Parrish Antique Store Closes Due To High Insurance Costs

A story in the Herald Tribune this morning is just one of many that I'm sure will be the future for Manatee County if something is not done. 

"Spiraling insurance costs have caused the closure of Rogers & Company, one of Parrish's best-loved antique stores. The store on 121st Avenue East was run by 78-year-old JoAnn Rogers from a barn in her backyard."

"Rogers found out in April that her insurance company, which Rogers did not want to name, was not renewing the policy she had on her 58-year-old house and barn. A new company offered to write a new policy, but it asked for a down payment of $1,400 plus $500 a month, an amount that was out of reach for her."

"It's just too expensive," Rogers said. "I have no income except my Social Security. I would have had to get a job just to pay the insurance. I'm too old for that."

"The antique store was popular with collectors, other store owners and couples out for a drive along the back roads of Parrish."

$7,400 a year for insurance??????? 

Something needs to be done about the high insurance costs and the property taxes or Florida will be going down the drain!  If people can't afford to run their businesses here because of the taxes and insurance, they will leave Florida all together.

What the hell is wrong with the people that run our state?  What part of this do they not understand?  What part of the elderly can't afford to live in Florida on their Social Security pensions because of the high cost of taxes and insurance do they not understand?  What part of, the landlords can't afford to keep their properties because they have to continue to increase rents because of the cost of insurance and taxes, to amounts that tenants can't afford to pay, so they now need to sell?  What part of, they still neglected to fix the tax issue so the investors and snowbirds will now want or need to sell their property and go elsewhere because it didn't do squat for them and they can no longer afford to keep their properties here.

They need to do some serious fixing of the insurance issue and tax issue here in Florida, or the story above is just the beginning of what we are going to see happen across the state.

They need to pull their heads out of their arses and do something that will truly help everyone here in Florida!