Improve -- Before Aggressively Advertising!
By Jan Bergemann - March 03, 2003
I would say -- like expected -- the final report from the commission was strictly political, definitely not written with a lot of business sense. Any business person, who would spend his own money on a big issue like this, would first consider improving the issues criticized by many Florida citizens. There is always a reason WHY customers stay away, or don't return to do business. And here in this country it's definitely not the lack of advertising! Maybe it should be considered to approach this under the headline: "Quality before quantity"?

Other States, competing with Florida for the business of "luring" retirees into their States, have realized that it needs more than aggressive advertising to be the Number One among these States. Just using the retirement industry as an engine of economic growth is not enough attractive enticement for retirees to relocate to Florida.

Being a chef by profession, I changed the menu when business threatened to slow down -- before paying money on advertising! Which in the case of Florida means to improve the many problems  brought to the attention of the commissioners by means of numerous public comments. All the meetings, which allowed public comments, were well attended by interested citizens. The commissioners definitely couldn't complain about lack of participation and input from the citizens. They actually had to set time limits for these spirited presentations!

And many people seem to forget that even many of the elderly citizens are now computer literate, which means that the word gets around.

But since it's just your tax money being used, it seems that even former business people suggest the easiest way out of the problem: Aggressive Advertising!

In my opinion, a lot of money could be saved if a business approach would be selected. Many of the discussed problems keep more and more retirees from moving to Florida.  The bad reputation our State already has is catching up! How about trying to improve our reputation before wasting money on advertising?

At a recent trial of a developer accused of defrauding residents, one homeowner, a former resident of Indiana, said: "It's sad that a state should have the reputation of having so many unreputable builders!" I think that says it all!

Many of the complaints brought in front of the commission dealt with housing problems. What many legislators and the people in charge seem to forget is the fact that most retirees live on a fixed income and can't afford to fight for their rights in court. So, if you want to attract more retirees, Florida should have a reputation of protecting the interests of the consumers. But if the government only pays lip service to consumer protection, retirees will stay away. 

In Orlando a very good presentation was made to the commission under the headline "IS FLORIDA SENIOR FRIENDLY ?" It described the many problems retirees in Florida encounter. It quoted a candidate running for office of Attorney General naming Florida "the rip-off capital of the world"!

I don't want to repeat all the horror stories the commission has been confronted with, but how can you honestly advertise Florida as “The Sunshine Paradise For Retirees”?  Florida allows homes to be foreclosed upon, even when the owners paid all their bills in time!  People are losing their homes and life savings and our government stands by, claiming to be unable to help? In an ongoing lawsuit in Nature's Watch near Tampa, homeowners are forced to pay according to estimates more than $80,000 or lose their home. So far actually $28,000 has been paid, but no end in sight! Their only fault:  They live in a community where faulty construction obviously caused some problems for homeowners in neighboring houses.  A judge, who is obviously mostly living in South Carolina, decided that the neighbors should pay for the reconstruction, despite the fact that many of these homeowners in the affected homes already got lots of money from insurance companies -- up to $200,000.  And the appointed receiver, Andrew J. Bolnick, and some attorneys have obviously realized that this is a great source of income. Now they even "explore" unaffected homes against the will of the homeowners. Exploring means in this case invasive cuts with sledgehammers and power saws, some cuts as large as 8 ft. x 10ft.  In some cases they break through the interior walls. Some of the homeowners are still waiting for the crew to repair these invasive cuts! One of the attorneys involved, who is now working for the receiver, was previously fired by the homeowners, who were unhappy about his services. Now he makes his money by filing foreclosure papers against the same homeowners who fired him! And Judge Fred Bryson lets this situation continue despite an appeal being filed in the Appeals Court! It is really amazing! No wonder that citizens named this State "Fraud Friendly Florida”!

There are many more problems that desperately need to be addressed. Another example is the water problem. Water use has been restricted, lawn watering in certain counties was only allowed on certain days. But instead of trying to solve this problem, it's being swept under the table and the commission suggests to spend money on aggressive advertising. That sure doesn't cover up the problems everybody is talking about!

Just see a selection of presentations brought in front of the commission by concerned citizens on our WebPages at: http://www.ccfj.net/DestFlopinion.html

Creating this Destination Florida Commission was a good idea.  In my opinion, it is outweighed by the bad idea of using YOUR tax money for advertising   --  without improving the current living conditions in Florida.   Advertising has a lot more success, if you can honestly claim that what you're advertising is true. Ever saw a car dealer claiming to be Number 2? Do you believe their permanent claim they are all Number 1? 

I just hope somebody in charge will finally read between the lines of the final report of the Destination Florida Commission and decide that a business approach will be more appropriate. 
Improve before advertising!

The chances of success will be much bigger!


And another comment from a lady with bad experiences who tried to get the attention of the Commission with a nice presentation about required "Full Disclosure":

After reading the summary of the Destination Florida Commission, it is most obvious that they have blindly ignored the input from citizens of the State of Florida.  They have pushed ahead with their mandate to entice more retirees to Florida without regard to improving conditions for retirees that already live in Florida . Public input indicated troubling conditions within many communities with homeowners' associations that have run amok with power, people having to pay twice for their homes when builders leave them holding the bag with unpaid liens, community development districts proliferating without resident representation during the start-up years, etc. etc.
 
"The Commission recommends that to improve its competitiveness in the retirement market, the State should continue providing retirees a quality of life superior to that of other states...".    What I would like to see is a rewording of the recommendation to read "the State should continue providing retirees currently residing in Florida a quality of life superior to that of other states..."   When that can be accomplished, there would be no need to expend taxpayer moneys on public relations efforts to "entice more retirees to Florida," because they would gladly come of their own accord when they know they would be relocating to an area that cares about their residents and taxpayers and where they would know they come first and foremost in the hearts of our elected officials.