Friday, November 04, 2011
For those of you who have noticed that I have not blogged in a while, I am fine. Thank you, Candace for calling. There is nothing wrong with me. I am adjusting to how different life is in the east. I , of course had traveled to New York many times, and went to college in Boston, but either I forgot, or failed to recognize, just how different things are here.
Wednesday provided a good example of both the benefits and frustrations of my new life. On Tuesday I had stopped by a local State Farm insurance office to secure renter’s insurance and to transfer my car insurance. This struck me as a pretty simple thing to do. The woman at the insurance office took my information and said she would get back to me.
On Wednesday she sent an e-mail with my auto insurance quote. It was about $30 higher than my last premium in Denver. I expected it to be higher so this was not remarkable. She went on to inform me that State Farm would not sell me renter’s insurance because I live in a hurricane setback zone. This is a new consideration for State Farm following Hurricane Katrina.
Needless to say I was stunned and angered. Hurricane setback zone? I live in a high rise apartment in downtown Stamford two miles from the nearest beach. Not only are there hundreds of residences closer to the ocean than I am, but there are huge hotels and office buildings within two blocks. Does State Farm refuse to insure all of those? Do they think my apartment on the fifth floor of a 17-story building might be inundated by the kind of floods which struck New Orleans? Stamford is not even on the ocean, but Long Island Sound. Even so, there are two miles of roads, parks, train tracks and buildings between me and the water. Hurricane Irene did hit hard in this part of the country, but it was not the buildings near the coast which were most affected, and certainly not the ones in downtown Stamford. If you recall, areas of Vermont, hundreds of miles from the ocean suffered the most from Hurricane Irene. Even the most recent winter storm last weekend has caused much hardship in Connecticut with downed trees and power outages, none of which affected my neighborhood which has few trees and no overhead power lines. Hurricane setback zone? Seriously? Bullshit.
Now State Farm is a private company and they can do whatever they like. But to arbitrarily declare that downtown Stamford is uninsurable is crap. I am sure the 20-story Marriott hotel at the end of the block is insured. I bet the UBS office down the street can find insurance. And I am willing to bet that the brand-new apartment buildings right on the water I looked at when I first got here found some way to get insured. But little, old Miles can’t get renter’s insurance in his one-bedroom unit in Connecticut because New Orleans, built below sea level, could not rely on its unique levy system to protect it from a category 3 hurricane which drove Gulf of Mexico water into the streets. This probably helps State Farm’s bottom line in some way, but it makes me have some sympathy for the idiots camping out in Zucotti Park. Corporate greed and stupidity.
So for those worried about me, I guess you can add “potential hurricane victim” to the things you worry about, care of State Farm. By the way, I did not transfer my auto insurance. If State Farm rejects one, they reject all. I am sure the loss of my $500 will cause their stock to drop.
However, on Wednesday I also took advantage of my proximity to New York. I rode the train (which was packed both ways) to the city (which is what everyone calls New York here) to catch a Broadway show. I wanted to see Other Desert Cities with Stockard Channing, Judith Light, and Rachel Griffiths, but the TKTS half-price booth had no tickets. Instead I went to The Mountaintop with Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King, also starring Angela Basset. The play is fairly lightweight fare, missing the chance to really provide a message or at least insight into Dr. King. Primarily it is a comedy, punctuated by references to his speeches. I was very disappointed with Jackson. I figured a charismatic actor portraying a charismatic figure would command the stage. Instead he seemed to be trying to show King as a man, rather than a legend, and the effort felt lame to me. Angela Basset on the other hand gave one of the best performances I have ever seen. She did command the stage, mixing humor with poignancy. Her character goes through some changes and finishes with a monologue which is mind-blowing in its length, detail, and the speed with which she delivers it. If she does not win a Tony someone else will have to be very special. Should she win, her part would constitute, I think, the ninth Tony-winning performance I have seen.
Prior to the show I stopped by Madison Square Garden to pick up some hockey tickets to see my alma mater, Boston University play. I was going to buy them online but there were $15 in service charges per ticket. (How do they get away with that?) While in line there were advertisements for Straight No Chaser who are performing in New York later this month. It was strange to be standing in line at Madison Square Garden looking at Don Nottingham staring out at me. I think I am going to try to go. Do you think I can get an autograph?
Anyway, I am going to try to get back to blogging again regularly. Now that I am settled I need to write. At least on days I don’t take the train into the city.
Wednesday provided a good example of both the benefits and frustrations of my new life. On Tuesday I had stopped by a local State Farm insurance office to secure renter’s insurance and to transfer my car insurance. This struck me as a pretty simple thing to do. The woman at the insurance office took my information and said she would get back to me.
On Wednesday she sent an e-mail with my auto insurance quote. It was about $30 higher than my last premium in Denver. I expected it to be higher so this was not remarkable. She went on to inform me that State Farm would not sell me renter’s insurance because I live in a hurricane setback zone. This is a new consideration for State Farm following Hurricane Katrina.
Needless to say I was stunned and angered. Hurricane setback zone? I live in a high rise apartment in downtown Stamford two miles from the nearest beach. Not only are there hundreds of residences closer to the ocean than I am, but there are huge hotels and office buildings within two blocks. Does State Farm refuse to insure all of those? Do they think my apartment on the fifth floor of a 17-story building might be inundated by the kind of floods which struck New Orleans? Stamford is not even on the ocean, but Long Island Sound. Even so, there are two miles of roads, parks, train tracks and buildings between me and the water. Hurricane Irene did hit hard in this part of the country, but it was not the buildings near the coast which were most affected, and certainly not the ones in downtown Stamford. If you recall, areas of Vermont, hundreds of miles from the ocean suffered the most from Hurricane Irene. Even the most recent winter storm last weekend has caused much hardship in Connecticut with downed trees and power outages, none of which affected my neighborhood which has few trees and no overhead power lines. Hurricane setback zone? Seriously? Bullshit.
Now State Farm is a private company and they can do whatever they like. But to arbitrarily declare that downtown Stamford is uninsurable is crap. I am sure the 20-story Marriott hotel at the end of the block is insured. I bet the UBS office down the street can find insurance. And I am willing to bet that the brand-new apartment buildings right on the water I looked at when I first got here found some way to get insured. But little, old Miles can’t get renter’s insurance in his one-bedroom unit in Connecticut because New Orleans, built below sea level, could not rely on its unique levy system to protect it from a category 3 hurricane which drove Gulf of Mexico water into the streets. This probably helps State Farm’s bottom line in some way, but it makes me have some sympathy for the idiots camping out in Zucotti Park. Corporate greed and stupidity.
So for those worried about me, I guess you can add “potential hurricane victim” to the things you worry about, care of State Farm. By the way, I did not transfer my auto insurance. If State Farm rejects one, they reject all. I am sure the loss of my $500 will cause their stock to drop.
However, on Wednesday I also took advantage of my proximity to New York. I rode the train (which was packed both ways) to the city (which is what everyone calls New York here) to catch a Broadway show. I wanted to see Other Desert Cities with Stockard Channing, Judith Light, and Rachel Griffiths, but the TKTS half-price booth had no tickets. Instead I went to The Mountaintop with Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King, also starring Angela Basset. The play is fairly lightweight fare, missing the chance to really provide a message or at least insight into Dr. King. Primarily it is a comedy, punctuated by references to his speeches. I was very disappointed with Jackson. I figured a charismatic actor portraying a charismatic figure would command the stage. Instead he seemed to be trying to show King as a man, rather than a legend, and the effort felt lame to me. Angela Basset on the other hand gave one of the best performances I have ever seen. She did command the stage, mixing humor with poignancy. Her character goes through some changes and finishes with a monologue which is mind-blowing in its length, detail, and the speed with which she delivers it. If she does not win a Tony someone else will have to be very special. Should she win, her part would constitute, I think, the ninth Tony-winning performance I have seen.
Prior to the show I stopped by Madison Square Garden to pick up some hockey tickets to see my alma mater, Boston University play. I was going to buy them online but there were $15 in service charges per ticket. (How do they get away with that?) While in line there were advertisements for Straight No Chaser who are performing in New York later this month. It was strange to be standing in line at Madison Square Garden looking at Don Nottingham staring out at me. I think I am going to try to go. Do you think I can get an autograph?
Anyway, I am going to try to get back to blogging again regularly. Now that I am settled I need to write. At least on days I don’t take the train into the city.
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