack hack


Palm Beach Gardens-based tech security company, Sonavation, is looking to improve current fingerprint readers’ easily hackable technology found in iPhone and Android devices. The 70-man startup has spent a decade and tens of millions of dollars developing “the world’s smallest ultrasound imaging sensor.”

Sonavation is 10 years old, tens of millions of dollars deep in R & D, and has yet to make a single sale. The problem is that current fingerprint reading technology in iPhone and Android devices can be hacked easily, Sonavation looks to take advantage of this opportunity. Scalability is their biggest concern.

These problems concern Sonavation and smartphone owners. Sonavation is stretching its limits on how long it can survive without making a sale. Smartphone owners need to worry about the weaknesses in their fingerprint reader security.


Doctor: Mold problem widespread


Two Port St. Lucie fire stations were closed due to mold and mice and rodent issues, they have now been cleaned and reopened. Firefighters who have slept at the stations were offered testing by the city and directed to Dr. Mark Pamer. Some results have found elevated amounts of antibodies against feces, feathers, and mold. Pamer suggests this is a widespread issue that should be examined in other connected buildings, but the majority of individuals should be unharmed.

Sick building syndrome is the issue brought to light by Dr. Pamer. He suggests, “In order to save money, the building codes are pretty tight now and there's fewer windows and the air systems are enclosed and it's all about saving money, so what we've seen in the decades is an increase in these work-related respiratory issues.”


This problem affects the firefighter of the “sick” fire stations, and may be affecting several other buildings that are unaware of this issue.

2 comments:

  1. The iPhone scanning recognition system is one of major concern. There has been times where friends of mine have taken my phone and used their finger to gain access to my phone. Their solution is very interesting because it allows for a much more detailed sensor. I'm sure if the main stream media spoke more and more about the lack of security with the scanner, they would become a major success.

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  2. Wayland,

    I really enjoyed reading your post, as a Palm Beach County resident. These were all things that I did not know were happening, but I will definitely pass along to my family back home! I think you did a great job at identifying the specific issues at hand, and then making it very clear who was being affected by the issues. Your summaries of the problems were clear and easy to follow. Overall, great job on this assignment, and good luck in the rest of this class! Feel free to check out my post about local opportunities in Alachua county at: http://uffarmer.blogspot.com/2016/01/identifying-local-opportunities.html

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