CRA agency changes policy for South Cape banner program
Cape Coral City Council, sitting as the South Cape Redevelopment Agency, voted Wednesday to change the CRA’s banner program policy.
Mayor John Gunter, sitting as a CRA commissioner, made the motion to change the policy, with a change to the duration — any nonprofit organization that wants to use the banner program can do so for two weeks prior to the event, and one week past the event and funding would now be a 50/50 share up to a maximum of $500.
Councilmember/commissioners Keith Long and Jennifer Nelson-Lastra voted against the motion. Laurie Lehmann was excused from the meeting.
Long questioned why the special meeting had been scheduled.
“Why are we having this discussion now when we could have had it in March? Why am I here today. I agree it needs to be discussed. I don’t know why we needed a special meeting,” Long said.
He said with only one entity using the banner program in the last couple of years, he did not understand why almost an hour had been spent at an unscheduled meeting.
“I am a spades-to-spades guy. This is the third, or fourth time brought this particular item to the board and danced around it and never achieved the original intent,” Long said.
He said it would be a different conversation if organizations were fighting over spaces for banners.
Long said the special meeting was called right after Pride Cape Coral asked for banners from February through April 1. He said they are not applying the changes to the people in the queue, and there is nobody after that.
City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn, who also is the CRA executive director, said the banner program was approved by the South Cape Redevelopment Agency board in July 2024. He said they were looking for direction on the duration of the banner placement, roles and responsibilities in the program for eligibility requirements and cost to hang the banner.
The program can currently be used from a minimum of four weeks to a maximum of 13 weeks at a time, with up to $5,000 waived in cost and is open to nonprofit organizations.
Ilczyszyn said there is a cost to hang, or remove the banner as a bucket truck is used with a trade specialist. He said City Council has said not to generate an invoice to the nonprofits for the first $5,000.
There are 66 banner opportunities on a first-come-first-served basis on Cape Coral Parkway, 68 on Southeast 47th Terrace and 13 on Lafayette Street.