Civic & Community Center: County parks director to speak at next Civic meeting
The North Fort Myers Civic Association has a lot of irons in the fire.
Dana Kasler, director of The Lee County Department of Parks and Recreation will be the featured speaker at its next business meeting on June 10 at 7 p.m. at the NFM Recreation Center in Community Park. Mr. Kasler will be announcing plans for a playground and other amenities at said park, as well as the public online input survey results relating to the Orange Grove pool/park site and what are the resultant plans.
Nominations and election will be held for a Board of Directors’ slot for a term expiring February of 2018. Any member can throw their hat in the ring by contacting me beforehand or at the meeting.
There will be discussion about The Florida Main Street program and The Florida Scenic Byways program. Association Director John Bry will be writing a grant application for a Community Development grant for the Association’s efforts.
Membership Chair Rudy Berndlmaier reported that we now have 71 members including five communities as members. Expected as a guest at this meeting will be Sterling Peacock, who is considering re-locating his catering business to a kitchen in NFM. Who knows – he might bring a few samples of his signature dishes!
The Civic Association will be conducting its Annual Hurricane and Lightning Seminar at The Recreation Center on Thursday eve, June 9 at 6 p.m.
The presentation will be done by William Lloyd of the Lee County Emergency Management Office and our Chairman, Bill Hanners, long-time Civic Association Board of Directors stalwart, which is expected to last about one and a half hours. Plenty of free handouts will be available there for pickup. Learn all you need to know to protect your family, your home and its contents from hurricane and lightning damage.
This year has seen tremendous devastation form floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other natural phenomena.
As we approach hurricane season it makes good sense to arm yourself with the necessary knowledge to prevent or minimize your losses and it’s not for nothin’ that Florida is known as the Lightning Capital of this great country of ours. Save the date and be there.
Mark your calendars that the speaker at our July meeting, on July 12 at 7 p.m. will be Ronni Wood, state director of the Florida Main Street Program, who will be considering Business 41 as the subject for a program, which would entail training, technical support and maintenance , which might open the door for funding and grants. The program utilizes design, organization, promotion and economic development.
Some other area towns that have benefitted from this program are Punta Gorda, Arcadia and Sarasota. Every single merchant and building owner located along this venerable road, and anyone considering investing along this strip, should make it their business to attend this meeting.
The Civic Association has been contacted by a local radio network, attracted by the Association’s four prominently-placed highway billboards with dark blue backgrounds reading “I’m Sold On North Fort Myers – the ‘Opportunity’ Side of the River,” and appearing below it the website www.northfortmyerscivicassociation.com (Thanks to Carter-Pritchett Outdoor Advertising for donating these billboards and to Tom Cronin, The Shell Factory and Leonardi Hearing Aid Center for making these billboards possible).
If any of my readers would like to contribute to the cost of the proposed radio announcements, or perhaps sponsor a short weekly radio program possibly called “North Fort Myers News Nook,” or if you would like to appear as a guest on such a program, please contact me.
Thanks to Linda Lindquist, local professional computer repairwoman/coach, who was able to place the North Fort Myers Promotional Brochure and the North Fort Myers Civic Association Pamphlet on the Civic Association’s website. Her skill is apparent as she created a slide show using each panel of the two eight-paneled documents for 20 seconds each. A few less difficult posts to our website are needed to bring things up to date. If we could get a few more volunteers who know how to post easy items on a website (we have 24/7 technical support through G0 DADDY) and a 15-30 minute time commitment from them we could complete the backlog of posting business cards of our Business Members and Sponsors on the site. Contact me if you can give us even one shift at your convenience from your own home.
The North Fort Myers Community Planning Panel and Design Review Panel meet jointly on the first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at The NFM Recreation Center.
At its last meeting on May 3, the Design Review Panel considered three applications:
* A porch addition and setback variance at 1829 Stevenson Road which they recommended;
* Application of storage, 14150 N. Cleveland Ave. for a use permit to allow truck and trailer rentals, which they recommended;
* Application of Enclaves, RPD, a proposed residential complex of single family homes along the easterly border of Publix on Bayshore Road, which brought almost 40 neighbors out in opposition because of safety and health concerns.
The Panel passed those concerns on to the county authorities, and as a result a meeting with certain affected county heads and members of the Panel has been scheduled downtown on June 6.
Next month’s Panel meeting on June 7 at 6 p.m. promises to be just as interesting. These meetings are always open to the public and represent grassroots democracy at its finest, so come out.
Try to attend as many of these meetings as you can. It is only through public participation and pride that we can achieve the goals of turning North Fort Myers’ economy around and making this town a better place in which to live and work!
Public Apathy is the Plague of the 21st Century. Cure yours by volunteering- It’s good for the Heart and Mind.-MIKE LAND
“Success is not what you gain in life or what you accomplish-it’s what you do for others” – Anonymous
“Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”- Margaret Mead
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. Thanks for following this column.