Reminder--Come to 3/20 public workshop on downtown Fort Myers mobility plan

Here's a great opportunity to demonstrate support of alternative transportation in downtown Fort Myers.  Come to the public workshop tomorrow evening to share your ideas!

News-Press 3/19/12

 If you go

• 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Harborside Event Center, 1375 Monroe St., Fort Myers
• The public is invited to view multi-modal transportation options under consideration beginning at 5:30 p.m.
• A brief presentation about the project will begin promptly at 6 p.m.
• If you have questions or would like information about the project, contact Kaye Molnar via email to kmolnar@ cella.cc or phone 239-337-1071. Anyone needing special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact Molnar prior to the workshop.

Fort Myers seeks ways to get around downtown

Workshop seeks public input on alternative transportation ideas.

by Michael Braun

Fort Myers is studying ways of getting
around the city without a car.

A public information workshop planned
Tuesday at the Harborside Event Center
will seek public input – ideas, suggestions,
opinions – with the bottom line being how
to access all the city offers but do it by an
alternative mode of transportation.

“We’re trying to promote other means of
transportation than the automobile,” said S
aeed Kazemi, city public works director.

The Downtown Fort Myers Mobility Plan,
being put together by David Plummer &
Associates, will focus on bicycle and
pedestrian facilities, pedestrian crossings,
a bicycle sharing program, public transit,
trolley routes, land use, waterways, roads
and intersections.

The goal is to reduce reliance on cars and
make it easier for people to walk or bike
and use public transit and trolleys, Kazemi
said.

People out and about in downtown Fort
Myers on Sunday were positive about the
plan.

“We rode our bikes downtown for the first
time today,” said Bill Boulton. He and his

 wife, Tina, were sitting at a sidewalk table
at a downtown eatery, relaxing after riding
around the city.

“I think bikes are awesome,” Tina Boulton
said. “We enjoy our time on our bikes.”

She added that the horse and carriage that
is also downtown sometimes is a great way
to promote downtown businesses.

The North Fort Myers couple said the
planned workshop is a good idea and that
it’s about time for ideas such as the ones
being promoted.

“We had a good time on our bikes just
following the roads,” Bill Boulton said. “And
now we’re spending money.”

Jean Porpora of Fort Myers, co-owner of
The Nest, a small shop on First Street, is in
favor of getting rid of traffic on some
streets downtown.

“I’ve always thought First Street would be a
better walking street,” Porpora said.

 

Jimmi Melton, a Fort Myers resident since
1978, said he’d like to see a slow-moving
trolley downtown.

“It would be easy to get off and on,” Melton
said. “I also think the old, classic rickshaws
would be a nice touch.”

The public will be able to view displays of
some of the options the city is considering
at 5:30 p.m. at Harborside. There will be a
presentation of these options at 6 p.m.,
followed by a chance for questions and
comments from those attending. Feedback
from the public will factor into the study.

“We are trying to see what the people
would propose,” Kazemi said. “We want to
know what they’d like to see and get their
ideas. It is all about public input.”

Recommendations from the public
workshop and the resulting mobility plan
will be implemented through amendments
to the city’s comprehensive plan. The goal
of the recommendations is to support and
promote the economic vitality of downtown
Fort Myers.