Brookings Institution Reports: Cape Coral Has the Worst Economy in the Nation (Fort Myers: insurance, credit)

[Donna-501]

Originally Posted by Moveeast31

Ugh, I have posted something very similar behind this person and the only reaction you get is more quotes from online statistics. Excellent post btw! You can pout and complain about what has happened economically to an area all day long but it takes really insightful people to actually attempt to think of ways to help fix it. Attempting to scare people away from moving to an area is hardly going to promote it's economic growth.

Exactly!

[kroeran]

one good thing that could come out of this is for yoko's postings to attract the attention of a bored multimillionaire who might take a productive interest in city politics in some form - join a committee and start nosing around for corruption and all the standard tricks

when middle class types try to take on city hall, they usually get mushed or bought

history is driven by who shows up on the field of battle - when the enlightened elites abstain, the crooks have a field day

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by kroeran

one good thing that could come out of this is for yoko's postings to attract the attention of a bored multimillionaire who might take a productive interest in city politics in some form - join a committee and start nosing around for corruption and all the standard tricks

when middle class types try to take on city hall, they usually get mushed or bought

history is driven by who shows up on the field of battle - when the enlightened elites abstain, the crooks have a field day

Well, good luck with that. Back in the day, millionaires were slapping up crap and running with the money. The closest they got to a politician or an inspector was to stuff some money in their back pocket. And the area lacks the charm for bored old money to get philanthropic or even mildly interested. They spend their money at Kennebunkport, the Vineyard, the Hampton's, and occasionally on the Atlantic coast. The closest they get around there is perhaps Siesta Key, Venice, Sarasota and Boca Grande. Even Naples is nouveau riche. The historical society has an uphill battle over there. Sanibel and Captiva do an excellent job of preserving their own, but I doubt they are interested in Cape Coral's politics.

Since the Rosen Brothers bulldozed the joint and created roads to nowhere, Cape Coral has always catered to the lower-middle class.

[yoko]

Originally Posted by yoko

“ A general hiring freeze is in place and employees are under pressure to make pay concessions, but Cape Coral's new city manager is asking for two consultants to help him analyze how efficiently the city is organized.

Gary King was hired he discussed making the city's organization more efficient.

King wants to hire two "organizational effectiveness" consultants for three months and pay them $30 to $40 an hour. No city benefits are involved.

Meanwhile, the City Council is saying city workers must help the city balance its budget and keep service levels intact by accepting wage and benefit concessions. The council has hired a labor attorney to help reduce personnel costs through labor negotiations. ”


Aug/09/2010
Cape Coral city manager seeks aid elsewhere | news-press.com | The News-Press

" Regarding the City of Cape Coral’s proposed hiring of organizational effectiveness consultants :

If mass structural change is the objective, then it should have been approached with credibility as the first and primary objective and cost effectiveness as the secondary objective. In order to avoid the perception of predetermined outcomes, the best course of action would have been to hire Florida Gulf Coast University through an ongoing services contract to assess the city’s organizational structure.

This approach would have given the effort more credibility, not to mention a more cost-effective approach. From the cost-effectiveness perspective, the university can utilize low-cost graduate assistants to conduct the more costly analysis, which will be required for a credible outcome. There’s a big difference between $10 and $40 per hour, when you consider the amount of analysis required."





Aug/17/2010
Walter Fluegel: Cape consultants: Organizational effectiveness or Trojan horse? | news-press.com | The News-Press





Throwing money out of window to pay for a job he was hired to do himself.

[kroeran]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Cape Coral has always catered to the lower-middle class.

must be some out there

Listing # 200805870


Price:$7,895,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon EstatesBedrooms:4Bathrooms:6


Listing # 200805868


Price:$5,750,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon EstatesBedrooms:4Bathrooms:6


Listing # 200932088


Price:$4,950,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:N/a


Listing # 200950494


Price:$4,200,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon LandingsBedrooms:4Bathrooms:6


Listing # 200944218


Price:$4,199,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Cape CoralBedrooms:6Bathrooms:9


Listing # 200931685


Price:$3,500,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Cape CoralBedrooms:4Bathrooms:5


Listing # 200754266


Price:$3,150,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon EstatesBedrooms:3Bathrooms:5


Listing # 201031669


Price:$3,145,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Cape CoralBedrooms:7Bathrooms:7


Listing # 200945400


Price:$2,899,900City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Harbour PreserveBedrooms:5Bathrooms:10


Listing # 200944986


Price:$2,899,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:HermitageBedrooms:3Bathrooms:4

[Moveeast31]

Um, I'll take the one with the hot tub overlooking the ocean please!

[Iamrita]

Originally Posted by kroeran

must be some out there

Listing # 200805870


Price:$7,895,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon EstatesBedrooms:4Bathrooms:6


Listing # 200805868


Price:$5,750,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon EstatesBedrooms:4Bathrooms:6


Listing # 200932088


Price:$4,950,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:N/a


Listing # 200950494


Price:$4,200,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon LandingsBedrooms:4Bathrooms:6


Listing # 200944218


Price:$4,199,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Cape CoralBedrooms:6Bathrooms:9


Listing # 200931685


Price:$3,500,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Cape CoralBedrooms:4Bathrooms:5


Listing # 200754266


Price:$3,150,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Tarpon EstatesBedrooms:3Bathrooms:5


Listing # 201031669


Price:$3,145,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Cape CoralBedrooms:7Bathrooms:7


Listing # 200945400


Price:$2,899,900City:Cape CoralSubdivision:Harbour PreserveBedrooms:5Bathrooms:10


Listing # 200944986


Price:$2,899,000City:Cape CoralSubdivision:HermitageBedrooms:3Bathrooms:4

I have visted Tarpon Point and I like the restaurant there. Everything is very stylish, clean, and upscale. However, I fail to understand how Tarpon Landings and the associated hotel/restaurants/shops stay in business. There is very little activity in the area considering all the housing/apartment units in the highrises. At night there are NO LIGHTS on in the living units, leading me to the conclusion that no one is at home. I don't know the history of the building in this area, but it sure seems like a "Ghost Town" to me.

[yoko]

Originally Posted by Iamrita

I have visted Tarpon Point and I like the restaurant there. Everything is very stylish, clean, and upscale. However, I fail to understand how Tarpon Landings and the associated hotel/restaurants/shops stay in business. There is very little activity in the area considering all the housing/apartment units in the highrises. At night there are NO LIGHTS on in the living units, leading me to the conclusion that no one is at home. I don't know the history of the building in this area, but it sure seems like a "Ghost Town" to me.

Very good observation ..., again !





" Here are the top three of all time foreclosures in Lee County, all filed within the past year:

• Grosse Pointe Development: A total of $340 million in debt owed to Dutch bank SNSPF Interim Finance B.V. for
Tarpon Point in Cape Coral,
Bell Tower Park in south Fort Myers
and a rock mine in Bonita Springs.

• Oasis: $157 million owed to Bank of America by Miami-based Related Group for the partly completed Oasis high-rise riverfront condominium in downtown Fort Myers.

• Paradise Preserve: $94 million owed to Minneapolis, Minn.-based Marshall Investments Corp. for a failed high-rise and golf course community project in North Fort Myers.

Other projects took even more dangerous risks in a sinking market, he said. “At Tarpon Point, they decided to complete the project knowing the market had already tanked.”

The land for Tarpon Point, the Cape waterfront tower project, was purchased by Grosse Pointe in 2001 for $29 million and work on the high-rise condos and other parts of the project continued throughout the decade.

But the 19-story, 184-room The Resort at MarinaVillage at Tarpon Point hotel opened in November 2009, a scant two months before SNSPF Interim Finance filed for foreclosure against Grosse Pointe. "



June/06/2010
http://www.news-press.com/article/20...w--burned-many






By the way, some of those goddy houses of the previous post have been up for sale for a long time. Or, they become vacation homes for tourists, who are declining in numbers. A great way to lock that chunk of one's money in a non-profit-generating/decaying investment, right?

[kroeran]

new condo towers are particularly risky in this climate, as the whole thing needs to be completed pretty much before the first unit is occupied.

the point of the posting was to provide evidence that not all Cape Coral is blue collar - it has its share or rich dudes that could take a constructive interest in city hall

[yoko]

Originally Posted by kroeran

the point of the posting was to provide evidence that not all Cape Coral is blue collar - it has its share or rich dudes that could take a constructive interest in city hall

good point about this post: realization that the city council is not working for the best interest of the city.

what I do not like hammering down the middle class, indirectly, which was done by another poster and to hope that a "rich dudes" can do something for the city.


“middle class” has been contributed the most in charities and volunteering. They are the ones who care the most about Cape Coral. They have been helping homeless families, cleaning canals, cleaning foreclosed/abandoned homes, helped suicide center, helped police, helped in so many different ways that the City is relying too much on them while wasting the money on some other useless/harmful projects.


An old man, belonging to the humble middle class, puts down his own money/time/comfort to help the city but:


" A Cape Coral neighborhood paid its own way to beautify their street; but now they'd like the city to chip in to help maintain their new palms.
Neighbors paid out of their own pockets for the palms and landscapping that now line the median on Sands Boulevard; perhaps no one has put in more than Chuck Liptak.
"I wanted this median to look beautiful, I think it does now," Liptak said. "I probably have got $14000 invested in this."
Besides rounding up the original support for the project, Liptak is now maintaining it. He got the OK for the project by promising to keep it trimmed. However, recent lung surgery has made that work difficult. “




Aug/17/2010
Neighborhood seeks Cape's help with median maintenance
a very good article with related video