Judah speaks on issues at chamber breakfast
Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah informed members of the Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce about Beach- and county-related issues at the local chamber’s first-ever breakfast meeting Thursday at Nervous Nellie’s Crazy Waterfront Eatery.
Before discussing a busy slate of Beach work in April, Judah, who represents District 3 (which includes Fort Myers Beach) on the Lee County Board of County Commissioners, thanked out-going Councilman Tom Babcock for his town service and congratulated recently re-elected Beach council members Jo List and Bob Raymond (both in attendance) and elected councilman Joe Kosinski (not in attendance). He then commended the council members on their efforts regarding the North Estero Boulevard Project.
“It is beautiful and something to be really proud of with the lining, resurfacing, the drainage, the landscaping and the sidewalks,” said Judah. “It is a tremendous amenity for this Fort Myers Beach town.”
The commissioner remarked on the upcoming beach restoration process on the north end of the island, which is set to begin with the groin construction at Bowditch Point April 15.
“We all recognize we want to get this going so we don’t get caught up with the hurricane season,” said Judah. The actual beach re-nourishment will take place just after Easter.
Judah then expressed gratitude to Beach residents Fran Myers and Roxie Smith for their representation to the Lee County Tourist Development Council and its connection to the beach restoration process. He followed by commending Councilman Alan Mandel for getting his attention on the road-wearing surface work on Big Carlos Bridge. The work, which was rescheduled and set to restart soon, has been moved to late April due to traffic concerns.
“To (Mandel’s) credit, we were able to get the attention of Paul Wingard, our director of the county public transportation department, recognizing that we can still get it done if we started up right after Easter,” said Judah.
The five-time BOCC chairman then discussed the under-construction Beach Park, its delay reason and the recently laid concrete handicap pad on the south side of the park property before presenting ideas for the Seafarer’s building across the street. He called the building a “liability and an eyesore.”
“The Beach Park is going along very well. Mayor (Larry) Kiker has been really on top of this particular project,” said Judah. “Unfortunately, there was a hiccup with regards to the submittal to the application to the Department of Environmental Protection.
“I personally feel that the (Seafarer’s) building needs to be (taken down) where we can put in an at-grade parking lot and start to generate some revenue. If the county commission is interested, there can be a sharing of the revenue that can be collected with that at-grade parking lot where, in which over a period in time, certain monies can be escrowed for the Town of Fort Myers Beach to ultimately acquire that property from the county and reimburse the Tourist Development Council whose bed taxes bought the property.”
Judah then said the TDC has been playing a “pivotal role” economically in the county and its allocation of money, so that county officials could enter a “long-term relationship with the Boston Red Sox” regarding a new stadium.
“We are not using property tax money to be able to pay for the construction of the stadium. We are using tourist tax dollars,” he said. “The Red Sox and Twins continually realize full capacity and the fan base section is about two-thirds from outside of Lee County and the most part outside of Florida. This generates a lot of money that flows through restaurants, hotels and the community as a whole.”
Judah mentioned the “intense pains to diversify the economy” and listed many companies, which are making the move to Southwest Florida, including Algenol, which produces ethanol from algae.
“I believe that this will be the future of our nation and will certainly provide stability throughout the world because we will no longer have to rely on fossil fuels and now turn to renewable fuels like ethanol,” he said.
Regarding the City of Palms Park once the Red Sox move out, the county is still pursuing baseball teams such as the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals, but are also looking for the diversification of inviting bids from U.S. Swimming for training purposes and European soccer teams to consider running farm systems in that stadium.
Judah then answered questions such as giving Beach property (roughly $4.6 million for park and $900,000 for Seafarer’s property) to the Town of Fort Myers Beach (“There has to be compensation back to the TDC.”); and a trolley express lane down San Carlos Boulevard (“The dilemma is residents and businesses have concerns that we do not preclude the left-hand turn movements that they need.”)
Judah graduated cum laude from California State University with Master in Science in Natural Resources and a BA in Zoology. Besides working on the Lee County BOCC, he is a member of Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization and Verizon Council; co-founder of CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed); was chairman of Lee County TDC in 1998, 2004, 2008; and chairman of West Coast Inland Navigation District.
Judah speaks on issues at chamber breakfast
Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah informed members of the Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce about Beach- and county-related issues at the local chamber’s first-ever breakfast meeting Thursday at Nervous Nellie’s Crazy Waterfront Eatery.
Before discussing a busy slate of Beach work in April, Judah, who represents District 3 (which includes Fort Myers Beach) on the Lee County Board of County Commissioners, thanked out-going Councilman Tom Babcock for his town service and congratulated recently re-elected Beach council members Jo List and Bob Raymond (both in attendance) and elected councilman Joe Kosinski (not in attendance). He then commended the council members on their efforts regarding the North Estero Boulevard Project.
“It is beautiful and something to be really proud of with the lining, resurfacing, the drainage, the landscaping and the sidewalks,” said Judah. “It is a tremendous amenity for this Fort Myers Beach town.”
The commissioner remarked on the upcoming beach restoration process on the north end of the island, which is set to begin with the groin construction at Bowditch Point April 15.
“We all recognize we want to get this going so we don’t get caught up with the hurricane season,” said Judah. The actual beach re-nourishment will take place just after Easter.
Judah then expressed gratitude to Beach residents Fran Myers and Roxie Smith for their representation to the Lee County Tourist Development Council and its connection to the beach restoration process. He followed by commending Councilman Alan Mandel for getting his attention on the road-wearing surface work on Big Carlos Bridge. The work, which was rescheduled and set to restart soon, has been moved to late April due to traffic concerns.
“To (Mandel’s) credit, we were able to get the attention of Paul Wingard, our director of the county public transportation department, recognizing that we can still get it done if we started up right after Easter,” said Judah.
The five-time BOCC chairman then discussed the under-construction Beach Park, its delay reason and the recently laid concrete handicap pad on the south side of the park property before presenting ideas for the Seafarer’s building across the street. He called the building a “liability and an eyesore.”
“The Beach Park is going along very well. Mayor (Larry) Kiker has been really on top of this particular project,” said Judah. “Unfortunately, there was a hiccup with regards to the submittal to the application to the Department of Environmental Protection.
“I personally feel that the (Seafarer’s) building needs to be (taken down) where we can put in an at-grade parking lot and start to generate some revenue. If the county commission is interested, there can be a sharing of the revenue that can be collected with that at-grade parking lot where, in which over a period in time, certain monies can be escrowed for the Town of Fort Myers Beach to ultimately acquire that property from the county and reimburse the Tourist Development Council whose bed taxes bought the property.”
Judah then said the TDC has been playing a “pivotal role” economically in the county and its allocation of money, so that county officials could enter a “long-term relationship with the Boston Red Sox” regarding a new stadium.
“We are not using property tax money to be able to pay for the construction of the stadium. We are using tourist tax dollars,” he said. “The Red Sox and Twins continually realize full capacity and the fan base section is about two-thirds from outside of Lee County and the most part outside of Florida. This generates a lot of money that flows through restaurants, hotels and the community as a whole.”
Judah mentioned the “intense pains to diversify the economy” and listed many companies, which are making the move to Southwest Florida, including Algenol, which produces ethanol from algae.
“I believe that this will be the future of our nation and will certainly provide stability throughout the world because we will no longer have to rely on fossil fuels and now turn to renewable fuels like ethanol,” he said.
Regarding the City of Palms Park once the Red Sox move out, the county is still pursuing baseball teams such as the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals, but are also looking for the diversification of inviting bids from U.S. Swimming for training purposes and European soccer teams to consider running farm systems in that stadium.
Judah then answered questions such as giving Beach property (roughly $4.6 million for park and $900,000 for Seafarer’s property) to the Town of Fort Myers Beach (“There has to be compensation back to the TDC.”); and a trolley express lane down San Carlos Boulevard (“The dilemma is residents and businesses have concerns that we do not preclude the left-hand turn movements that they need.”)
Judah graduated cum laude from California State University with Master in Science in Natural Resources and a BA in Zoology. Besides working on the Lee County BOCC, he is a member of Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization and Verizon Council; co-founder of CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed); was chairman of Lee County TDC in 1998, 2004, 2008; and chairman of West Coast Inland Navigation District.