Pinellas County leads this country in developing programs and solutions to the foreclosure crisis. Our courts are largely humane and fair, and our judges are putting both foreclosure defense attorneys and the foreclosure mills through their paces. While not operational at this point in time, I have every belief that the mediation program, set to be implemented on July 1, 2010 and run by Mediation Managers, Inc., will be an effective means to help homeowners in this area find solutions to the foreclosure crisis.
Another key component that explains why Pinellas County is more effectively dealing with this foreclosure crisis is the cooperation between members of the bar, the bench and organizations in the community, reaching out and working together to come up with practical solutions to the myriad of problems we face. The article below details one such program, sponsored jointly by the Saint Petersburg Bar Association and the city of St. Petersburg, where attorneys, judges and representatives of other institutions met to counsel with homeowners and help provide answers to the many questions they face.
It says so much about this community when judges, including Judge Pamela Campbell, Judge Amy Williams and Judicial Candidate Susan St. Johns gave their time on a Saturday to meet with members of the community who are suffering in this foreclosure crisis. Mayor Bill Foster was also in attendance, showing that such initiatives have support from all levels of our local government. It is also important to note that our local newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times devotes reporters and treats stories dealing with foreclosure in a very positive and realistic manner. Read an example of the article here.
