{"id":2505,"date":"2026-07-01T16:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2505"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:01:41","slug":"we-cant-afford-to-stay-put-higgins-plans-for-climate-action-despite-pushback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2505","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We can\u2019t afford to stay put\u2019: Higgins plans for climate action despite pushback"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Eileen Higgins finds herself in an unusual position as the first Democrat mayor of Miami in decades: she\u2019s being asked to improve upon a Republican\u2019s fairly good track record on climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2503\">What to do with a 100-year-old courthouse? Miami-Dade hopes auction brings a buyer<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In a city plagued with rising seas and temperatures \u2014 whose woes were once immortalized by Rolling Stone in a cover story declaring \u201cGoodbye, Miami\u201d \u2014 it made headlines when Republican Mayor Francis Suarez declared sea level rise a crucial issue and directed his administration to spend hundreds of millions addressing flooding.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>But the bipartisan honeymoon period on climate action didn\u2019t last long. Now, with the federal and state government yanking back plenty of that funding and directly barring the city from enacting some of its more aggressive climate plans, Higgins is left with a narrow road to tread toward progress.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Last week, Higgins was one of three U.S. mayors to attend London Climate Week, where one of the main topics of conversation was moving the ball forward despite pushback.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf all you do is say \u2018they won\u2019t let me,\u2019 then you\u2019ll stay put. And we can\u2019t afford to stay put,\u201d she said. \u201cI never think I can\u2019t do something; I just go do what we\u2019re allowed to do, and what we\u2019re allowed to do is quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Higgins told the Herald her vision for resilience in her administration is to continue to push forward on the city\u2019s flooding projects, $700 million of which have either been built or are under construction, she said. Plenty of that was funded by the Miami Forever Bond, OKed by voters in the same election that swept Suarez in for his first term.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>But reporting from the Coconut Grove Grapevine late last year suggests that the flooding projects that make up about half of the $400 million bond are the farthest behind compared to the affordable housing and parks projects. The city attributed the delay to the pandemic, staff turnover and changes to the original plans.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Higgins said her solution is to speed up permitting by slashing red tape \u2014 both for these types of large, city projects and for home and business owners trying to install resilient upgrades.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cReducing permitting time is a top priority for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIf our stormwater projects and flood prevention projects take two to three years in permitting, that\u2019s another two to three rainy seasons. It also increases the costs of these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The city recently launched a pilot project called SAVE (Stormproof Assistance and Value Enhancements). It offers a 50% discount on permits for resilience upgrades like impact windows, living seawalls or smart thermostats. It applies to remodeling projects for single family homes, condominiums, apartments and duplexes.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2502\">Is Publix open? Is there garbage pickup? Who\u2019s working, who\u2019s not on July 3-4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The goal is to both slash costs and speed up these types of projects, which will help lower energy and insurance bills for Miami residents.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Higgins also says that improving resilience will mean changing the city\u2019s building code to allow innovative new technology. Right now, she said, her administration is working on making it easier to install permeable pavement, which helps absorb floodwater in flood-prone spots.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>During her time as a county commissioner, Higgins said she worked to improve the county\u2019s building code on living shorelines, compost facilities and shifting zoning for town houses to allow more green space.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s going to be hundreds of innovations in climate and resilience that are going to be coming down the pipeline as our world heats and changes, and we are going to find a way to put them into code,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to figure it out. We\u2019re going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Another priority for Higgins is waste, she said. Miami-Dade is facing a trash crisis after the main waste facility burned down and replacing it turned into a political dogfight.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The county is about to conclude its three-month pilot program for composting, which featured several dropoff locations in Miami. And in March, a Higgins-sponsored policy to eliminate single-use plastics and Styrofoam from contracts with city vendors passed unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>With just a few months of her term under her belt, Higgins said she\u2019s determined to move the ball forward on resilience wherever possible, including finding as many grants as possible to stretch city dollars further.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel good about our team, we are really weaving climate resilience into what we\u2019re doing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re certainly on the path to thinking differently in the face of the headwinds that may come from the state and federal governments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2501\">Is Publix open? Is there garbage pickup? Who\u2019s working, who\u2019s not on July 3-4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eileen Higgins focuses on resilience in Miami with faster permits, Miami Forever Bond projects, single-use plastics bans and grant-seeking amid political headwinds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018We can\u2019t afford to stay put\u2019: Higgins plans for climate action despite pushback - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2505\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018We can\u2019t afford to stay put\u2019: Higgins plans for climate action despite pushback - 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