May 11, 2011 3 min read

The second annual Beach Leadership Conference, which was scheduled for May 11, 14, 18 and 20, has been postponed until January 2012. The news was reported at the monthly Community Resources Advisory Board meeting Thursday afternoon.

Hosted by the Town’s CRAB committee, the free conference had great success last year and graduated 17 attendees. The Beach residents -many who moved on to fill advisory committee positions and volunteer at town parks and other properties- were informed of the Beach government processes and community resources for volunteerism.

“I think this is a very sad occasion,” said CRAB Chairman Jim Rodwell. “There was a lot of hard work putting this conference together. Unfortunately, we attracted only seven people. Realistically, it’s not feasible to go forward with the conference at this time.”

After much discussion and consideration to hold the event every two years, CRAB members unanimously decided to postpone the leadership conference to the tentative dates of Jan. 11, 14, 18 and 20 in 2012.

Vice Mayor Bob Raymond, the town council’s liaison for CRAB, pointed out that the conference is not only for full-time residents, but part-time residents as well.

“This conference is not just for volunteers for (town advisory) committees,” he said. “It’s for volunteers for the Mound House, Newton Park, Bay Oaks and places like that. Many of those people can be snowbirds. The wintertime is when we need the help, because not much is going on in the summertime.”

CRAB members then moved on to select names for the under-construction Beach park, due to open at the end of May. This particular duty in making recommendations was a direction by the town council at their previous meeting on May 2.

Lee County, which owns the park, and Town officials are both involved in the naming process. Council is narrowing their selection for naming the Beach park during its Monday, May 16 meeting at 6:30 p.m. The Lee County Board of County Commissioners will make the final decision the following day at their morning meeting.

Raymond provided a list of 8 names to consider. He requested the four CRAB members in attendance to select their personal choices for the top three names.

“I think you are in a very fortunate position to name that park. Your recommendations will be taken very seriously. The odds are whatever we pick will be the one chosen,” said Raymond. “That name will stick for a long time.”

After each member weighed in, Crescent Beach Park, Shell Arches Park and Pierside Park were the overall selections. The other names considered were Now Paradise Park, Booch Park, Booch Demarchi Park, Mulholland Park and Seafarer Family Park. A late entry of Charley Park -since the destruction of Hurricane Charley created that open space- could also be thrown into the hat.

Besides Rodwell, the other three CRAB members present were Linda Beasley, Mark Ludvigsen and Karen Haengel. Ludvigsen and Haengel chose Shell Arches Park as their top choice, while Rodwell and Beasley selected Crescent Beach Park as their No. 1 pick.

“I have three reasons why my choice is picking Crescent Beach Park,” said Rodwell. “First, the island is shaped like a crescent. Second of all, there is history there because the island was originally named Crescent Beach. And third, when you came over the old bridge, you came on Crescent Road which eventually was Crescent Street.”

If you’d like your voiced heard about naming the park, you are urged to attend the FMB Town Council meeting next Monday night at 6:30 p.m. Residents can also email ideas@fortmyersbeachfl.gov to reach council members for suggestions.