ORLEANS CITIZENS FORUM
Draft press release September 8, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orleans Citizens Forum Public Information Event
Tuesday Oct. 27 at the Orleans Elementary School, at 6 p.m.
Contact: Abby Summersgill
508 240-6778, avdh@comcast.net
Ed Maas, President of OCF, is available for interviews at info@orleansinn.com
or 508 255-2222
What Wastewater Management
Means to Orleans Residents
ORLEANS: The Orleans Citizens Forum will present a comprehensive, independent review of the key wastewater management issues facing Orleans voters and taxpayers at a public symposium Tuesday, October 7, at the Orleans Elementary School at 6 p.m.
Experts from local and state government, the local real estate industry, and citizen committee members planning wastewater systems will report on all the issues surrounding the Special Town Meeting vote Oct. 27 on wastewater management conceptual plans. Open to everyone, the meeting will allow plenty of time for audience questions.
Orleans citizens have had several opportunities this year to learn about the towns wastewater management needs, including seven public information sessions and a formal public hearing Oct. 2. The Orleans Citizens Forum (OCF) event Oct. 7 brings together all the information voters need to know presented by an independent, non-partisan, volunteer organization that focuses on public participation in the issues important to town affairs.
Major issues explained
Managing Orleans? wastewater is likely to produce significant financial, public health, infrastructure and cultural demands on the town. The October 27 Special Town Meeting will ask voters whether they will ratify the broad concept of a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan that could cost more than $150 million over 20 years. Although voters will not be voting Oct. 27 on actual financial appropriations, wastewater management is expected to eventually become the largest public project in Orleans history.
Panelists at the Oct. 7 forum presenting their perspectives and answering audience questions include:
· Brian Dudley, Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection
· Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director, Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative
· Augusta McKusick, Chair, Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative and Chair, Orleans Wastewater Management Steering Committee
· Paul Ammann, Orleans? Wastewater Management Validation and Design Committee
· Walter Bennett. Chair, Orleans Finance Committee
· George Meservey, Orleans Planning Director
· Jeffrey Karlson, Owner, The Real Estate Company
Richard Hartman, OCF member, has volunteered to be the moderator.
Panelists are likely to discuss issues such as these:
? Why the presented plan was chosen.
? Alternative methods of removing excess nitrogen from the environment.
? The impact the plan will have on the environment and conformance with state and federal law.
? The likely costs to the town of nitrogen removal pursuant to the plan.
? How costs will be shared by sewer system users and non-users.
? How much homeowners might be charged for wastewater management.
? How sewering will impact public health, zoning, and population growth.
? How sewering will impact property values.
? How sewer construction might be phased-in over 20 years.
Please come by and get informed!
Showing posts with label Cape Cod Insurer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape Cod Insurer. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Surprise! A Home Insurer Willing to Insure your Cape Cod Home!
Posted By David Newell, REALTOR.
Please visit my website: http://capehomesurfer.com/
The following article, written by Kimberly Blanton, is from today's (1/09/2008) Boston Globe. I had a client who was scheduled several months ago (Fall 2007) to utilize the Fair Plan, and after I advised her to speak with Rogers and Gray Insurance, she found that she would be accepted by Narragansett Bay Insurance Company, at a more palatable premium rate! Please read on....
Reversing the tide of home insurers that fled Cape Cod and other coastal communities, Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. said yesterday that it is expanding into those long-neglected markets.
Backed by $200 million in fresh capital from billionaire George Soros and other investors, Narragansett Bay said it is stepping up sales statewide, including offering policies to homeowners forced into the state's insurer of last resort, the Massachusetts Fair Plan, because they were unable to find affordable coverage from other companies.
Fair Plan's coverage in coastal areas ballooned as insurers pulled out in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Fair Plan's rates have also increased sharply, 25 percent on Cape Cod last year, because of what the company says is the higher risk of damage from hurricanes.
But Narragansett Bay Insurance believes it could prosper in the market by undercutting Fair Plan.
"Some people look at all of eastern Massachusetts as risky. We look at eastern Massachusetts very differently," said Stewart Steffy, Narragansett Bay's chief executive. "We think there's a very large opportunity to become a super-regional homeowners' insurer in New England," he said.
The company will target midpriced houses that are considered the cream of Fair Plan's customers. Those qualifying homeowners may see prices 10 percent to 40 percent below the average Fair Plan premium of $1,500, Steffy said.
Insurance agents and even Fair Plan officials welcomed the new entrant, which is offering to provide coverage to homeowners who have, by default, wound up in Fair Plan but are relatively low risks and should be eligible for private insurance.
"We think that's excellent," said John Golembeski, the president of the Massachusetts and the Rhode Island Fair Plans.
In recent years, Fair Plan's exposure on Cape Cod has soared: The insurer writes about 59,000 policies on Cape Cod and the islands, up from just 4,000 in 2000. "The Fair Plan's role is certainly not to be a primary insurer," he said.
Consumer groups have argued for years that although Cape Cod and Boston's South Shore are coastal communities, they are not at great risk to storm damage. Nonetheless, they said these towns have suffered disproportionately from rate hikes and the increased caution by insurers after the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast.
Narragansett Bay Insurance is effectively doing business based on the same argument: The insurer will rate each house individually to determine whether it is willing to cover the house - rather than issue a blanket decree about providing - or denying - coverage for large geographic areas. Narragansett said it will use such detailed measures as how far the structure is located from the shore, how high it sits above sea level, how well it's constructed, and whether it has year-round or summer-only residents.
In December 2005, Steffy and three partners purchased the 158-year-old Pawtucket Insurance Co., parent company of Narragansett Bay, after a corporate reorganization under receivership by Rhode Island regulators. Under the new owners, the insurer began writing new policies last year in coastal areas, but the recent capital infusion will greatly expand its ability to take on more policyholders.
The partners, owners of Blackstone Financial Group Inc. in Pawtucket, initially put up their own funds to revive the insurer. In recent months, new equity investments by Soros Strategic Partners, RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., and Pine Brook Capital Partners LP are fueling the company's expansion in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and other eastern states.
"They're well capitalized," Golembeski said.
But Paula Aschettino, who heads Citizens for Homeowners Insurance Reform, was concerned that Narragansett is essentially a new company. For example, while the insurer has obtained an "A" - excellent - rating from Demotech Inc., it has not yet been rated by A.M. Best Co., a primary rating agency.
Aschettino was hopeful a new insurer on the Cape would relieve financial pressures from Fair Plan and result in lower premiums for homeowners.
Chuck Robinson, the chief executive of Rogers & Gray Insurance Agency in South Dennis, which has started selling Narragansett's policies, said there is so much demand for private insurance on the Cape that he fears being inundated by homeowners looking for new coverage.
Narragansett, he said, will be "an important player, because they're more anxious to write business" than the handful of home insurers now on Cape Cod.
Please visit my website: http://capehomesurfer.com/
The following article, written by Kimberly Blanton, is from today's (1/09/2008) Boston Globe. I had a client who was scheduled several months ago (Fall 2007) to utilize the Fair Plan, and after I advised her to speak with Rogers and Gray Insurance, she found that she would be accepted by Narragansett Bay Insurance Company, at a more palatable premium rate! Please read on....
Reversing the tide of home insurers that fled Cape Cod and other coastal communities, Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. said yesterday that it is expanding into those long-neglected markets.
Backed by $200 million in fresh capital from billionaire George Soros and other investors, Narragansett Bay said it is stepping up sales statewide, including offering policies to homeowners forced into the state's insurer of last resort, the Massachusetts Fair Plan, because they were unable to find affordable coverage from other companies.
Fair Plan's coverage in coastal areas ballooned as insurers pulled out in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Fair Plan's rates have also increased sharply, 25 percent on Cape Cod last year, because of what the company says is the higher risk of damage from hurricanes.
But Narragansett Bay Insurance believes it could prosper in the market by undercutting Fair Plan.
"Some people look at all of eastern Massachusetts as risky. We look at eastern Massachusetts very differently," said Stewart Steffy, Narragansett Bay's chief executive. "We think there's a very large opportunity to become a super-regional homeowners' insurer in New England," he said.
The company will target midpriced houses that are considered the cream of Fair Plan's customers. Those qualifying homeowners may see prices 10 percent to 40 percent below the average Fair Plan premium of $1,500, Steffy said.
Insurance agents and even Fair Plan officials welcomed the new entrant, which is offering to provide coverage to homeowners who have, by default, wound up in Fair Plan but are relatively low risks and should be eligible for private insurance.
"We think that's excellent," said John Golembeski, the president of the Massachusetts and the Rhode Island Fair Plans.
In recent years, Fair Plan's exposure on Cape Cod has soared: The insurer writes about 59,000 policies on Cape Cod and the islands, up from just 4,000 in 2000. "The Fair Plan's role is certainly not to be a primary insurer," he said.
Consumer groups have argued for years that although Cape Cod and Boston's South Shore are coastal communities, they are not at great risk to storm damage. Nonetheless, they said these towns have suffered disproportionately from rate hikes and the increased caution by insurers after the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast.
Narragansett Bay Insurance is effectively doing business based on the same argument: The insurer will rate each house individually to determine whether it is willing to cover the house - rather than issue a blanket decree about providing - or denying - coverage for large geographic areas. Narragansett said it will use such detailed measures as how far the structure is located from the shore, how high it sits above sea level, how well it's constructed, and whether it has year-round or summer-only residents.
In December 2005, Steffy and three partners purchased the 158-year-old Pawtucket Insurance Co., parent company of Narragansett Bay, after a corporate reorganization under receivership by Rhode Island regulators. Under the new owners, the insurer began writing new policies last year in coastal areas, but the recent capital infusion will greatly expand its ability to take on more policyholders.
The partners, owners of Blackstone Financial Group Inc. in Pawtucket, initially put up their own funds to revive the insurer. In recent months, new equity investments by Soros Strategic Partners, RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., and Pine Brook Capital Partners LP are fueling the company's expansion in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and other eastern states.
"They're well capitalized," Golembeski said.
But Paula Aschettino, who heads Citizens for Homeowners Insurance Reform, was concerned that Narragansett is essentially a new company. For example, while the insurer has obtained an "A" - excellent - rating from Demotech Inc., it has not yet been rated by A.M. Best Co., a primary rating agency.
Aschettino was hopeful a new insurer on the Cape would relieve financial pressures from Fair Plan and result in lower premiums for homeowners.
Chuck Robinson, the chief executive of Rogers & Gray Insurance Agency in South Dennis, which has started selling Narragansett's policies, said there is so much demand for private insurance on the Cape that he fears being inundated by homeowners looking for new coverage.
Narragansett, he said, will be "an important player, because they're more anxious to write business" than the handful of home insurers now on Cape Cod.
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