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| Tom Corbett, 65, checks the equipment in his Red Cross bags to make sure they are ready for immediate response to an incident. Corbett has been a disaster relief volunteer for almost 30 years. He is shown at his New Fairfield home on Thursday, May 19, 2011. Photo: Michael Duffy / The News-Times Sometimes the offer of a toothbrush or a hot cup of coffee is just what is needed when one's life is quite literally in flames. It may not seem like much to most people, but local American Red Cross disaster relief volunteers and those they serve say such simple gestures can seem more precious than gold to a family watching their house burn down. They are tangible comfort -- instruments of hope, they say. "You're bumping into people at the low point in their lives, the worst they've ever bumped into ... and a lot of the time you can't do an awful lot," said Tom Corbett, of New Fairfield, a disaster relief volunteer for 25 years. His role and that of the other 1,000 Red Cross volunteers in the state is not to do a big fix, but to provide emergency provisions -- food, clothing, shelter -- to help an individual or family survive from one hour to the next until they can begin to grapple with the bigger picture.  He said he has arrived at house fires in the winter to find people standing outside in pajamas, with no shoes. "It's all about reaching out to people, to let them know there is someone who cares and is willing to help them get through the red tape," said Corbett, a retired New Milford school administrator and New Fairfield civic leader. He started with the Red Cross in the mid-1980s, when the gymnasium of the former East Street School, where he worked, was used as an emergency shelter for flood victims. "You do a lot of listening and sharing with them, and then try to give simple advice based on your experience," he said. From their first call, Corbett said, the volunteers' job is to reach the scene as quickly as possible, assess the immediate situation, and ensure the individual or family is safe and has someplace to go -- even if it's inside a Red Cross vehicle or van for a few hours. Depending on the victims' needs, Red Cross volunteers can provide gift cards that allow them to purchase essential clothing and toiletries, as well as arrange motel stays and places to eat until more permanent arrangements can be made, Corbett said. Once the immediate crisis has been addressed, the volunteers begin helping people contact other family members, address insurance issues, and determine if they are eligible for local and state social service assistance, Corbett explained. If a fire alarm in a house goes off at 2 a.m., Connecticut Red Cross chapter spokesman Mario Bruno said, it is unlikely the occupants stop to pick up their wallets and a folder of insurance documents. If such key information is lost, victims must go through the ordeal of proving who they are so they can access their insurance, get medication refills, even pick up children from school, Bruno said. The Red Cross can help navigate the bureaucracy. The goal of the disaster action teams -- volunteers usually work in teams of two or three or more, depending on the situation -- is to get people through the first 48 to 72 hours. After that, the Red Cross can be relied upon to help families assess what must be done on a longer-term basis, including getting counseling, Bruno said. "The idea is to provide a compassionate presence so (disaster survivors) don't feel alone in their recovery," he said. The Red Cross, a nonprofit relief organization, relies strictly on the generosity of the American public for all the services it provides, including disaster relief. Nationwide, its staff and volunteers respond to some 60,000 disasters a year, Bruno said. In Connecticut, the Red Cross handles between 500 and 600 disaster cases, and 90 percent are single- or multi-family home fires, Bruno said. For each case, the Connecticut Red Cross typically provides about $1,000 in direct financial assistance. Last year it gave about half a millionthinkable. They "bring some sort of order and control into the chaos," Facey said. "They are excellent. They dollars to disaster survivors statewide, Bruno said. New Milford Fire Marshal Karen Facey said Red Cross volunteers offer a brand of "friendly assurance" and comfort to people confronted with the unare a really nice resource for us." Contact Nanci Hutson at nhutson@newstimes.com or at 860-354-2274. |
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
TOM CORBETT A RARE BREED OF SELFLESS VOLUNTEERS ... THANKS TOM!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT TO SURGE ... REALLY?
By KEVIN D. THOMPSON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:10 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011
Posted: 9:47 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011
Four years ago, Robin DeLisser could easily afford to pay more than $20,000 in tuition for her two children to attend private school.
At the time, DeLisser, a single mother, said she was earning more than $200,000 a year running her own information technology staffing agency. But after the economy tanked, so DeLisser's income - and lifestyle.
To make ends meet, DeLisser, 34, traded in her 2006 BMW for a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. She moved from her three-bedroom Boca Raton home, where her monthly mortgage was $2,500, to a $1,500-a-month, two-bedroom townhome in Delray Beach.
What hurt most of all, DeLisser said, was pulling her two children - Dillan, now 9, and Kaelyn, now 8 - out of Summit Private School in Boca Raton and enrolling them in S.D. Spady Elementary, a public school in Delray Beach.
"It was extremely difficult to take them out," DeLisser said. "Summit offered a loving and nurturing environment."
After 24 years in business, financial problems are forcing Summit to close at the end of the current school year.
The tales of DeLisser and, to some extent, Summit are becoming familiar in Palm Beach County.
Endowments, donations falling
According to the U.S. Department of Education, private school enrollment dropped by about 174,000 from 2006 to 2010 while public school enrollment increased by 718,000.
Operating a private school in a recession has become an increasing challenge as more belt-tightening parents pull their children out of school. Hefty private school tuitions that can run as high as $22,000 are often the first to go from a family's budget.
Schools also face anemic endowments and dwindling donations.
"This recession has been a game-changer," said Barbara Hodges, executive director of the Florida Council of Independent Schools, a professional education association in Tampa. "There are new norms. We went through a period where Americans had extra income, but that period has ended."
The King's Academy, a pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade school in suburban West Palm Beach, has seen its student enrollment drop from 1,377 in 2007 to 1,230 for the 2010-2011 school year. Enrollment at the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school in West Palm Beach, is 330, down about 15 percent from previous years.
"We are all suffering the same way individuals and families are suffering," said Robert Goldberg, head of school for The Benjamin School, which has campuses in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
Schools 'think outside the box'
To make up for the lost tuition, private school administrators are finding creative ways to generate revenue.
Jefferson Burnett, vice president for government and community relations for the National Association of Independent Schools, an advocacy group in Washington, said schools are holding more fund-raisers, tapping endowments and even renting their facilities.
"For many of these schools, a little bit of money makes a huge difference," Burnett said.
Hodges said schools are also relying more on social media to market their schools and to help boost enrollment.
Since 2007, The King's Academy has opened two preschools in Greenacres and one each in Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. That has helped generate additional revenue. A fifth preschool in Boynton Beach is scheduled to open in August.
"The good part about the recession is that it's forced us to think outside the box," said Jeff Loveland, president of The King's Academy. "This helps to offset losses and it also helps funnel kids into our elementary school. I'm not sure we would have been thinking about this if there wasn't a recession."
The preschools are providing about $850,000 a year in additional revenue, said Randy Martin, the school's chief financial officer. Much of that goes toward paying staff, making contributions to hosting preschool churches and other academic expenses.
More financial assistance sought
Not surprisingly, more families who are keeping their children in private schools are seeking financial assistance. The independent schools association reports that between 2008 and this year, the amount of financial aid awarded to families increased 36 percent. But more families are asking for money, so less aid is being awarded per student.
At the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy, financial aid requests have gone up 20 percent, said Nammie Ichilov, the school's headmaster. To keep up with the demand, Ichilov said the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, the school's primary benefactor, has made money available to award more financial assistance per student. Ichilov declined to provide figures.
Meanwhile, schools also have been forced to make tough choices when trimming their budgets.
Two years ago, The King's Academy cut employee salaries by 2.5 percent. About 25 positions have been eliminated since 2007, 10 of which were faculty and support staff.
The Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy is evaluating how it buys supplies in order to operate more efficiently. Meyer, for example, used to offer six entrees for lunch.
"We just offer the staples now," Ichilov said. "That has reduced our operating costs."
Despite budget cuts, administrators stress they are not cutting educational programs .
The King's Academy added five advanced placement courses, online classes and lacrosse. The Benjamin School offers a program for 3-year-olds that teaches students Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, among other things.
Although private school enrollment is down slightly nationwide, not everyone is convinced the recession is to blame.
"It's tough to link fluctuation to specific causes like the recession," said Joe McTighe, executive director of the Council for American Private Education, a Maryland-based coalition serving private elementary and secondary schools. "If you look at the data over the last 10 years, it tends to fluctuate anyway from year to year. The impact of the recession on private school enrollment is very complex."
Not for DeLisser.
"I just couldn't afford it anymore," she said.
Friday, May 20, 2011
VERIZON'S COVERAGE IN NEW FAIRFIELD ...
WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE BUT SOMEHOW NEW FAIRFIELD'S REIGNING MONARCH KNOW SOMETHING THAT THE LARGEST CELLULAR PHONE COMPANIES IN THE WORLD DON'T KNOW! HINT: YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME AND IN NEW FAIRFIELD ALL THE OF THE VOTING PUBLIC ALL THE TIME!
THE WHITE AREA'S REPRESENT NO COVERAGE FOR MOBILE BROADBAND AND CELLULAR SERVICE. SO THE QUESTION IS DOES THE PROPOSED EMERGENCY NETWORK WITH THE NEW YORK TOWER COVERAGE INCLUDE ALL THE AREAS? IF NOT, WHY NOT? WHY DOES THE LARGEST CELLULAR PHONE COMPANY SPENDING BILLIONS ON NETWORK NOT COVER THOSE AREAS?
AT&T shows off 'real-world' 28.8 Mbps LTE download speeds
During a media tour at an AT&T research lab, the carrier demoed its upcoming 4G Long Term Evolution network, which appeared to be significantly faster than rival Verizon, reaching download speeds of 28.87 Mbps and 10.4 Mbps for uploads.
GigaOM's Stacey Higginbotham toured AT&T's Foundry space in Plano, Texas on Wednesday with Jon Summers, the company's senior vice president of application and service infrastructure. Given that the lab is home to one of AT&T's trial LTE networks, Higginbotham asked for a demo.
The lab's LTE download speeds were more than seven times faster than the 3.77 megabits per second rate reached on AT&T's current HSPA network. Uploads over LTE posted an even more impressive improvement, with more than eight times the current speed of 1.21 Mbps over HSPA.
The test was conducted using a Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna setup and two swaths of spectrum: 700 MHz and the Advanced Wireless Spectrum band. AT&T hopes to acquire more AWS band from its proposed purchase of T-Mobile USA.
AT&T engineers noted that the 28.87Mbps data rate is meant to model "real-world situations" for the Foundry lab, rather than the merely theoretical 150 Mbps speeds often demoed by carriers. However, the report did note that "sharing those speeds with others on a cell tower will bring them down."
Earlier this year, AT&T revealed plans to accelerate the deployment of LTE so that the network will be "largely complete" by the end of 2013.
By comparison, Verizon says its LTE network, which launched late last year, will have real-world data rates of between 5 and 12 Mbps downstream and 2 to 5 Mbps up. Verizon has also said its LTE network will be nationwide by the end of 2013.
Recent reports have suggested that Apple pushed back the launch of LTE-enabled iPhones to 2012 due to production issues with LTE chips and limited customer access to LTE. China Mobile announced Thursday that it had "reached consensus" with Apple toimplement support for the carrier's 4G TD-LTE in a future version of the iPhone, but specific timing details remained unclear.
Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said in February that Apple is working on an LTE iPhone. "You'll see more coming from Apple on LTE," he said. "They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
ROBERT FROST SAID IT WELL: “I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED NIGHT SCHOOL, G.I. BILL, COMMUNITY COLLEGE ... TECHNICAL AND TRADE SCHOOLS AND CERTIFICATIONS ...
So where is the failure in our society as this conversation hits the 6 O'Clock news and becomes the agenda at the dinner table of so many families pressured to provide the funds so their children can have the opportunity that they had? The dreams of my family can become a financial nightmare for each of us!
Assessing the value of a college degree
By Michael Regan
What's a college education worth$ Two new studies take a look at that question, and come up with somewhat different answers.
One study, based on surveys done by the Pew Research Center this spring, concludes that a "typical" college graduate will earn $650,000 more than a "typical" high school graduate between the ages of 25 and 64. Subtract the potential earning college students forgo while in school--about $100,000--and the cost of college, and the net benefit is somewhere in the half-million-dollar range.
Still, only 40 percent of Americans believe colleges and universities deliver good value for the money spent to get a degree. (Not surprisingly, 76 percent of college presidents say higher education is worth the cost.)
The other survey, described by the Hechinger Report, puts a lower value on a college degree: While graduates of the most selective institutions can earn $550,000 more than those with a high school degree, it says, the premium for graduates of the least selective institutions is just $230,000.
But the real losers, according to the study by Nexus Research & Policy Center and the American Institutes for Research, are taxpayers, who subsidize private non-profit as well as public institutions. Those subsidies outstrip incremental tax gains from the higher incomes of college graduates, according to the study.
One caveat: Hechinger notes that Nexus is funded by foundations set up by the for-profit University of Phoenix, and the study was framed to highlight the benefits of for-profit education, which has come under fire lately. Despite some flaws, said Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, “It’s a reasonable study.”
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW THAN 2 1/2 YEARS AGO?
WOW THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE ... THANK GOODNESS NEW FAIRFIELD HAS ONLY AVERAGE HOMES OF $250,000!
WELL I CAN SEE THE NEW BUYERS JUST STACKED UP ON ROUTE 37 & 39 WAITING TO PURCHASE HOMES IN TOWN. THE SCHOOL ENROLLMENT SHOULD SOAR!
Federal Retreat on Bigger Loans Rattles Housing
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
A home in Carmel Valley, Calif., priced for sale at $789,500. Homeowners in high-price areas worry that prices could tumble.
By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: May 10, 2011
MONTEREY, Calif. — By summer’s end, buyers and sellers in some of the country’s most upscale housing markets are slated to lose one their biggest benefactors: the deep pockets of the federal government. In this seaside community of pricey homes, the dread of yet another housing shock is already spreading.
Multimedia
Related
Economic Scene: Rent or Buy, a Matter of Lifestyle (May 11, 2011)
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
A Monterey, Calif., home priced at $820,000. Mortgages in Monterey County will be guaranteed only up to $483,000.
“We’re looking at more price drops, more foreclosures,” said Rick Del Pozzo, a loan broker. “This snowball that’s been rolling downhill is going to pick up some speed.”
For the last three years, federal agencies have backed new mortgages as large as $729,750 in desirable neighborhoods in high-cost states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Without the government covering the risk of default, many lenders would have refused to make the loans. With the economy in free fall, Congress broadened its traditionally generous support of housing to a substantial degree.
But now Democrats and Republicans agree that the taxpayer should no longer be responsible for homes valued well above the national average, and are about to turn a top slice of the housing market into a testing ground for whether the private mortgage market can once again go it alone. The result, analysts say, will be higher-cost loans and fewer potential buyers for more expensive homes.
Michael S. Barr, a former assistant Treasury secretary, said the federal government’s retrenchment would be painful for many communities. “There’s always going to be a line, and for the person just over it it’s always going to be an arbitrary line,” said Mr. Barr, who teaches at the University of Michigan Law School. “But there is no entitlement to living in a home that costs $750,000.”
As the housing market braces for more trouble, homeowners everywhere have been reduced to hoping things will someday stop getting worse. In some areas, foreclosures are the only thing selling. New home construction is nearly nonexistent. And CoreLogic, a data company, said Tuesday that house prices fell 7.5 percent over the last year.
The federal government last year backed nine out of 10 new mortgages nationwide, and losses from soured loans are still mounting. Fannie Mae, which buys mortgages from lenders and packages them for investors, said last week it needed an additional $6.2 billion in aid, bringing the cost of its rescue to nearly $100 billion.
Getting the government out of the mortgage business, however, is proving much more difficult than doling out new benefits. As regulators prepare to drop the level at which they will guarantee loans — here in Monterey County, the level will drop by a third to $483,000 — buyers and sellers are wondering why they should be punished simply for living in an expensive region.
Sellers worry that the pool of potential buyers will shrink. “I’m glad to see they’re trying to rein in Fannie Mae, but I think I’m being disproportionately penalized,” said Rayn Random, who is trying to sell her house in the hills for $849,000 so she can move to Florida.
Buyers might face less competition in the fall but are likely to see more demands from lenders, including higher credit scores and larger down payments. Steve McNally, a hotel manager from Vancouver, said he had only about 20 percent to put down on a new home in Monterey County.
If a bigger deposit were required, Mr. McNally said, “I’d wait and rent.”
Even those who bought ahead of the changes, scheduled to take effect Sept. 30, worry about the effect on values. Greg Peterson recently purchased a house in Monterey for $700,000. “That doesn’t get you a palace,” said Mr. Peterson, a flight attendant.
He qualified for government insurance, which meant he needed only a small down payment. If that option is not available in the future, he said, “home prices all around me will plummet.”
The National Association of Realtors, 8,000 of whom have gathered in Washington this week for their midyear legislative meeting, is making an extension of the loan guarantees a top lobbying priority.
Multimedia
Related
Economic Scene: Rent or Buy, a Matter of Lifestyle (May 11, 2011)
Federal regulators acknowledge that mortgages will get more expensive in upscale neighborhoods but say the effect of the smaller guarantees on the overall housing market will be muted.
A Federal Housing Administration spokeswoman declined to comment but pointed to the Obama administration’s position paper on reforming the housing market. “Larger loans for more expensive homes will once again be funded only through the private market,” it declares.
Brokers and agents here in Monterey said terms were much tougher for nonguaranteed loans since lenders were so wary. Borrowers are required to come up with down payments of 30 percent or more while showing greater assets, higher credit ratings and lower debt-to-income ratios.
In the Federal Reserve’s quarterly survey of lenders, released last week, only two of the 53 banks said their credit standards for prime residential mortgages had eased. Another two said they had tightened. The other 49 said their standards were the same — tough.
The Mortgage Bankers Association has opposed letting the limits drop, although a spokesman said its members were studying the issue.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat this,” said Mr. Barr, the former Treasury official. “The housing finance system of the future will be one in which borrowers pay more.”
The loan limits were $417,000 everywhere in the country before the economy swooned in 2008. The new limits will be determined by various formulas, including the median price in the county, but will not fall back to their precrisis levels. In many affected counties, the loan limit will fall about 15 percent, to $625,500.
Monterey County, however, will see a much greater drop. The county is really two housing markets: the farming city of Salinas and the more affluent Monterey and Carmel.
Real estate records show that 462 loans were made in Monterey County between the current limit and the new ceiling since the beginning of 2009, according to the research firm DataQuick. That was only about 1 percent of the loans made in the county. But it was a much higher percentage for Monterey and Carmel — about a quarter of their sales.
Heidi Daunt, with Treehouse Mortgage, said loans too large for a government guarantee currently carried interest rates of at least 6 percent, more than a point higher than government-backed loans.
“That can definitely blow a lot of people out of the water,” Ms. Daunt said.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
WHY YOUR PROPERTY TAXES WILL NOT BE GOING DOWN ...
CONNECTICUT
FY2012 - FY2013 Biennium
(click on above to go to budget)
Here’s some highlights of the proposed budget:
· Increase cigarette tax from $3.00 to $3.50 per pack
· Increase tobacco products tax from 27.5% to 50% of wholesale price
· Increase existing alcoholic beverages taxes by 20%
· Increase diesel fuel tax from 25¢ to 28¢ per gallon
· Increase sales tax from 6% to 6.35%
· Increase room occupancy tax from 12% to 15%
· Reduce maximum property tax credit from $500 to $300
· Eliminate $50 clothing sales tax exemption
· Establish a state Earned Income Tax Credit at 30% of the federal EITC
As labor negotiators work through the weekend, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released his alternative budget options late this week to legislative leaders.
Democratic legislative leaders described the alternative budget, which includes 4,742 layoffs and $1.2 billion in sweeping spending cut options, “ugly.”
Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes described the options in his letter to Malloy as “unattractive.”
“I offer them with a sense of reluctance and even regret,” Barnes wrote in this letter detailing the cuts. [click on letter if you have the time to read the cuts in detail]
The 4,742 layoffs are expected to save $455 million in the first year and $545 million in spending cuts would need to accompany them in order for the state to find the $1 billion in savings to balance the 2012 budget. But Barnes gave Malloy $1.2 billion in spending cuts to choose from, so an exact roadmap of what an alternative budget will look like is not precise.
The layoffs will include 4,192 executive branch employees, 80 legislative branch employees, and 470 judicial branch employees, or about 10 percent of the state’s 46,290 employees.
The spending reductions Barnes presented Malloy affect nearly every state agency. Funding is eliminated for the State Child Advocate, Connecticut State Library, Office of Consumer Counsel, Department of Motor Vehicle branch offices, fish hatcheries, school choice programs, health programs for the poor, drivers for the Secretary of the State and State Comptroller, food stamps, and ferry service, to name a few. Several other line items in the budget are reduced.
It also proposes eliminating $61.7 million in Mashantucket and Mohegan grants funds to cities and towns, $30 million in Town Aid Road, and $269.5 million in local education funds. Those cuts are likely to deal a large blow to cities and towns, who encouraged support for Malloy’s budget because it held them relatively harmless.
“The municipal aid and program cuts in the Plan B budget would have a devastating impact on towns and cities. These cuts would decimate municipal services, raise property taxes, and result in massive municipal employee and teacher layoffs,” said Jim Finley, executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
The deadline to get the $2 billion in labor concessions assumed by the budget Malloy signed into law earlier this week will be May 31. At that point the alternatives presented by Barnes will have to be considered administration officials have said.
After hearing the alternatives to $2 billion in labor concessions, Democratic legislative leaders exited Malloy’s office Thursday saying they will encourage union leadership to reach a deal.
“He did not give us specifics about programs he would choose, he spoke about the universe of choices,” House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said Friday as he exited Malloy’s office.
Asked if this was just an exercise or if these cuts and layoffs had a potential for becoming reality, “I think he’s gotta prepare for it one way or another,” Cafero said.
Republican and Democratic legislative leaders said Malloy didn’t shed any light on how union negotiations were proceeding.
Mark Ojakian, deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said Friday afternoon that negotiating sessions are scheduled to take place both Saturday and Sunday.
Malloy delayed sending out layoff notices to more than 4,700 unionized state employees to give union leadership some breathing room. No matter what happens no state employee will be laid off before July 1. And once a deal is reached the rank and file members of the 15 unions, and 34 bargaining units that belong to the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition will need to vote on it.
Tags: budget, labor, savings, spending cuts, layoffs
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