City of Cape Coral, unrecognized record holder
To the editor:
March 17, 2008. “Meet Florida, the Sunshine State. Fort Lauderdale is known as the Venice of America with 185 miles of canals.” Printed in one of our newspapers.
My letters to the editor of the paper and to his counterpart at Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale disputed the claim and corrected the false statement. Cape Coral became the true “Venice of America” and will hold the record for ages to come. City elected officials ignored the whole thing and kept snoozing.
In November, 2005, I had a meeting with the new mayor, Eric Feichthaler, and presented the facts. He was not aware of the record!! I suggested to him the city should contact Guinness book of records and use the slogan “canal capital of the world.” He liked my idea presentation and slogan and said that very soon he would contact Guinness book. I “intentionally” did suggest I should get credit for my effort. You will, he said, and he would be in touch(?). A year went by without any being “in touch.” Time to involve a third party from the city’s higher inner circle, just to play it safe!!
I made an appointment with city council member Mrs. Bertollini, explaining the facts and silence from the mayor and my next step would be to a third party a/k/a newspaper or TV station, questioning the mayor. The Irish say: “Glory be, a miracle” and indeed it was. Within two to three days I was back in her office and received the sad news. Guinness book turned down our application with a mumbo jumbo explanation but “reserved the option to include such request in the future.” It made me wonder, would they turn down a European city with a similar request?
I was also told the mayor liked my “canal capital of the world” idea and not a “bad slogan.” Like wow, man. After a whole year of silence and communications through a third party. Few clean thoughts went through my mind but… Oh well, this is Eric. He lost interest and dropped the whole thing like a hot potato. No personal gain, I guess.
We can still promote Cape Coral by ourselves or through a joint effort with a newspaper having national connections, and it will be cheaper. A TV network? Very, very expensive. Besides the “canal capital of the world,” I came up with a second slogan: “409 miles of canals to moor your boat.” I know our yacht club is a splendid location, but 409 miles of locations? Think about the impression! I strongly believe we can put our city into a higher level of a spotlight. What do you think, council members? The ball is in your hands.
Mario D. Kyriakidis
Cape Coral