49% residential lots vacant in East Biloxi, “squirrel farts”, Commissioner upset USAA breaking wind – and other Saturday news

I’m going to go ahead and call in my power outage to Entergy now because it takes them that long to get out here and fix it when it does go out, which is often, even if a squirrel farts.. but of course they don’t care to fix that problem… but I better not be late paying my bill…

This reader comment on the Clarion Ledger’s story, Snow, freezing rain in weekend forecast for the state, had me ROFLMAO – and definitely disproves the notion that “only boring people talk about the weather”.

While Entergy may not “care to fix” the problem of “squirrel fart” power outages, the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio wants to know why 44% of East Biloxi still vacant from Katrina:

Nearly half the land in East Biloxi is still vacant more than five years after Hurricane Katrina, according to a survey by the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio.

The survey, released Friday, comprised land east of Interstate 110, excluding downtown. It showed 49.5 percent of the residential lots and 44 percent of all property was vacant in 2010.

“The reason people have for not returning is still a mystery,” said Stephen Crim, a community planner with the Design Studio and leader of the survey. “There are all sorts of anecdotal reasons we can cite to explain why vacancy persists,” he said. Some property owners may be waiting for a casino or other developer to buy the land at a premium, he said. The national real estate crash and recession are other factors, as is the cost of wind insurance near the Coast…

The good folk at the Design Studio could find a big clue to the mystery in Insurance commissioner wants answers from USAA, Anita Lee’s follow-up story on USAA’s decision to drop wind coverage for “at least 1,150 Coast policyholders”.

Despite years of MID assuring the post-Katrina Legislature proposed policyholder protection legislation wasn’t needed, Lee reports “there is no legal requirement for companies to contact the department for this type of action”. Oops! Would it pass if advocates renamed their oft failed proposal a “Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights”? Continue reading “49% residential lots vacant in East Biloxi, “squirrel farts”, Commissioner upset USAA breaking wind – and other Saturday news”

Mississippi Windpool Rates Going Down. Commissioner Chaney Makes Good on his promise to Coastal Residents

Today is a very busy news day with unrelated but very newsworthy items. The windpool premium reductions are one of a three news stories we are tracking related to Katrina issues, the other two being State Farm further restricting coverage in Alabama and the Hancock County press conference today involving Haley Barbour, Gene Taylor and Roger Wicker.

Yesterday afternoon we were greeted with breaking news that the Mississippi windpool was reducing rates for coastal residents.  I read today’s Sun Herald story and was reminded of Commissioner Chaney’s Insurance Forum on March 4. Though I have not recapped either that forum or Gene Taylor’s Issues+Answers lecture on February 29th as both were lost in the corporate tax shuffle I was reminded of a post I penned on the Yahoo! Allstate Message Board about Commissioner Chaney’s Forum when I read Anita Lee’s story today.

Mr Shumaker with the wind pool was also enlightening but also exhibited what is wrong with the current system. The wind pool was not created to be palatable for it’s members but neither was it created to hold wind insurance for people living in Pearl River County. I got the impression Mr Shumaker didn’t understand how much structural change has occurred in his market since 8-29-05. Continue reading “Mississippi Windpool Rates Going Down. Commissioner Chaney Makes Good on his promise to Coastal Residents”