Monday, June 15, 2009

Local Tweets: 9 Ways to Find Twitter Users in Your Town

Monday, May 18, 2009

2013 SUPER BOWL

2013 Super Bowl site, longer season on docket
NFL owners to award 2013 Super Bowl, discuss longer regular season at meetings
Barry Wilner, AP Football Writer
On Monday May 18, 2009, 2:49 pm EDT
Buzz up!
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New Orleans could get back in the Super Bowl rotation this week.
NFL owners will award the 2013 Super Bowl to either New Orleans, Glendale, Ariz., or South Florida -- where their spring meetings will take place in Fort Lauderdale.
And while nothing as definitive as selecting a Super Bowl site is expected, the owners could vote on a proposal to expand the regular season to 17 or 18 games, with a reduction in the preseason that would keep the overall total, minus playoffs, at 20 matches.
The Super Bowl has been staged in New Orleans nine times, tied with Miami for the most years hosting the big game. Miami will break that tie in February.
But bringing the Super Bowl back to the bayou for the first time since 2002 not only would be a boon to the Louisiana city, but would display the NFL's satisfaction with how New Orleans has recovered as a sports city from Hurricane Katrina.
"We know that it's not a given that it's going to be awarded to New Orleans and we really want to make the impression on them that we have a strong desire to host this again for a perfect 10th time," said Jay Cicero, the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation's president.
A few weeks ago, the state and the Saints announced a lease extension through 2025 that, if approved by the state Legislature, will also include $85 million in upgrades to the Superdome in time for the 2013 game.
"In a lot of ways, we're providing a new stadium with the advantages of the old stadium," Saints vice president Ben Hales said.
Still, the competition will be stiff. The league has shown its willingness to return to South Florida by holding the 2006 and 2010 games there; no other area has had such frequent hosting duties since Miami in 1995 and 1999. The Phoenix area was praised for its work for the 2008 game in which the New York Giants spoiled New England's perfect season.
A perfect season could require one or two more wins sometime in the near future if team owners approve a restructured schedule. Commissioner Roger Goodell has mentioned in the last few months the need to replace preseason games in which few star players get on the field with "meaningful" football.
"The idea has merit, I think," he told The Associated Press last month. "You are taking the quality and improving it, taking two meaningless games and making them meaningful within the 20-game framework."
In late March, Goodell said he hoped a plan for restructuring the schedule could be presented to the owners in Fort Lauderdale. Regardless, there will be discussion of the matter.
"A vote has not been ruled out," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.
Goodell and the owners are likely to be questioned about changes in the pension plan for coaches after two longtime Colts assistants, Tom Moore and Howard Mudd, retired last week rather than lose benefits. The owners voted in March to make the pension, the 401K, and the current supplemental retirement plan non-mandatory for the clubs and nine teams have dropped the program.
NFL Coaches Association executive director Larry Kennan said the coaches were never notified of the change when it was voted on in March.
Also on the docket will be possible modifications to the league's tampering rules that would create a window before free agency begins in which teams could contact the representatives of unrestricted free agents and enter contract negotiations with them. No contract could be executed during that time period.
New players union executive director DeMaurice Smith is expected to address the owners.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Rental Foreclosures Stun Tenants - AOL Money & Finance

Rental Foreclosures Stun Tenants - AO

Rental Foreclosures Stun Tenants

By THELMA GUTIERREZ and WAYNE DRASH,

CNN

Posted: 2008-05-30 20:55:39

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. (May 30) - Charles Nelson has paid about $30,000 in rent since moving into a spacious four-bedroom home in August. He was stunned when a real estate agent knocked on his door recently and said the home was in foreclosure.

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According to RealtyTrac, a real estate service that tracks foreclosures around the country, more than 38 percent of the 720,000 properties in foreclosure at the end of April were not occupied by the owner, but were a mix of second homes, realty investments and rental properties.

His landlord had not paid the mortgage since he moved in and the bank is now demanding the house back. Nelson will also lose his $7,700 security deposit.

When he confronted the landlord, he says, he was given a terse response: "That's none of your business."

"I said, 'I beg your pardon. It is my business. I mean, is somebody going to knock at the door and throw me out -- throw my family out, or what?'" he said.

Nelson, the owner of PCH Auto Sales, lives in the upper-middle class enclave of Laguna Hills, south of Los Angeles, with his girlfriend and two sons from previous marriages.

More than 100 miles away in the working-class city of Palmdale, Fai Nomaaea -- a 35-year-old mother of eight -- can relate. The single mom was cleaning the yard when a man handed her a notice of foreclosure. Like Nelson, she had been paying her rent on time every month.

She now lives in fear every day.

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"I don't know what's going to happen the next day," she said. "I don't know if they're going to come to the door and tell us that we have to move, and I don't have anywhere to go."

For Nomaaea, getting booted from the home presents another hardship: She lives on a fixed income and can afford about $1,200 a month in rent. It also means finding a new school for her children.

Her 10-year-old daughter, Jeaah, said she prays to God every night. "I ask Him, I hope I get new friends and they like me and stuff, and that I like them back," the girl said.

Stories like these are becoming more common, with renters becoming victims of the nation's mortgage meltdown through no fault of their own, experts say.

"We know it's a growing problem," said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures across the country.

"It really is a frightening issue for tenants that have no way of knowing until almost the last minute that a landlord is defaulting on a property."

The number of households to receive foreclosure notices for the first quarter of 2008 was up 112 percent from the same time last year, according to RealtyTrac.

Sharga said that more than 38 percent of properties in foreclosure through the end of April were classified as "not-owner occupied," meaning they were second homes, investment homes or rental property. That's roughly 280,000 of the nation's 720,000 foreclosed properties.

The hardest-hit areas are California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida.

"What you had was dramatically overheated markets where people overextended themselves to buy overvalued properties and they used risky loans to get those properties," Sharga said.

Foreclosure laws are governed state by state, and there is not much renters can do when their landlords get foreclosed on. There is no guarantee of being allowed to stay in the homes or ways to get their security deposits back.

"There is very little in the way of protections for tenants," said Nadine Cohen, an attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services, which represents low-income people in Boston. "Many times, the tenants don't even know their buildings are being foreclosed."

Cohen said some states in the Northeast have begun introducing legislation to protect renters from being evicted. A U.S. congressional bill that would have addressed the issue has been held up in conference committee.

"People who are continuing to pay their rent are really victims of this mortgage foreclosure crisis and need to be protected. They haven't done anything wrong. They've lived up to the tenets of their lease; they paid their rent," said John Taylor, president and CEO of National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which works to promote access to basic banking services.

"It simply smacks against all that is fair in our democratic society for people who have no control over bad decisions of other people, but ... they're impacted by this."

Sharga said that in many cases, renters want to buy the properties being foreclosed, but the banks force them out anyway.

"It boggles the mind. ... We're dealing with laws and regulations that really weren't made with this kind of situation in mind," he said.

Nelson knows all about that. He called the bank to offer to buy the home he's renting but was told that he has to move out first and then make a bid. Now, he lives day-to-day, not knowing when he'll have to leave.

"There could be a knock on the door, saying we have 10 days, two weeks. I don't know."

L Money & Finance

Friday, May 30, 2008

www.LaundryOnTheGo.com comes to ROLLINS COLLEDGE & UCF

THEIR WEBSITE SAYS .....WE'VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU........... WE HOPE TO SAVE YOU LOADS OF TIME http://www.laundryonthego.com/ IS A MOBILE LAUNDRY AND DRY CLEANING SERVICE THAT PICKS UP AND DELIVERS RIGHT TO YOUR FRONT DOOR. HERE IS THE ALTERNATIVE TO SPENDING HOURS DOING IT YOUR SELF ! THEY DO IT ONCE A WEEK OR TWICE A WEEK BUT WHAT I LOVE IS THAT YOU PAY UP FRONT BEFORE THE TERM SO THEY ARE TAKEN CARE OF AND YOU DONT HAVE TO HASSLE WITH THOSE DAYS YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH QUARTERS FOR THE DRYER ! ALSO THEY HAVE A COOL SPOT CALLED ITS A WASH WERE YOU CAN SEE WHAT THE AVERAGE LOAD OF LAUNDRY WEIGHS THEY ALSO HAVE A CUTE MY SPACE PAGE AT WWW.MYSPACE.COM/LAUNDRYONTHEGO THEY ARE NOW AT ROLLINS AND UCF SO CHECK THEM OUT AT THERE WEBSITE !

www.WhatsTheRent.Com

HERES A CUTE NEW FREE SITE TO VIEW AND TO LIST AT
Are you looking for a place to rent? Do you need to find a tenant or roommate for your rental property? Well you have come to the right place, we are completely free for both renters and lanldords. Create a listing in just minutes, or find a room to rent with our renter friendly search features.
To see what there listings look like, search Area 51, http://www.whatstherent.com/
they also have a great forum so check them out ! http://www.whatstherent.com/forums/

How to Ease Cost of Commuting

How to Ease Cost of Commuting - AOL Money & FinanceInc.
GOOGLE ,Inc said it has seen an uptick in the number of employees using its van service, which travels as far as 60 miles to ferry commuters, says spokeswoman Sunny Gettinger. The company runs more than 150 shuttles a day for about 1,200 riders. But it's public employers who are moving to four-day weeks. At LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, some 400 professional employees such as librarians and those handling information technology can opt to reduce their commuting time starting Monday. Dale Lunsford, university president, said controlling the costs of food and other economic factors are out of his hand. "But I think we can do something to help the price of gas," Mr. Lunsford said.

I like this idea of a 4 day work week working ten hour days and having Friday off
ON THE RUN ALLAN

Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses anWhy Walking Matters
Walkable neighborhoods offer surprising benefits to our health, the environment, and our communities.

Better health: A study in Washington State found that the average resident of a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood weighs 7 pounds less than someone who lives in a sprawling neighborhood1. Residents of walkable neighborhoods drive less and suffer fewer car accidents, a leading cause of death between the ages of 15 - 45.

Reduction in greenhouse gas: Cars are a leading cause of global warming. Your feet are zero pollution transportation machines.

More transportation options: Compact neighborhoods tend to have higher population density, which leads to more public transportation options and bicycle infrastructure. Not only is taking the bus cheaper than driving, but riding a bus is ten times safer than driving a car2!

Increased social capital: Walking increases social capital by promoting face-to-face interaction with your neighbors. Studies have shown that for each 10 minutes a person spends in a daily car commute, time spent in community activities falls by 10 percent3.

Stronger local businesses: Dense, walkable neighborhoods provide local businesses with the foot traffic they need to thrive. It's easier for pedestrians to shop at many stores on one trip, since they don't need to drive between destinations.

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