The Cape Coral community had the opportunity to speak directly with city leaders during a town hall meeting at the Northwest Regional Library.
Cape Coral City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn and Jennifer Nelson-Lastra, who represents District 4 on the Cape Coral City Council, hosted the event to provide residents a platform to voice their concerns, ask questions, and share ideas about the city’s future.
One of the major topics that emerged during the meeting was traffic issues, particularly on Cape Coral Parkway. Residents expressed strong feelings about this concern.
Tom Shadrach, a community member, addressed city leaders about the traffic problems on Cape Coral Parkway.
“We’re just bottleneck there, and it’s just going to be that way. I don’t see how much more you can improve it,” said Shadrach.
The city needs to hire a consultant before making any improvements to the road. Shadrach believes this step is exacerbating an already challenging situation.
“A half-million-dollar consultant agreement to look at traffic flow on Cape Coral Parkway,” said Shadrach.
City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn explained that the reason behind this move is disaster recovery.
“We are moving forward with a disaster recovery analysis of Cape Coral Parkway and how that will be utilized as an evacuation route,” said Ilczyszyn.
Ilczyszyn mentioned that this initiative will be funded by the $1.1 billion Community Development Block Grant. However, Shadrach remains skeptical about the necessity of the analysis.
“We have 1800 employees. Do we really need a consultant again to talk about more and more stuff that we all know is a problem,” said Shadrach.
City leaders plan to discuss this issue further at the upcoming council meeting on Wednesday.