Friday, May 19, 2006

More sensible"Citizens" insurance

I propose that the state of Florida require, the insurance companies allowed to operate in the state,to provide documentation of definate areas, with legal definitions,which they actuarily determine as a risk and what the risk is.I further propose that the state of Florida add a fifty mile wide band to that boundry,encircling it,where possible. The properties within the fifty mile wide band would be allowed to buy insurance from "citizens",also.The insurance companies wouldn't have an effective argument against state competition,because of the proximity of the property in the band to their own determination of risk.It could, possibly,narrow their declared areas of high risk.This would provide capital to"citizens" from lower risk property.I believe a lower rate could be provided to everyone involved.The requirement that "Citizens" have premiums higher than any insurance company would,is insane."Citizens" rates should only reflect actuarial probability and expected event costs the same as any other insurance.The fact that insurance companies won't insure a property already nullifies the premise of government competition. Delbert W. Allegood npublici

Friday, May 12, 2006

Juxtaposed images of elitism and poverty

I know that Zephyrhills Florida is not the only place these things occur.I know that elitism is so common among the people we elect to office,that it has almost become acceptable, to permit government members to allow themselves to believe that they are better than the rest of us;simply because we elected them.We set a salary and benefits,according to the time,effort and expertise,to do the job.Upon being elected,The "public servants"then decide what they truely deserve,and start rewarding themselves for"all their hard work".In Zephyrhills,that would equal out to about twenty hours a month,unless you're dumb as a box of rocks or slow as molasses.Here in Zephyrhills,we have,quite a few,so called,part time employees.Ala bigbox commerce, we disenfranchise them,no insurance, no anything, but a low waged 32 hr week.It was recently pointed out,by Gina King,that some where along the line, city council members,although not employees of the city,had placed themselves on the full time employee insurance rolls.Since this was going on during an election period,it was decided by council that they would instead recieve half the benefit now,since they were'nt really qualified to be on the plan.No,we haven't heard any more about insurance for the young people,working part time, to fill full time needs.The third juxtapositioned item,is that of seeing contract street work done by people who,almost without doubt,were almost all, illegal workers from south America,while we are at the same time, disenfranchising Americans by calling them part time.Several times,while visiting the convience store next to where they were working,it became patently obvious that most of them knew at least three words of english.Delbert W Allegood npublici

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Limiting lawyers, or limiting paid claims?

I'm not sure how it will work out, Or any of the details,but it seems the Florida legislature has authorized a mediation process for sinkhole claims.It probably will provide a little relief for people who cant't afford a lawyer.Other than that it will,likely,do little.It is difficult to take lawyers out of a legal process and sometimes unwise.I have yet to see preventative measures even mentioned.If a portion of the money collected by"Citizens"were furnished to city and county governments to facilitate and finance methods of prevention and equipment for testing and to provide a payout fund from counties and cities,possibilities of payout would be lowered.A situation where the home owner could opt to be bought out by citizens for heavily damaged homes,at the rate of retail value, related to tax value of the previous years taxes,would cause the home owner to insist on paying full taxes.It would cause counties to stay on top of tax valuations.Permits to build would, likely,require soil probes,soil compaction tests,core drills,closer inspections,or any number of these,and/or other determination methods.The state never should have started being in the insurance business;but now that we are,we should at least own the property we are paying for.Some sinkholes could be used as retention ponds,as they have been, for thousands of years.Some could be small parks. Large scale contractors should be paying into a fund which would pay out, when the root cause of settling/cracking is found to be contractor caused,as determined by arbitration.There should be no"whoops,sorry"it wasn't a natural sinkhole, so you just lose,to the homeowner.Delbert W Allegood npublici

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Bushes E-mail to Vincinte Fox

Hey Vinnie! I'm gonna have to send 'em all home, if you sign that drug bill.That could work and then we'd have these people here, wanting to break down our wonderful drug law enforcement industry.We just can't have that.Delbert W Allegood npublici

Monday, May 01, 2006

Bogus "sinkhole" claims

Many of the payments made by "citizens" and other insurance groups, for sinkholes, are bogus claims.Certainly, it should not be a home owner, who has depended on the state ,to protect him from construction faults,who should take the loss. He should be,somehow,fully insured.There should be a fee based fund paid into, any time large amounts of earth are moved onto property.Large developers,who move earth in great quantities and bury debris are the most frequent offenders.Even large stemmed weeds and large amounts of grass can cause foundation cracking,because of uneven settling.In my area,I have seen farmers hold land on greenbelt,while they got free or low cost fill dirt from other construction excess.This fill would be dumped on top of topsoil {full of humus,which depletes},on top of weeds,small and great,sometimes,even small trees.In florida,farmers are allowed to bury many things on their property,which the rest of us would have to pay to dispose of in a safe manner.The farmer,can then sell the land at a higher price to developers.The developers have a harder time getting permits and fill is expensive,if you buy it when it is not construction excess.Quite often, large amounts of fill are dumped, with no packing done between loads.I believe that the homeowner should not suffer over the cause of settling,be it natural or construction caused.If the home is habitable,if repaired,then it should be repaired by the insurance company.Who finally is responsible, should be worked out afterward, between the insurors.Heavily damaged property, on the coast of Florida,due to storms, should be condemned and bought at the actual predamaged retail value,by the state.If it was built on the beach, it should have always, belonged to everyone,anyway.Our taxes,through citizens,should not restore folly, or merrily feed such a monster of greed.We should get something for our money,besides the knowledge that we have provided the rich with below market insurance, while sticking everyone else to do it.Delbert W Allegood npublici