Civic & Community Center: Commissioner Hamman, others to speak on NFM Renaissance
Whatever else you do, you must attend the most important meeting in North Fort Myers in the last 20 years -this Friday, Oct. 9, starting at 11:30 a.m. at Captain Fishbones Restaurant at The Shell Factory, presented by The North Fort Myers Civic Association. Participate in the unveiling of the “North Fort Myers Renaissance Campaign” with a buffet luncheon for only $10 including food, soft drink and tax, the excess cost being underwritten by our host Tom Cronin. The main speakers will be Chairman of the Lee County Board of Commissioners Brian Hamman whose district”includes NFM, Greg Stuart, Urban Planner who has had decades of experience in redevelopment and John Talmage local restaurateur and national community development expert. Their ideas and suggestions will form the basis of the Renaissance, which will revitalize, reawaken and restore civic pride in our community and “turn our town around.” I am not going to spoil the suspense by telling you what they are going to say or recommend – come see for yourself. But our town didn’t get into these doldrums overnight and the main thing we need is to “awaken” our civic spirit, take pride in our community, volunteer, work together for the common cause of bootstrapping ourselves and putting into effect the recommendations of our speakers. You can begin by attending this all-important event, speaking up and inserting your own non-negative thoughts into the campaign.
And come see the three who will receive plaques for assisting with The Renaissance.
I am pleased to announce that arrangements have been completed for a North Fort Myers Marinatown Market Friday mornings from December through March, thanks to Marinatown’s owner Tom Hoolihan and his manager, Chef Justin Fleming and their civic pride. The deal was arranged by The North Fort Myers Civic Association which has no financial involvement in the market-just part of their ongoing effort to make NFM better – and which will be operated by Local Roots, LLC which runs five other community markets in Lee County, and whose principles are Jean Baer and Betsy Ventura. Access their website for more info at buylocallee.com.The market will offer farm to table fruits and veggies, food-related products, fresh fish and cuts of Heritage beef, pork and chicken. Plans are for the open air market on Hancock Bridge Parkway about a quarter mile in from Rt. 41 to feature hand-made craft products from a different local neighborhood each Friday with family entertainment and fun. TP Hoolihan’s restaurant will be open for breakfast on market days and local chefs will conduct cooking classes at the market. The important part will be to attract good vendors so if you know a farmer or anyone that might want to sell their food or food-related products, or you live in a local community with crafters that might want to join the fun, see the above website.
First there was one and now there are four billboards around town in prominent locations with the same message: I’m Sold On North Fort Myers- the Opportunity Side of The River! All with northfortmyerscivicassociation.com displayed along the bottom. All by virtue of the generosity and creativeness of the good people at Carter-Pritchett Advertising.
See if you can spot all four locations and who the billboard spokespersons are on each-the first one who gets the correct answer to me (by email address shown at the bottom of this column) wins a nice gift.
The Civic Association is preparing a Promotional Brochure for North Fort Myers to tell the world of the many opportunities we offer-18 miles of riverfront, our farms and farm products, our nice public buildings provided by Lee County including a recently-announced new Library at a cost of thirteen million bucks, the ready availability of land and buildings for offices, stores and other commercial enterprises, and much, much more! Accolades to Brochure Chairman Rudy Berndlmaier for the countless hours spent taking and organizing photos, meeting with contributors, running to the printers and turning out a first-class brochure which will reap benefits for Our Town for years to come! The Civic Association is going to print 10,000 copies and distribute them throughout the county and state and re-print them as needed. County, area and state organizations are also going to distribute them. We are also going to use the internet to display the brochure with the hopes it will go viral. We need people to solicit for contributions towards the cost of printing and re-printing and the cost of modernizing our website. This is a vital part of our Renaissance and we can use all the help we can get. If you have website or Facebook skills, or the time to make calls on phone or foot, please contact me for the good of North Fort Myers.
The North Fort Myers Community Planning Panel and Design Review Panel met Tuesday night (always the first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at The Recreation Center) and reviewed an application by Applebee’s Restaurant to put an open patio on the rear of its restaurant at Merchants’ Crossing. They also discussed an Amendment to the CPP By-Laws, whether there is a need to record their meetings and whether to amend the exterior business sign requirements of The North Fort Myers Land Development Code.
The NFM Civic Association will hold its usual monthly meeting on Oct. 13 (always the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at The Recreation Center). In addition to a full agenda relating to the Renaissance, the Brochure, Marinatown Market, (whew!) we are going to discuss our first-ever social to be held at an exotic and hardly- known local venue for receptions, reunions, retreats, whatever known as Southern Waters, an 18-acre waterside facility to be a free potluck dinner/BBQ on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 5 to 8 pm. Members, their guests and prospective new members are invited. Bring a dish to pass.
And speaking of new members-the NFM Civic Association needs many. The ambitious projects surrounding the North Fort Myers Renaissance require many members-there is strength in numbers. Not only are the annual dues laughingly low-$10 for a single membership, $15 for a family membership and $35 for a business, but we also have a Community Membership for any bona fide neighborhood or community (gated or otherwise with written creation documents and regular meetings and minutes) and any charity or house of worship located in NFM, with NO DUES at all-part of our effort to reach out to the people of NFM which also includes The Bayshore Area from I-75 to Route 31. This Community Membership allows the community organization to cast one vote like any other member, and all of your members are encouraged to attend our meetings and speak out to help us in our quest to make NFM a better place. Come to our social and get to know us-you will like this sincere group and what it does.
And last but not least, the monthly daytime meeting on Oct. 23 (usually the fourth Friday of the month at noon at Road 41 Grill, 13351 N. Cleveland Ave. southbound on Rt. 41 second driveway below Hancock Bridge Parkway) will be a presentation by Lee County Planners, a Division of Community Development, on the North Fort Myers Land Development Code. Come see how it has evolved to become easier to work with and more flexible. Please mark these dates in your calendar-I look forward to seeing you at all these civic events.
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.