When my family and I arrived here in early 1955, you came straight onto the Beach, via the Swing Bridge, and then down what is now Old San Carlos Boulevard. I can't remember all the details of what happened next, but suddenly a congested jumble of buildings got squeezed into a little triangular space where there had been nothing much at all."/>
When my family and I arrived here in early 1955, you came straight onto the Beach, via the Swing Bridge, and then down what is now Old San Carlos Boulevard. I can't remember all the details of what happened next, but suddenly a congested jumble of buildings got squeezed into a little triangular space where there had been nothing much at all."/>
When my family and I arrived here in early 1955, you came straight onto the Beach, via the Swing Bridge, and then down what is now Old San Carlos Boulevard. I can't remember all the details of what happened next, but suddenly a congested jumble of buildings got squeezed into a little triangular space where there had been nothing much at all." />
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Resident reaches out to BOCC

2 min read
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To the editor:

As a longtime property owner and lover of Fort Myers Beach (since 1955) I urge you to do whatever it takes to acquire the property known officially as Seafarer’s Mall (l refer to it as “the Gaza Strip”).

When my family and I arrived here in early 1955, you came straight onto the Beach, via the Swing Bridge, and then down what is now Old San Carlos Boulevard. I can’t remember all the details of what happened next, but suddenly a congested jumble of buildings got squeezed into a little triangular space where there had been nothing much at all. I don’t know who owned what land when, but I point out to you what I am sure you already know: we now have an unparalleled opportunity to redress some terrible mistakes that were made in the past.

The aggregation of forces that resulted in the present embarrassing entry to our Beach, which does nothing to display what we REALLY have to offer the public, can now be erased from memory forever if only you will act. Please! Acquire this land! Let us take this gift from the Fates and make the best possible use of it by removing the blight that has marred not only our appearance but also our reputation as an island paradise.

Jean Gottlieb

Fort Myers Beach