2001 Aug
2001 Aug Vol. 21, No. 8
Focus on...Insurance
Brooklyn Heights
If Manhattan is a sea of change, Brooklyn Heights is the peaceful shore to which weary Manhattanites retreat. More than 175 years ago, Brooklyn Heights emerged as one of the first American suburbs. Bounded by the East River, Fulton Street, Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, this quiet neighborhood has long been a haven for professionals, couples and families with its tranquil, tree-lined streets and stately 19th century homes. Read More
Are We There Yet?
Alan Greenspan and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve have received a lot of press coverage recently for their aggressive attempts to revive the economy and ward off a recession. Their unprecedented program of mostly half-point cuts has reduced the discount rate (the rate certain banks pay to borrow funds from the Federal Reserve to meet their daily capital requirements) from six to 3.25 percent since the beginning of this year. Most banks have followed suit by lowering their prime lending rate (the rate these banks supposedly charge their very best customers) from 9.5 to 6.75 percent over the same period. Read More
Minimize Renovation RIsk
As construction insurance has evolved into a highly specialized and complex field over the past few decades, effective management of risk and insurance is critical when undertaking a construction project. Unfortunately, there is still no single-solution policy for owners to adopt for their construction projects. Instead, owners must carefully choose from a basket of policies that are then fine-tuned to cover the particularities and needs of the owners’ insurable risks. Read More
Better Safe than Sorry
By definition, insurance doesn’t fit into the mold of predictability. It’s something we buy, but hope we’ll never need. With some 30,000 structural fires taking place in New York City last year, it’s clear that the unexpected can and does happen-and it’s easy to see the importance of properly insuring against potential tragedies. Read More
Directors and Officers
The eccentric widow who lives in apartment 3F with her 16 cats claims that undue noise from the musicians in 3G caused her to have a nervous breakdown-and you, the board president, are to blame because the wall between the apartments-two feet of solid concrete-is too thin. She then sues you for half a million bucks in compensatory and punitive damages. Read More
Are Rock-Bottom Rates a Thing of the Past?
The 1990s were good times for those paying insurance premiums. "We had almost a decade of severe, severe cost cutting," says Coletta Kemper, vice president of industry affairs for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. "They were about as low as anybody could probably take them, and the industry had been suffering underwriting losses for many years." Read More
