About 50 residents and neighborhood leaders gathered on the Quality of Life Center in Fort Myers on Saturday to share their ideas, issues and questions with the Florida Legislative Black Caucus.
The city corridor began at 1:30 p.m. with viewers members given two minutes to talk. Following the city corridor legislative members got a tour of the Dunbar, Harlem Heights and Lehigh Acres communities.
Fort Myers resident Linda Bilal stated she attended the city corridor for a number of causes.
“I’m a concerned citizen,” stated 71-year-old-Bilal. “As a Fort Myers resident, the hurricane has affected everybody in their own way. Even if it wasn’t materialistic it affected our psyche. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Whether you’ve experienced this before or this was your first time we just need to support each other.”
Bilal stated the street to restoration is totally different for everybody.
“I think it’s going to be especially hard for the people that were hit really hard, the people that lost everything,” stated Bilal. ‘Will they ever recover to where they were in their lives before the hurricane?’ I do not assume so. I believe our regular has modified. We should rethink what regular is. What’s regular for you may not be regular for me and vice versa.”
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Representative of District 45 Democrat Kamia L. Brown, Representative of District 63 Democrat Fentrice Driskell and Republican U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds have been in attendance. A consultant with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was additionally current to supply help on understanding the National Flood Insurance Program.
Howard Sapp, candidate for the State House of Representatives district 78 was in attendance.
“I grew up in Fort Myers and this is an area that I am passionate about,” stated Sapp, a Democrat. “I’m no stranger to public service. The lack of showers and sanitation are a concern of mine. People lost their homes. Some don’t have water or electricity. ‘Where can they go to at least clean themselves?’
“I got approval from the fire department to use at least one of the hydrants in the Harlem Heights area. I started running into issues with the city. The city said I had to fill out an application and the application had to be approved. These are people and my biggest thing is if we can’t see the people through the politics then we have a problem.”
Lee County Commissioner District 2 write-in candidate Karen Watson shared her concerns pertaining to the lack of housing resources.
“What are we going to do about the housing situation here?,” said Watson. “Charlotte County got FEMA camps, we need that here. Housing affects people’s everyday living, their environment, their children, and it affects their physical and mental health. I see it every day working for Lee Health emergency room, the impact it’s having on people. People are considering ending their lives because they’ve lost hope.”
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Watson also used her designated time at the mic to address the upcoming election and lack of access to the polls.
“Next week is the election and the early election voting websites have modified,” stated Watson. “There are 12 sites in Lee County and none in the Dunbar community. No access to have our voices heard. That’s not fair.”
Linda Claire, a registered nurse, addressed the general situation of the displaced individuals residing on the Hertz Arena in Estero.
“I met a family of seven and they gave me their situation,” stated Claire. “They’re sleeping on the ice, blankets freeze and the kids get cold. I received a report today that there’s a COVID and flu outbreak. ‘What are we going to do about that?’ We saw people with glass pipes, people smoking weed, dogs and cats running around and kids without shoes. My concern is that these kids are exposed to abuse if the parents aren’t watching.”
Erica Van Buren is the underserved communities reporter for The News-Press and Naples Daily News, a part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect along with her at [email protected] or on Twitter: @EricaVanBuren32
