I recently heard the mayor of Fort Myers, Kevin Anderson, speak about projects and happenings in the city. He put on and handed out plastic sunglasses to attendees, then began his presentation quoting the pop song, "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!"
He shared, "When I look out my office window overlooking the city, I am amazed at the transformation of Fort Myers over the past 30 years - what would our city founders think? Would they have imagined that the cattle town of 136 years ago would become the thriving community we are today?"
Anderson went on, "And the transformation continues. Our beautiful amphitheater is nearing completion: it accommodates 3300 people. We have east side riverfront projects coming that will transform Palm Beach Boulevard into the bustling corridor it used to be. We have proposals to make our marina into one that is world class."
Regarding residential development, specifically multi-family unit development, he noted, "There is either something going up or somewhere in development allover the city." When asked about the availability of affordable housing, he responded, "We want to help provide a safety net not a hammock." He continued, "While creating affordable housing is not going to be easy to accomplish because the issue is complex and involves many moving parts. The city wants to help make it happen as much as we can. However," he added, "there's only 2000 affordable homes in all of Lee County at present. We need to not attack the problem in siloes. It must be a group regional effort."
"Moore about Business" is provided by the founder and publisher of "Southwest Florida Business Today," Karen P. Moore.
