The Naples Press - Dec 20, 2024

3A | PIER TIMELINE CHANGE

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Pizzerias lead 2024 restaurant closings

Pizzerias

bowling alley. Real Seafood relocated to Coconut Point in Estero, where it opened this month. A new Italian restaurant, Bella Italia, is coming soon to its vacated space in Collier County, while a new dining concept hasn’t been named yet for Old Naples Pub’s old spot.

Passé pizza

Shuttered pizzerias included two longtime chains in the Naples area.

Aurelio’s Pizza closed its full-service restaurant in September at Coastland Center mall after the Chicago-based concept had operated more than 25 years in Naples. Cici’s Pizza closed its 20-year North Naples restaurant in June.

13A | HIGH ON TRADES

ABE SKINNER, LONGTIME PROPERTY APPRAISER, DIES

By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com

When Abe Skinner became Collier County appraiser in 1991, there was no World Wide Web.

When he was about to leave office, before his unexpected death Dec. 14, probably 90% of the people who used his department’s services only knew

him from the web, where Skinner’s face welcomed them to collierappraiser.com. He was still in office at age 94, preparing for a retirement Jan. 6 that would not happen.

Skinner steered his department from the era of huge property map books to a website where with a click one could find values, parcel sizes, overhead photographs, tax references and even building permit dates.

He also took it through three moves and the development of three satellite offices in a growing county. In 1990, before he was first elected to office, the population of Collier County was 152,099. Today it is 375,752. Property valuation has swelled from $121.2 million for 1996 to $152.25 billion today.

Vickie Downs, Collier County

SETTLEMENT ALLOWS GOLF COURSE CONVERSION TO RESIDENTIAL HOUSING

By Aisling Swift

The 82.5-acre Links of Naples Golf Course in East Naples can now be redeveloped into 369 homes.

The Collier Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a settlement on Dec. 10 involving two lawsuits Naples Golf Development LLC filed last year against the county and Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. The settlement

averts an expensive, revealing trial set for January, reimburses the developer for $250,000 in legal fees and allows 122 more homes than what it proposed last year, when commissioners denied the development.

“The settlement protects the public’s interest while also preventing the golf course conversion regulations from inordinate-

ly burdening the property,” County Attorney Jeff Klatzkow wrote in a memo to commissioners. The developer’s Stuart-based attorney, Ethan Loeb, said the settlement followed a non-binding arbitration award in the developer’s favor; the arbitrator’s ruling is sealed and isn’t public. Court records show the county rejected it and wanted to proceed to trial.

“It’s just so unfortunate because things like

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SWFL INSIDER

Naples cancels

Eve fireworks

New Year’s

Citing high staff costs and safety concerns, the city of Naples will no longer offer a New Year’s Eve fireworks show.

Naples City Council voted in September to cancel the Dec. 31 fireworks show and posted a reminder on Facebook last week to alert residents about the change, citing parking and traffic congestion in December, one of the city’s busiest months due to “high volumes of seasonal visitors” and New Year’s Eve gatherings.

City officials said there were too many safety demands because the Naples Police Department manages increased holiday traffic and local events, making it difficult to allocate resources for a large-scale fireworks show. They also cited the event’s restrictions on boating access, explaining that fireworks preparation requires Naples Landing to remain closed for at least 36 hours, which is disruptive during a peak boating month.

In September, City Manager Jay Boodheshwar told Council that holding the fireworks show requires using a barge, significant staffing and overtime costs to ensure safety. The minutes show the barge costs $35,000, police staffing is $40,000, fire coverage is $3,000, portable toilets are $3,500 and security is $1,600, for a total of $141,000.

Police Chief Ciro Dominguez cited already strained police resources due to increased traffic, drinking and driving and large gatherings, and said the $141,100 could be better reallocated to hire 10-12 more officers to conduct New Year’s Eve patrols in key areas and respond to noise complaints.

Council member Ray Christman, who noted the event attracts more visitors than residents, supported cancellation, saying the show was initially funded by donations before the city funded it. Council unanimously voted to cancel the New Year’s Eve show and approve the Fourth of July fireworks.

Preferred Travel & Company

shoe drive with Laces of Love benefits children

More than 100 local school children were able to attend their first day of school in new pairs of shoes thanks to the partnership of Preferred Travel & Company and Laces of Love.

During its corporate retreat, Preferred Travel asked advisors and staff to donate new pairs of shoes, receiving 118 new pairs of shoes of all sizes. The shoes were provided to the non-profit Laces of Love, which handled distribution to children in Collier and Lee counties.

“We are thankful to Preferred Travel for their generous donation of new shoes which will benefit dozens of children in

need in our community,” said Jeanne Nealon, the co-founder of Laces of Love. “By collaborating with community partners like Preferred Travel, our non-profit organization has been able to provide more than 300,000 kids with new shoes in Southwest Florida over the past 18 years.”

Collier Community Foundation grants $32.7M in fiscal 2024

The Collier Community Foundation has awarded $32.7 million in grants in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, to nonprofit agencies and scholarships for secondary education and specialized training. This amount includes $15.9 million in CCF Donor Advised Fund grants and $10.1 million in Agency Fund grants. More than $362 million has been awarded to nonprofit organizations, community programs and scholarships since 1985.

CCF has focused on developing solutions to the county’s affordable housing crisis and granted $75,750 to hire a consultant to shepherd the development of a new nonprofit entity — The Housing Alliance. This strategic affiliation combines existing nonprofit entities the Collier County Community Land Trust and the Housing Development Corporation of SWFL. CCF also funded the first year of operations with an additional $200,000 capacity-building grant.

CCF also provided a $25,000 investment in the Naples Botanical Garden’s Dune Restoration and Resiliency Project to provide in-person education at several beaches to raise awareness about the important role beach dunes — that are established with diverse plants — play in preventing erosion and helping to break onshore surge. An additional $300,000 helped launch the comprehensive dune restoration project. Long-term efforts, which include collecting seeds and cuttings from native dune plants for propagation and dune planting, are now underway.

Healthcare Network unveils Van Domelen Health Express

Healthcare Network unveiled the Van Domelen Health Express, a 45-foot mobile medical and dental unit to be delivered in mid-December that will bring essential health care services to residents across Collier County, particularly in underserved areas. Made possible through a donation by local philanthropist Julia Van Domelen, this unit will travel to health care deserts, including Everglades City and Chokoloskee, as well as neighborhoods, schools and community events. The Van Domelen Health Express will deliver comprehensive medical and dental

services similar to those offered in Healthcare Network clinics. With a wheelchair lift, restroom facilities and three exam rooms, the unit is designed to meet routine health care needs while also serving as a vital resource during disasters, nonprofit officials said.

Arthrex to welcome students, recent grads to annual Career Showcase

Arthrex, which specializes in minimally invasive surgical technology, will host its annual Career Showcase on Jan. 8 in the Arthrex One building on its global headquarters campus, 1 Arthrex Way in North Naples. Students, including high school juniors and seniors, college students and recent graduates, can attend either a morning session (9:30-11 a.m.) or an afternoon session (3-5 p.m.). Team members from a variety of departments will introduce students to a wide array of career, internship and co-op prospects, including engineering, product management, national sales, information technology, finance, manufacturing, medical education/medical affairs, legal, compliance, operations, orthopedic research, quality, regulatory, human resources, marketing, meetings and events, communications and culinary. Registration is required; one parent or guardian can attend with each student.

Annual Step Up for Parkinson’s Walk set

The annual Step Up for Parkinson’s Walk, sponsored by the Parkinson’s Association of Southwest Florida, will be held 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, Feb. 8, at North Collier Regional Park, 15000 Livingston Road, Naples. The event aims to raise awareness and funds supporting vital programs that benefit over 7,000 community members diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in Collier County and southern Lee County. PD affects more than one million Americans and is the second-most common degenerative neurological disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. With no current cure and someone diagnosed with PD every nine seconds, the event strives to shed light on the effects of this condition on individuals and their families.

Early Bird registration (before Jan. 7): $25 per person (guarantees a walk t-shirt). Online Registration (Jan. 8-28): $30 (online registration ends Jan. 28). Day of event registration: $35, children under 12 years: $10, furry friends (pets): $5. Registration includes a walk t-shirt (guaranteed with registrations made through Jan. 7), musical entertainment and valet parking. Tickets can be purchased at parkinsonassociationswfl.org

COLLIER NOW

Housing on tap for actors, others working at Playhouse

By Aisling

Naples City Council has approved a new corporate-housing concept that will allow traveling actors, designers and other theater professionals to live next door to Gulfshore Playhouse while they work, rehearse and perform.

The City Council on Dec. 11 unanimously approved a conditional-use petition to allow the Wynn family, as Downtown Naples LLC, to build 17 third-floor transient units — 400-square-foot studio apartments — within a three-story, 45,000-squarefoot mixed-use development at 1090 First Ave. S. The nearly 1-acre site is just west of the theater and north of the new city parking garage in the city’s design district.

“This is a partnership between the Wynns and the Playhouse to … provide a convenient place for guest artists to stay when they come into town to rehearse and perform a production,” land-use attorney Noel Davies told Council. “… Access for the guest artists will be through state-of-the-art phone-app technology.”

The project includes a 20-year lease between Gulfshore Playhouse and the Wynn family, with Gulfshore Playhouse responsible for managing the studio apartments and paying rent directly to Downtown Naples LLC. The idea has been five years in the making.

“This is not the transient lodging request you’re accustomed to hearing,” Davies said, calling it more like corporate or workforce housing.

Gulfshore Playhouse CEO Kristen Coury, who is married to Michael Wynn, told Council the theater’s officials hold casting calls in New York City, where they can tap a large pool of higher-caliber actors and theater professionals, and they’ve been using Airbnbs and rentals countywide, which requires Gulfshore Playhouse to pay for car rentals.

“We’ve had to house 20 or 30 at a time,” Coury said. “… With two the-

NAPLES PIER REBUILD TIMELINE EXTENDED

By Aisling Swift

The seventh transformation of the 136-yearold Naples Pier, which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian, took another step forward toward construction.

Naples City Council on Dec. 11 approved an amendment to the construction, engineering and inspection contract with Naples-based Turrell, Hall & Associates Inc. that reduced its design and engineering services costs from $1.719 million to $1.38 million and extended contract completion to Nov. 15, 2026, with another 60 days for an administrative project close-out that starts the next day. Construction will take 18 months but still needs federal approvals.

“With that approval today, … we will have completed everything that we need to do at the local level to position us to begin construction once we get the final approvals,” City Manager Jay Boodheshwar told council before the vote, referring to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Naples Police Department’s “Operation Fill-A-PatrolCar” toy drive brought in hundreds of unwrapped gifts for infants up to teens, packing police cars and offices to the hilt.

“It’s a good healthy dose of toys and books and arts and crafts stuff — you name it,” police spokesman Lt. Bryan McGinn said.

The fifth annual drive, which began Dec. 2 and ended Monday, benefits two nonprofits: Project Help, which provides and onsite and after-care counseling services to rape and crime victims countywide, and Beverly’s Angels,

and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “We’re moving, but we’re moving at the federal government’s pace.”

Costs for the stronger, higher, more resilient pier will be funded by federal funds, including about $14 million in FEMA reimbursement funds, as well as state grants, county tourist development taxes, the city’s beach fund, $11 million in bonds and public donations, including from the Collier Community Foundation.

More than 1 million visitors annually visit the iconic landmark located at the west end of 12th Avenue South to watch sunsets, fish, socialize, exercise, eat and watch wildlife. Built in 1888 for people traveling by boat to Naples, the pier has been rebuilt six times after hurricanes, most recently after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

In October, Council approved a $23.4 million contract with Shoreline Foundation Inc., a Broward County-based marine contractor that also will get $1.17 million for contingency fees. Also on the project team are MHK Architecture of Naples, City Engineer Dan Ohrenstein and Project Manager Bruce Selfon, a former federal government employee the city hired to assist

with regulatory and permitting processes. Only 100 feet of the pier was left standing after Hurricane Ian caused catastrophic damage on Sept. 28, 2022. That section reopened in November 2022. But 460 feet suffered significant damage, including 140 feet containing more than 30 pilings and a shelter at the end that collapsed and sank into the Gulf of Mexico. At the midpoint, waves completely gutted Cosmos on the Pier’s concession area, shelter and storage structures, and the waves’ energy lifted framing and decking for public showers.

The new design will enhance resilience through mitigation measures that include increasing height and hardening the sub-structure to make it more resilient to storms and hurricanes, while maintaining its unique, historic aesthetic.

Shoreline Foundation will demolish the pier and rebuild it in the same location, with new concrete pilings, concrete bents and beams designed to remain even if a storm removes the decking and superstructure; bents provide

Ritz's sweet holiday display

this don’t have to happen,” Loeb said of a settlement his office and the County’s Attorney’s Office worked hard to finalize in spring 2023. “Then Bill decided to pull it off the consent agenda and then had everybody vote to turn it down.”

Months and unnecessary expenses followed, he said, costing taxpayers a lot of money.

“Tell me how that’s fair,” Loeb said, noting the county demanded he pay $57,244.77 for its public records coordinator to review McDaniel’s emails to determine if any needed to be redacted. “I probably still would be waiting on the records right now.”

Naples Golf filed a Bert Harris claim against the county in April 2023, days after McDaniel convinced commissioners to reject a staff settlement involving a prior Bert Harris claim that would have allowed it to build 247 homes, three units per acre, on land at 16161 Tamiami Trail E., east of Collier Boulevard and just west of Hamilton Road. The settlement averted an “onerous” county golf-course conversion process, but McDaniel had branded it premature.

The 1995 state Bert Harris Act says that if property owners can prove a governmental action “inordinately burdens” their property, they’re entitled to compensation. Naples Golf alleged McDaniel’s actions cut the value of its property from $9 million to $3 million.

The lawsuit contended McDaniel and county officials tried to artificially depress the property’s market value to enable the county to purchase it at a lower price for affordable housing. Naples Golf demanded all McDaniel’s communications about county business, including personal emails and

The property is currently zoned Rural Agricultural District in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and only allows up to one home per acre. The settlement allows 4.5 units per acre, up to 369 multi- or single-family homes or both. Prior plans allowed three homes per acre, up to 247 single-family homes.

texts on all his devices.

“Commissioner McDaniel is a former developer and a savvy real estate professional who has utilized his knowledge of real property for monetary gain over the course of his career in the private sector,” the lawsuit alleged. “… Commissioner McDaniel utilizes his private non-government issued e-mail account and personal devices as a repository for public records.”

In May 2023, the county provided McDaniel’s emails, but they came from his county account and Loeb said it “became clear” he’d been using private devices and email accounts.

In September 2023, when he again demanded all of McDaniel’s public records involving the matter, Klatzkow told him McDaniel was out of town due to a family emergency. After more than two weeks, Naples Golf sent the county a final demand and prelawsuit notice, demanding that McDaniel’s personal emails and texts be provided by Oct. 5, 2023. Seven days later, Naples Golf sued McDaniel. Later that month, Klatzkow told Loeb the public records coordinator would provide

the emails, which were now on the county’s public server, and that would “presumably end the issue.” Loeb replied that it wouldn’t end the issue because Naples Golf was being forced to sue to vindicate its rights under the state public records act, and they weren’t certain all McDaniel’s emails had been provided.

Later that day, the county’s public records coordinator informed Loeb it would take 1,749 hours to review McDaniel’s 349,868 emails and would cost $57,244.77. McDaniel, however, told The Florida Trident there was nothing to redact.

Last week, Loeb said he was concerned they didn’t have all the emails. During his deposition, McDaniel told Loeb his routine was to clear emails out of his private accounts every 30 days because they were uploaded to the county server.

“Can you guarantee under oath today that you have not deleted public records that exist on your private email account, yes or no?” Loeb asked.

McDaniel replied: “No.”

In his deposition, county Planning & Zoning Director Mike Bosi admitted the coun-

ty’s golf-course conversion process placed an unfair burden on golf-course owners that wanted to convert their land to residential developments. He also admitted it was unfair that they were required to leave a large portion of land undeveloped to preserve views for adjoining neighbors.

The property is currently zoned Rural Agricultural District in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and only allows up to one home per acre. The settlement allows 4.5 units per acre, up to 369 multi- or single-family homes or both. Prior plans allowed three homes per acre, up to 247 single-family homes.

The settlement requires the developer to add a Type-B Buffer on the eastern boundary, next to single-family homes. The buffer would be 15 feet wide and 6 feet high, and be 80% opaque within one year.

In his Dec. 10 memo to commissioners, Klatzkow noted that in February 2023, commissioners directed staff to prepare a land-development code amendment to the golf-course conversion section to minimize future litigation.

The county had hired Naples-based Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti & Rudnick LLP to handle the lawsuits, but was unsuccessful in attempts to dismiss the case following several depositions. Facing “imminent trial,” the county agreed to settle.

Collier County faces another pending Bert Harris claim involving the 94-acre Riviera Golf Club on Marseille Drive in East Naples; it closed in April 2017. In January, commissioners rejected a settlement that would have preserved the land, ended a $14 million property rights claim and prevented a lawsuit. But 87% of neighboring Riviera Golf Course Estates residents voted against it, calling it unfair. A hearing in Collier Circuit Court is set for Dec. 26.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR LOOKS TO DISTRIBUTE WAGES OWED TO FLA. WORKERS

By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com

With the end of the year approaching, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor is working to return $4,737,110 in wages it recovered to almost 7,500 Florida workers who earned them, according to a DOL media advisory.

In the Southwest Florida counties of Charlotte, Collier, Lee and Hendry, the total owed by 32 employers to 1,043 employees is $437,357.21. No owed wages were reported from Glades County.

In Collier County, 29 employees are owed a total of $12,026.88 by four employers in Naples, while 135 employees are owed a total of $115,760.49 by four employers in Immokalee.

Wages are recovered by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division following investigations into employers who are found to owe wages to current or former employees. After an investigation, it’s incumbent upon the employers to pay the employees who are owed wages. If the employers are not able to locate former employees owed wages, they are required to

From page 1A

“I’m so shocked pizzerias are closing. I’ve never heard of pizzerias closing until this year,” said Guy Clarke, founder of Sizzle Dining’s annual culinary event in Southwest Florida. “And now this year and last year it feels like more pizzerias [than] ever in my life are closing down.”

Aurelio’s bounced back this month with a small takeout and delivery location in the former Naples Boulevard space of Romeo’s Pizza, which closed this summer after operating for a brief time. On the other side, Baci Pizza closed its 10-year location on U.S. 41 East this summer and expanded this fall into the larger Baci Trattoria & Pizza off Bayshore Drive in East Naples. Naples Pizza wasn’t as fortunate. It closed in May after 15 years of service at Berkshire Commons in East Naples. Short-timers that shuttered this year include Sammy’s Pizza at Naples Towne Centre South in East Naples, Pizzata Pizzeria + Apertivo Samuel Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders and Zza Baby Pizza in North Naples.

The number of local pizzerias closing does not surprise Chris Jones, who sold his LowBrow Pizza restaurant this summer and closed both locations of PizzaJones this year and Industry Pizza last year in the Naples area.

“It’s getting tougher and tougher, you know,” Jones said. “LowBrow is going strong, but the selling of LowBrow was a business decision between my partner and I. The other businesses, though, we kind of suffered from some location issues. We did well up on Pine Ridge, then the margins started to get slimmer and slimmer there; and then Bayfront was just a disaster at the end of the day. It’s probably too difficult of a location.” Jones thinks the local market may be oversaturated when it comes to pizzerias, plus it’s tougher for newcomers to find success.

“The pizza industry, even though it’s part of the restaurant industry, it’s sort of on its own,” he said. “The guys that kind of grew up in pizza and kind of inherited

RECOVERED WAGES

turn the wages over to DOL, where the funds are kept in a “lockbox” for up to three years while the Wage and Hour Division attempts to locate the employees. If the employees are not found within three years, the funds go to the general U.S. Treasury, according to Nicolas Ratmiroff, district director of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division.

In a phone interview, Ratmiroff said the Wage and Hour Division enforces labor laws related to areas including payment of wages, overtime, record keeping, child labor, the Family Medical Leave Act and the Agricultural Workers Protection Act.

Ratmiroff said that in Florida, traditionally low-wage industries including food service and tourism, construction and agriculture are the “most prevalent” when it comes to wage violations.

“Of course, we investigate every industry, including government contracts, where we find violations,” Ratmiroff said. “But primarily, those types of businesses in Florida would be where we find the most problems.”

He said wage violations in these industries and others can occur for a variety of reasons that would prompt an investigation when a complaint is filed.

“When the employers fail to count certain times as hours worked — for example, when they tell the employee to come in before their shift and do some preliminary activity that is work, but they don’t count it as work,” he said. “Or they tell them to take a lunch break, but the employee doesn’t take a lunch break and they deduct those lunch breaks, or they fail to pay for certain travel times or call their employee a salaried exempt employee. And that

means that they’re not entitled to overtime when they’re in fact entitled to overtime.”

When it comes to finding workers that employers have not been able to locate, Ratmiroff said the DOL has personnel hired specifically to find them.

“The employer is asked to provide the last known contact information for the individual, and we use several databases of the government, including civil and criminal databases, Social Security offices, Departments of Motor Vehicles and so on to see if we can hit on that name with the same information to try to locate [the individual],” he said.

Ratmiroff said DOL also encourages use of its Workers Owed Wages online tool (at dol.gov/agencies/whd/wow) by anyone who believes they may be owed wages or knows someone who may be owed wages. He said the WOW page can help these workers “get the money that they work hard to obtain.”

“These wages are the property of those workers, and we want to get [it] into their hands,” he said. “Our goal is to get all of that money that we have in that lockbox in the hands of the workers who are owed.”

Last year, according to DOL, publicizing the WOW website resulted in a “significant increase” in the number of individuals accessing the tool. In Florida, the number increased from 12,607 to nearly 45,500, or more than 260%.

the family business, per se, or that kind of thing, they’re getting a little older and there are long hours. To make any money, you’ve really got to work hard. You’ve got to be a big part of the labor force. That’s a lesson we learned.”

Outside of that, Jones had unique challenges in creating at least four different local concepts.

“We took on too much. We grew too fast,” he said. “That was probably our mistake. If I had to do it again, I probably should have just stuck with LowBrow and let LowBrow do its thing. But I think there are too many restaurants, period.”

Jones took advantage of an opportunity and returned to being a private country club chef out of the limelight, while LowBrow Pizza & Beer continues to perform under new ownership in East Naples with the addition of a full bar.

In Lee County, other pizzerias that closed this year include Rosati’s Pizza Sports Pub at the Shops at Jamaica Bay,  Pizzeria Di Biscardi in south Fort Myers and I Ragazzi Pizza in Cape Coral.

Retired restaurants

Collier County restaurants that permanently closed this past summer include two longtime dining spots in North Naples. Cafe Figaro shuttered after operating for 18 years, while L’Auberge retired after a 10-year run.

Others shutting down in North Naples include Poached Kruk’s Philly Steaks, Fusion Bowlz and I Heart Mac & Cheese BurgerFi closed its locations in North Naples and East Naples. Perkins closed its longtime spot on U.S 41 East in East Naples.

Hospitality businesses permanently closing in downtown Naples include Narrative Coffee Roasters on Central Avenue, KJ Sushi & Asian Bistro on Fifth Avenue South, The Bowl Bazaar in The Shoppes at Dockside and Planet Grilled Cheese and Dogos in the Coastland Center food court.

Some restaurants were victims of hurricanes. The Mucky Duck was seriously damaged in early October after operating since 1976 on Captiva Island; the local

restaurant has tentative plans to rebuild. Southern Grill and Tommy’s Eats & Spirits closed at the Shell Factory in North Fort Myers, which permanently closed in September after more than 85 years. Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill in Cape Coral was destroyed in an October fire, but the Kearns Restaurant Group plans to rebuild it.

Restaurants lost this year in Bonita Springs include The Causeway Habaneros Mexican Grill and Mediterranean Paradise The Llama’s House closed at Miromar Outlets in Estero.

DJ Chinese Restaurant closed in April in south Fort Myers and relaunched as DJ Chinese Garden takeout on Alico Road in the fall. This summer, The Rude Shrimp Co. closed on Fort Myers Beach and That BBQ Place closed in Matlacha. Blu Sushi closed its downtown Fort Myers location this summer, and Shawn & Tony’s Kitchen closed in Fort Myers. LJ’s Lounge closed in Fort Myers Shores after operating for 33 years. Horsin

Around Deli also recently closed in North Fort Myers.

Other Cape Coral restaurants closing in 2024 include Beef ‘O’ Brady’s on Santa Barbara Boulevard, Bimini Bites, Gregory’s Fusion Restaurant, I Heart Mac & Cheese and Sylwia’s Ice Cream Palace Pub & Wine Bar also closed in Cape Coral in April but plans to reopen in a new location nearby in 2025. LadyCakes Bakery closed its 10-year location on Del Prado in June and plans to relocate soon to Cape Coral Parkway.

Temporary timeouts

La Trattoria on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples temporarily closed in July after part of the Italian restaurant’s ceiling collapsed, but it was able to reopen three months later in October. Grandma Penny’s Pizza closed in July but reopened in September in North Fort Myers.

Burntwood Tavern at Mercato in North Naples closed for two months and reopened as the reimagined Taberna Burntwood DeRomo’s Gourmet Market & Restaurant in Bonita Springs temporarily closed in August for major renovations before reopening.

A May car crash into the side of Pastrami Dan’s didn’t stop the local restaurant from looking ahead to its 50th season in Naples. The popular local eatery reopened after being closed for a few days.

The Alley, an urban bar serving late-night bites and cocktails in Naples, opened in late January but then was shuttered most of the year because of city planning issues. The venue was relaunched in October as part of The District After spending more than a year repairing damage caused by Hurricane Ian, The Turtle Club reopened in May but had to temporarily close again this fall because of Hurricane Milton damage. The resilient restaurant reopened again in late October.

Next week, we’ll look at local restaurants that launched in 2024. Merry Christmas!

The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim. aten@naplespress.com.

FDEP gives Naples $25M stormwater grant

Special to the Naples Press

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has awarded the city of Naples an additional $25 million for its stormwater project.

The grant, which brings total DEP grants to $40 million, isn’t a matching grant, so it doesn’t require the city to spend a like amount for construction. Last week, City Council unanimously accepted the grant for its Naples Gulf of Mexico Beach Stormwater Outfall Pipe Removal and Water Quality Project, and construction is expected to begin in January. Considered a landmark project, it will improve flooding, preserve water quality, reduce beach erosion and protect critical habitats, such as sea turtle-nesting areas, through a state-of-the-art treatment system.

City officials held a groundbreaking ceremony in October for the $86.2 million project, which will improve the quality of filtered water discharged into the Gulf of Mexico and reduce significant flooding to homes along Gulf Shore Boulevard.

The first phase began two years ago, with design, which cost $11 million, and preconstruction. Citywide, 12- to 54-inch backflow preventers were installed inside outfall pipes to allow stormwater runoff to pass into surface water — preventing backup into the stormwater-collection system and flooding streets.

This second phase will remove eight unsightly stormwater-outfall pipes from city beaches, replacing them with 6,000 feet of new 24- to 54-inch underground pipes. Stormwater will be filtered using advanced best-management practices before being pumped 1,500 feet offshore by new pump stations, replacing an existing gravity-based system. The project exceeds FDEP standards, ensuring flood protection, environmental conservation and increased resiliency to climate change — the ability to handle a 25-year storm event.

Milwaukee-based Graef USA is the contractor, and Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Miami is the construction manager at risk. Kiewit reviewed and certified the design and costs and will ensure the project stays within budget. Kiewit has nearly all necessary city permits and is ensuring work is done safely and in compliance with local, state and federal codes prior to issuing a notice to proceed with construction.

From page 3A HOUSING

aters running at the same time, it is incumbent upon us to have 54 beds this year — and that number could continue to grow. … Many of our apartments … are two-bedroom apartments, and even though they’re two-bedroom, twobath, they still don’t want to share an apartment with somebody else.”

During Hurricane Ian, she said, seven first-floor units the theater rented at Jade Apartments flooded and actors, who were evacuated to Miami, lost all their possessions. They were evacuated again during Hurricane Milton this year due to fears of storm surge. The theater has been using Stillwater Cove apartments nearby, she said, but no longer rents there due to safety concerns.

“We have a staff of three company managers whose job it is to move our visiting artists in and out; to clean the apartments,” Coury said, adding that actors usually stay eight weeks, half for rehearsals and half for performances, while designers usually stay two to four weeks.

The 45,000-square-foot mixed-use development will feature 16,422 square feet of commercial space, including a small theater platform, a 7,000- to 8,000-square-foot ground-floor restaurant and outdoor dining geared toward theatergoers. The second floor will offer 15,181 square feet of office space, half for Gulfshore Playhouse. In addition to the studio apartments, a larger apartment will be used by the Wynn family.

The project team also includes BECK Architectural Group, Barraco and Associates Inc., transportation engineers Trebilcock Consulting Solutions, landscape architects Windham Studio Inc. and Sesco Lighting. The multi-use development is part of a larger project involving the city, the Wynns and Gulfshore Playhouse.

“We've had to house 20 or 30 at a time. ...With two theaters running at the same time, it is incumbent upon us to have 54 beds this year and that number could continue to grow. ... Many of our apartments ... are two-bedroom apartments, and even though they're twobedroom, two-bath, they still don't want to share an apartment with someone else.”

—Kristen Coury, Gulfshore Playhouse CEO

A four-level, 366-space public garage, the city’s third, is being built on the southwest corner of 12th Street and First Avenue South, west of Goodlette-Frank Road next to the Naples Square development. The land was provided by the Wynn family and Gulfshore Playhouse, whose new $60 million theater will use 123 parking spaces.

The garage is being funded by the city Community Redevelopment Agency — money from taxpayers whose homes and businesses are within the 550acre CRA district, which is bounded by Seventh Avenue North, Gordon River, Sixth Avenue South and Third Street South. Last month, the CRA approved a change to the theater’s valet-parking contract, giving it 123 spaces on the first two floors, instead of the top floor, three hours before each theater show date.

Completion is expected in early February.

Council member Beth Petrunoff

asked if Gulfshore Playhouse had considered hotel rooms, but Coury said that’s too costly — $100 to $300 per night — and the union, Actors Equity Association, requires a kitchen. Gulfshore Playhouse would pay Downtown Naples $1,500 monthly per theater professional.

The development is expected to break ground at the end of the first quarter of next year, with completion in late 2025 or early 2026. Last month, the Planning Advisory Board recommended approval and required Downtown Naples LLC to record a restrictive covenant, approved by the city attorney, to limit transient lodging to Gulfshore Playhouse artists. Before building permits can be issued, the developer needs final design approval by the Design Review Board.

Construction can’t begin until the garage is completed, because the property is being used for construction staging.

NAPLES TO STOP FLUORIDATING WATER

By Aisling Swift

Seventy-four years after it began the practice, the city of Naples will stop fluoridating public water. The decision followed repeated public assertions that fluoridation harms residents’ health, especially that of children and the elderly.

City Council voted 4-3 on Dec. 4 to delete an ordinance that requires fluoridation, with council members Ray Christman, Linda Penniman and Beth Petrunoff opposing. The city has been adding 0.7 mg per liter of fluoride to city water since 1950 after a mandate by the state Board of Health. In a related vote, Council voted 5-2 to direct City Manager Jay Boodheshwar

to discontinue fluoridation on or before Jan. 1.

The votes came after 13 residents, including a dentist and three doctors, urged Council to remove fluoride, while six, including two dentists and a dental hygienist, asked Council to continue fluoridating public water. Council members also received hundreds of emails for and against. During the first public hearing on Nov. 6, the vote also was 4-3 in favor of removal.

“I think it’s incumbent to decide not whether fluoride’s great,” Council member Bill Kramer said, calling that “completely irrelevant. Our decision is do we impose this on those who do not want it, who are our constituents? … You can get a 5-gallon jug of Culligan … fluoridated water for $15. … The kids that need it can get it provided for them.”

Council member Ray Christman, who has

said he thoroughly researched the issue, noted that when word got out that the city was considering not fluoridating, eight homeowner association presidents representing more than 80% of the city’s population asked the city to pause considering changing the ordinance until it could be fully discussed.

“That plea was simply ignored,” Christman said.

The federal ruling many fluoride opponents cited involved 1.5 mg/l, twice the levels the city uses, he said, noting that the American Dental Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and others recommend fluoridation. The city should try to calculate the harm it would bring to those who lack health and dental insurance, he said, adding, “Those who can afford it least will be hurt

the most if this ordinance passes.” It was the second time since 2012 that Naples held public hearings on fluoridation. This month’s action followed a Nov. 22 announcement by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, who issued guidance that recommends not fluoridating “due to the neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure.”

Demand for change in Naples grew after a Sept. 24 federal ruling questioning the safety of fluoridation levels, especially for children and the elderly. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Food & Water Watch and others against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The judge wrote that his decision “does not

PROGRAM HELPS HOMELESS AND AT-RISK YOUTHS CHANGE THEIR FOCUS, LIVES

By Jean L. Amodea

Someone out there cares about kids — at-risk youth aged 6-24 who are in foster care placements or homeless. Kids who may be headed for a life on the streets, who might inevitably tangle with law enforcement. Kids who are aging out of the foster care system with no future. Kids who have suffered such a degree of personal trauma that they are rife with behavioral issues.

That someone is Aram Wheatley, who stands out with a unique approach to addressing the needs of at-risk youth. Wheatley, the Executive Director, CEO and founder of Project B.U.I.L.D., has dedicated his life to nurturing and meeting the needs of these often-overlooked youths. His approach focuses on teaching life skills that are crucial for them to become contributing members of the community.

The acronym B.U.I.L.D. encapsulates this approach, standing for “building and uplifting individuals through learning and development.”

PB, a nonprofit organization founded in 2020, aims to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. With a network of local partners and community and youth agencies, PB offers mentorship and training in six key areas — social responsibility, financial literacy, technology, family dynamics, wellness, educational achievement — and carpentry.

“Visit the carpentry skill-building work lab, and you will feel the energy,” said Paul Doppelt, who heads up PB’s community engagement. “First, Aram feeds everyone, starting every class with a meal, socializing and a chance to ‘get in the zone.’ Then the kids put on work clothes, including steel-toe boots that he provides, and head to the training lab to start working.

“The participants are appreciative, respectful and grateful; they know someone is giving them a shot when no one else has cared. Wheatley is a visionary and one of the most impactful people I have met. He’s changing hearts and lives; he feeds the kids first and then teaches them.”

PB success story

A PB program trainee, Diego is a testament to the life-changing impact of PB. “I’m thankful to our instructor, Mr. Hunt, and PB for teaching me so much,” Diego said. “I want to keep learning so I can take care of my family, and one day have my own construction business.”

A native of Guatemala with scant knowledge of English, Diego start-

ed at PB last year. After obtaining his work authorization papers, he earned a paid internship with Habitat for Humanity, working 25 hours a week; he also works at Home Depot. Diego has achieved certifications in forklift, OSHA 10, carpentry, Introduction to Basic Construction, drywall and first aid/CPR. He’s working on his Carpentry 2 certification and recently signed up for the PB customer service class. According to Wheatley, Diego has an exceptional work ethic and is “one of PB’s biggest success stories.”

Genesis of PB

Project B.U.I.L.D. has its roots in Wheatley’s 12-year tenure working at Associated Marine Institute in Manatee County, a prevention program for behaviorally troubled middle school males at risk of expulsion and future involvement with the Department of Juvenile Justice. The program, which focused on teaching boating skills, water sports and relationship building, saw a 114% increase in attendance and a reported decrease in community crime. This success inspired Wheatley to continue his work, leading to the establishment of PB.

“We took on more kids, and the program grew. After that program closed, I knew I had something

good that needed to continue,” Wheatley said.

Empathy and understanding

Members of the PB staff are carefully vetted and possess juvenile justice backgrounds that make them especially attuned to the struggles faced by youths. Wheatley’s approach to counseling differs from the norm, using the evidence-based University of Miami ARISE Life Skills Curriculum.

“We consciously uplift our youth. While we may know about their deficiencies, just telling them about them doesn’t cut it,” Wheatley said. “They have to uncover their weaknesses themselves, and then we can help them to understand their shortcomings.

“If I have angry kids, instead of just running an anger-management group, I take them to the basketball court or out to eat, then bring up the subject of anger, profanity, hygiene or whatever their problems are. Then, I get the kids talking about their issues, and we work on them. There’s no such thing as failure; just because it doesn’t work out today doesn’t mean we stop trying. The kids are so resilient when they have someone backing them.”

The practical aspect

After the young people stabilize and can cope and handle their emo-

tions, Wheatley enacts the most sustainable long-term solution for PB — job skill-training programs to prepare them for the real world. Some may need to earn their GED, while others only need counseling. Others undergo financial literacy training and are able to get their identification and open a bank account through a Suncoast Credit Union program.

PB also employs Edmentum, an online education tool with hundreds of courses. Youths are mentored on credit recovery to make up credits for failed classes. Some are interested in going into healthcare or agriculture, and a partner, MHK Architecture, places them on teams to work with their staff to see if any have an interest in the field.

PB has received two key grants. One was from the U.S. Department of Labor, which helped PB start its Workforce Development Program for ages 16 and up that will serve 100 participants over the next two years. Another was from the National Retail Federation, which provides PB with 100 licenses recognized by the DOL for five curriculums leading to certifications. They are customer service conflict, supply chain inventory specialist (warehouse, forklift, OSHA-trained construction), CORE (introduction to basic construction skills like plumbing, electric,

carpentry and drywall), drone pilot and customer service and sales.

A PB volunteer

Paul Doppelt has been a PB volunteer for the past three and a half years, devoting 25 to 60 hours weekly. He said that the most profound effect of PB is that it helps the participants work through trauma and become “calmer” in their own lives.

“These are the kids that nobody else wants to work with who have come from serious trauma and have behavior issues,” Doppelt said. “They can now successfully sustain placements in foster care and be placed in homes. When we are assigned youths, we train them to reach inside of themselves, and give them the coping skills to do that, which allows them to do better in school and socialize properly to elevate their lives.”

All youth in the program obtain full-time placement.

“Aram stays with those kids even after they leave us, with his number in hand. He has a vision for youth that I’ve never seen anyone have. I’ve never heard anybody talk like him, and I’ve never seen anybody put the pedal to the metal like Aram. He’ll pick up the team, put them on his shoulders, carry them across the finish line and never take credit,”

added.

$4M GIFT HELPS LAUNCH NEW BUILDING AT DLC

By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com

A recent gift of $4 million from Collier County philanthropists Jeff and Julie Diermeier will help support the creation of the Diermeier Access and Integrated Care Center at David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral Health, a key component of DLC’s “Hope for Collier: Building Stronger Minds Together” initiative.

According to a press release from DLC announcing the Diermeiers’ gift, the state-of-the art, 15,000-square-foot building will allow DLC to provide timely care to community members in need.

“A unique walk-in behavioral health center offering urgent care without an appointment, the center will offer integrated services, allowing individuals to see their mental health and primary care providers in one location, complemented by the ability to fill prescriptions at a separate, on-campus pharmacy,” the organization said in the announcement.

The care center will offer services and programs including an urgent care/convenient care model with onsite and telehealth options; real-time behavioral health intervention and assessment; intensive outpatient drug treatment; and trauma-focused therapy for veterans, including Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy.

Helping close a gap in mental health resources

In an early December phone interview, the Diermeiers talked about what motivated their recent gift, which they see as a long-term investment in the community they have called home since 2009.

“Giving to the David Lawrence Centers is a really powerful way to help address a significant gap in mental health resources in Collier County,” Julie Diermeier said. “Mental health has been underfunded, and we thought that by providing funds early on, at the front end of the campaign, it would catalyze others to support the new initiative, Hope for Collier. In our case, we are excited to be involved in the care center, one of the first in Florida to provide walk-in access to mental health healthcare, which is a lifeline for individuals and families when they need it most.”

Jeff Diermeier, whose background before retirement was investing, said that for him and Julie

a gift of this size is seen as an investment — one that benefits “a good number of individuals in the community.”

“There has to be an economic side,” Jeff said. “We believe investing in mental health at an early stage basically reduces the longer-term cost to society in a number of ways. So, from that standpoint, it’s really a good investment for society and the community. And last, as Julie and I talked about this, there’s still a stigma related to mental health, although we believe it’s an illness like a lot of other illnesses.

“If our contribution can, in any way, help reduce the stigma, then we think that we’ll have done our community and our families a service. And we’ll feel like it was a job well done.”

New care center part of overall expansion

Plans call for the new care center to break ground by June 2025 and open in the fall of 2026, according to Scott Burgess, CEO of DLC.

Burgess said the Diermeier Access and Integrated Care Center, which will be located in the footprint of what is now the administration building on DLC’s main campus on Bathey Lane in Naples, will be a “game changer” for Collier County.

“The fact that we’ll be able to expand our services in a number of

appraiser-elect and Skinner’s chief deputy, worked with him for 31 years. She remembered an employer sensitive to his department’s needs because he had worked in the field himself.

“He was an outside appraiser when he was working with Sam Colding,” said Downs, recalling their years with the previous appraiser, who had also been in office more than 30 years. “He knows how important it is for people to understand their jobs and want to come to work.”

Patty Hisler, Skinner’s administrative assistant who also handles human resources and accounting, remembers a boss who set the tone.

ways through that building is going to mean that people will have immediate access to the behavioral health treatment needs that they have,” Burgess said in a phone interview.

“In this integrated care center, we’re going to be able to bring primary care onto the campus, which is a big game changer, as well.”

He said data shows that adults with serious, persistent mental illness challenges die 25 years younger than the general population.

“Most of the time that’s because they have other chronic healthcare

ple retired from this department,” she said. Even at age 94, the two said, they could expect him in the office by 8:05 a.m., asking questions about what might be happening for the day.

The Fort Myers native began working in the Collier County appraiser’s office in 1962, learning the ropes long before his first election to the post in 1990. He won every election for the position after that. He also served as president of the Florida Association of Property Appraisers in 1996-97.

Downs said Skinner worked with his department collegially. She remembers when she introduced the website in 1999. As it was able to, the department added, and updated, pieces of information down to trim notices, those statements breaking out which governmental entity is responsible for what portion of the taxes on a property.

conditions that are not well-attended to, whether that’s diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease,” Burgess said. “By being able to bring primary care on our campus, as well, we will have this opportunity to have a ‘one-stop shop,’ if you will — one integrated campus where people can have their mental health or substance use disorder and their primary care issues all attended to.”

He said access to mental health resources is especially important at this time, citing statistics that show Collier County is facing the worst

mental health and substance use crisis in its history. Mental health issues are affecting one in four children and adults in Collier County, while one in seven individuals struggle with substance abuse, according to DLC statistics.

Burgess expressed gratitude to the Diermeiers for their support of the new center, which will allow “holistic treatment care needs” — approaches and interventions that are meant to satisfy a patient’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs — to be taken care of in one place.

“This new building is going to create space for that, and those are just some of the elements of why this is so exciting and why we’re absolutely thrilled that they were willing to assist with that,” Burgess said.

In addition to the Diermeiers’ $4 million gift, DLC also received $5 million as part of Florida’s fiscal 2024-2025 state budget to support the creation of the access and integrated care center, with state Sen. Kathleen Passidomo helping to secure the legislative appropriation.

“We’re also grateful that, through Sen. Passidomo, we were able to secure legislative funding to also go toward this building,” Burgess said. “Between those two funds, we have very near the amount of money that we need for the full construction.”

encouraged the department’s recent entry into Facebook and other social media platforms to let the public know more about the unusual aspects of its work. That includes an annual aerial mapping of the county.

The department had its critics — including people who successfully fought reappraisals before the Valuation Adjustment Board and a company that sued after Skinner insisted that it should operate under a license with the department since it was compiling statistics to sell commercially. Under Florida’s open public records laws, the appraiser’s department lost.

But for the most part, Downs and Hisler said, this was not a department that received many complaints.

“He would come into work singing a song he’d heard on the radio,” she said. When the department held a Halloween dress-up in October, Skinner showed up as a buckaroo in neckerchief, hat and riding duds.

“He liked the whole thing. We talked everything over before we did it,” she said.

Skinner was a member of the United Methodist Church and the East Naples Civic Association. He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha, in 2017. The couple have two children and two grandchildren and great-grandchildren. No funeral plans have been announced by the family. From page 1A

“There wasn’t much turnover here. Peo-

Skinner approved initiatives by Downs, who also was director for MIS and the computer department, to create the website and add more information to it. He also

NAMING OPPORTUNITIES TO FUND NEW MENTAL HEALTH CENTER COSTS

By Aisling Swift

Collier County infrastructure surtax money will be used to build a $50 million, 87-bed David Lawrence Mental Health Center, but millions more are needed to fund daily operations and one-time costs for furniture, fixtures and equipment.

The 56-year-old nonprofit, which is partnering with the county, has lined up about $28 million in naming opportunities to attract donors — $15 million to name the building and $13 million for other naming rights, including the lobby, suicide-prevention office, wings, meditation rooms, event rooms and outdoor holistic areas.

“We heard very clearly … that the county does not want to bear the full burden of additional costs and that it would be wonderful if we could figure out a way to secure support from our local community to help,” David Lawrence Centers CEO Scott Burgess told the Collier Board of County Commissioners during a Dec. 10 project update. “What we have done is prepare a naming-rights opportunity that will hopefully inspire and engage our philanthropic community here to support this initiative.”

The idea came after DLC leadership met with key community stakeholders to address unfunded aspects of the mental health center and programs, prompting the “Hope for Collier: Building Stronger Minds Together” campaign to brainstorm funding opportunities.

In addition to DLC and the county, key stakeholders are the County Sheriff’s Office, DeAngelis Diamond construction, RG Architects and Hunton Brady healthcare

page 3A

TOY DRIVE

Scott Burgess

consultants.

The county partnership is crucial for success because about 70% of DLC’s clients are underinsured, including about 20% who have no income. About 10% of DLC’s budget is supported through county government, while the rest comes from state, federal and donor funding.

The project will save the Collier County Sheriff’s Office money because it will serve as a central receiving center for people requiring services under the Baker and Marchman acts. The Baker Act, the Florida Mental-Health Act of 1971, allows for the involuntary examination and temporary hospitalization of people experiencing a mental health crisis or who are a danger to themselves or others, while the Marchman Act allows the voluntary or involuntary commitment of people who are abusing alcohol or drugs.

The project was listed as a priority when voters approved the county’s 1-cent infrastructure surtax referendum in 2018. The surtax, which expired last year after collecting more than the targeted $490 million, is being used for construction, but can’t be allocated for $4.4 million to $5 million in furniture, fixtures and equipment costs or $4 million yearly in estimated operating costs.

Naming rights donations would be deposited into a segregated DLC account that the county Clerk of Courts and Comptroller can inspect, review or audit, in addition to the DLC’s books, records and

which supports county residents trying to build their lives, full-time jobs and careers.

“This drive has been a special gift for our clients as some cannot afford Christmas, so to watch the joy in the faces of a mom or dad is the best thank-you someone could ask for,” said Project Help CEO Eileen Wesley.

It’s Project Help’s third year for the drive, which rotates the recipients. The non-profit sees more than 250 new clients yearly and about 100 ongoing clients monthly in Naples and Immokalee.

Toys were delivered directly to the police department on Riverside Drive by Amazon or Pop Toy Co., or hand-delivered by various donors and homeowners associations.

Master Officer Sean Phillips, who oversees the drive, estimated it’s collected more than $85,000 in toys and other items for toddlers, kids and teens since inception. He thanked the community for its yearly support.

“We do a really good job with the infants and the toddlers, but what we run into some challenges with is the young adults — and the reason is the young adults are asking for very different things. They’re asking for hygiene products, socks, underwear and things like that,” Phillips said.

So he reaches out to the homeowners associations, which ask him what’s needed, and the Fraternal Order of Police also donates.

“The Fraternal Order of Police was very generous this year in making a donation, because those hygiene products and socks and underwear just weren’t coming in,” he said. “Rather than the young adults doing without, the Fraternal Order made a generous donation this year to make sure that was taken care of.”

The majority of gifts to Beverly’s Angels were already delivered by Monday, while Project Help receives its gifts a day after the drive ends, Phillips said Monday, adding, “Our patrol car is full, my office is full, the patrol car I drive every day is jam-packed with gifts — so I will be very happy once we make the delivery.”

activities involving donations. The names will be valid as long as DLC operates the mental health center.

Plans for a mental health center have been discussed for years, and development plans got off the ground in 2021. Costs were initially $25 million but rose to $44 million last year, increased to $53.2 million and decreased to $50 million this spring due to value engineering. The complex is slated for five acres DLC owns next to its 8.1-acre campus on Golden Gate Parkway.

The land will be transferred to the county at closing and DLC will lease it for 30 years. After that, the lease can be terminated, renewed for five more years or DLC could purchase the center under predefined terms in the contract, county Facilities Director Brian DeLony told commissioners. DLC will manage routine maintenance, such as repair and replacements, and the county will be responsible for replacing major systems including the HVAC system, repaving the parking lot, replacing the roof and other capital expenses.

Closing is expected in six to 12 months, after site permits are approved, he said, adding that it’s expected by late January. The South Florida Water Management District permit was approved last month and the Florida Agency for Health Care & Administration is expected to approve it by the second quarter of 2025. In January, commissioners will vote on the guaranteed maximum costs for the construction contract.

Burgess said DLC’s main campus currently operates as a “behavioral-health emergency room” for Collier County, with 33 adult inpatient beds. “In fiscal year ’24, the revenues were about $7.7 million

and our expenses for those services were about $10.1 million, so we have a deficit already for those services,” he said.

The new center will triple DLC’s ability to serve Collier’s population. Of clients it serves, Burgess said, 61% have no insurance, 22% have Medicaid, which pays about 50% of costs, about 4% have Medicare and 13% have private insurance. DLC currently gets Medicare reimbursement for outpatient services but plans to obtain certification for inpatient care for clients 65 and older.

“This is the backdrop of the challenge that we face each and every day at DLC, and in not only trying to maintain what we’re doing with cost going up year over year, but to grow what we’re doing,” Burgess said.

Projected revenue for 2032 is $19.7 million, with a yearly loss of $6.4 million — $4.1 million more than current operating losses, which the non-profit makes up for through donations.

The new complex will take pressure off the county jail, where inmates with mental illness and substance-abuse issues are being held. Years ago, they were transported to NCH, but DLC handles them now.

“Jails are the largest mental-health facility in a community,” Sheriff Kevin Rambosk told commissioners, noting the jail’s average population is about 750 inmates, with about 63% receiving mental-health or behavioral services.

That community mental health need has increased, Rambosk said, noting that in 2006, there were 377 people committed under the Baker Act, with slightly fewer than 800 in 2020, and about 1,750 last year.

Rambosk said the jail currently houses 116 detoxing inmates,

which takes about six months, and they go to DLC after they finish their sentence. Not everyone wants treatment, he said, but DLC helps prevent them from turning to drugs and crime again. “Collier County is the safest community in the nation,” Rambosk said, adding that it’s due to the available programs, which he called “essential and critical.”

“We would not be able to operate without the dollars and the resources that you provide to us,” he said.

But some commissioners didn’t believe the naming rights would fill the shortfall.

“Since 1968, you’ve taken the risk and you’ve made it work,” Commission Chair Chris Hall said, adding, “I’m not convinced that this is the right model.”

Commissioner Bill McDaniel Jr. said everyone agrees this is needed, but he has “huge concerns.”

“I have concerns with that capacity to be able to raise the money to be able to offset these overages … so that it doesn’t come back on the taxpayers … the community,” McDaniel said. “We, the board, need to pull the trigger to make a decision as to whether to go forward with this development … or do something different that is more cost-effective, that is more attainable.”

If naming rights and other fundraising aren’t sufficient, he said the county would need to say, “Time out!” and have another plan ready.

Vice Chair Burt Saunders suggested they finish the naming-rights agreement and discuss operating expenses with DLC. County Manager Amy Patterson told commissioners she and DeLony would work with DLC before commissioners vote on the construction contract in January.

ABOVE: Master Officer Sean Phillips receives a ball from Max, a crisis care canine, who wants to get in on the holiday spirit of giving. Phillips oversaw this year's toy drive, which has collected more than $85,000 in toys and other items for toddlers, kids and teens, since the drive's inception five years ago.

LEFT: A Naples Police cruiser is filled to the brim with toys and other items for youngsters.

Photos courtesy Naples Police Department

OUT & ABOUT

Santa and Mrs. Claus enjoy their time with furry, four-legged and feathered friends during Santa Paws on Third Street. Pet owners brought their four-legged loved ones to pose with Jolly Old St. Nick during the Dec. 14 event.

Photography by Liz Gorman

A ghost ant exorcism ...

HOW TO KEEP A COMMON HOUSE PEST FROM RETURNING

By Melanie Pagan

If you live in Southwest Florida, it’s not a matter of “if” your house will be haunted. It’s a matter of “when.”

By ghost ants, that is.

“They are the most common nuisance invader here in Southwest Florida,” said Luke Hall, Naples native and founder and owner of Certified Pest Control.

The partially translucent creatures are classified as “nuisance” pests because they don’t cause structural damage or disease. Still, they’re just as attracted to Collier County’s sunny, water-rich environment as humans. They love hanging out in bathrooms and kitchens, with high moisture zones and promises of sweet treats (such as sugar containers and even toothpaste).

In a frazzled fit, you might find yourself reaching for household cleaners to wipe away a wave of these tiny terrors on your countertops, but that just makes matters worse.

“It actually makes the colony almost more agitated, and they're going to come back with a vengeance,” Hall said.

If you want to go the DIY route, he suggested getting over-the-counter gel baits.

They’ll ingest the bait and take it back to their colony, versus getting their nests disturbed by spray, which can lead to more trouble.

“They’ll break [the nest] down and rebuild it stronger, and they’ll end up coming in other parts of the house that maybe they weren't originally coming in at,” Hall said.

Since ghost ants — commonly miscalled sugar ants — tend to invade homes for elevated shelter in rainy summer and warmth in cooler winter, there are a few things you can do ahead of time to keep these bugs at bay.

conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health,” but there was now enough evidence of its potential risk, including a reduction of more than four IQ points to children, that he ordered the EPA to strengthen federal Toxic Substances Control Act regulations to address health risks.

Armed with that ruling, city residents on Oct. 2 urged council to remove fluoride and Council directed City Attorney Matthew McConnell to draft a resolution so it could hold two public hearings.

Fluoridation has been controversial for decades. In February, the Board of County Commissioners, after similar public pressure, stopped fluoridating water after 39 years, saving the county $126,000. The city of Marco Island and Everglades City do not fluoridate water.

Speakers who urged the city to remove fluoride cited lowered IQ levels, the federal ruling and research that shows fluoride is a dangerous neurotoxin, not a naturally occurring mineral. They contended it places liability on the city because it’s a forced medical treatment that violates the state Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities statute.

Fluoride advocates urged council to wait for the EPA to act, saying the levels are safe and fluoride is needed, as well as toothpaste. They noted the levels cited in the federal ruling are twice those the city uses.

Dr. Alexis A. Diaczynsky, a dentist and past president of the Collier County Dental Association, said much of the controversy is due to a misinterpretation of the facts, including the federal ruling that relied on the National Toxicology Program’s research. “The presumed assumption is fluoride lowers IQs,” Diaczynsky said. “There are studies out there proving the opposite.”

She said a 2021 Spanish study found mothers’ prenatal fluoride exposure was associated with higher cognitive scores for boys, while a 2022 Australian study followed boys and girls exposed to fluoride and found no change in emotional and behavioral development or cognitive function through age 18. In addition, she said, a 30-year New Zealand study published in 2020 tested IQ levels throughout lifetimes and found no link between fluoride and IQ.

But Dr. Tim Driscoll, a retired Chicago dentist, told Council that he began practicing in 1986 and within two years, his practice was no longer recommending fluoride toothpaste, rinses or in-office treatments.

“It was a known neurotoxin even back then, and we believed in informed consent for all of our patients,” Driscoll said. “Patients could still request fluoride treatment or buy it over-the-counter by their own discretion.”

Driscoll, a founding member of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry, said that group found no changes when fluoride was added, but by 2000, they found fluoride hid signs of early tooth decay. Using lasers and micro-instruments, they discovered fluoride hardened the tooth’s outer enamel, but there was a high incidence of tooth decay deep within the tooth, “causing more extensive and expensive restorative care for patients.”

A day after the decision, Dr. Johnny Johnson Jr., a pediatric dentist and president of the American Fluoridation Society in north Florida, said he couldn’t attend the Naples hearing because he was in Tavares, in Lake County, urging that city council to keep fluoridating water. The vote was postponed until Dec. 18 to research the issue further.

But if you’d prefer to bring in the big guns, professional treatment can include an inspection to locate interior and exterior entry points and baiting ghost ants.

“They typically work well with getting rid of ghost ants without calling in a professional’s help,” Hall said, noting that witnessing increased activity for the first day or two after installing the traps is normal.

Typically, they enter from an outside source, such as a hibiscus or other sappy plant flowering on your porch, or a palm frond fanning your front windows. Trim shrubbery that comes too close to your house so you’re not creating an easy path for pests to enter inside, and make sure all entry points are appropriately sealed up, especially after any recent storm damage, said Kyle Selbach, director of operations at All U Need Pest Control and Gulfshore Business 2024 40 Under 40 alumnus.

“Each pest has its own physical driver for invading your house. They’re looking for a more palatable element to live in,” Selbach said. “Don’t make your house the Ritz-Carlton for them.”

“There are so many of these happening here right now,” Johnson said, adding that he’s caused many municipalities statewide and nationwide to reconsider. “This happened several years ago after I helped Pinellas County return fluoridation. Then I began helping other communities. The focused attacks began, but they were unsuccessful.”

With a new political atmosphere, he said, opponents are now using a different tactic, citing the federal ruling and National Toxicology Program study, which used “flawed” research.

“We are going to have losses, but we will turn this around,” he said. “Ultimately, it may have to happen at the ballot boxes like it did in Pinellas.”

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COLLIER TECHNICAL SCHOOLS RESPOND TO INCREASED INTEREST

By Melanie Pagan

Soon, students interested in the type of career technical training offered at Lorenzo Walker Technical College and Immokalee Technical College will be able to do so under one accredited entity: Collier County Technical College.

The transition is in the works, said Carlos Artime, executive director of career and technical education, secondary, post-secondary and adult and community education programs at Collier County Public Schools.

Trade school enrollment is on the rise, increasing 4.9% from 2020 to 2023, as university enrollment during the same period declined 0.6%, according to a November report by education marketing firm Validated Insights.

It comes just in time.  Trade school enrollment is on the rise, increasing 4.9% from 2020 to 2023, as university enrollment during the same period declined 0.6%, according to a November report by education marketing firm Validated Insights.

This trend reflects a growing awareness of the advantages trade studies can have, including reduced debt burden and practical job placement — increasingly important in a time of high inflation and for a workforce seeking specialized skills.

“As soon as they graduate, they’re ready to go,” Artime said of students obtaining a trade degree in Collier County, adding that Lorenzo Walker Technical College adult graduates from the 2023-24 school year

have an 89% job placement rate. On a broader scale, more than 70% of trade school graduates get a job related to their field of study, as opposed to 40% of college graduates, according to World Metrics, which offers real-time global aggregate statistics.

Lorenzo Walker Technical Col-

lege and iTech have occupational advisory boards for each program with field experts who can weigh in on local needs. And to maintain national accreditation, LWTC and iTECH must offer programs approved by the Florida Department of Education.

Current areas of high demand

include aviation mechanics, automotive technology, health care and HVAC, according to Artime. Each program has an entrepreneurial component, and LWTC is in the process of adding a registered nursing program to meet a growing demand.

“This is the first time ever that in Collier, the technical colleges are

able to offer registered nursing programs. We have a really, really high shortage of registered nurses in the country, but specifically in Collier County,” he said.

Practical nursing graduates can expect to start around $23 per hour, Artime said, which is about the $23.13 hourly wage an adult with no children needs to live in Collier County, according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. Starting pay for graduates of other in-demand programs can range from $23 to $29, Artime noted, depending on the field.

While the average starting salary of trade school students is lower ($35,720) compared to college graduates ($50,944), according to World Metrics, they may have less to pay off, as the average cost of attending a trade school program is $33,000, compared with the average cost of a bachelor’s degree program being $127,000, World Metrics reported.

“One hundred percent of our students complete our program debtfree,” Artime said. That’s because the state of Florida minimizes how much the trade schools can charge per clock hour per student. “Depending on [a student’s] need, they may qualify for a Pell Grant. For the rest of it, we have third-party agencies and scholarships.”

While career paths ultimately come down to wide-eyed students contemplating how to contribute to the workforce, a technical trade in a specialized field can offer strong job prospects in high-demand industries in less time than it takes to obtain a four-year degree.

“When a student completes a [technical school] program, not only are they ready to jump right into a job, but they also have the soft skills needed in order to be successful at the job,” Artime said.

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CREATIVE CLIENT GIFTS CAN BUILD STRONGER BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

By Melanie Pagan

Karen Shepherd, human resources and leadership consultant at Naples-based HR by Karen, has been known to personally deliver homebaked goods straight to her retainer clients’ doorsteps to spread holiday cheer.

Of course, not every company can do this — depending on its size, capabilities and client count — but it can still give meaningful gifts to those who pay for its services.

It’s a wise idea, as client gifts can increase retention, enhance relationships and boost referrals. Nearly 50% of clients say receiving holiday gifts makes them more likely to continue business relationships, according to a 2024 business.com study.

But it’s not just the thought that counts. It’s what’s wrapped up inside that really makes a difference, Shepherd suggested.

“A personalized gift goes a lot fur-

From page 3A

substructural support at intermediate points.

It will remain 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide, with an ipe hardwood surface that’s resistant to rot and should last at least 75 years. However, there will be “bump-outs” to fit benches with unobstructed views.

The superstructure will have two structures — mid-way and at the end — with the iconic Polynesian roof lines that differentiate the pier from others statewide. Due to federal regulations, the new concession area won’t be over water, as it once was.

Boodheshwar said preliminary work is underway onsite and at various offices and the city is coordinating with the county to secure construction staging locations in Naples Bay.

“One of the challenges is getting a lot of building materials and equipment out to this location,” he said, adding that it must be done in a way that’s “least impactful” to residents. But nothing, including demolition, can move forward until the FEMA reimbursement phase is completed.

“We’ve got up to $14 million on the line here and it’s extremely important that we dot the I’s and cross the T’s and basically do what FEMA tells us to do,” Boodheshwar said, calling it a time-consuming process. “Sometimes we do push back on certain

ther,” she said. For instance, if a client is going on a trip, she suggested that you might give him or her a luxury journal and pen to record their experiences.

If you’re unsure what a client might like, gift cards to online retailers, restaurants or gas stations are highly favored due to their versatility and convenience, business.

things and we have been successful, but there are other things that we just have to provide to [FEMA].”

The city submitted a required document showing the final damage description and dimensions and will submit the engineer’s opinion of probable costs, which is needed before FEMA allows work to move forward. In the future, Boodheshwar said, Naples plans to seek more FEMA funding for mitigation elements that make the pier more resilient and sustainable in future storms, so it’s working closely with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott’s office to expedite the process.

The biggest holdup is with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is reviewing many piers nationwide, he said, adding, “We’re still moving and we’re hopeful for some big, big important answers here in the coming weeks and months.”

Councilwoman Beth Petrunoff asked about the holdup with FEMA and when the pier will be completed, noting residents send council members many letters asking about that.

Boodheshwar called the FEMA process “significant” due to the expected $14 million reimbursement.

“We don’t want the Naples taxpayers to have to pay. We’re going to share [costs] with the rest of America — their taxes,” he said. “… The goal is to keep chipping away at our local share.”

To donate to help rebuild Naples Pier, go to: bit.ly/donatetonaplespier

“A gift should always be accompanied by a handwritten note. ... that's how you personalize it.”

com research reveals. And Shepherd said there’s still room for a special touch when you go that route.

“Providing an experience is one of the best gifts,” she said, proposing a gift card to the movies, wrapped in classic movie-style popcorn wrap, bearing the words “Popcorn is on me.”

Another idea: “Maybe it’s a gift

card to an Italian restaurant. Attach the gift card to a basket of pasta with the note, ‘For one night at home, one night out,’” she said. “It’s a gift card with a little creativity and thought.”

Charitable giving can also be a hit with philanthropic Collier County folks. For those clients, Shepherd advised donating to their favorite charity and alerting them with a message such as, “A gift has been made in your honor. Thank you so much for your business this year,” she said.

Avoid presents branded by your company, Shepherd said, as clients can perceive it as more about your business than them. Many gift recipients surveyed by business.com said gifts with prominent branding felt like promotional materials rather than genuine gestures of gratitude. The report showed that those gifts were often given away.

“It shouldn’t be transactional,” Shepherd said. “When there’s transactional intent, it just gets thrown in the trash.”

You can still give a branded item if it features the client’s business or likeness, though.

“That’s different because you’re not talking about your brand, you’re talking about their brand,” Shepherd said.

Always consider personal circumstances around gift-giving, such as the loss of a loved one and different holidays celebrated. One such way to remain sensitive and even stand out is by giving gifts before or after the winter holidays, Shepherd notes.

Determine a budget — $30 is the median expenditure per gift, according to business.com — that reflects thoughtfulness, usefulness, industry and client relationships. And no matter what the gift is, tailor it with a handwritten touch for extra effect.

“A gift should always be accompanied by a handwritten note. It’s so important,” Shepherd said. “It’s not always convenient, it’s not always easy, but that’s how you personalize it. It just goes a long way.”

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A rts & LEISURE

Ongoing events

A collection of masters

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays through Jan.

5 at Naples Art Institute, 795 Park Ave., Naples. “Adventures in Art:

The Guild Hall Collection” brings some astounding artists’ works from the 20th century — Andy Warhol, Childe Hassam, Roy Lichtenstein, Elaine de Kooning and more. $15, $10 members. naplesart.org or 239.262.6517

Ritz Gingerbread House

Weekdays 5-8 p.m.; weekends

11 a.m.-8 p.m. through Dec. 24 at Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort, 280 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Naples. Ritz-Carlton chefs present their 2024 Gingerbread House Experience. Free for local residents and resort guests. Valet parking fee of $10 applies.

North Pole on Third

4-7 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays

— The North Pole on Third: Fleischmann Plaza. Live Christmas music Thursdays and Fridays, snowfall at 7 p.m. all three days.

‘Christmas Story’ musical

7:30 p.m. WednesdaysSaturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 22 at the Kizzie inside Sugden Community Theater, 701 Fifth Ave. S. Musical version, from Naples Players, of the famous film following young Ralphie’s Christmas quest for a Red Ryder BB gun. $50-$55. naplesplayers. org or 239.263.7990

Marco holiday comedy

7:30 p.m. through Dec. 20, 3 p.m. Dec. 21-22 at Arts Center Theatre, Marco Town Center, 1089 Collier Blvd., Marco Island. The Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some): Several actors, fed up with another year of A Christmas Carol, mosh together every Christmas story they know. $30. marcoislandart.org or 239.784.1186

‘The Magic of Lights’

6-9 p.m. nightly through Jan. 4 at Paradise Coast Sports Complex, 3940 City Gate Blvd. N. Drivethrough show of two million-plus lights include 32-foot, animated Mattel Waving Christmas Barbie, prehistoric Yule scene with lifesized celebrating dinosaurs, more. Advance: $19 car; at the gate: $32 car weekdays, $37 weekends. playparadisecoast.com

Arsenault retrospective

9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays now through Feb. 15 at Marco Island Historical Museum, 180 S. Heathwood Drive, Marco Island. Paul Arsenault’s “Reflections of South Florida: A 50-Year Art Adventure.” Free. themihs.info/ museum/ or 239.389.6447

Art mascots at Revs 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays at the Revs Institute, 2500 Horseshoe Drive S., Naples. “Roaring Twenties, Rolling Art: French Automotive Mascots,” exclusive French car mascots (often called hood ornaments in the U.S.) from the Jon Zoler collection that are artist-designed small sculptures created for customers such as Hermès. $20, $15 for military, students, educators; ($10 more for docent-guided tours).

CALENDAR

CHANUKAH CELEBRATIONS

5-6 p.m. Dec. 26 at the lawn of Mercato, 9110 Strada Place, Naples. Celebrate Chanukah and light the menorah with music, food and fun. The Naples Klezmer Revival Band entertains, and Chef Dalia will offer Israeli food, including traditional sufganiot (deep-fried, jelly-filled donuts). There are gelt and balloon creations for the kids. Free, but registration is required at jewishnaples.org

Then, 3:30-6 p.m. Dec. 29 at Cambier Park, 755 Eighth St. S., Naples, it’s the Chanukah Street Fair. Entertainment — face painters, caricaturists, jugglers and stilt walkers —along with a sky rider show, Jewish music, student performances and rides. Chanukah celebration sponsored by Chabad Naples also includes food such as kosher latkes, sufganiot, hot dogs and more. It includes the light of a giant glow graffiti menorah. Free admission. chabadnaples.com or 239.262.4474

Advance tickets required for entry. revsinstitute.org or 239.687.7387

Shroud of Turin sculpture On exhibition indefinitely at Canizaro Exhibit Library, Ave Maria Library, 5050 Ave Maria Blvd., and The Ark Chapel, Ave Maria. A commissioned 14-foot sculpture. Free. 239.280.2500

At Baker Museum 10 a.m.-4 p.m. TuesdaysSaturdays, noon-4 p.m. Sundays at The Baker Museum, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. To Feb. 2, “Alex Katz, Theater and Dance,” artist’s collaboration with staging; “As We Rise: Photographs from the Black Atlantic”; to Jan. 5, “Becky Suss: The Dutch House,” inspired by the 2019 novel. $10; student or military (with I.D.), $5; SNAP benefits (with EBT card), $1; ages to 17 or younger, free. artisnaples. org or 239.597.1900

Breakfast with Santa 8 a.m. first seating Dec. 21-23 at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tíburon, 2600 Tiburon Drive, Naples. With Santa and Mrs. Claus, elves. Buffet, keepsake photo. $119.70; ages 2-12, $94.50; younger than 2, $18.90. Seatings on the half hour. Reservations required. Fees apply to all. ritzcarlton.com

Botanical Garden lights

Beginning 6 p.m. through Jan. 5 — Naples Botanical Garden, 4820 Bayshore Drive, Naples. Hours vary; closed Dec. 24-25 and Dec. 31. Johnsonville Night Lights in the Garden tranforms the gardens into a world of colored light displays. Food at the Fogg Cafe, glow bag option at a higher price. $40, children $20. Members half-price. Discounted tickets after 8 p.m. naplesgarden.org

Candlelight Christmas Carols 6:30 p.m. Dec. 20 in Cambier Park, 755 Eighth Ave. S., Naples. Pre-caroling food/beverage concessions available at 5:30 p.m. Lyric sheets and electric candles provided. Bring seating. Donations to Hope4Kids of Southwest Florida, hopeswfl.org

Unity of Christmas Extravaganza 6-8 p.m. Dec. 20-21 at Unity of Naples, 2000 Unity Way (off Davis Boulevard), Naples. Children’s activities of designing an ornament or stocking; music; prize wheel; walkway of 25 decorated trees and 80,000 lights; free hot beverages, cookies, popcorn. Sanctuary open for meditation. Free admission. unitynaples.org

‘Home for the Holidays’ 7:30 p.m. Dec 20, 21; 2 p.m. Dec. 21-22 at G&L Theatre, The Community School of Naples, 13275 Livingston Road, Naples. TheatreZone’s original musical spectacular, with traditional and popular Christmas songs, elaborate costumes and Christmas-themed scenery. $50-$85. theatre.zone or 888.966.3352

Cookies & Milk with Santa 10 a.m.-noon Dec. 21 at 1361 Andalusia Terrace, Marco Island. Sponsored by Christmas Island Style and Marco Island Parks and Recreation. Free.

Christmas Around the World 5-10 p.m. Dec. 21 at Immokalee Sports Center, 505 Escambia St., Immokalee. This local tradition brings vendors, games, prizes, food available. Free admission.

This weekend (Dec. 20, 21, 22)

Philharmonic Holiday Pops

7:30 p.m. Dec. 20-21, 2 p.m. Dec. 21-22 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. The Naples Philharmonic, with Jacomo Bairos, conductor; the Naples Philharmonic Chorus, Jeremy T. Warner, director; and the Naples Philharmonic Youth Chorus, Barbara Sletto, director, in its annual holiday show. $55-$85. artisnaples.org or 239.597.1900

Holiday Movie

5:30 p.m. Dec. 20 in Veterans’ Community Park, 901 Park St., Marco Island. Sponsored by Christmas Island Style and Marco Island Parks and Recreation. Free. christmasislandstyle.com

Marco Boat Parade 6 p.m. Dec. 21 to and from the Jolley Bridge through Collier Bay. Boats bedecked with Christmas lights and themes are the stars of the Marco Christmas Island Style Boat Parade. Route at christmasislandstyle.com

Mr. Glen’s Holiday Science Show

7 p.m. Dec. 21 at Norris Community Center, 755 Eighth Ave. S., Naples. Educational content onstage with a sense of humor this holiday season. Participants come on stage for wacky winter-themed science experiments. Family show. $17.85. eventbrite.com

Next week (Dec. 23-26)

‘Some Like It Hot’ 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 24 and 2629 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. A new musical stage version of the classic film, in which two musicians on the lam after witnessing a murder take refuge, disguised as women, in an all-female orchestra. $109-$180. artisnaples.org or 239.597.1900

Pioneer Christmas for kids

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 26, 27, 28 and 31 at the Marco Island Historical Museum, 180 S. Heathwood Drive, Marco Island. Join the museum staff in the Pioneer Gallery during the week between Christmas and New Year’s for crafts and activities. Learn how the pioneers on Marco Island created decorations and celebrated this time of year. colliermuseums.com or 239.252.1440

Chanukah Celebration

5-6 p.m. Dec. 26 at the lawn of Mercato, 9110 Strada Place. Celebrate Chanukah and light the Menorah with music, food and fun. The Naples Klezmer Revival Band entertains, and Chef Dalia will offer Israeli food, including donuts. There are gelt and balloon creations for the kids. Free, but registration is required at jewishnaples.org

Next weekend (Dec. 27, 28, 29)

Chanukah Street Fair

3:30-6 p.m. Dec. 29 at Cambier Park, 755 Eighth St. S., Naples. Entertainment — face painters, caricaturists, jugglers and stilt walkers — along with a sky rider show, Jewish music, student performances rides. Chanukah celebration sponsored by Chabad Naples also includes food such as kosher latkes, sufganiot (traditional deep-fried, jellyfilled doughnuts), hot dogs and more. It includes the light of a giant glow graffiti menorah. Free admission. chabadnaples.com or call 239.262.4474

Camerata concert 4 p.m. Dec. 29 at St. John's Episcopal Church, 500 Park Shore Drive, Naples. Music of Handel, Goldstein, Mendelssohn and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 performed by the Camerata of Naples. $55. cameratanaples.org

COVER STORY

VISUAL ARTS

SOUND VS. SIGHT

Artist’s Baker Museum exhibition forges a union

By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com

Raphael Lozano-Hemmer has to read much more than draw. He’s obliged to listen to music rather than perform it.

But his intensive study of sound and his dedication to the music representing it has resulted in Obra Sonora (Sound Work) It’s an exhibition of evocative multisensory art, meditating on immortality, the psychic ignition of sounds and the somewhat intimidating connectivity we have through contemporary technology.

“I think it’s the job of the artist and the curator to create a compelling narrative • we call it a dramaturgy — so that, even though you may be exposed to sculpture and video and immersive works, it makes sense conceptually,” the Mexican-born artist declared. “There’s a story to be told through the experience and we really care about that.

“Sound has a very expansive concept,” he continued. “There is, for example, the sound of our voice. The sound of our biometrics.” Then there is the idea that sound is resident, rather than dissipating: “How do we think of the atmosphere as something that has echoes of everybody who’s spoken from the past?”

Lozano-Hemmer now lives in Canada, but his work has gone around the world, to collections in MoMA and Guggenheim in New York, the Tate in London and museums in Montreal, Mexico City and Singapore. His installations have been showcased at the Venice Biennale, and last week he was in Naples on his way to Art Basel in Miami. Likely some visitors over there will come here for this exhibition alone.

A voice in sculpture

At the entrance, visitors are met by Lozano-Hemmer’s suspended “Volute 2,” which embodies his biometrics research. Its silver aluminum form, by turns bulbous and delicate, was shaped through a laser-tomography scan of the air waves from a voice giving the command, “Listen to the world,” then printed into its three-dimensional concept. Its sculptural appearance evokes admiration for the hidden artistry of spoken words — and a curiosity as to what sculpture of the same pronouncement would look like in other languages.

The first installation, “Microphones,” focuses on nine vintage Shure mics arranged in a circle at heights to accommodate various sizes of visitors. It is attached to a circuit board for a sophisticated program that returns to the speaker who uses it one of any of 600,000 voices recorded from past public exhibitions. A voice from Brazil, a recent stop for the exhibition, may come back to the space in what Lozano-Hemmer calls “an echo from the past.”

It’s a gentler version of the exhibition’s closer, “Voice Array,” a room with a two-wall ribbon of what at first appear to be random LED flashes. However, they’re all synchronized to the sound of 832 voices, samples recorded by people

who have already seen the piece.

The voices murmur at the visitor until he or she presses the intercom to send their own phrase into the mix. That travels in its own flashes along the two walls and knocks out the oldest recording, which announces its words — and is gone forever.

Gone forever may be a harsh pronouncement to Lozano-Hemmer.

He has studied mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage’s The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, an 1837 reconciliation of religion and science positing a theory that sound waves can roam the planet indefinitely. (A copy of the book’s first edition is even in the exhibition.)

While he may not totally subscribe to its philosophy, Lozano-Hemmer is intrigued by its implications: that with the right technology, we could resurrect voices from the past, listen to the speeches of Lincoln and Caesar from their own lips. That idea plays into some of the works in Obra Sonora

Breaths, and sounds, past

One work explores immortality in a breath; it was blown by the late composer Pauline Oliveros into a lined bag and set in an eternal pumped cycle for “Last Breath.”

Like its owner, it occasionally emits a sigh, so visitors in the room at the right time may think they’re not alone.

In another, Lozano-Hemmer of-

fers an audial reclaiming of history through “Voz Alta (Loud Voice),” based on a commissioned memorial to the Mexico City student massacre of Oct. 2, 1968. This is one of his participatory works, in which visitors can make their own statements through a megaphone joined to footage of the square where some 300 protesters were killed by police and the murders kept quiet for decades.

Its eerie components create an atmosphere laced with apprehension, 180 degrees from the high-color immersion tours of room-sized impressionist painting videos popular now.

There are other studies with sound, the most mesmerizing of them in his 10-foot diameter

“Sphere Packing: Bach.” Step inside its perforated walls, and what begins as a single random Bach melody from one lighted speaker ignites other works. At its zenith, every work the composer ever published plays from 1,128 quarter-sized headphone speakers installed uniformly around its interior.

It’s the culmination of a series of artworks he’s been making called “Sphere Packing,” Lozano-Hemmer explained. The alpha to Bach’s omega is the first one he created, a small porcelain globe studded with those same speakers. In this case there are 89 of them, one for each of Richard Wagner’s operas.

“At the time, I thought this was really funny because, of course,

Wagner was … huge and theatrical and four-hour long operas and so on, and yet all of his life’s work fit into this tiny little object,” he said. “Then we got really into it because when you hear it from far away, it sounds like cacophony, but as you get closer you can identify the individual operas. It was kind of fun that you could go from hearing everything to tuning in on a specific piece.”

Lozano-Hemmer and his production team liked the concept so much they expanded to other composers: from famous names such as Mahler and Schubert to Karlheinz Stockhausen, credited as the father of electronic music. The spheres’ compositions were important: The works of choral composer Hildegard von Bingen, for example, are encased in brass to give them power.

The biggest bubble

“Sphere Packing: Bach” may be an outlier to that hope of picking out the melodies at close range. There is so much of his music — 1,128 works, according to Lozano-Hemmer — that by the time your ears discern a melody it has disappeared. The works, which light as they play, cycle from a single melody to a full bubble of digestible sound, swirling around the visitor and within seconds fading back to a single melody.

Part of the wonder of this piece is its engineering. Some six miles of wires had to be strung into the huge electronic braid feeding its rheostatic melodies. The sphere needed to contain Bach’s many works was so big no 3D printer could print it out, Lozano-Hemmer recalled; so he and his team built a spherical, walk-in room of wood traditionally used in musical instruments.

Even locating all of the seminal composer’s works was daunting.

“Finding them was a nightmare,” he said. “Most orchestras will record the same 80 pieces over and over again, so some are really, really opaque and difficult to find.”

Still, the work brings a smile to Lozano-Hemmer, whose theory compares the sound from each speaker to a pixel of light on a TV screen. Alone, each is a dot. But to-

has created his exhibition at The Baker Museum with a sensitivity to all kinds of visitors. During a docent walk-through he pointed that there are some facets of it that may jolt people:

On Atmosphonia: “When you’re alone some people might be freaked out, because when you first enter, all the light that was there turns off, and you go, ‘Oh my God, I broke it.’ So you need to let them know, no, this is the thing. They’ll walk, and then they’ll see the frail little light that gets bigger … The bigger it is, the more speakers you’re hearing.” The visitor will never be in complete darkness, he added.

About Volute: The good news about the flashing of this piece … is that this is not photo-sensitive epilepsy triggering. My dad had photo-sensitive epilepsy. That is a much higher rate of flashing.”

Further, he said, he had not found a subject to test it, but he understood people with cochlear implants would be able to discern the full range of sound on sonic works such as “Sphere-packing: Bach.”

What: Obra Sonora, an exhibition of works by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

When: Now through June 15, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays–Saturdays, noon-4 p.m. Sundays

Where: The Baker Museum, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples

Admission: $10, $5 student or active military (ID required for both); $1 EBT SNAP card holders, with ID Information: artisnaples.org or 239.597.1900

Good to know: There are docent tours, free with admission, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and 1 p.m. Sundays.

gether with other pixels, they become a picture.

“The question we have for sound is: Can that happen with audio? If we have hundreds or thousands of individual loudspeakers with their own sound recording, do they paint a picture that emerges that is different than the individual elements? The answer is yes,” he declared.

Yet Lozano-Hemmer makes no claims to having won his point with Obra Sonora

“It’s a very romantic show, I would say. It’s a romantic show in the sense that we are always striving to materialize sound, to make it visual, to make it tangible — and of course, very often failing. And in that failure there’s a romance.”

BRENDA COOPER IS HERE TO GET TO THE ‘10’IN YOU

By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com

Brenda Cooper’s business, in the larger scheme of things, is creating energy shifts.

For specific job duties, that boils down to the business she gets paid for — being a style coach. But Cooper is firm in her perspective:

“There’s an energetic shift that’s amazing, and when you look good you feel good and you can do good in the world,” declared Cooper, who is bringing a crash course in her philosophy to Naples Feb. 7 to benefit St. Matthew’s House (for details, see the information box).

The event is strategically timed as a part of the organization’s major fundraiser, Naples Automotive Experience, with its welcome reception, auction and Cars on Fifth show. It offers women or men who have significant auto enthusiasts at the show the alternative of an event with her stylistic and social counsel.

Men, Brenda? Of course. She’s handled wardrobes for boxing star

One of the charms of the fashion show Brenda Cooper is putting together for the event is that its basics are coming from the St. Matthew’s Thrift Shop boutique.

George Foreman and football legend Terry Bradshaw.

Cooper has a long history in the fashion counseling business; she won an Emmy for costuming Fran Drescher for the TV series “The Nanny.” She’s worked with modeling such celebrities as Twiggy and singer Donna Summers and been the guest of TV shows such as “The View,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “Extra” and even “The Howard Stern Show.” In 2022, she wrote the book The Silhouette Solution, which attendees will receive.

One of the charms of the fashion show Cooper is putting together for the event is that its basics are coming from the St. Matthew’s Thrift Shop boutique. Some of its models are women who have gone through the program St. Matthew’s House offers; others are employees and administrators of the organization. They’re modeling clothes that declare good style is “budget proof,” as Cooper said during a recent session at which she hunted clothes for her models at the boutique, and fellow models and media could see the effect during a dressing session.

Cooper has been laying out her look-good, do-good mantra for decades and has elements of foundational advice that people often need help putting into practice, among them style tenets that are

simple but can take some mental retooling:

• Color can drain, dominate or illuminate. Cooper emphasizes the colors you like may not necessarily like you. Your clothing will make a fashion statement about you even in your grunge wear, she said, recalling compliments from teens for her sweats — all in her color.

“It isn’t important whether you’re a size 2 or a size 20. There is a version of yourself that is a 10,” Cooper said. “(Start) by wearing the colors that harmonize with your skin tone — which is so powerful it is the first element of dressing, because before we see the shape, the design, the print, we see the colors you’re wearing. And colors affect each other.”

• You don’t have to hide your body if you’re over- or underwººeight. Bring out the best attributes of your shape in the clothing you choose. Cooper’s book assembles groupings of those shapes for people and addresses their usage.

“It’s an adjustment,” Cooper said of her clients. She marveled at the comment from one of her makeover models, who told her, “I feel so uncomfortable because I’m not used to looking this fabulous.”

“Oftentimes people think that fashion and style are superficial. How could this possibly be superficial?” Cooper asked. “When I’m working with someone, I find the essence. I don’t impose trends. I don’t impose, you know, what’s hot in the magazines. I find what the essence is of the person I’m working with. I find their style ID. When we look good on the outside and feel good on the inside, we can tackle anything,” Cooper said.

Cooper’s sister-in-law, a Naples resident, became familiar with the work of St. Matthew’s House and asked Cooper if she might consider coming to Florida from Los Angeles for a double

cause: helping freshen the looks of some of the residents who were obtaining jobs, and speaking at a fundraiser-fashion show for St. Matthew’s House.

That is the “do good” conclusion that should follow looking and feeling good, according to Cooper.

“At this stage of my life, to be able to give back is so fulfilling for me,” she said, adding that coming to volunteer her help to St. Matthew’s House was an easy ask.

“I looked at the videos. I looked at the graduation and it made me emotional — seeing the transformation of people’s lives, the feeding of the hungry, the housing of the homeless and the treating of the addicted,” Cooper said. “I’m overjoyed to contribute.”

LUNCHEON FOR A NEW LOOK

What: “Forever Fabulous Women: A Styling Experience” with style consultant Brenda Cooper, narrated style show, English-style tea and copy of Cooper’s book, The Silhouette Solution, to benefit St. Matthew’s House

When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 7

Where: Vineyards Country Club, 400 Vineyards Blvd., Naples

Tickets: $500 at naplesautomotiveexperience.org

SCHOOL OF ROCK OPENS IN NAPLES

Owners of the franchise, celebrating its 25th anniversary, say it goes beyond music instruction

By Randy Kambic

For youngsters, it fosters math and social skills, hand-eye coordination, self-esteem and much more. For adults, it revives youthful experiences or fulfills a dream. For all, it’s a blast!

With the parent company celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the first School of Rock franchise in Naples played its initial notes off Pine Ridge Road in mid-October. The franchise is co-owned by husband and wife Jason and Sara Melton, who attest that the concept goes much further than traditional music instruction.

Along with weekly private lessons, the program raises the decibels higher. More time and energy go into weekly rehearsals that place each student in at least one band to learn songs in a specific genre — either ’90s, classic rock, heavy metal or pop — to perform in outside public shows that will be the culmination of each three-month “semester.”

School of Rock was involved in the community even earlier, producing a Battle of the Bands event at the Cambier Park Bandshell last April with performances by five groups. More than $1,000 was raised for a school scholarship fund. It’s planned to be an annual event that will always have a fundraising component.

The nearly 3,000-square-foot facility features eight private instruction rooms, two drum rooms, two rehearsal rooms and a room for 3- to 7-year-old children. The staff includes 10 instructors of six-string and bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocals.

Much more is passed along than the thrill of performing favorite rock songs. “They are learning ‘songmapping’ (intros, verses, choruses, solos and more), how songs are produced, how sounds can be altered for effect, showmanship and more,” Jason said.

The School of Rock method engine software places students into learning songs that match their starting level, ensuring a positive music foundation.

“Some kids get [to play] more songs based on their abilities and if they can play more than one instrument,” Jason said.

Adults can also become rock stars, as the same process is provided for them, albeit somewhat smaller and more streamlined.

Mimi Baker, who relocated to Naples four years ago with her family from New Jersey, where she took some opera lessons as a youngster, enjoys singing in the adult program. “It’s being creative and such a great release from

stresses of everyday life.”

Sara, one of the vocal teachers who also sings in the local AVYA Live band, sees few limits to participants’ singing aspirations.

“We first train the voice to hit the notes. Then, you can learn how to expand your range and do it with flair,” she exulted.

When a youth group was about to perform

“What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes for the second time during a recent rehearsal, instructor Matt McMahon exclaimed, “Now you’re going to play it like you wrote it!”

Jason expects 18 advanced youngsters plus some adults will perform, rotating in several groups, at South Street — Founders Square on Feb. 2. In-house concerts involving beginner kids and parents’ night out events also are held.

Jason believes they are striking the right chords with students. “It’s so gratifying to see the smiles when they do it right, and then the eagerness to learn another song!”

lead vocalist Allison Gonzalez and backing singer Justin Goodwin, perform during a recent rehearsal at School of Rock in Naples.

LEFT: School of Rock instructor Matt McMahon gives a tip to lead guitar player Malena Mullman during a recent rehearsal session.

Helping VETERANS Heal & Thrive

This Holiday Season

The holidays can bring warmth and joy, but for many Veterans, this season can heighten emotional challenges and feelings of isolation.

David Lawrence Centers and Home Base Florida are here to offer the compassionate, specialized support they need.

Our Veterans have given so much for our country. This season, we’re giving back by helping them find the care and connection they deserve.

OUTDOORS

NATURE’S BALANCE

Sense of urgency discovered in Wildlife Corridor expedition

By Kelly J. Farrell

Three trekkers experienced firsthand what is at stake in Southwest Florida’s Wildlife Corridor on a week-long journey through nature dubbed the Strand to Slough Expedition.

Em Kless, Kenton Beal and Laura Foht bicycled, kayaked, walked, camped — and floated on an inflatable turtle — through private and public lands Nov. 16-22. They traversed areas that are already under conservation, as well as areas that are especially vulnerable to development. They explored a critical portion of the 18 million contiguous acres of the Florida Wildlife Corridor that has many thousands of acres of developments in various permitting stages in Collier and Lee counties.

Trekkers expressed a connection with each other from the outset, riffing off each other’s sentiments and words just one day after first meeting each other.

“We all sort of have the same feeling about the power of nature,” said Beal, a consultant for private companies seeking to mitigate the environmental effects of development.

“It’s heard in the whisper of the wind through the sable palms,” Beal said.

“The sounds are like a choir,” chimed in Kless, of Naples Botanical Garden.

“It takes me to the book Braiding Sweet Grass, and the stories of the spiritual connections,” added Foht, a fine arts teacher at Community School of Naples, referring to the book by botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer that expressed the importance of Indigenous knowledge.

This connection strengthened in the following days once the expedition began with trekkers gathering at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park to bicycle Jane’s Scenic Highway, a narrow, 11-mile road of dirt and mud in the western Florida Everglades.

“There is no choice between human society and nature,” Kless said. “There is an illusion that we are separate from the land and water and wild species, but their health is our physical, economic and emotional health.”

Kless, Beal and Foht walked in the footsteps of the trekkers from the six treks that occurred before them, including the original 2012 expedition. The original expedition included four trekkers who journeyed 1,000 miles over the course of 100 days from Florida Bay to Oleander, Georgia. That initial expedition was the birth of the Corridor and led to the 2022 Emmy-winning film Path of the Panther

This seventh trek was similarly joined by filmmakers, this time three women from Days Edge Productions, as well as a support crew.

During that first journey, the Wildlife Corridor was not yet part of the Florida vernacular.

Now, 12 years later, the expedi-

“There is an increasing disconnect between nature and kids. It’s important for them to see that I’m having fun out here,” she said.

“A lot think I’m going to die,” she said at the outset. But instead, nature is life-giving, she affirmed upon her return.

Her students soon followed in Foht’s footsteps, experiencing their own field trip to Corkscrew Sanctuary after the trek, where Foht was able to put her fresh perspective into her teaching.

Kless was particularly inspired to join the expedition with the opportunity to spend more time in the Fakahatchee, which she described as the Amazon of North America and one of the most distinctive areas in the U.S.

Beal returned from the trek to his work in environmental land banking and mitigation, where he helps developers offset the effects their projects have on wetlands, nature and the environment in a way that maintains the intent of the Clean Water Act, he said.

“I recognize the challenge the Florida Wildlife Corridor faced in the outreach to landowners,” Beal said.

While people may not necessarily want to change their quality of life, the Corridor is offering an opportu-

nity for landowners to expand their legacies to include protection of the natural environment for the future, Beal said.

“The science is all there on the importance of preserving nature, and the science is clear on the importance of preserving certain species,” he said.

Purchasing properties for protection from overdevelopment is necessary for generations to come, he added. “It’s amazing what the partnerships of the Corridor have been able to do,” Beal said. “Still, there’s more to do.

“We all recognize that development will continue as the population grows. Many families have been in Florida for generations, many residents are new, but one thing remains: We all rely on the land below us, and protecting it helps protect us all.”

Former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) was one of several legislators who also blazed a trail, so to speak, for the newest trek. A supporter of the Corridor since its earliest days, she helped pass the bill that made way for the Corridor and later for the Florida

Wildlife Corridor Act to help further fund it.

“And we hit the ground running,” Passidomo said.

Funding has included $300 million in Rural and Family Lands Program funds to help farmers preserve their working lands, she said. Another $100 million in recurring revenue has been dedicated each year. Negotiations with the Seminole Tribe bring in another $650 million each year to purchase rural lands for the Corridor.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is ultimately beneficial to all, Passido-

mo said: “Providing incentives so farmers and ranchers stay on their land to farm and ranch provides a win-win-win.”

Ranchers and farmers keep their land; residents keep local food sources at sustainable prices; aquifers are protected; storm buffers are maintained; and wild animals have space needed to roam and remain for generations to come.

“Being out on the bustling roads between land preserves, seeing acres and acres of property that bulldozers are set to roll over, brought a sense of urgency to the trek,” Kless said.

FC NAPLES SIGNS PHYSICIANS REGIONAL AS KEY SPONSOR

By David Wasson

The FC Naples professional soccer program is days away from discovering when its inaugural season will begin, but it already knows that a premier medical facility will be onboard for the journey.

The United Soccer League expansion franchise announced that Physicians Regional Healthcare System will be the team’s title sponsor and official health partner on a multiyear basis starting next year — marrying the team with the Collier County-based hospital network, medical facilities and specialists.

With the agreement, Physicians Regional’s orthopedic specialists will ensure that FC Naples players remain in top physical condition during the team’s inaugural League One season.

“FC Naples is proud to partner with Physicians Regional Healthcare System as our title sponsor and official healthcare partner,” said Roberto Moreno, the CEO of FC Naples. “… We are committed to promoting wellness, in-

spiring healthy lifestyles and making a positive impact in our community.

“This partnership goes beyond soccer: Together, we aim to build a stronger, healthier Naples and create a legacy of unity and well-being for our region.”

The partnership with FC Naples and Physicians Regional will put the health group’s logo on the FC Naples uniform tops for the upcoming season — which will begin this spring with home games at Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Naples.

Physicians Regional Healthcare System serves Naples and the greater Southwest Florida community with three hospitals offering exceptional care in more than 45 specialties and sub-specialties. With more than 300 physicians, Physicians Regional is committed to providing advanced medical services, including cardiology, orthopedics, spine care, neurosurgery, women’s health and 24-hour emergency care at its Collier Boulevard and Pine Ridge locations, according to information provided.

FC Naples also has added several founding partners as well as community partners — lev-

els that allow local businesses to support the team in its debut. FC Naples’ founding partners are Tide Cleaners, Parker Hudson Homes, Arthrex, the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau, Seminole Casino Hotel, The Law Offices of Marc L. Shapiro, P.A. and Ave Maria.

Community partners include Statement Jewelers, Yellowstone Landscape, PFS Wealth Management Group, Hopsized Craft Beer Brewing Co., Naples Princess, the Florida Everblades and Uptown Chemist.

As a United Soccer League expansion team, FC Naples’ mission is to create a world-class family experience and forge a title-contending team to be the pride of Southwest Florida, the provided information stated. Doing so means also adding players, and FC Naples has done that in recent weeks, as well.

The franchise’s first signee in team history is Jayden Onen, a versatile attacking midfielder who brings a rich pedigree from both the English Football League and United Soccer League One. A North London native, Onen began his professional play with Brentford’s B team, then played with Reading FC and Shef-

field Wednesday before moving to the United States. Onen also played with Forward Madison and most recently with Lexington SC, the latter stint earning a nomination for the USL League One Young Player of the Year in 2023. FC Naples also has signed versatile midfielder Kevin O’Connor, who has competed on Ireland’s U21 National Team and in the Europa League and the English Championship. Both Onen and O’Connor will report to Naples in mid-January to begin training at Paradise Coast Sports Complex ahead of the 2025 season.

Although the 2025 schedule has yet to be finalized, FC Naples will compete in the inaugural USL Jägermeister Cup, which will unite clubs from the USL Championship and League One in a groundbreaking interleague competition.

“This partnership is a vital piece of our success on and off the field.” FC Naples coach Matt Poland said. “Having a healthcare partner that supports our players and keeps them healthy allows for us to get the most out of our team. I am excited to get to work with such a great healthcare system.”

COMICS & PUZZLES

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5.

SPORTS CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, FLORIDA

Speaking of Sports

David Wasson

Where is the center of the golf universe?

Ask random golfers, and the answers you get might be Augusta National or Pebble Beach or St. Andrews. Maybe even a Pine Valley or Pinehurst.

In reality, though, the case very much could be made that the center of the golf universe is literally right around the corner.

Tiburón Golf Club in Naples.

That’s right, the large parcel of land on the northeast corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Airport-Pulling Road is the center of the golf universe.

How can we possibly make that claim, given that Tiburón hasn’t ever hosted a major championship and wasn’t designed by MacKenzie or Raynor or Jones?

Because the best players from every major American tour cycle through Tiburón on an annual basis, that’s how.

Tiburón just closed out its 2024 season in style, hosting 16 premier

PGA Tour players and 16 premier LPGA players in the second annual Grant Thornton Invitational. The latest iteration of what began as the Shark Shootout was held again on Tiburón’s Gold Course, with a mixed-team invitational format competing for equal prize money of $4 million.

Nowhere else can you see the likes of world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson on the same course with Rickie Fowler and Jason Day — and we have it right here in Collier County.

Tiburón’s Gold Course, which tops out at 7,382 yards and opened in 1998 as the first of the two courses on the property, also is the host site of the LPGA Tour’s CME Group Tour Championship. Played annually in November at Tiburón since 2013, the CME Group Tour Championship assembles the top 60 points-earners on the LPGA Tour for the season-ending event — which this year awarded a staggering $4 million to the winner.

That $4 million check this season went to Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, who mastered the Gold Course’s 6,556-yard layout en route to doubling the winner’s check from the previous two years captured by Amy Yang and Lydia Ko. Thitikul’s wind-

Nowhere else can you see the likes of world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson on the same course with Rickie Fowler and Jason Day — and we have it right here in Collier County.

fall eclipsed the winnings by Scottie Scheffler at the Masters ($3.6 million) and by Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship ($3.33 million) and The Open Championship ($3.1 million), and was just behind Bryson DeChambeau’s $4.3 million check from the U.S. Open.

OK, you say, that’s a Silly Season event and an LPGA event. What about some top-quality men’s golf?

Tiburón has that too!

Tiburón’s Black Course, which opened in 2001, has been the home of the Chubb Classic the past three years, bringing a full field of PGA Tour Champions stars to Naples each February to compete right around the corner from your house.

The Chubb Classic has visited

10 different courses across Collier County before settling into the 6,881-yard Tiburón Black Course starting in 2021, and regularly attracts the very best of the over-50 set. World Golf Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer has won the event five times, including two of the last three at Tiburón. A list of past champions also includes Fred Couples, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Hale Irwin and Lee Janzen.

Delivering three championship-level events — essentially backto-back in the case of the CME Group Tour Championship and the Grant Thornton Invitational — Tiburón’s unique infrastructure melds tournament golf seamlessly within both the Tiburón residential community and

the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

That was by design, of course, as Greg Norman created the 36 holes out of native wetlands, now certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary by Audubon International. That means that while Tiburón and the Ritz-Carlton are both bustling with residents and guests, players of all skill levels can enjoy Tiburón feeling like they are alone with nature.

Tournament golf at Tiburón also is a fantastic advertisement for Collier County during the winter months, broadcasting sunny skies and temperate conditions across the country to frustrated, iced-in golfers up north and underscoring just how awesome it is to live and play down here.

Yes, the center of the golf universe is right around the corner here in Naples: the 36 holes of Tiburón Golf Club that you can play right after the world’s best compete on it. Etched from the swamp by a Great White Shark, Tiburón should be a destination for anyone who loves teeing it up.

Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson airs weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on Southwest Florida’s Fox Sports Radio (105.9 FM in Collier County) and streaming on FoxSportsFM. com.

$6M PELICAN BAY COMMUNITY PARK PICKLEBALL CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

By Aisling

Construction on 20 new pickleball courts, refurbished tennis courts and park upgrades totaling $6 million at Pelican Bay Community Park began this month — fully funded by Pelican Bay Foundation under a public-private partnership with Collier County.

Surrounded by about 100 pickleball and tennis players, officials from the Pelican Bay Foundation and Collier County Parks & Recreation and members of the project team — Owen Ames Kimball (OAK) Co., Ritzman Courts, Peninsula Engineering and Parker Mudgett Smith Architects — gathered Dec. 6 for a groundbreaking ceremony next to the eight tennis courts.

“This wouldn’t be possible without our partnership with Collier County, which enabled the foundation to use this land to build this facility in a unique and innovative partnership that really is a pioneer in the area,” Foundation President Tony D’Errico told the crowd. “County officials are watching this closely because this is something they’re very interested in doing in future locations — public and private partnerships.

“This is kind of a test case for them,” he added. “We’re excited to be a part of it, because I think our community benefits extremely well from the addition of pickleball into Pelican Bay.”

Pickleball players are ecstatic after working for years to add pickleball courts, originally within Pelican Bay, then at this park when they couldn’t find land. Once Foundation Director Mike Ruffolo took over the project, players said it began moving forward as a county partnership.

“We were the first ones to stand up in a meeting seven years ago and got booted out, but we persevered,” Pelican Bay resident Edie Verbesky said

of herself and Chris O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan said they went to every foundation meeting until the foundation began listening. “We kept telling them every other community had pickleball and we didn’t have it,” O’Sullivan said. “We gave them everything they needed to progress.”

Under a contract with Collier County, which owns the nearly 15acre park at 764 Vanderbilt Beach Road, the foundation will spend $6 million for improvements, including the playground, two new tennis courts and 20 pickleball courts — half of which will be for the public and half for Pelican Bay residents.

The county and foundation are negotiating a date to fully close the park for construction, which began Dec. 9.

The park serves about 40,000 people yearly within four miles and is the largest green space in the county west of U.S. 41. Only 22% of the green space will be used for the park expansion.

Park users, including Pelican Bay residents, have pushed for pickleball courts for years and have been using modified racquetball courts to play. Many find that to be hard on their knees, so they go miles away to Veterans Community Park or East Naples Community Park.

The park in North Naples was

deeded to the county in 1994 as a community park by Pelican Bay developer WCI, as part of an agreement that allowed WCI to build more densely in the 6,500-home luxury community. The park hasn’t been updated since. The foundation first offered to buy the park eight years ago, but county officials rejected that. Four years ago, the foundation began working on a new proposal after Pelican Bay residents objected to building noisy courts next to their homes.

The foundation has worked through noise mitigation with park neighbors and held numerous town hall meetings to get input from players and neighbors. It took over tennis court concessions and management from the prior vendor in April and the Board of County Commissioners formalized the concession contract in August. The foundation now manages racket-support activities, maintenance and making capital improvements under a 30-year land lease.

The foundation has worked through the permitting process and plans to first build rough structures, finish exterior framing by March and finish by May or June. It expects to finish the courts within six months and the remaining improvements

within a year. The foundation put all the contracts out to bid and used a strict vetting process.

In addition to pickleball courts and an ADA-compliant playground, plans include increasing parking to 109 spaces, building two new HydroGrid, Har-Tru clay tennis courts where the racquetball-handball courts are located now and refurbishing six remaining Har-Tru clay tennis courts. Relocation of the baseball-softball practice area and the addition of lighting infrastructure also are planned. New also will be a large building with a pro shop, maintenance area, restrooms and a shaded area for waiting pickleball players.

The foundation will make fencing, drainage and other repairs, pave sidewalks and add bike racks, landscaping, irrigation, bleachers and 12-foot-high sound-absorbing fencing to minimize pickleball noise to neighboring homes. County officials have said they haven’t received pickleball noise complaints at any parks.

Under the partnership, the county will maintain the property, including the playground and green space. The foundation will manage the remainder, including nets, lighting, court resurfacing and managing courts, at a cost of $400,000 yearly. That

includes staff and an ambassador to oversee games.

The plans initially divided the community, and some tried to halt the project, questioning whether the foundation would share pickleball courts fairly. However, the foundation and county officials assured residents it would be an even split, it would be monitored and the county could end the contract if there were problems.

The annual pickleball membership fee is proposed at $95 for county residents and $125.40 for others, while the annual membership fee for tennis will be $477 for county residents and $632 for non-residents. Other options include junior player memberships or daily, afternoon and evening fees.

Foundation Director Maury Bozman, head of Pelican Bay’s Community Center and Racquets, told the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee on Dec. 4 that management will include top pickleball players Ben and Collin Johns, of Johns Design & Consulting, who will create the programs and curriculum.

“We’ll have over 40 different programs available for our community, from tournaments to clinics to events,” Bozman said.

The pickleball public-private partnership is one of two for Collier Parks & Recreation. Pickle4, headed by Mike Dee and Bob Bowman, took over management of the 65 courts at East Naples Community Park, where the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships are played in spring. It also assumed management of Naples Pickleball Center, which will be rebranded as USOP National Pickleball Center of Collier County. Veterans Community Park has 16 pickleball courts, but that former NPC manager was let go, allowing players to self-manage games with oversight by the county.

For more information, go to: pelicanbaypickleball.com