Have safety and security gone too far in downtown Fort Myers?

Restricting parking to reduce violence in downtown Fort Myers is getting a push to increase safety and security after one man was attacked and a woman shot in August.

This is the latest move after patrols were added and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office set up a mobile command center to patrol crowds.

On Friday or Saturday night, you could pay more to park and might have to look harder to find parking in the downtown area. But Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson told WINK News the city has to do a more complete study before finalizing any plans for downtown safety and security.

Anderson says the sudden push to protect people downtown may be a bit too much.

“I think we need to take it very tempered, calculated approach to how we address the issues that have occurred recently. We have to keep things in perspective,” Anderson said.

First, LCSO parked a mobile command center along Second Street. Then, the county gave the city the go-ahead to close a parking lot on weekend nights after 9 p.m. The city did just that, closing it down this past Saturday night.

“It’s my understanding the two establishments in question had about half the patrons they normally have,” Anderson said.

The mayor believes there are a couple of problem spots downtown, and maybe restricting some parking could help. But Councilman Liston Bochette thinks that’s just the start.

On Tuesday, Bochette plans to hold a meeting and propose more safety and security measures such as raising the price to park on weekend nights and making parking for residents only, which makes the mayor nervous.

“It has to be done in a fair manner. A well thought out manner, not just raise Jack the rates up,” Anderson said. “We have to make sure parking is available for those people who want to patronize downtown. If we lose those patrons, then businesses start to shut down, we go backwards. And we don’t want to do that; downtown has come a long way.”