Guest Commentary | Rundown on the NWNA, the rowers and the mayor
I would like to offer my observations on these three things from a timeline perspective.
The NWNA, although they may not know it, was really born back in 1994 under Police Chief Arnold Gibbs. It was called the Neighborhood Sub-Council. There were four sub councils created, one for each quadrant of the city. The NW quadrant of the city in 1994 was the empty quarter in the truest sense. There were fewer than 100 homes west of Burnt Store Road and that was the most densely settled area in that quadrant. The Sub Councils were successful — we knew each other and we knew our police officers by name. The program faded after several years when Mr. Gibbs moved on. At that time members of the NW sub council wanted to continue the work of the sub council, so a decision was made to incorporate a neighborhood association. I served as the first president for a year and watched the association grow under other leadership for many years thereafter. We accomplished many goals up this way, too many to mention here. The record speaks for itself.
Unfortunately, in the last several years or so, from my perspective, the wheels have fallen off the NWNA.
The following are some examples of things discussed or supported.
• Navigational canal cut through the mangrove forest in order to reduce the time needed to get to Charlotte Harbor
• Opposition to the utilities expansion program on the basis it is not needed
• A recent petition to exempt an area completely based in part on our “environmental” sensitivity
• Opposition to the rowing club using the newly built rowing park facilities.
These are great examples of what happens to a good organization when myopic leadership takes the helm with no rudder.
These themes are egocentric to a small part of the city at the expense of the community at large.
This new current thinking and direction do not align with my values or the values of many other past leaders and members of the association.
The Rowers: I’ve known the rowers since 2008. The Rotary Clubs of Cape Coral helped establish the rowing club. Our three foundation boards all saw value in their contribution to the community. I had the honor of serving as president of the morning Rotary Club. It was an amazing fulfilling experience. The rowing projects and subsequently watching what they accomplished with some of our help is a great experience. The Tropicana location was openly discussed with the city as a site for the rowers since 2009.
In other words, the rowers were there first, by a lot.
About this time Cape Coral was wracked by inept government of the Sullivan tenure and a City Manager named King. He didn’t last too long and Mr. Steven H. Pohlman took over as interim city manager. He did a heck of a job in a short time. He acquired the “531” property for $13 million in the bankruptcy of Tieman Enterprises that is the Seven Islands and a whole bunch more valuable land. It is pennies on the dollar of current market value. That alone should get the man a statue. But we hired a full time CM and Steve went back to being parks and rec director where he was a huge advocate of the rowing club and what they can provide to the city. He was the driving force behind the Tropicana Rowing Park
The Mayor: The current one is my ninth and I’m on my 10th city manager. Most of the living ones know me very well. The current occupant, not so much. But I have a feeling that it is going to change. I’m told the mayor is a RINO, Rotarian in Name Only. This may be true. The current guy apparently has no concept of the amount of Rotary time, talent and treasure that has been invested in the Cape Coral Rowing Club. He seems unaware that Rotary protects and nurtures our investments in our communities and, like all investors, we want our investments to grow over time. I would just guess, spit balling really, but it sure looks like he must have joined the world’s greatest service organization for political expediency.
That is self-serving. Yuck.
But it is far worse. After all these years, all of the design work, all of the community support (the real community) and all of the support of past mayors and past councils, past managers and directors of Cape government, after all the constant whining from a few people in control of a neighborhood association webpage that their predecessors created. With that background, do you really think you can pull this rug on the rowers and the real community, waste this kind of money, my money and my money again? Sir, if you think that and apparently you do, you are in a flat spin you will not recover from. In other words, you have counted your votes wrong, way wrong. The NWNA is hot vapor, not votes.
You or the other three council members that apparently think you have power to pull off this political poppycock, must reconsider the issue, approve it and get the rowers rowing.
This is a rowing park, it has always been conceived as a rowing park, it is designed as a rowing park, we have spent big GO bond taxpayer money building it as a rowing park. It is an excellent addition to our city parks.
All that remains to be done is to properly name the place for a fine man that made it possible, promoted it and passed this life way too early. This man exemplified a core object of Rotary: Service above Self.
Mr. Steven H. Pohlman
You, the taxpayers and all the great service club people in our city, county and service club districts, please take a few minutes to let these folks know how YOU feel about the issue over the next few days.
Thank you Cape Coral Government and taxpaying voters for this beautiful, well-designed new park.
David C. Scott P.G. is the Past President Rotary Club of Cape Coral 2009-2010; Founding and Past president NWNA; LCEC Board of Directors 18 years, engineering and operations chair 2013-2018; Cape Coral Parks and Recreation advisory boards (various) 1998-2012; Cape Coral Water Resources Advisory Board 1993-2000; Keep Lee County Beautiful Board 1997 present ad hoc chair Mangrove Planting 60K red mangrove planted in The North Spreader 2015-2019; Technical committee – FLDEP – North Spreader Ecosystem Management Agreement.