Civic & Community Center: Second ‘Coffee with the Commish’ is set for Friday
* The NFM Civic Association is sponsoring a Hurricane &?Lighning Seminar on June 25 at 6 p.m. at the Rec Cengter, room 102 with numerous handouts-ask plenty of Qs of Lee County Emergency Management which is conducting the seminar. Lightning is of particular concern to us in the Lightning Capital of the country.
*The NFM Civic Assn is holding the second in its series of “Coffee with the Commish” – on Friday, June 26, 11 a.m. at 13351 N. Cleveland Ave, Road 41 Grill and Fish Market, formerly Denny’s Restaurant. Commissioner Frank Mann, always gracious and entertaining, will hold court-hear him speak, ask him questions. A large turnout will be nice, so mark your calendars and I’ll see you there!
*The Lee County Board of County Commissioners authorized the county’s Site Selection Committee to move forward with negotiations to purchase land for the site of the planned NFM Regional Library badly needed. The Library Task Force headed by Frank Barrett and Linda Yorde has been doing a wonderful job showing the Commissioners just how badly we need this new facility. The Agenda authorized the Committee to move on to the second site if a deal cannot be made with the owners of the two lots in question
* Bluegrass Jams are still continuing, free of charge every Thursday evening, 6 to 8 p.m. at the Pavilion located at the rear of the Rec Center. An interesting toe tapping
* Attended Habitat for Humanity’s Introductory Tour and realized the county headquarters for this very worthwhile and well-run charity was right here in NFM along Business 41, 1288 N. Tamiami Trail. It is part of a worldwide charity dedicated to building or re-habilitating affordable homes for needy families. In our county alone last year, 55 families were able to move into homes as a result of this group of dedicated volunteers. In addition to a nice lunch and informative welcome by Becky Sanders-Lucas, about 30 of us saw their buildings where raw materials are converted into walls, doorways and other parts of homes, and their ReStore which contains a treasure trove of used furniture, appliances, household items and clothing at bargain prices. This free and interesting experience, all done from noon to 1 on the third Tuesday of each month, can be yours by calling 239-652-1678.
*Attended the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization 2040 Long Range Transportation workshop at NFM Library on 6/16 from 6-7 p.m., listened and read all the materials, toured all the charts and graphs they had around the room and realized that despite scheduling the meeting here, they don’t know that NFM exists! You had to go get a green or orange circular decal and place it on one of the maps in order to denote NFM. On the safety maps I wrote stickum notes and placed them outside Herons Glen’s intersection with Rt. 41 calling for a traffic light mentioning the large number of crashes and deaths there; and calling for a highway sign at each uncontrolled intersection with a median in NFM saying: “Yield-stop here if another car in intersection.” Most Florida drivers don’t know that is the law. Instead of stopping in the turning lane as required by the motor vehicle statutes and driving manual, they just barrel into the intersection going in front or behind or alongside a car already there blocking vision of the driver and creating a hazardous condition. And the Florida Department of Transportation refuses to put up such signs, which would drastically reduce the number of crashes in these areas, like coming south on Rt. 41 and turning left into The Shell Factory!
*This week the NFM Community Planning Panel, with the expert skills of Jennifer Peleccio, deputy director of the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Panel, submitted a state grant application on behalf of the people of NFM, for a NFM Farmers Market Initiative. It’s strange that the one thing we have that surrounding communities don’t is “farms” and yet we are the only community in Lee County that doesn’t have a farmers market, so we are going to try to remedy that. The site will be the parking lot of Road 41 Grill and Fish Market, 13351 N. Cleveland Ave, formerly the site of Denny’s Restaurant, at least until we hopefully outgrow that site. The Catch 22 is that the farmer’s market requires a seasonal permit only good between October and March, and the grant if allowed doesn’t take effect until January, so the people and farmers of NFM have to do everything they can to get this off the ground without the grant. The main effort is going to be recruiting farmers to bring their goods to our market, probably on a Saturday morning but that’s not set in stone. If you know a farmer try to recruit him or her for us and have them contact me. We also need a few volunteers to go recruit the other farmers. This project will bring economic diversity, help our farmers sell their goods, give us an identity, make us a destination instead of a passthrough and get the word out about eating fresh and healthy (I’ve been eating vegan for the last four months and the health benefits are amazing). How cool it would be if each of our restaurants developed a creative signature dish, unlike any other, or using fresh ingredients grown or raised in NFM and named it “NORTH FORT MYERS steak or chicken or pasta or Mexican or Chinese or Thai or whatever, and placed it on their menus for the next year. If there was a commitment by several area restaurants we would advertise it and hold a contest with a prize and a plaque for the Best of North Fort Myers Healthy and Indigenous Food. Eventually if the Farmers Market catches on we could do a bus tour from the Farmers Market to our area farms so passengers could see the fields of veggies, fruit and livestock. This phase of the project could be named “Growing Markets For Small NFM Farmers”. In January 2008 the NFMCPP created the NFM Community Plan covering our 25,000 acres and these projects are an outgrowth of that Plan which was born as a result of an intensive grassroots planning effort, and it is about time we implemented it.
*Last year at the NFM Community Planning Panel’s Town Hall Meeting I floated the idea of a NFM Sports Complex housing softball fields so our area senior slow pitch league doesn’t have to go another county to play and practice; so people who don’t live in gated communities can play bocce, etc. The county “doesn’t have any money” for it, but we are the only community in Lee County without a sports complex. The county owns plenty of land adjacent to the new Rec Center and Community Park and could easily expand to include bocce and four softball fields. Things have gotten better in all economies since then, so wouldn’t it be nice if we had at least a public boat ramp at the abandoned sewer site in Waterway Estates and one at North Shore Park off Rt. 41 just before you cross the bridge? We have over 10 miles of riverfront and no place to launch a boat? Really? Surely they can find the money for that!
*Merchants Unit! Join the NFM Merchants Association, $25 a year dues and you get a free business consultation at your place of business with Patrick T. Crissy for 90 minutes-worth much more than the 25 bucks. Nothing is more depressing and demoralizing than driving along the two 41’s and seeing all the vacant stores and restaurants and shopping malls half empty. The economy is improving so let’s use the openings of Road 41 Grill and Fish Market and Michelada’s Mexican Restaurant and the relocation of Southern Auto Trust to the former Bob Evans Restaurant site as a spur to ignite us. In numbers there is strength so join this worthwhile organization and make a difference. Group advertising via a billboard, group purchasing, a community-wide discount card with all merchants participating, maybe a weekend limo or trolley up and down the two 41’s in season and special promotions for holidays can all be done if you have enough merchants in the game. Call Kevin Mulhearn to jump in-239-980-0051.
PUBLIC APATHY IS THE PLAGUE OF THE 21ST CENTURY! VOLUNTEER – IT’S GOOD FOR THE MIND AND THE HEART.
Contact me at 239-823-3631 or mike-land@live.com if you have some event, project or idea that you would like in this column, or with any comments or questions.