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Is this the new dividing wall of us against them? Folks who want a commercial Ft. Myers Beach/Myrtle Beach vs folks who want a residential community with a beautiful beach which attracts tourists and vacationers. Folks who want to expand commercial/shopping to attract more off island visitors that can now arrive on a newly constructed bridge with expanded access or a city that essentially meets the needs of long term residents that arrived as visitors.

Naples made a choice to determine its commercial image downtown and along 5th Ave, NOW it is time Marco Island to define its image.

Mr. Breeze has shown the plans laid out by the city and Mr. Arceri acolytes. They all include expansion, from fire and police, infrastructure, and transfer of density credits to increase density to areas closer to single family residences!

To maintain a small tropical island requires a strong commitment to a vision that will be constantly bombarded from the Chamber of Commerce and proponents of city services. There is simply too much at stake, and once you put up a parking lot, or expand a commercial zone by transferring credits, or expanding a community center to the point it more than exceeds the capacity of its residents, the likelihood of preserving a small town paradise is diminished.

It is all interrelated, folks, and preservation requires a foresight that reaches decades into the future. Change or expansion for its own sake is not good planning. I am still trying to understand why there is so much tweaking in a plan not even 50 years old, which is new in the history records of planned communities.