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March 6, 2007 No. 22
Vol. 85
Today’s Program: St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim
Large
Chief James D. Large has completed six courses of
study at the National Fire Academy in Maryland. He is also a Florida
State Certified Firefighter, Emergency Medical Technician, Fire
Instructor, and Fire Inspector. His education includes associate’s
degrees in Fire Prevention and in Fire Suppression from St. Petersburg
College and a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Studies from Eckerd
College.
Chief Large has been in a management/leadership
role since first being promoted to Lieutenant in 1979 and rising through
the ranks to his current position as Fire Chief. St. Petersburg Fire &
Rescue, under the direction of the Fire Chief, is subdivided into five
divisions based on functional and operational activities. Each of these
is further subdivided into peripheral activities as part of the
divisional service delivery.
The Fire Chief oversees the day-to-day activities
of each of the divisions, as well as serving as the Emergency Management
Director for the City of St. Petersburg. His responsibilities include
life safety codes administration, arson investigations, public
education, public information, plans review, and budget preparation.
Chief Large has also served in many different
support roles, such as Accreditation Manager. St. Petersburg Fire &
Rescue received accreditation in March of 2002. Chief Large serves on
the Board of Directors for the St. Petersburg Municipal Employees Credit
Union and the Police Athletic League, is a past board member of the
Pinellas County Construction and Licensing Board and served on their
Life Safety Appeals Board, and is a graduate of Leadership St. Pete,
where he is the past Chair for the Class of 2003. He is also past
President of the Tampa Bay Fire Marshals Association, and past campaign
chairman for the United Way and the March of Dimes.
Seems like where there’s smoke, there’s Chief Large
– welcome, Chief!
Last Week at Kiwanis
Tom Zucco, St. Pete Times, on the Property
Insurance Crisis
Markus Mittermayr, Kiwanian-of-the-Day, introduced
us to Tom Zucco, formerly a sports writer for the Times, who now focuses
primarily on business issues. Usually a humorous speaker, Zucco’s tone
was necessarily solemn as he discussed the property insurance crisis in
Florida. This year, like no other before, the Governor’s race was really
an insurance election, he said, and the decisions made by our Governor
and legislature now will have far-reaching effects. Zucco said he
receives 5 or 6 calls a week from citizens with insurance woes who ask
for his help. He told an especially moving story he’d received just
hours before he spoke with us from an older lady in a mobile home park.
She asked if he could get her insurance. She could no longer afford to
cover the rising rates, her husband was gone, and all her money was
gone. She was now drawing money out of her burial fund. Zucco could only
refer her to Citizen’s, the premiums of which she could not afford, and
no other insurers insure mobile homes, so she stands to lose everything
in one bad storm. But it’s not only low-income folks in mobile homes who
stand to lose a lot. Zucco said the cap fund was raised to be used for
reinsurance which is supposed to lower premiums, but at the time he
spoke, the outcome was days away. (On Friday, Governor Charlie Crist
signed the 2007 Florida Insurance Reform package into law.) This takes
away the downside risk from the insurers and places it on the state,
thus (in theory) bringing rate relief. In other words, in exchange for
lowering rates now, if another catastrophic year like 2004 or 2005
happens again, the state will pay the majority of the insurance claims.
The rub? The state doesn’t currently have the money to pay the claims.
The eight storms that hit Florida in 2004-05 created $36 billion in
insurance claims. Insurers warn this could be a drop in the bucket if
the right storm hits the wrong part of Florida. So what if Florida gets
hit by a costly storm before it can build up a bigger, new public
catastrophe fund? What if new rules against "cherry picking," the
practice of offering the most profitable types of insurance but not
property insurance, send automobile insurers packing from Florida? These
issues must be addressed by the legislature as soon as possible.
Zucco reported that Allstate, State Farm and other
large insurers remain in the state, but are writing policies at low
levels and with conditions. It used to be that insurance companies
spread the risk of a catastrophic event over more policies across the
states, but the opposite is now happening – as all the prediction models
used by insurers show great risk in Florida – so the philosophy, pushed
by shareholders, is to get rid of the risk altogether by pulling away
from the coasts. Now Citizens is cheaper in some cases than Allstate, et
al, and is the only insurer available to many. It was suggested that we
all ‘harden’ our homes, but many don’t have the money to invest in
expensive preventative measures, so it’s uncertain how long we can ride
it out and not suffer ill effects. Homeowners can’t continue to absorb
rising rates and it has affected home sales and relocation to Florida.
Allied Van Lines reports that currently more people are moving out of
Florida than moving in and that’s bad news for everybody.
Zucco had no answers to the problem, acknowledging
that there are many competing agendas and that insurance companies have
to be able to make money. He advised us to take a good, hard look at our
rates, our coverage and ways to harden our homes. He also advised us to
stay abreast of the issues and make ourselves heard in the debate over
property insurance.
Guests and Visitors
We had a plethora of guests Tuesday. In addition to
our speaker, Lt. Gov. Eddie Lee introduced Shannon Love from the St.
Pete College CKI. Dick Koch brought David Bonacci as his guest, Cyndi
Mulligan brought two guests, Tim Marks and Tony Marks and Stan Shaver
brought Bill Wallace. Ron Holehouse introduced us to Dan Harvey and Wil
Slicker brought his friend, Joe Miele. Harry Benjamin visited us from
Birmingham. We were also glad to see Ken Jones, a long-time member we
haven’t seen in a while!
The Shirt On Our Backs
The sign-up sheet to order your Kiwanis Club St.
Petersburg shirts went around at last Tuesday’s luncheon and will
circulate again today. Be the first on your street to sport our
fashionable Polo. Polos are $25 through size large and $28 for extra
large and above. Colors beyond what you see on the sheet may be
available, so ask Cyndi Mulligan if that chartreuse you favor is
available. If you’d like an alternative to the Polo, please check out
the website.
CKI Moving Forward
Eddie Lee and Shannon Love joined us Tuesday to
discuss the plans for the CKI charter at USF. If you know students at
USF through friends, family, neighbors or colleagues, ask them if we
could contact them to discuss membership in the new Club.
Ken Jones Honored
Fellow Kiwanian Ken Jones, Economic Development
Coordinator for the City of St. Petersburg, was awarded the Tampa Bay
Business Journal’s Minority Businessperson of the Year in the Government
category. Ken joined the city in July 2000 and has made a name for
himself there as he does wherever he gets involved. Congratulations,
Ken! We’re proud of you and happy for you.
Bruce Watters Jewelers Hosts Reception
Nick Gizzarelli hosted a Valentine’s Day
event at Bruce Watters Jewelers that drew a crowd of 50 civic club
members and their spouses. The jumbo shrimp, oysters Rockefeller,
tenderloin sandwiches and other delectables were provided by Fishtales.
Kiwanis members Gail Moore and his wife Marion, Jack and Evelyn Collins,
Harvey Ford, Cal Foelgner and his wife Marian, and Trent Shadwick and
wife Katie attended. Nick promises to host other get-togethers
throughout the year, so that we can see what’s new in their collection
of fabulous jewelry and share some social time.
What’s Happening?
100 Women in 100 Days Dinner
From
Lt. Gov. Eddie Lee:
“Linda Burhans,
Division Chair for the 100 Women in 100 Days membership recruitment
program, just announced that the 100 in 100 Dinner will be held at the
Seminole Recreation Center, 9100 113th Street North at 6:30 PM on March
23rd. County Commissioner Karen Williams Seel will be the featured
speaker. The goal is to have 100 potential Kiwanis women attend this
very special event. We are counting on each of you to help us. Please
talk about this at the next couple of meetings and provide Linda or me
with as many names as possible of women you know who we can contact
about being our guest that evening. We are also asking you to help in
two other ways. First, please get a firm commitment from two women
members of your Club to attend that night. We will be having a social
hour prior to the dinner and we need representatives from each Club to
speak with the potential members from your respective service areas.
These same two reps should be available after the meeting to recruit,
exchange phone numbers and invite potential members to a meeting. These
women will be coming from all areas of Division 13 and every Club should
increase their membership as a result of this evening.”
Florida District Mid-Year Conference
Don’t forget! The Florida District Mid-Year
Conference is being held in Lake City on Friday, March 30th
and Saturday, March 31st. Join fellow Kiwanians Tom
Nelson, Markus Mittermayr and Charles Stuart for conference
fun! For more information, go to the Florida District website.
Volunteers Still Needed for Two Great Events
Jane Baldwin tells us we still need
volunteers for the Special Olympics games taking place on Saturday,
March 3rd as do Ron Scoggins and Kathy Condon
for the Great Chefs event on Sunday, March 18th.
Cruise The Intercoastal With Friends
A reminder from Weyman Willingham about the
three hour cruise Thursday, April 26th from 5:30 pm – 8:30
pm, leaving from Maximo Moorings. Harvey’s will cater, there’ll be an
open bar and the sunset is free of charge. Sign up quickly, as only 25
couples can be accommodated. Cost is $40 per person, $80 per couple and
that’s not a boatload of money! The cruise back is free. Look for the
sign-up sheet that will circulate today at our meeting.
Famous March 6 Birthdays
Italian artist
Michelangelo
was born March 6, 1475.
Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, English poet, was born on this day in 1806.
Ring Lardner,
American humorist, was born on March 6th of 1885.
Fireman Joke of the Day
A blonde calls the fire department and shrieks into
the phone, “Come quick – my house is on fire! My house is on fire!”
“Calm down, Ma’am,” said the dispatcher. “Just tell us how to get
there.” “Oh,” said the surprised blonde, “don’t you have that big red
truck anymore?”
TODAY’S QUIZ:
1. What is cappuccino named for?
2. Which came first: the formation of the Alps or
the extinction of the dinosaurs?
3. How many men in the 20th century
walked on the moon?
4. Who said, “Only two things are infinite, the
universe and human stupidity and I’m not sure about the former.”
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves, to
be saved only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our
fellow creatures with kindness, and to judge of all they say and do with
the charity which we would desire from them ourselves. Amen.
LAST WEEK’S QUIZ:
1. Walking catfish can stay out of water for
up to 80 days.
2. Actor Jeremy Irons provides the
voice of the narrator for Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World's Epcot
Center in Orlando.
3. In 1798, Congress levied the first
direct tax on American property, including lands, houses and slaves.
4. It was Woody Allen who said, “I will
not eat oysters. I want my food dead. Not sick, not wounded, dead!”?
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