Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/52019
U n l i k e Southern and Central Florida that enjoy year-round tourist activity, the height of tourism season in the panhandle – Memorial Day to Labor Day – represents 55 to 60 percent of all revenues on an annual basis. As of August, the GCCF says they have paid over 949,000 claims at a cost of $5 billion. One can only imagine the claims process slowing down even more the further away we get from the date of the disaster. BP has also cited the rebound in tourism along the Florida Gulf Coast as a reason to reduce or elim- inate claims payments. This from a company that enjoyed a net income of $3.7 billion in 2010, $16.5 billion in 2009 and over $21 billion in 2008. Numerous law firms have stepped in to represent victims of the spill including the Miami-based firm Farrell and Patel. They represent over 1,000 individuals and business, including 800 hotels. Other clients include; fishermen, gas stations/convenience stores, rental properties, development land and RV parks. These are not large class action suits, but rather 1,000 individual claims. The hotel properties range in size from small 10-unit independent mom and pop motels to 300-unit franchised luxury prop- erties. According to Andy Ingraham, president of the National Association of Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers sev- eral of these properties are African-American owned. The firm has implemented a two-pronged approach. The first is short-term relief that should be paid to the claimants as part of the fund to assist with more immediate needs, which in some cases is a matter of survival. The second phase involves long term damages against BP and some, or all, of the 159 individuals and corporations responsible for the spill. But even the short-term relief for the victims is taking months longer than neces- sary according to many of the claimants. Ricky Patel, a partner in the firm Farrell and Patel says, "the GCCF was established to process claims and assess damages as they deem appropriate," not necessarily to do what's in the best interest of the businesses or individuals the spill has harmed. It took Exxon/Mobil two decades to make good on their claims and many could effectively argue their solution was completely inadequate given the damage caused in Alaska, so BP has a template to follow. For BP, there is a financial windfall to slowing down the claims process. The dollar value will be worth less several years from now making it cheaper to wait, if they settle at all. In October 2011, Operation People for Peace made Houston its forth stop in a protest targeted at BP. Participants included, human rights activist Dick Gregory, National Congress of Black Women, chair E. Faye Williams and the group's leader Art Rocker. Rocker says, "many individuals were severely damaged and have not been compensated for their losses despite our best efforts to date. Most of these people are minority or poor people who BP has chosen to ignore while settling with other people who are well connected politically." Patel says, "the claims process has proven to be arbitrary at best." There are instances of properties actively denied claims while 20 other properties around them are getting paid. Another problem for the victims, the total amount of a particular claim is rarely, if ever awarded despite fully supported Black Meetings & Tourism November/December 2011: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 67 RICKY PATEL