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A QUIZ FOR EVERYONE
by Donna Fiala
6/28/2010

Dinner with Alan Wittenauer and Karen Homiak is always interesting, especially when we talk about county issues (and enjoy wonderful food served in places like Eurasia, Little Italy, Alice Sweetwaters, Rib City, Cracklin’ Jack’s, and so many more East Naples fun establishments I just can’t name them all) that concern us all. The other evening I gave them a little quiz. I’ll ask you some of the same questions and see if you can answer them correctly. How many affordable housing units does the county’s affordable housing department say we have in East Naples? Give a guess…………if you said 232 units you are correct…………..yes…………..that is how many THEY say we have in East Naples. How many units in Naples Manor? Sorry………the 1351 units located in Naples Manor are not in the count. What about Whistler’s Cove? Nope – not in the count. Let me try some simpler questions. What part of town is Bayshore located in, according to the “Planning Community” calculation? It’s not part of East Naples……….nope – it’s considered South Naples, so those units are not in the count for East Naples. How about Radio Rd.? What area is that located in? Yes, we all thought East Naples, but according to the Planning Community calculation, it’s located in Central Naples. How about Verona Walk? Of course you would say East Naples. Have you ever heard of Royal Fakapalm? That’s what they call it down there in the Affordable Housing Department. How about Manatee Rd. (over by Erin’s Isle on 951)? Certainly THAT has to be East Naples! Nope again. It’s called the Marco Planning Community.

Let’s make this quiz a little simpler. Let’s try by County Commission Districts. Who’s district is Bayshore and Estey Ave. located in? Would you think an East Naples Commissioner? Nope, they are in Commissioner Coyle’s district. How about Osprey Landing on Davis Blvd, or the mobile home parks along Radio Rd.? Surely they are in an East Naples commission district! Nope – they are in Commissioner Henning’s district. Let’s try one more time. How about the 3 Habitat villages along U.S.41 East past 951? It even says Tamiami Trail East – certainly they would be in an East Naples commission district. Wrong again. They are in Commissioner Coletta’s district. I could keep on going, but by way of explanation, let me tell you this chopping of East Naples into little pieces happened back in the 80’s as they were building the new communities around the county, but wanted to located the low income housing away from those new areas. The only way to do it without looking like they were concentrating them into one area was to break the area into different Planning Communities. I’m not sure when they broke it up into little commission districts. Is any other area in Collier County chopped into little pieces like this? The answer is no. The problem is…………….the area is beginning to look like a slum along U.S.41 East, yet the “figures” the State requires do not even BEGIN to give an accurate picture of the damage and destruction this concentration of affordable housing is doing. And right now, it seems I am the only one who seems to want to turn this situation around and rescue the community from total failure. I get no help from the other commissioners. Just maybe that is because the figures they have received (and probably believe) are so extremely distorted that they don’t even realize what a mess is being created. At least I hope that is the reason, and not because they don’t want any built in their area.

I am working very hard with some wonderful staff members to try to get the accurate count of existing affordable housing units around the entire county. It’s a big job with many obstacles and oppositions, but I truly believe, in my heart of hearts, that they will come through with the figures that show exactly what really exists. When that happens, Folks, you will be truly amazed! ! ! Remember a few years back when everyone was saying we were 30,000 affordable housing units short? Remember we read “CRISIS” in the newspaper? When these figures come in with the actual, TRUE count, you will FIND those 30,000 units and then some. Just wait in see…………………unless someone comes in from behind the scenes and……………..well, I won’t go there now. We’ll see.

Donna Fiala comments 5-3-10 : Very seldom to you ever hear me vent, but this time I must…………then I’ll follow with a couple good news items.

                Recently I learned that a change was made to the Growth Management Plan for Collier County that was passed without anyone noticing.  The Policy (1.4) for many, many years had been that “affordable housing will be distributed equitably (fairly) throughout the county”.  The change in the wording in 2007 stated that “Collier County shall seek to distribute affordable-workforce housing equitably throughout the county”.  Obviously this statement took the requirement out of our policy to distribute the affordable housing fairly throughout the county.  I brought this subject up to the other commissioners at the last county commission meeting, noting that no one caught the change – not us, not the county manager, not the planning commission, not even the county attorney’s office – and I would like for us to reinstate the words as they were, so that continued over-saturation of affordable housing could be prevented and the housing would have the opportunity to be more fairly distributed.  With that, the attack on me took place!  I tried to explain that we all know what happens when all the low income homes and rentals are concentrated in one area because we’ve seen the results in the major cities we all came from – blight, slum, crime, etc.  I asked them to avert these catastrophes and use more sensible, responsible planning to fairly distribute future affordable housing developments.    NOT ONE PERSON ON THAT BOARD SUPPORTED ME!  Not one!  One actually made sarcastic, disparaging remarks to me, and another dug his heels in and said this is the way we want it!  I could plainly see not one board member would support me in my efforts to improve East Naples, which is to encourage a more balanced economy which would then attract new retail businesses and improve our student balance in the schools.  And THREE of them (plus me) have partial commission districts in East Naples!  There are 6 elementary schools in East Naples filled with children that qualify for the free lunch program (Immokalee has 3 elementary schools).  We have 2 community parks and Sugden Regional Park.  Only one park has a small community center.  The other, Eagle Lakes Community Park, located in the middle of underprivileged children in Naples Manor, Whistlers Cove, 4 Habitat villages, migrant housing, Trail Acres, etc., and NO community Center – which means no summer camps at that park, no full time supervisor at that park, no after school programs at that park, no summer lunch programs at that park – yet  Immokalee has 2 community parks with two large community centers and even a swimming pool.  I’m happy for the Immokalee children – it’s a good thing for them.  Yet with multitudes of children in East Naples, (twice that of Immokalee) our services for these children are extremely limited.  If the affordable housing were more fairly distributed, maybe these children would have a better chance.   Maybe the community at large would have a better chance to recover and improve.  Sadly, the other 4 votes do not agree with me. 

                *A good news item – The old 3 Sisters Restaurant on Davis Blvd. has been completely gutted and rebuilt inside and will now become a second “Country House Restaurant”, the original one is in the Prime Outlets Mall.  The owners let me inside last week and it looks great!   They hope to be open around the time you read this column.   They will be open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch from 6am to 2pm.  I’m looking forward to trying it.  For Davis Blvd., between Oakes Farm to shop for marvelous meat and produce and other wonderful items and  Gemi’s scrumptious  food and atmosphere, and the neighborhood favorite Susie’s Too, we’re going to have some fun breakfasts in that area!   We even have a Starbucks! 

                *I saw a sign in the window of Mr. Mom’s that said “Opening Soon – Sweet Mama’s”.  I’ll investigate and get back with the scoop.

                *The old Fitzgerald’s on U.S.41 E is becoming…………………..Texas Tony’s Bar BQ Shack!  The owner is the same Tony that owns Pincher’s Crab Shack so you know it’s gotta be good.   They will serve lunch and dinner in a kid friendly atmosphere, with a self serve style arrangement , kind of on the order of a cafeteria.  They will specialize in Brisket of Beef, Tenderloin, Chicken, Ribs and “Chopped Pork”.  Their kitchen will also be styled to handle a vibrant catering business.  Tony told me he hopes to open sometime in July.

Donna Fiala