Fortify WHAT?? Everything will be fine .... Bill Posey

Is it just me (I know it's not) or is this AS STUPID as it sounds?

Oh and I should mention that I think all this hurricane crap is MORE FEAR like the rest of the stuff since the Bush Regime took over.


Fortifying Residences Called Key To Woes

By KEVIN BEGOS The Tampa Tribune


TALLAHASSEE - Florida's property insurance crisis won't be solved unless large numbers of Floridians invest in strengthening their homes against hurricane damage, the chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee warned Monday.

If people don't make those investments "it's just a matter of time before this state is devastated," said Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge.

Posey said the current combination of a shaky insurance market, a weak real estate market and the many homes that haven't been fortified to stand up to hurricanes creates the economic potential for "pretty much a perfect storm" that could seriously hurt Florida.

"On the other hand, if the people of this state make a commitment to harden their properties, … the hurricanes will not be a major threat. The losses could be predictably much lower, and that's the only way the hurricane crisis is going to get solved, is when everybody in this state takes some personal responsibility for hardening their property," Posey said.

He's offering a sort of tough love approach to help people get there.

Posey's bill proposes lowering the grants available under the state's $250 million My Safe Florida Home program, passed last year. Although each homeowner would receive less money, the money will go further and help more people. If Posey's legislation becomes law:

•The maximum grant would be $2,500, rather than the current $5,000

•Grants would be limited to strengthening shutters, doors and bracing gable ends - not for roofing.

•Grants would be limited to homestead properties valued at $300,000 or less rather than $500,000 or less, and the homes must be in coastal high wind areas.

Posey's warning makes sense, said Guy Marvin, president of the Florida Insurance Council. But it may not be enough to solve the current crisis.

"I think it will help, but whether it is a big enough first step to stabilize the market is questionable because there are so many other factors involved," Marvin said. Among them: the damage to infrastructure from a hurricane.

If big storms do hit Florida this year, a new round of losses for insurers would make Florida even less attractive for business.

Posey said that's where home hardening, or mitigation, could make a big difference statewide. Whenever a storm hits, a structure would be far more likely to survive.

Rocky Scott, a spokesman for state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., said that "anything that helps mitigation, we're for."

Posey's bill passed his committee unanimously Monday.

Another insurance bill attracted an unusual spectator: Gov. Charlie Crist stood in the back of the room and praised legislation that would let Citizens - already the largest insurer in the state - compete on equal footing with private companies.

Past legislation allowed homeowners to switch to Citizens if a private insurer's rate was more than 25 percent higher. The new bill from Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, would let people make the switch for a 15 percent difference. The bill passed 8-1.

"I'm very pleased with what the committee did today," Crist said. "There are people throughout the state that need insurance premium relief."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski contributed to this story. Reporter Kevin Begos can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or kbegos@tampatrib.com.


I guess if we don't make these errrrrr 'investments' in our homes maybe we'll have to leave >???? I'm getting the strong hints in that direction. (LOL!!!)

I guess I'll get some strong ski ropes and tie em off to some of those rock-climbing pin thingies in the yard. Few of them thrown over the house should do it.

Oh and the area of Rockledge was one of the FIRST and WORST of this regime ....**************************************************************************************

UPDATE Here's some funny as shit stuff I missed: I LOVE Jimmy the BEST !!!! (after a reread i can't make up my mind but jimmy is def. funny. As well, I see that Sen. Posey must have weighed in ...)

by Reggie 04/10/07 08:25 AM
Hardening homes is money well spent? I spent thousands on hurricane windows and doors. Allstate deducted a little over 100 dollars last year and this year they are cancelling my policy. We still have massive rate increases and policy cancellations.
by Lisa 04/10/07 08:08 AM
Why would anybody in a coastal community not have shutters? That was the first thing we bought when we moved here. It should be required for everybody.
by John 04/10/07 08:06 AM
This is much like treating of an accident victim who has massive tissue and blood loss, with Bactine Spray at a cost of $2500 a bottle.
by Robert 04/10/07 07:20 AM
Reading this story is just scary to the average homeowner. So many people running around with mostly ideas that make no sense. It's obious the blind are leading the blind in Tallahassee.
by Brian 04/10/07 07:05 AM
This is a good step.Living in the areas most vulnerable to hurricanes should not cost everyone. This idea should probably extend farther inland and to lower cost homes. Hurricane winds cause damage throughout the entire stare.
by JT 04/10/07 07:03 AM
So the window shutter lobby is gaining strength! Good idea but why stop at 300k on the coast? And why wait for permit need hurricanes don't. All property needs to be hardened.There were inland areas that had as much or more destruction as coastal did
by Jimmy 04/10/07 05:57 AM
"If the people of this state make a commitment to harden their property to the best of their abilities, hurricanes will not be a major threat and the hurricane crisis will be solved." Sen. Posey really said this? What kind of shutters would do this?
by Kim 04/10/07 12:49 AM
Ah! Government in the eye again. I called to have shutters put on and they wanted about a thousand per window. So that would have cost me $9,000. Shutters will not keep my roof on, now will it?


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