Brookings Institution Reports: Cape Coral Has the Worst Economy in the Nation

[faithfulFrank]

Interesting article on the fuel. One question I would have is why is gov't mileage up 92% from the year before? What changed that gov't vehicles were driven almost twice as much?

I work for a small city. The fuel accountability is simple. There is a card reader at each pump. Each gov't vehicle has a card, and each employee has a card. BOTH have to be swiped for the pump to work. The main computer logs who pumped gas, when , in what vehicle, how much, etc. Mileage also needs to be punched in. Not a big deal. Total accountability. One guy years ago (a cop!) was caught having his own 5 gallon can in the trunk of the cop car, and he stole 5 gallons. He was rightfully fired. He was an idiot. A good career gone over 5 gallons of gas. Oh well.

The good thing is according to the article, they sound like they will get better accountability. Sounds like it has been much too lax up to now.

[yoko]

Originally Posted by yoko

"Right now we don't know if we were billed for fuel and didn't get it, whether there were unauthorized purchases or there was a loss of fuel because of evaporation or leaks," he said.

Nov/16/2010
Cape OKs fuel security controls | news-press.com | The News-Press

The never ending problem with leakage..leakage of oil, leakage of water pipes, leakage of tax money

" According to their bill, the city says they used around 35,000 gallons of water between July and September - enough water to fill two average size swimming pools.
The homeowners, Eliezer and Michelle Alicea, say there had to have been a mistake because their bill usually comes out to about a $130. "

Nov/17/2010
Cape couple gets $700 water bill - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida



" Water bills in the Cape are getting out of control for some consumers."
"The Pearsons' Cape Coral water bill was on the rise, nearly tripling, while they were on vacation."
"I don't know," said Bill Boyd of Cape Coral Financial Services. "I mean, it's possible there's some sort of involuntary use at the location. There may be a leak at the location."

Sept/30/2010
http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=13092138









No big and expensive plans on borrowed money...just provide/maintain the basic infrastructure and let people live their humble lives !!

[equalrightsforeveryone]

It could be as simple as the problem that I had while I was gone for three months, my neighbor was stealing my water. Just hooked up a hose to my property and away he went. but being as individuals like that are I caught the guy because he was to lazy to take the hose off when he was done. so on my return there it was.

[yoko]

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

It could be as simple as the problem that I had while I was gone for three months, my neighborwas stealing my water. Just hooked up a hose to my property and away he went. but being as individuals like that are I caught the guy because he was to lazy to take the hose off when he was done. so on my return there it was.

Yes, I have read about this problem of "stealing the water" too. I will post later.

[equalrightsforeveryone]

According to Fox News the housing market took an other beating today.
Not good for SWFL.

[nhkev]

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

According to Fox News the housing market took an other beating today.
Not good for SWFL.

whenever there is any report nationally it may or may not have a direct correllation with SWFL. If the report you are refering to is new home starts being down by 11% than let's look at it.

multi family home starts were down 47% and single family homes were up 1% so if you want to live in an area that is mostly multi family than it is bad and area with single family homes virtually no change.

Now my opinion new home starts is not neccesarily a housing thing.... If we both agree that currently there is an excess of inventory of homes (about a 5 months supply with potentially another months supply in shadow inventory) than the last thing needed is more homes, which new home starts would be. So in this case for swfl bad news is good news (for housing)

For jobs on the other hand it is bad news (especially for SWFL) where the economy was so tied to construction.

If you are really interested in housing than number 1 is don't interpret national data as being relevant, the cape usually bucks the trend.

2nd don't pay attention to anyone's opinion.... the data is all there to see yourself.

3rd Look at the "right" data. If people say housing is going to drop than you would see things happening as a pre cursor. The number one indicator is the inventory aka supply vs demand. And you HAVE TO LOOK AT BOTH SIDES for example there was a particular month that sales were through the roof and all articles said 100% increase in sales... sales soaring etc. But inventories increased that month so it meant nothing.

you cannot have bank repossessions get worse without an increase in lis pendens filings, you are probably not going to see a decrease in sales if there has been an increase in pending sales.

Another example of something that doesn't seem to have much impact on the SWFL market that does affect national is mortgage applications because 70% of all homes have been being bought with cash.

the inventory is the almighty number everything else just adds to it or takes away from it. I track the numbers daily. Last month, this month and the next month the numbers will all be skewed and I wouldn't take much stock in any trends. For example the inventory numbers have been dropping but it could be the banks just taking inventory off the market not as a result of sales.

The median housing price is most likely to go up... not because houses are going up in value but if there are less foreclosures going on the market it would presumably mean less sales (especially of distressed sales) which would increase the median value. If foreclosures fall it is most likely the banks holding off not neccessarily that more people paid mortgage. I am skipping out of interpreting data until January. And even then there may be a big correction of lower or higher stats.

[yoko]

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

According to Fox News the housing market took an other beating today.
Not good for SWFL.

shocking but not surprising


" After seeing the new economic score card for Southwest Florida, Sally Tiffany, a retired teacher and a co-chairwoman of Project Innovation’s talent task force, called it “scary.” I think a lot of people won’t believe it, she said. "


Nov/17/2010
Southwest Florida ranks towards the bottom on statewide economic score card » Naples Daily News

[yoko]

Originally Posted by yoko

" According to their bill, the city says they used around 35,000 gallons of water between July and September - enough water to fill two average size swimming pools.
The homeowners, Eliezer and Michelle Alicea, say there had to have been a mistake because their bill usually comes out to about a $130. "

Nov/17/2010
Cape couple gets $700 water bill - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida



" Water bills in the Cape are getting out of control for some consumers."

"The Pearsons' Cape Coral water bill was on the rise, nearly tripling, while they were on vacation."
"I don't know," said Bill Boyd of Cape Coral Financial Services. "I mean, it's possible there's some sort of involuntary use at the location. There may be a leak at the location."

Sept/30/2010
Cape Coral water bills getting hard look from consumers, officials - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida


No need for big and expensive plans on borrowed money...just provide/maintain the basic infrastructure and let people live their humble lives !!

“ But local builder Don K doesn't understand why the water bill at this Cape Coral house has more than quadrupled.

Don says no one has ever lived here. "To see a water bill go from using 3,000 gallons to 22,000 gallons, it's just an impossibility, unless you have an eruption near the house and the meter."

Don says he had a professional check for eruptions and leaks. That's the first thing the city requires if you want to contest a bill. He even turned the water off -- and still got a $300 bill. “

Massive water bill spikes happening at vacant Cape Coral home - FOX 4 News | Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples Florida - WFTX (http://www.fox4now.com/Global/story.asp?S=13276994 - broken link)


Cannot even manage a basic infrastructure!

[equalrightsforeveryone]

Are the meters read remotely there?
I know in my neighborhood there has never been a meter reader around, so if that is the case it can be as simple as a software/hardware glitch.
Any time you got those electronic jobs you are going to have more problems..
As with all computers the old adage applies, "Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum"

[yoko]

Originally Posted by yoko

“ But local builder Don K doesn't understand why the water bill at this Cape Coral house has more than quadrupled.

Don says no one has ever lived here. "To see a water bill go from using 3,000 gallons to 22,000 gallons, it's just an impossibility, unless you have an eruption near the house and the meter."

Don says he had a professional check for eruptions and leaks. That's the first thing the city requires if you want to contest a bill. He even turned the water off -- and still got a $300 bill. “

Massive water bill spikes happening at vacant Cape Coral home - FOX 4 News | Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples Florida - WFTX (http://www.fox4now.com/Global/story.asp?S=13276994 - broken link)

“ the City has resumed turning off service to delinquent accounts this week.”
“ So far, we’ve turned off 300,” said Cape customer billing and assessment manager Bill Boyd. “200 have been turned off today.”

“They gave me no disconnection notice or anything,” Skye said.


Nov/18/2010
Cape Coral resumes turning water off to delinquent accounts | news-press.com | The News-Press



But then:



“ The problem: Even when the water is turned off, Cape Coral continues to bill the property about $45 a month. Then when a buyer is found, that bill has to be paid to get water turned on at the property.

"We are finding more and more properties where this bill is almost $1,000 dollars and the current owner is not aware of it," said Adrian X a sales agent with XXX Realty and Development. "And the city will not put the water in the new owner's name until this is paid. This seems to be a major rip-off."

Nov/02/2010
Cape Coral water bills kill sales | news-press.com | The News-Press


managing the basic infrastructure, properly, seems to be too difficult in Cape Coral.