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PREPARATION IS EVERYTHING
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
September 4, 2015
ERIKA fizzled into nowhere –
and here in Deland the remnants created less problems than a
regular summer thunderstorm.
Nevertheless – remember the Boy
Scouts motto: “Be Prepared!”
Even if this storm – with all
the big hype for many days in advance – didn’t make it, please
don’t make the mistake and ignore any warnings for an upcoming
storm in the future. This is FLORIDA – and we will be getting
more hurricanes – like it or not! It’s just a matter of time.
Consider yourself lucky that we
didn’t get any real hurricane in the last ten years, but one day
we will get hit again – and then you better be prepared!
Preparation is everything. You will be able to weather the next
hurricane much better if you are properly prepared and if you
made sure that everything is stored away.
There are many official
websites telling you what you should do in order to prepare for
the storm threatening on the horizon. The hurricanes in 2004 and
2005 hit many people much worse than necessary because they were
unprepared and didn’t know how to deal with the problems caused
by the hurricanes.
On the other hand I really
can’t understand why our government officials still allow homes
(and trailers) to be rebuilt that will “fly away” with even a
really small storm hitting Florida.
Make no mistake: Florida isn’t
the only place in the world that gets hit by heavy storms and
high winds. But other countries know not to allow buildings to
be rebuilt that are unable to withstand wind of 60 or 70 miles
an hour.
I grew up in Germany where you
have normally autumn and winter storms with very high winds. But
you barely ever hear about electricity failure or serious damage
to buildings. But there the electricity cables are under ground,
unlike here in Florida where you have overland wires that were
fashionable 80 years ago.
We know that we will get hit
with a hurricane sooner or later. Why are the building
departments permitting to put up the same kind of trailer that
got destroyed already during the last three hurricanes?
DON’T WE EVER
LEARN?
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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