To the editor:

The shoreline trees at Jaycee Park are being completely demolished. As I write this, there is no silt or debris barrier. We have well-documented small tooth sawfish and manatees just offshore

This is a deliberate windbreak that shored up the riverfront as part of the erosion prevention resilient coastline projects by the Visitor & Convention Bureau, TDC Lee County.

We are asking for, at least, getting through the hurricane season with our erosion prevention/storm surge flood mediation intact. This is not a matter of “what’s invasive” right now, it’s a matter of what is protecting us now. Removing this during a hurricane season should have been completely unthinkable.

A storm now without this full protection will have devastating results like the storm that originally washed away the beach at Beach Parkway and put this project on the short list for TDC funding for erosion prevention storm surge mitigation.

The rest of this project includes completely bulldozing and re-grading the park, leaving us incredibly vulnerable to wind and storm surge/flooding and erosion damage.

Please protect our homes and our lives. Stop this action now before it is too late

Please put a stop to this destruction until a permit decision is made and until adjacent property owners can bring their appeal.

Heather O’Connell

Save the Jaycee Park neighborhood and surrounding area

Cape Coral