Fort Myers Beach residents demanding answers from the city

In their first town hall meeting since the storm, four of the five council members for Fort Myers Beach are homeless, including the mayor.

A lot of people on the beach still need water, trash is piling up, medication isn’t being delivered, and the responsibility of trash pick up is in question.

Some relief is coming to the island. Governor DeSantis says he doesn’t want people to worry about paying taxes on homes that are unlivable, so he’s extending the deadline until at least the end of the legislative session.

The people of Fort Myers Beach showed up to the town hall meeting to voice their concerns about the progress and destruction on the island.

“If failure had a face, it would be the clown car that is this city council,” said one person.

“It’s getting worse by the day,” said another.

Residents complained about the lack of information they have received from the city.

“You better get a plan!”

“I’m not leaving if I can’t trust that you’ll keep our town safe. It’s unacceptable. Nobody has listened to our story.”

“There’s no reason why these garbage trucks can’t run daily up and down these streets.”

“And there’s another home impeding on our home. So we wanna know who’s responsible for getting that home off of our home so we could get to our home.”

The council did more listening than talking, but what they will try to talk about is a plan.

They voted unanimously to retain the local state of emergency, which makes Fort Myers Beach eligible for FEMA funds.

There is no word on when Fort Myers Beach will get running water. The council deferred debris removal responsibility to Lee County.

As for mail dropoff and garbage pickup, there was no word on a solution from the city council.