Four Freedoms Park land grab
To the editor:
I wrote a letter to The Breeze about a month ago regarding the mayor and the city council wanting to sell Four Freedoms Park to developers along with the 22 acres adjacent to the park that the city bought and had all the buildings on it razed. I was disgusted that the city would even consider selling the park. It is the first park Cape Coral ever had, opened on Sept. 7, 1963.
In the “America 250” pull-out insert in last week’s Breeze, there was a one-page article near the end of the insert about Four Freedoms Park that was very interesting. Half way through the article, it said the original developers of Cape Coral gifted the park to Lee County in August 1968 with the stipulation that “it be kept open for public use as a recreation area, and to be named Four Freedoms Park.” Then in July 1971, Lee County transferred Four Freedoms Park to the newly incorporated City of Cape Coral with the condition that “it be used by Lee County for a public park for the purpose of recreation to be enjoyed by the public generally.”
It sounds like the city cannot sell the park to developers. The city says they are merely “moving” the park to another location, but that is a bunch of legalese crap. The park is a specific piece of land on Bimini Basin not a movable park with the same name. The mayor and the city council need to abandon this developer land-grab idea and stop getting in bed with developers.
The citizens of Cape Coral also need to stand up to this land grab. Please voice your opinion against it.
Ken Kendrick
Cape Coral