ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
courtesty of www.ballparkreviews.com FORT MYERS, Fla. — City of Palms Park, the former spring training home of the Boston Red Sox, was once the crown jewel for bringing tourists into the city of Fort Myers. So many fans were pouring into downtown Fort Myers in the ’90s and early 2000s that the city decided to enter into an agreement with Lee County. The city decided in 2003 to deed the park over to the county with the agreement that the city would continue to pay out the remainder of $24.7 million bonds used to build the facility. “We gave it to the county thinking the Red Sox would be here a little longer, but it relieved us of about a million dollar operation it cost us to operate and run the stadium,” said Fort Myers Ward 4 City Council Member Michael Flanders. Flanders, an architect by trade, said he personally flew to Washington D.C. in an attempt to attract the Nationals to come to Fort Myers after the decision had been made that Jet Blue Park would be built in Lee County for the Red Sox. The Nationals, according to Flanders, wanted upgrades to the park, which included player housing, and Lee County wasn’t willing to split those costs with the City of Fort Myers at the time. “The city was left without any conditions for this stadium once the Red Sox left,” Flanders said. The city will continue to pay more than $1 million dollars a year on the bond while any revenue collected directly by the park goes to the county until 2022. The cost benefit analysis for 2015 revealed that the park cost more than $462,000 to maintain, yet only brought in a little over $6,000 in revenue. The revenue on the park has increased to an estimated $30,000 in 2016 due to a contract with Florida Southwestern State College. The school pays the county $1,000 a month for both its baseball and softball teams to practice and play games. The county also collects on ticket sales and concessions sold at FSW games. The county also provided information showing that the expenses on the facility totaled more than $372,000 through the end of August. The county declined to do an interview regarding the park. Instead, a spokesperson provide a statement attributed to assistant county manager Dave Harner: “The City of Palms Park is but one venue in our sports tourism portfolio and has successfully helped us gain an additional share of the sports tourism market.” For 2015, the Lee County Sports Development office reported that Lee County’s total economic benefit was more than $61 million. An estimated $11 million of that amount came from the three-weeks long Roy Hobbs World series, an amateur tournament which is played at City of Palms Park as well as the county’s other major league sports complexes. City of Palms is utilized for several tournaments throughout the year, and a county provided breakdown on days of use showed more than 80 days for tournament play. “You’d be hard-pressed to say that the existence of that stadium in its current location has had a positive impact on that neighborhood around it,” said Christopher Westley, an economics professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. Wesley has studied publicly funded sports stadiums around the nation. Tournaments in Florida often pay little or no rent to use government-run ballparks as long as tournament organizers can promise to book enough hotel rooms. “There’s a strong incentive for governments, especially in Florida to engage in that kind of activity,” Westley said. Lee County Communications Director Betsy Clayton, a county spokesperson, said that all the municipalities benefit from the tourism tax paid at hotels because the dollars go to the visitor and convention bureau’s marketing budget. “In fact, more than half the dollars received by VCB are devoted to marketing the county and its six municipalities,” Clayton wrote in an email. It’s unlikely the majority of the days City of Palms Park is used are bringing any tourist revenues into Lee County. FSW baseball and softball either practiced or played a game there only 162 days in the last year. “I went to some of the first few (games) they played and it was wonderful you could pick your seat and sit anywhere you want, but there was only three or four hundred people in the whole park,” Flanders said of the stadium designed to seat over 8,000 people. He hopes the county will consider bringing more community events to the park that will benefit the city as much as they benefit the county. If anyone has ideas for events at City of Palms Park, email reporter Lauren Sweeney at lauren.sweeney@winknews.com.