Naples Real : Insurance: They aren't going to take it anymore

Fourteen months after Wilma ripped through Naples, it is hard to find a blue roof. This city-owned property on the corner of Fleishmann Blvd. and Tamiami Trail North is the exception.

On Jan. 2, Charlie Crist will move to 700 North Adams Street in Tallahassee.
Built in 1957, the 13,000-square-foot Governor's Mansion qualifies at the start of the year for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. But if it didn't belong to the state, and wasn't covered under the State Risk Management Trust Fund, the Governor-elect might share with his constituents an insurance nightmare.

Still, Governor-elect Crist has already started obsessing about the issue. When he decided to cease raising funds to pay for the inaugural Governor's Ball he said, "I just didn't feel right having a Ball while Floridians are struggling with a property tax and insurance crisis."

Nonetheless, there will be dozens of parties on Jan. 2, and a week later, all eyes will be focused on the 50-yard line, as the Florida Gators take on the Ohio Buckeyes. Reality won't set in until Jan. 16, when Florida's legislators have been summoned into a special session to start dealing with the I-word.
The legislators can expect to hear everything from heart-wrenching stories of homeowners who cannot afford rates that have doubled or tripled in one year, to irate real estate agents who will cite instances in which their clients have been unable to buy or sell certain properties because of the changing rules.

Earlier this year, a group of 32 residents in Key West got together and decided that they were going to do things the hard way: figure out how the Florida insurance industry sets rates and fight back. Within months, the organization they called FAIR - for fair insurance rates in Monroe County - swelled to 3000 members. There was dancing in the streets - it happens often in Key West - when the group succeeded in blocking some rate increases and getting others rolled back.

Hearing the story at a meeting of the Florida Association of Realtors, Bobbie Dusek was motivated to start a similar organization in Collier County. Her group is called FAIR for Collier, but here it stands for "fighting against insurance rates".

The group has drawn up a 10-point bill of rights for property owners, started a membership drive, held public meetings, and implored the Collier County commissioners to pony up funds to hire an attorney and an actuary to cut through the fog and determine what property insurance rates here should be.
FAIR has set up a mailing address at FAIR for Collier, Inc., P.O. Box 7771473, Naples, FL 34107. It has a blog at: http://fairforcollier.wordpress.com. FAIR will place representatives at a table at the Downtown Naples New Year's Eve Art Festival on Fifth Avenue South the weekend of Dec. 30 and 31; a meeting, open to the public, at the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce at 2390 Tamiami Trail North on Jan. 4, starting at 5 p.m., and a face-to-face meeting with Collier County commissioners at the Government Center at 3301 Tamiami Trail East starting at 9 a.m. on Jan. 9.

As it gathers support from the public, FAIR is also seeking the attention of the state officials who can ultimately make things happen. State Senator Burt Saunders has attended a meeting and expressed interest. The other state representatives from this area who have been or will be contacted by FAIR are: Senator Larcenia J. Bullard; Representative Mike Davis; Representative Denise Grimsley; Representative Garrett Richter; Representative David Rivera, and Representative Trudi K. Williams.

Monroe and Collier county's FAIR organizations are being cloned by a number of other organizations throughout the state, specifically organized to deal with property insurance. Others, such as the older Community Association Leadership Lobby (CALL) have added the insurance crisis to their agendas. CALL represents more than 4,000 communities, including condominiums, homeowners associations, mobile home communities and cooperatives in Florida. Their website is: www.callbp.com.

"Spiraling storm-related insurance premiums put a strain on our communities and compromise the ability of elected volunteer community association leaders to manage them effectively," said a Naples member of CALL, Ewing Sutherland, when the group released a survey about insurance-rate increases.
The Ft. Lauderdale attorney who serves as CALL's executive director, Donna D. Berger, said Floridians are upset and "tired of listening to excuses from elected officials who say nothing can be done about this outrageous increase in storm-related insurance costs."

That comment may seem to be one of the more polite ways of putting it when the special session opens.