Fort Myers River District (Miami, Cape Coral: condo, crime, lawyers)

[kroeran]

Last trip down to FM last month, we took some time to stop and walk around the River District for the first time. I think last time we were that way, everything was still blocked off and dug up.

We are big fans of historic towns and districts, and have seen many. One of my few regrets about buying a new SWF condo was giving up my fetish for old charming neighbourhoods.

Anyway, I was shocked at how good a job they have done restoring the district. Like it better than Naples 5th avenue, Miami Coconut Grove, Lauderdale strip and so on.

Sad to see it half unrented, but amazing potential. What's with all the lawyers offices?

Best to get there from McGregor rather than coming in from 75 or Trail.

[FMShores]

Fort Myers is the county seat. Their is a Federal court (bankruptcies) there. Therefore....Law offices.

Hope that helped.

[Samiamnh]

Downtown Ft Myers is beautiful,now...........went to the fair today and it was great to see 10,000 people in town.Too bad it's so close to the "hood" because the downtown is deserted unless there is a major function.

[TannerBoyle]

Yeah, it's beautiful.

Just get out of there before dark, unless you're packing an Israeli submachinegun, a doberman wearing a bulletproof vest, and a couple of East German ex-STASI guys as hitmen/bodyguards to make sure that the doberman gets out okay.

[kroeran]

I guess its like certain areas of Manhatten....fine in daylight, no-goes after dark.

Do savy locals still go down there for dinner, clubbing, bars after dark, or is it pretty much a weekday lunch place?

It would seem to me to be pretty easy to clean an area like that up. Dress a couple of young cops up in Land's End prep-wear undercover, and have them go for walk after dark, or would that be entrapment?

I guess it would be politically incorrect to wall off the core, like they did in Bagdad, and have metal detectors/cameras at each gate.

While on that topic, what is good for the goose, is good for the gander. Why don't they break up the bad neighbourhoods into gated cells, with pass-through at the gate by fingerprint or gate guard?

[FloridaGirl239]

I am a single girl and I meet my girls downtown(gasp, yes after dark) quite frequently.
I park in well lit areas and always walk around with a group of us. I have never had any kind of altercation. A person must use common sense.
I love hopping from H2 to Bacchus, Bar Associaton and then maybe Cigar Bar.
The Florida Rep theatre puts on great plays and the Sidney Berne Davis art center offers great art shows, plays and events throughout the week.
Usually the people who talk ill about the downton never go there or have been there once. You have to have an open mind and understand that not every neighborhood around here is brand new like Coconot Point or GCTC. Downtown has some history and its onw unique charm.

[BakinMama]

Originally Posted by FloridaGirl239

I am a single girl and I meet my girls downtown(gasp, yes after dark) quite frequently.
I park in well lit areas and always walk around with a group of us. I have never had any kind of altercation. A person must use common sense.
I love hopping from H2 to Bacchus, Bar Associaton and then maybe Cigar Bar.
The Florida Rep theatre puts on great plays and the Sidney Berne Davis art center offers great art shows, plays and events throughout the week.
Usually the people who talk ill about the downton never go there or have been there once. You have to have an open mind and understand that not every neighborhood around here is brand new like Coconot Point or GCTC. Downtown has some history and its onw unique charm.

My girlfriends and I meet once every other month at City Tavern (after dark, with no men, gasp!) and hop from bar to bar. We love H2.

We recently threw a bachelorette party for a friend and most of us were incredibly drunk (not I, sadly. I had to go home to nurse my daughter) - while we were subject to plenty of advances from men, we were not really treated inappropriately, never witnessed any altercations (even outside of Neo Lounge!), or found ourselves scared/worried about the environment surrounding us.

We walked from bar to bar in a group, and when the party started to break up and people started to head home, no one walked to their car alone, no one waited for their cab alone, no one walked to their condo alone. I would take those precautions ANYWHERE - whether I was at City Tavern in Downtown Fort Myers, Pearl Lounge in Cape Coral, or Blu Sushi at GCTC.

[kroeran]

nice to hear some balanced reports on River District.

[TannerBoyle]

Here's another:

Police: East Naples man who shot Fort Myers officer vowed to 'go out Miami-style' » Naples Daily News

[kroeran]

although horribly tragic for the family, this and various interactions between the dufus's and police is irrelevant to the lifestyle of regular citizens. Same with Dufus on Dufus crime that you see in the headlines.

the police are there to insulate responsible citizens from the dufus's, and this is an extreme example of the system working as designed.

another discussion would be looking into why the best solution they can come up with to protect the District from wacko scumbags requires policemen to risk their lives, especially with this sort of "suicide bomber" death-by-cop psychology coming into play.

I say, after-dark or business hours, you create a secure perimeter around the core district and have to walk through a metal detector after arriving by car, no walk-ins from the hood. Was the policeman wearing a vest?

Then, start to emply non-lethal weapons to deprive the dufus of the satisfaction of going out in hail of bullets. Rather, go after his dignity as a deterrant, since death is no longer motivational. I think it was in Texas where they started dressing the inmates in PINK that resividism dropped like a rock in that county.

I say you dress up inmates for violent offences in pink Tootoos and dunce hats and require them to do roadwork in their home neighbourhoods.