BP Pays $3 Million to Floridians Who Lost Business to Spill
Forty days after the Deepwater Horizon disaster began, not a drop of oil from the undersea gusher has been confirmed to have hit Florida. Yet as of Friday, BP had paid out more than $3 million in claims to nearly 4,000 Floridians. BP spokesman Ray Dempsey said the company hasn't turned anyone down so far. Still, some Floridians say BP has done about as good a job at helping them cope with their financial losses as it has in stopping the oil from flowing. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Florida Leads Nation in 2010 Bank Failures
The failures of three banks - Bank of Florida - Tampa Bay, Bank of Florida - Southwest and Bank of Florida - Southeast - this past weekend awarded Florida the dubious honor of leading the nation in forced bank closures in 2010. Jacksonville-based Everbank snatched up the three Bank of Florida's from the FDIC, but not before the failed banks cost the fund an estimated $203 million. [Source: Florida Times-Union]
Florida Takes Giant Step With Huge Solar-Power Plant
Florida Power & Light Co.'s newest solar-energy plant will have enough mirrors to cover 80 football fields. But those mirrors will focus sunlight onto surfaces that add up to slightly less than the area of a single football field. That concentration of solar power will generate temperatures of more than 700 degrees — hot enough to make electricity for 11,000 homes. The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center here will rank as the world's second-largest solar plant when it begins pumping out as many as 75 megawatts of electricity late this year. It will also be the only system of its kind in the world.
[Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Related: Florida Power & Light's DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center
Tainted Chinese Drywall Concerns Went Unreported for Years
A leading East Coast homebuilder learned four years ago that the Chinese-manufactured drywall it had installed in several Florida homes was emitting foul odors, according to documents obtained by ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The company, WCI Communities, was so concerned that it started planning to tear out the material and rebuild the houses. But it never disclosed the problem to the bulk of its customers or to government authorities. Documents and sworn depositions in ongoing litigation show that senior officials at WCI were worried as early as 2006 about the potential health effects of the odor.
[Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Florida Trend Report: Hitting a Drywall
Consumer Product Safety Commission reports on Chinese Drywall
Business Owner Calls Meeting to Announce Layoff -- Her Own
As a small business owner, Lola Gonzalez often has to make tough decisions, especially in today's economic climate. When Gonzalez, who owns Accurate Background Check, realized she had to layoff one of her eight employees, she made perhaps the most unorthodox decision of her career. She terminated her own position.
[Source: Ocala Star-Banner]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Space Coast Businesses Enjoy Summer Vacation
While it doesn't officially start until June 21, summer for many area businesses began two weeks ago, when schools let out across the Space Coast. Typically, that means about three solid months of kids looking for activities and places to spend money. During the school year, much of that spending occurs during the weekend. With school out, some businesses enjoy an upswing in sales the five other days of the week.
› Bracket Inventor Sees Mailbox Flags from Sea to Shining Sea
Everybody has dreams. Steve Granade's is more streets like his own in Countryside that's decked out with flags sprouting from two dozen curbside mailboxes. "I see waves of mailbox flags spreading from neighborhood to neighborhood," said the 55-year-old hobbyist-inventor of a $4 stick-on bracket that makes it possible. "People turned to displaying the flag to feel better after 9/11. Maybe this can help bring the country together again."
› Boca Construction Company Stays Afloat by Keeping Focus on Churches, Schools
At a time when small construction companies are struggling, Walker Design and Construction of Boca Raton has managed to continue in business by focusing on traditional community needs: schools and churches. "We have just been fortunate to be in the right place and position and have this unique niche," President Lee Walker said. "We've tried to distinguish ourselves from everybody who has a pickup truck and a hammer and calls themselves a general contractor."
› Lending Frustrations: Small Businesses, Consumers Hurt By Lack of Equity in Homes
You might not think people would be trying to buy swimming pools in an economy like this, but Andy Hernan, vice president of Griffin Pools in Lakeland, says otherwise. Hernan has plenty of customer demand, but no banks to finance them. As a former banker with SunTrust, Hernan can empathize with a fear of bad loans and hawk-eyed regulators, but as co-owner of Griffin Pools he is most concerned with keeping his doors open. "There is money to be made, and I have gone to the majority of banks in this town," he said. "Being a small business owner, it's pretty frustrating. When I drive to work I pass 12 banks, and I can't get a loan out of any of them.”
› Jupiter's Harbourside Mulls Foreign Investor Visa Program
With domestic bank financing scarce, some business leaders are starting to look offshore for investment dollars to fuel new ventures. They are taking a second look at a program that offers foreigners the chance to obtain a visa, in exchange for a sizable financial investment in U.S. businesses. The program is known as the EB-5 Foreign Investor Visa Program. Among the ventures eyeing the EB-5 program: Harbourside, the $127 million waterfront development planned in Jupiter.
› Entrepreneur Sykes Still Hands-On, Even in Retirement
Long-time business entrepreneur and philanthropist, John Sykes, offered the St. Petersburg Times’ Robert Trigaux an extensive interview recently at his offices attached to his own JHS hangar (complete with his two Gulfstream jets.)
Related: Sykes outlines a better way to structure and fund regional assets.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› Legal Mess Over Foreclosures Deepening
An attempt to fix the sloppy legal work plaguing thousands of foreclosure cases in Florida has been ineffective, and has now caused a legal mess of its own. The Florida Supreme Court got tough on attorneys for banks and lenders in February, responding to stories of homeowners losing their property based on shoddy or incomplete paperwork. The incomplete filings also wasted judicial resources and clogged up the courts.
› Florida House Spent $200,000 on Rush-Job Oil Drilling Study
Shortly before the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf, the Florida House spent $200,000 for a study of oil drilling off Florida's coast which said any spills would be rare, small and easily contained. Now, a leading environmental lawyer and Congresswoman Castor are calling the original study misleading and a waste of taxpayer money -- especially since another well-respected think-tank had just issued its own report about drilling off Florida’s coast.
› Floridians' Imaginations Explode With Oil Well Fixes
A metal snake that threads into a damaged oil pipe and expands to seal it. A giant fabric curtain that extends to the floor of the sea to contain underwater gunk. A better mousetrap for monitoring sick oil wells. And bombs. South Floridians - expert and otherwise - have joined a rising tide of entrepreneurs, inventors, engineers, academics and everyday citizens sending suggestions by the thousands to BP about how to remedy the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. All have what they are sure is the exact gadget, contraption, barrier or cleanup device that can remedy the disaster. Precious few get a call back.
› Hot Dog Restaurants on a Roll in South Florida
From the vegetable-garnished “Sedona” to the pineapple-topped “Choriperro”, South Florida is home to a creative lineup of hot dog options. And a handful of wiener-centric eateries are taking a sweet bite out of the $1.6 billion hot dog industry. Their unique takes on the American staple -- ranging from high-end chic to Chicago-style to South American flair -- have allowed them to thrive despite focusing on a single, low-cost item.
› Green Gets High-Tech at Energy and Climate Conference in West Palm Beach
Sun-powered trash compactors and a mobile power plant for Third World villages were only two of the many products presented at the 2010 Florida Green Energy & Climate Conference last week in West Palm.
› Central Fla. Businesses $18.1 Million Behind on Equipment Taxes
Central Florida businesses have fallen behind on $18.1 million in taxes on equipment, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of government records has found. It could take years to collect much of the money, and some of it might never be paid because it's owed by companies that are struggling or have shut down. "They're closing every other day," said Julie Wilson, delinquent tax director for Osceola County. "Our field deputy is chasing them down, trying to get to them before they close. If we don't get to them before the doors close, it's really, really difficult to be able to get any money from them."
› Some Investors Refuse to Lose Faith in Domain Names
Rick Schwartz made his fortune the new-fashioned way, raking in millions of dollars buying and flipping domain names, like Candy.com , which he sold for $3 million. But the South Florida “Domain King's” wish-I'd-thoughta-that money-making formula has gone sour of late. And he's not alone. Schwartz and other Internet tycoons who paid tens of thousands or more scooping up domain names that end in “.mobi” -- which are designed to be easily viewed on mobile screens -- have found the names are now all but worthless.
?