Homeowners Group Taking Insurance Fight To
Streets
By CHRISTIAN M. WADE - The Tampa Tribune
Published October 1, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - They've packed town hall
meetings and traveled to Tallahassee to protest on the capitol steps, barraged
politicians with e-mail and phone calls and gathered thousands of signatures on
a petition from outraged homeowners.
But little has changed.
Insurance premiums are still rising; private
insurers continue to pull out of Florida and reform of Citizens Property
Insurance Corp., the main target of homeowners' scorn, remains elusive.
So Homeowners Against Citizens, the Pasco
County-based nonprofit group that sparked a statewide insurance revolt against
Florida's insurer of last resort, is taking its fight to the streets.
They're planning a local protest Saturday to
renew calls for reforming the state's troubled insurance industry.
"Reforms need to start on a county level,"
said Nicole Deg, a New Port Richey-based activist who founded the homeowners
group. "We need to keep the pressure on county officials to find solutions to
the insurance crisis."
The group formed earlier this year out of a
grass-roots movement by property owners in Pasco and Hernando counties, where
bills charged by the state-run company have doubled, even tripled, in recent
years.
The Legislature created Citizens in 2002 as a
safety net for homeowners unable to purchase coverage from private insurers.
Citizens is now the state's largest insurer
with more than 1.2 million policies.
The protest will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at the
West Pasco Government Center, 7530 Little Road, New Port Richey.
For information, call (727) 863-7073 or visit
the Web site at www.hacfl.org.
Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at
(727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com
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