Anonymous wrote:Just do not be stupid and put trump in charge. Climate change is in fact reality. Put in an administration that will begin to take some very long overdue action on that and is competent to try to help the people getting pounded by monster storm after monster storm. With plenty more to come.

Anonymous wrote:Just do not be stupid and put trump in charge. Climate change is in fact reality. Put in an administration that will begin to take some very long overdue action on that and is competent to try to help the people getting pounded by monster storm after monster storm. With plenty more to come.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the people. But I also hope it’s a wake up call in the land of climate change denialism. They need to rethink housing in the hurricane belt. Make it more reliant and build in different locations— that assume a hundred year storm every few years. Because I tired of FEMA bailing out people the 4th and 5th time they have massive hurricane distraction. The definition of insanity and all that. And expensive insanity.

No it is just time to increase taxes to the blue states to pay for the red states climate change problems.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about everyone trying to sell their homes in Florida. They supply is significantly out paced the demand. Condos aren't selling and they have a glut of homes on the market.

We tried to tell people.

+1. As if the hurricanes were bad enough, a second problem. After the collapse of the condo in Florida a couple years ago that killed so many people, there are now actual regulations in FL about the amounts of reserve funds and special assessments and independent evaluations of the structural upkeep needs and required maintenance of condo buildings more than 30 years old. And the numbers are huge. Because Florida being so deregulated means there is 30+ years of deferred maintenance in many of the buildings. And some are in hurricane zones and getting hit with harsh weather that degrades the structural integrity more than one would normally expect. So, on top of skyrocketing insurance rates, owners of these condos are also getting hit with hundreds or thousands of dollars a month in special assessments (if they finance the special assessments that can top top $100k— one very ordinary, non-luxury building was $224k a unit— and the assessments may be for more than the actual value of their condo) by condo boards. I’m actually surprised the Republican, anti-regulatory FL legislature passed these Regs and Death Satan signed them. But I guess collapsed buildings killing dozens of people is also bad for Florida’s insurance market.

So enormous special assessments plus enormous cost to insure makes these condos impossible to offload

And now they also have the same condos becoming uninsurable or also paying 3, 5 or 10x what they used to for home owners insurance. And DeSantis admitting that the state insurance fund, which serves as insurer of last resort, is insolvent. Before Helene and Milton. And if the condo is actually uninsurable, the owner can’t sell it to anyone who needs a mortgage. If my home in Florida was damaged in this round, and I was lucky enough to still have decent insurance, I’d take the money, sell the house as is to a developer or someone who wants the land underneath— for $1 if that’s what it took to get out of being responsible for it— and consider myself very lucky. Living in the hurricane zones of Florida is officially economically untenable, unless you are amazingly wealthy. Which most retirees on set incomes of Social Security, annuities, and pensions are not.


More info about the condo special assessments that is making the economics of owning property in FL so much harder than *just* impossible to find or pay for home owners insurance.


https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-condo-crisis/61917535

And wait until the claims for Helene and Milton flood in to the state backed insurer that De Santis has admitted is insolvent. I wi either ha o desultory, or Florida wi have to— OMG— raise taxes.

I do wonder if the colossal mismanagement by the State of FL that got us here isn’t the October surprise that loses Scott his Senate seat, ends DeSantis’s national ambitions, and maybe even puts FL in play for the EC. Hard to blame Biden-Harris for HOA assessments due to decades of deferred maintenance, unbelievably high insurance rates due to lack of regulation in building codes in hurricane prone areas, and insolvency in the insurance fund controlled by the state of FL. Although I’m sure they will try. But thus far, the best they have is MTG’s conspiracy theories on Biden Administration using secret weather control weapons to target red areas (as if a Tampaand Asheville aren’t pretty blue).

Anonymous wrote:The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about everyone trying to sell their homes in Florida. They supply is significantly out paced the demand. Condos aren't selling and they have a glut of homes on the market.

We tried to tell people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

"And actually you have to apply for it. Using power that you don’t have. Again, tone deaf."

FEMA has set up emergency centers in towns and people can use computers there to apply for the $750. FEMA workers there actually hand out the payment upon completion of the forms. It'll take many days for everyone to get to the centers, but the response is must quicker than Katrina and Maria. Many stores are open but don't have the electricity/internet to accept credit cards. I'm wondering what you, Emergency Services expert, would do differently?

They need to put many more "foot soldiers" on the ground to take basic items to people in remote areas. They cannot expect people to get to centers to use computers.

Yes, if Republican Congresspeople were willing to show up during a NATIONAL EMERGENCY and do what we pay them to do -- like pass additional funds for FEMA -- it would be nice. Oh, well, I'm sure they have their list of grievances why not.

Or are you suggesting FEMA, a federal agency, illegally appropriate money from a fund allocated elsewhere? Is that what you are saying?

They did show up. At least two of them did. But two does not a voting majority make.

This is a failure of Congress, not one party, as far as we know.

No. Funding originates in the House. That’s the Constitution. Even if every single Democrat in the House shows up, they can’t even turn on the lights, because Republicans control the House. Unless Mike Johnson, a Republican, calls the House into session and Republicans show up to vote, there is no finding. This is a Republican failure. Not BoTh SiDeS.

Now, if the House asses funding and the Senate doesn’t go into session to vote on the House Bill or Biden doesn’t sign it, those are Dem failures. But for the moment, everyone is waiting on Mike Johnson to quit campaigning and tell his Republican members to get their a##es back to DC. Even if no Dems from the House showed up, they could technically pass supplemental funding. But Dems would look terrible in that case, and I expect my Dem member to show up if Johnson calls a special session.

So what isn’t he. Oh yeah— his members want to campaign on FEMA failures.

At this point, if Trump is elected with GOP congressional majorities, the people who voted for it are going to deserve all the destruction and misery he rains down on them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Florida. Hurricanes in Florida are something we all live with during hurricane season. I don't think anyone in Tampa is thinking "omg, I didn't know a hurricane would come here!!!" It's always possible.

+1 I am also in Florida - in Tampa Bay actually. The Tampa area is blue, by the way - and we have mayors who are working on climate resilience. But it's not easy or fast. It's unreal, that said, that we are getting another one while we are nowhere near even starting to recover from the last one.

At least this guy isn't in charge.

Yes, but that's who Florida wants to be in charge, so...

Not all of Florida. Trust me, we're trying.

Anonymous wrote:The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about everyone trying to sell their homes in Florida. They supply is significantly out paced the demand. Condos aren't selling and they have a glut of homes on the market.

We tried to tell people.

Anonymous wrote:The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about everyone trying to sell their homes in Florida. They supply is significantly out paced the demand. Condos aren't selling and they have a glut of homes on the market.

We tried to tell people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

"And actually you have to apply for it. Using power that you don’t have. Again, tone deaf."

FEMA has set up emergency centers in towns and people can use computers there to apply for the $750. FEMA workers there actually hand out the payment upon completion of the forms. It'll take many days for everyone to get to the centers, but the response is must quicker than Katrina and Maria. Many stores are open but don't have the electricity/internet to accept credit cards. I'm wondering what you, Emergency Services expert, would do differently?

They need to put many more "foot soldiers" on the ground to take basic items to people in remote areas. They cannot expect people to get to centers to use computers.

Yes, if Republican Congresspeople were willing to show up during a NATIONAL EMERGENCY and do what we pay them to do -- like pass additional funds for FEMA -- it would be nice. Oh, well, I'm sure they have their list of grievances why not.

Or are you suggesting FEMA, a federal agency, illegally appropriate money from a fund allocated elsewhere? Is that what you are saying?

They did show up. At least two of them did. But two does not a voting majority make.

This is a failure of Congress, not one party, as far as we know.

No. Funding originates in the House. That’s the Constitution. Even if every single Democrat in the House shows up, they can’t even turn on the lights, because Republicans control the House. Unless Mike Johnson, a Republican, calls the House into session and Republicans show up to vote, there is no finding. This is a Republican failure. Not BoTh SiDeS.

Now, if the House asses funding and the Senate doesn’t go into session to vote on the House Bill or Biden doesn’t sign it, those are Dem failures. But for the moment, everyone is waiting on Mike Johnson to quit campaigning and tell his Republican members to get their a##es back to DC. Even if no Dems from the House showed up, they could technically pass supplemental funding. But Dems would look terrible in that case, and I expect my Dem member to show up if Johnson calls a special session.

So what isn’t he. Oh yeah— his members want to campaign on FEMA failures.