Editorial | Let them row
Congratulations to the Cape Coral Rowing Club and members Sofia Mayus and Brooke Bunch.
The two teens took home a big win this past weekend — Championship gold in the Women’s Pair event at the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association’s annual Sweep State Championship Regatta at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota County.
It was a come-from-behind victory that was doubly sweet, according to youth coach Saundra Weston, who also serves as the CCRC’s president.
It was not only a stunning win for the two athletes who plan to join crew teams at MIT and UF after their graduations from Bishop Verot later this month, it was the club’s first state championship.
It may also be its last.
Cape Coral City Council apparently is still stuck in its unexpected 4-4 deadlock that effectively denied the club an operational home at Tropicana Park where the city spent $500,000 on a dock specifically designed as a launch for crew rowing and for the Cape Coral Rowing Club in particular.
At least three of the four council naysayers have proffered Crystal Lake Park, which also has access to the North Spreader waterway where club members train, as a better, “safer” alternative location.
The rowing club has said Crystal Lake is not an option in its present state, and that it’s unlikely — highly unlikely — it can be readied in time for the team’s next training season this fall.
We agree.
As we previously pointed out, the Crystal Lake location from which the boats ostensibly could be launched has no dock and a waterfront with riprap and mangroves. The site would require rowers to carry boats farther and then lower them to the water from a 12- to 15-foot drop.
Furthermore, if there is any question that permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are needed for work along the shoreline, the timing simply won’t work.
As the city hopefully learned in 2019 when it committed what it called “trimming” and environmentalists called a “mangrove massacre” at Four Mile Cove, miscalling a permit issue can result in a consent order and thousands of dollars in fines and state-mandated mitigation efforts.
Any miscue also would mean that we, the taxpayers, would pay any imposed penalties — again — along with the $500,000 the city sunk in the dock at Tropicana Park as well as for any work to get Crystal Lake Park row-ready.
In talking to some in the loop on the city side, we have been told there’s no viable compromise.
Maybe not, if all of the four members of council who voted against the lease agreement that would have allowed the club to use Tropicana Park don’t want them there at all.
But if any among the four — Mayor John Gunter and council members Laurie Lehmann, Joe Kilraine or Keith Long — was simply voting against the lease, which called for 10 years with renewals — there certainly is plenty of room for compromise. One option would be to allow Tropicana Park to be used as a temporary location, either through the end of the club’s upcoming ’26-’27 season, or until another location is launch ready. Another would be a shorter agreement, for example an initial lease period of five years instead of 10, plus renewals.
What’s needed, at minimum, is breathing space for a long-tenured organization that has done a lot of good for a lot of kids.
“We are so proud of these girls and their amazing accomplishments!!!” Coach Weston said in an email to The Breeze when asked for her reaction to Sofia Mayus’ and Brooke Bunch’s big win.
We are as well.
As council considers its next action, let us harken on the obvious: Government actions are not words on paper, they are impacts on people.
Young women such as these — all smiles with their trophy — and their teammates, are the impact of this council action.
If Council wants to congratulate them, don’t offer a handshake and a piece of paper.
Let them row.
Breeze editorial