Your Presence Requested
Rally Set For Saturday, 9/28
Stop FEMA Now is the organization behind the rally. Started by George Kasimos in Tom’s River, New Jersey, the grassroots effort has inspired similar rallies to be held the same day in Staten Island, New Jersey and Louisiana. Dan Mundy Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association, is calling for residents across the peninsula and beyond to come and demonstrate a united front.Rockaway, Broad Channel, and Howard Beach residents will be joining forces at a rally to protest the looming threat of runaway flood insurance premiums. Set for Saturday, September 28th at noon, the rally will take place in Broad Channel, the geographic center of the many communities facing costly premiums.
The reason the issue has sparked such concern is because FEMA, which runs the National Flood Insurance Program, released rate information charts that indicate homeowners will be expected to pay as much as $30,000 per year for flood insurance.
The Wave began covering this issue in March. Since then, more people, more communities, and more elected officials have become aware of something called the Biggert Waters Act. This act, with bipartisan support, was signed into law in July 2012. It was designed to better fund the National Flood Insurance Program which, according to FEMA, was nearly bankrupt as a result of payouts to Hurricane Katrina victims. The Wave editorial page and many others have questioned the administration of the program suggesting that it was years of mismanagement – not just Katrina payouts – that led to its near insolvency.
In any case, lawmakers set out to put in place rules that would put the Flood Program on better financial footing. Essentially, they attempted to remove subsidies as quickly as possible. They disallowed grandfathering rules; they instituted plans to allow for a quick climb to ‘actuarial” rates (full unsubsidized rates); and immediately removed subsidies for second homeowners.
Apparently, such remedies seemed sensible to lawmakers including Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Gregory Meeks who voted to approve Biggert-Waters. In the words of Long Island Congressman Peter King, “We thought it was good legislation at the time.”
One reason it seemed like “good legislation” is because FEMA did not present its rate chart that would kick in once the law was passed. Lawmakers likely had no idea what an “advisory base flood elevation” was, nor were they told that a house 4 feet below such an elevation would have a yearly premium cost of $9500.
Lawmakers voted for something that they didn’t understand or fully appreciate. In fact, Maxine Waters, one of the co-authors of the bill has said the unforeseen, unintended consequences of Biggert- Waters must be reviewed. In a letter to FEMA and signed with other members of Congress, she wrote, “we have recently become aware of an unintended consequence of this otherwise well-meaning legislation… We strongly believe that we should not burden homeowners with punitive or unaffordable rates that will slow our housing market recovery and force families out of their homes.”
FEMA has not budged.
Rockaway (including Breezy Point and Broad Channel) is primed to be among the first communities in the crosshairs of devastating premiums.
Most houses in Rockaway are on streets that are 5 to 8 feet above sea level. The first floor is usually 4-5 feet above the street putting the first floor of the house at 10-12 feet above sea level.
Recent flood maps put Rockaway in an “A Zone” indicating that many homes should be at an “advisory base” above sea level. In Rockaway that advisory level is often 10 or 12 feet. (In plainer English: we advise your first floor to be 12 feet above sea level. Anything less than that and you will pay dearly).
Many houses have basements with furnaces and hot water heaters. The basement, with any kind of utility or if it’s used as a living space (bedroom or TV room, for example) is then considered the first level. It is likely then that “base level” is well below the 10 or 12 foot advisory level. Premiums skyrocket once the first floor level falls below the advisory rate.
Houses built on slabs aren’t much better off. Generally, they have just a couple of steps and are not much higher than the street level. Street level in Rockaway (5 to 8 feet) usually means such houses are below the advisory level.
Commercial property owners with mortgages will be expected to pay the new high premiums as well. Apartments and co-ops will have to move utilities to above the advisory level or face steep premiums.
Steep premiums will very likely cause home values to decline. Even if a homeowner does not need flood insurance, the value of his or her property will go down the same as others. Home values are determined by comparable sales — if sale prices fall, all homeowners are affected.
Organizers of the rally believe public awareness is critical. They believe if crowds gather and media outlets take notice, lawmakers across the country will have to act. Local reps (Schumer, Gillibrand, and Meeks) have all supported proposed amendments to stall rate increases but so far their efforts have not yielded any relief.
Organizers say it is necessary to make the entire country aware of the issue. All fifty states have “A Zone” flood areas with constituents facing the same premium bombshell but most of those people have been given no indication that such costs are coming. New York and New Jersey and a handful of other places got, in effect, an advance peek because FEMA released new flood maps for parts of the east coast. The new maps pointed to the proposed increases in insurance.
Other states have not yet been remapped so the issue has remained little known. But these same states face a surprise. When “A Zone” rates hit New York and New Jersey they will hit South Dakota and Tennessee; they will fall on “A Zone” homeowners in Texas and California.
Organizers say The Stop FEMA Now rally in Broad Channel is planned to draw attention to an issue that, if left alone, will be worse than any storm. The implementation of some Biggert-Waters rules is set for October 1st.
The rally will be held September 28th, at noon, at the American Legion Hall at 209 Cross Bay Boulevard. Dan Mundy said, “Take your bike, take your car, take the A Train. Showing up is what you need to do.”
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Also in the Beachcomber column of the WAVE this week......
Stop FEMA Now. The Wave believes there should be congressional action to rectify parts of the Biggert-Waters act which will set in motion flood insurance premiums that will destabilize neighborhoods across the country. People expecting to live near the coast should attend a rally scheduled for Saturday, September 28th at noon in Broad Channel. Rockaway needs to do its part to bring attention to this crucial matter. If you’re not one who goes to meetings or rallies often, you should try to make this one.
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Also in the Letters to the Editor section of the WAVE this week....
You Should Show Up For This
Dear Editor:
On September 28th at 12 p.m., there will be numerous rallies held by Stop FEMA Now in numerous states around the country.
Our local rally will be held at The Broad Channel American Legion Post 1404, 209 Crossbay Boulevard.
There has been a lot of planning and time and energy towards making this day successful in our fight to keep Flood Insurance premiums affordable. Many thanks to Dan Mundy for all his hard work.
Our main goal for this day is to get our message National attention. The media and our politicians have all been invited. We must have a huge turnout, this problem will hurt every person and business on our peninsula.
We must have people from Howard Beach, Broad Channel, Rockaway and the Breezy Point, Rockaway Point, and Roxbury communities.
Our goals are to lower flood insurance premiums, raise our dunes and seawalls for protection in the future. We are also looking to correct the flood maps to benefit the insured not the insurance companies, and to re-institute the Grandfather Clause (section207). These are issues that will eventually make or break our neighborhoods. Please mark your calendars for September 28th, 12 noon in Broad Channel.
Don’t count on someone else taking care of this problem for you because it will hurt all of us. For more info read The Wave, or The Rockaway Point News. I am also asking anyone who might be planning their own rally to please join us.
United we stand, divided we fall. thank you.
PALMER DOYLE
FEMA can't have it both ways -- if part of your home is considered your basement and is therefore not covered by nfip (meaning you can't collect on a claim for damage to that part of your house), it cannot then conveniently be used to justify penalizing you by your being charged exorbitant flood insurance rates and being bankrupted. Somehow FEMA finds this view lawful to use this uncovered part of a house to justify steam-rolling over the people who have been paying their salaries without regard to how they are devastating lives. The pols who "unknowingly" voted this into law should be voted out for incompetence.
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