They stepped to the podium as individuals, newcomers and those long immersed in the city’s history alike.

They stepped up as representatives of organizations collectively representing hundreds of members — the Chamber of Commerce of Cape Coral, the Cape Coral Museum of History, the Lee Trust Preservation Society.

Agree or not with those who are trying to raise, not raze, the Cape Coral Yacht Club Ballroom, the types of voices heard at Wednesday’s City Council meeting are part of what has long been an integral part of Cape Coral governance.

From weighing in on a cause celebre or ensconced sacred cow, turning out to be heard, to make a difference, dates back, literally, the city’s inception when residents wrangled back in August of 1970 and voted to incorporate with 2,067 in favor, 1,798 opposed.

Much like the Yacht Club, which Council says is set for demolition, public input on matters that matter to the public has long been a part of our history.

“Has,” perhaps, being the operative word here.

There has been a tangible change over the past few years in the city’s approach to the public and, while Council and city staff are correct when they say technology has made it much easier for residents to share their views, city policies and procedures are making it progressively harder to be an active, informed part of the process.

The city also has often made it a whole lot less pleasant.

Wednesday night was illustrative.

First, some members of our elected board blamed Yacht Club supporters for somehow allowing its Ballroom to fall into a state of disrepair so severe that the city — which owns, operates and is solely responsible for the maintenance of — is now forced to tear it down. And then added those speaking should have raised the money to keep the building sound. Let us point out they, and every other property owner in Cape Coral, did.

It’s a fundraiser called paying your tax bill.

Council then bulldozed another long-standing institution, this one far from unique to Cape Coral.

By a 5-3 vote, council members Tom Hayden, Robert Welsh and Jessica Cosden dissenting, the elected board eliminated non-mandated advisory boards: the Golf Course Advisory Board, Nuisance Abatement Board, Waterway Advisory Board, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Cape Competes Advisory Board. Council also converted its Youth Council into a “fact-finding board.” The Budget Review Committee was left standing in a previous vote but remains on the chopping block.

Such appointed boards are too costly as they suck up staff time and turning them into “stakeholder groups” makes better fiscal sense, the board majority determined.

Ahem.

Stakeholder groups as the city has used them, are hand-selected, staff-tapped ad hoc groups that meet with… staff. Stakeholder groups, unlike ordinance-defined, publicly appointed advisory committees, do not provide recommendations or findings directly to Council. Nor are their meetings public, and so transparent so residents are looped in early

Elimination of advisory boards — standard with Lee County, standard with the School District of Lee County, standard for citizen input virtually everywhere — was not only disrespectful of all those who volunteer but a disservice to the rest of us.

As was discounting the organizations and residents who spoke on the Yacht Club’s fate as not being representative of the city as a whole.

Those who want the Yacht Club restored say it is a symbol of the city’s history, of an era gone by.

If this week’s Council meeting is illustrative of a new dawn, count us among those who will mourn the era’s passing.

— Breeze editorial