Chuck Curry: Code talking; a chat with Ferreira; and more ...

Coming to work each day, I see segments of Bonita Beach Road and Arroyal Road.

Lee County Sheriff's Office cruisers are a familiar sight since the agency's south headquarters is right across the street from our offices (at least for now; they're moving the HQ north to Estero soon), but I don't usually see City of Bonita Springs code enforcement vehicles.

At least not until this past week.

Photo by Jeremy Lyverse, Banner

This notice was placed on the windshield of a car left with a "for sale" sign at the Sunshine Plaza commercial entrance off Arroyal Road on Wednesday.

On one of my journeys out of the office, I noticed a white code enforcement pickup truck stopped at the back entrance to the Sunshine Plaza.

The code officer had just slapped a notice of violation (photo at right) on a car parked in the right-of-way. You know the kind of car: It has a for sale sign in the window and a number to call.

The next day brought two more code vehicles to the Arroyal area.

City Manager Gary Price says there's no special crackdown on such vehicles, as they have always been high on code enforcement's list and will remain in that position.

The code department has only been in operation since last fall, when the city split such services off from the county. In writing its own check for code enforcement, Bonita Springs sought better attention to local problems.

• In recent weeks I've talked with Bonita Springs City Council members Ben Nelson and Pat McCourt. This week, it was time for Richard Ferreira.

One of the new members of council, having been elected over an incumbent in March, Ferreira's background is law enforcement administration and it is obvious he knows his numbers and how a municipal process should work.

Ferreira says the biggest challenge Bonita Springs faces is the result of not having control of its future for many years. As an unincorporated area, it depended on Lee County for administration.

Today, that's changed, but the effects remain.

"We have a lot of catching up to do," he says.

While a supporter of "government lite," the catch-all phrase that usually forms around city tax dollars headed out the door, Ferreira says he's a big fan of the code enforcement department.

On other levels, Ferreira's biggest complaint appears to be that the city tends to "talk things to death." Ferreira wants to see more decisions made more quickly.

One will be Imperial Landing.

Ferreira says he's glad he's somewhat stereotyped as being part of the new no-growth, no-spending majority on the City Council. He believes the previous council was too homogenous and now it has more diversity of thought.

Ferreira is careful in attempting not to overstep Florida's open government laws by taking a public stand today for or against the biggest city issue: Imperial Landing.

However, he does point out that he doesn't expect the issue to linger. After this month's workshop to update council members and public on the status of the redevelopment contract, Ferreira expects a vote to appear sooner rather than later.

Ferreira says it is his opinion the city should be in "no particular hurry to develop" the site, but that a final decision needs to bring "closure" to the issue.

Everyone, he says, needs and answer and it needs to be sooner rather than later.

• It is usually with just mild amusement that I view some stories about the national psyche, but one that appeared on news wires this past week cannot escape comment, especially since road construction drags on and on along U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs.

In examining road rage, an expert named Emil Coccaro, chairman of psychiatry at the University of Chicago's medical school is quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "People think it's bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment, but what they don't know ... is that there's a biology and cognitive science to this."

This latest psychological fad attributes road rage to some mental disorder.

It is all just, in a specific scientific term for those who actually drive on today's roadways ... hooey.

Mr. Coccaro apparently lives in a vacuum. There must be nothing on the highways that frustrates Emil. He has to like drivers who do not signal their turns, run red lights and generally act as if they have a mandate to do anything that they wish.

Just as only the intelligence-challenged follow the advice of Phil McGraw (don't ever call him "Dr."), the latest news about "road rage" or mental disorders belongs on the pages of a tabloid magazine, rather than a publication worthy of consideration or from a noted university.

If you see an idiot in traffic, they are an idiot. You are not seeing things. If you are angered by them, then you have earned that right.

• Another news story worth mentioning happened at a school graduation in Clio, Mich. A principal says two students grabbed his backside while getting their diplomas.

He now seeks criminal charges against the duo.

"If I did this to a student I would be out of a job," he said, according to the television network Web site that carries the story. "If I did this to a parent I would be out of a job. I don't know why people are upset if this happened to me because I'm a principal. I'm not allowed to file a complaint?"

Yes, Mr. Principal, you'd be fired if you grabbed a student's backside. Guess what? That's a no-brainer under any circumstance.

Yet, no, Mr. Principal, you're supposed to exercise judgment and restraint when students do something stupid. Like you haven't seen stupid behavior before and students won't manage something just as dumb in the future?

While grabbing someone's behind will get the students fired at their next job, you need to keep things in perspective and chill out a bit.

Just thank your lucky stars they won't be around another year to figure out another way to upset you since they are obviously two steps ahead on the amusement meter anyway.