Fort Myers Beach News - Island Sand Paper -Top Story Archives

12/27/2012 at 6:56pm

2012: Year in Review
Photo: Tropical Storm Isaac washes a TV news reporter
by Newton Park on Ft. Myer Beach. Photo Sarah List

This past year has tried the patience and tested the resolve of Americans everywhere. We are still grappling with incomprehensible horrors, devastating storms, and exasperating politics. And while the media would have us believe that our problems are mostly unsolvable, and that the erosion of our country's most abiding principles is as inexorable as the melting of the polar ice caps, our life here on the island belies those doom-and-gloom-sayers, for we are a community full of wonderful, interesting, hard-working, giving, fun-loving (and often funny) people.

Issue 619

12/20/2012 at 4:13pm

Kiker to Chair the Tourist
Development Council

On Friday afternoon, the Lee County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) appointed former Fort Myers Beach Mayor and newly elected Lee Commissioner Larry Kiker as Chairman of the Tourist Development Council (TDC), something Kiker says he hopes will usher in an era of greater communication between the TDC and the communities it serves.

The nine-member TDC was established by the BoCC in 1983 to increase tourism to Lee County. At that time, Lee residents approved a 2% tax on short-term accommodations (commonly known as the Bed Tax).

Issue 618

12/13/2012 at 3:58pm

EPA's Decision a Good One
for Estero Bay

The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently settled a three-year lawsuit filed by Florida's environmental groups by approving rules for water pollution over the state's - thereby triggering the establishment of numeric nutrient criteria for approximately 100,000 miles of waterways and more than 4,000 miles of estuaries in Florida. The decision is not without some controversy, however, as the EPA is allowing the state's rules – ....

Issue 617

12/06/2012 at 9:07pm

Residents Voice Concerns
at Ebbtide Hearing

About 20 people – many of whom were representing larger groups – showed up to testify at the final day of the Ebbtide development zoning hearing on Wednesday morning. County staff and some homeowners were in favor of the project, saying it would increase property values and bring upgrades to Main Street, but those opposed said that doesn't make up for the additional traffic the project will create and the loss of the 'small town' feel of San Carlos Island once the development is complete.