Identifying Local Opportunities

This assignment is to identify local "opportunities". I am originally from Orlando, FL so I pulled my articles from the Orlando Sentinel.


Home Prices Slip
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/classified/realestate/os-orlando-home-prices-20160516-story.html
The article describes how the market for houses in Central Florida is becoming unbalanced. There is not enough supply and there are more buyers.
There aren't as many housing listings so buyers are having to compete with other buyers for the limited options. This is causing house prices to increase, good for the seller but buyers are becoming frustrated because they are paying more than the market price.
Home-buyers are having this problem.

Clean up of Downtown Orlando pollution gears up
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/environment/os-orlando-superfund-cleanup-20160428-story.html
This article describes efforts to start cleaning up old buildings in DT Orlando.
Many of these old buildings used to be production factories that have been contributing to the pollution in the area. One of the byproducts was coal tar and some of it was seeping into the water supply. The cleanup will have to haul all of the building materials and contaminated soil out of the area, costing upwards of $20M.
The city of Orlando and the residents living downtown have this problem.

Indian River Lagoon declines trigger alarm
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/environment/os-indian-river-defining-crisis-20160407-story.html
This article describes the issues with the dying fish and other animals in the Indian River Lagoon.
The fish and animals are dying because of pollution to the water from fertilizers and the fish don't have enough oxygen. There is also a new species of algae that is taking over making the water very smelly and a brown-color.
Residents that live near the Lagoon are directly effected by this dead-fish outbreak. But I believe that it's a problem for everyone. We need to be more concious of our impacts to the environment.

Aspiring Marijuana entrepreneurs turn out in force at expo
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-marijuana-business-conference-2016-20160510-story.html 
This article describes entrepreneurs in the medical marijuana business.
People who want to sell the drug held a convention with vendors who supply methods and materials to grow the plant. Cannabis has become more "mainstream" now, and many business people want to cash in on the opportunity. However, marijuana is still illegal in the state of Florida for medical and recreational purposes.
Because the drug is still illegal is poses a problem for the potential entrepreneurs. I think another problem is for the people who are fighting to keep the drug illegal in all forms.

UCF, Full Sail tackle growing data analytics field 
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-marijuana-business-conference-2016-20160510-story.html
This article describes the growing studies of data analysis.
Universities are starting to offer more data analysis courses because there is a growing need for people to be able to collect, organize and interpret data to better target customers and market products. This is very interesting to me personally because I love looking over data and organizing data in excel to try to make sense of patterns and forecast outcomes.
Many, if not all, companies can benefit from hiring a data analysis so that they can see patterns and make better projections for future sales, markets, etc.