With the closure of the Shell Factory, a staple of Florida’s tourism industry, yet another part of “Old Florida” falls to the plight of modern development. Though not all development is bad, many argue that Southwest Florida is at risk of becoming overdeveloped.
Recent developments in Southwest Florida have reached bizarre levels of extreme. From a food truck park at the base of the Cape Coral Bridge to attempts to level a historic building in favor of an apartment complex, enough is enough.
The term Old Florida refers to the small-town feeling Floridians say is now missing from the Sunshine State. Old Florida is associated with memories of simpler times without mega-resorts, theme parks, or sprawling golf courses. Real estate developers have essentially killed Old Florida by enticing and feeding scraps of untouched land to money-hungry corporations.
While extreme development often helps local economies, developers continuously fail to consider the intricate cultures they are treading upon, displaying a blatant disregard for not just community culture but also ecological culture.
Hotels, a common installment, generate astonishing amounts of waste. On average, a two-hundred-room hotel burns through 300,000 pieces of single-use plastics a month– meaning that the average hotel easily generates hundreds and thousands of tons of waste a year according to HomeBiogas.
Residents also point to recent flooding issues as a cause for concern. Large developments take up land. Land that would normally soak up rainwater. Without these spaces, rainwater has only one place to go– roadways and in extreme cases– our homes.
By allowing massive developments to spread like wildfire, developers are not just hurting our environment but also our communities.
On top of developments, local communities also suffer, Cape Coral is just one example. Long-time residents of the town have been practically forced to leave as a result of the unstable economic climate caused by its uncontrollable growth.
With a new wave of real estate developers and investors who see housing as a commodity, affording the cost of living has become a privilege.
According to the Lee County School District, starting teachers in the Lee County School District make a mere $50,000 a year and take home roughly $1,752 every two weeks. Alone, the median rental property pricing is $2,160 a month. This leaves the question of how these teachers are supposed to pay for food, utilities and other living expenses if they can barely afford rent.
Even with renting, earning a decent salary is almost impossible in places like Cape Coral which have fallen victim to urban sprawl.
Similarly, owning a home is nearly impossible in the same area because of the exorbitant cost of living, lack of proper pay and inflation crisis. One can’t help but be reminded of the age-old communist cry: “You will own nothing and like it!”.
This call is now the cry of real estate developers who believe building multi-family housing on top of former swamplands is the best way to make a quick buck. When someone sees high-priced real estate, flooding and environmental concerns, they should not blame themselves, they should blame the money-hungry “Duh-veloper.”
