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Cape Coral, a boomtown that shouldn’t exist
- nkrisc 9y agoIf they want to build without restriction, I say let them fail without restriction.
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoStill seems a lot better than building with restriction and getting earthquakes, mud and fire in return. At least hurricanes are predictable.
- nadezhda18 9y agothey have other problems apart from hurricanes: water shortages, floods, water pollution to name a few
- Aloha 9y agoDon't forget flesh eating bacteria!
- nkrisc 9y agoIt's the predictability of hurricanes that makes the situation even more perplexing.
- rndmwlk 9y agoThe same thing can be said with earthquakes and much of California. It's only a matter of time until a devastating earthquake hits, at least with hurricanes you have time to evacuate.
- fmihaila 9y agoDevastating earthquakes are not a once-per-decade event in California (more like once in a century). Devastating hurricanes in certain areas, on the other hand, kind of are.
- curun1r 9y agoNo, the same thing can't be said about earthquakes. People have been predicting that we'd have a huge quake in the Northern California ever since the one in '89. But we've lived for more than a quarter century without one. We had a 68 year quiet period before that. They may be devastating when they happen, but the serious ones are rare. So rare, that we've spent the past 25 years upgrading our construction to anticipate a serious earthquake and we've yet to see that preparation tested. Hurricanes, on the other hand, are so much more common. They happen every year and even have a season when you can expect them. It seems unfair to conflate a natural disaster that people may only experience once or twice in their lifetime to one that you can basically plan an annual vacation around. I'd have more agreement if you talked about the kind of fires we saw in the North Bay recently. In addition to the earthquake in '89, I also remember the Oakland Hills firestorm in '91. Forrest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem in California and we do a lot to try to prevent them happening on a small scale. So when they do happen, they happen a lot larger than they normally would. And when they happen in populated areas, a lot of people get hurt. They're much more an expected part of life here than earthquakes are.
- deelowe 9y agoHurricanes don't strike the same place every time. Savannah hasn't had a devastating hurricane in nearly 40 years.
- nkrisc 9y agoYou're sort of right, I suppose, but I'm not trying to make comparisons. I don't live in California but from what I understand there are building regulations to ensure new buildings are likely to survive an earthquake. But if that's not true and the same could be said about California then I'd say it too. It's just that this article happens to be about Florida.
- r00fus 9y agoExcept these folks are likely politically active and connected therefore the USG will end up backstopping the reinsurance claims. Essentially their loss will be publicly shared.
- untog 9y agoUnfortunately for everyone, Florida is a swing state. So no-one is going to let them fail any time soon.
- grasshopperpurp 9y ago>“Cape Coral was brilliantly orchestrated and terribly planned,” says Florida historian Gary Mormino, author of Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams. “They built an instant city on steroids—with none of the stuff you need to make a city work.” Classic.
- dsschnau 9y agomy grandmother lives there, it's nice
- CiPHPerCoder 9y agoI grew up in Lee County, FL, and currently live in Cape Coral while saving up to buy land and build my dream home elsewhere in the state. The thing they don't tell you about Cape Coral is that Code Enforcement is the unofficial religion of the city. It's basically an oversized Home Owners' Association. A lot of retired folks come down here and, with nothing better to do with their golden years, decide to annoy their neighbors with petty complaints in an attempt to raise property values. Whether or not it's a good investment, mots of the people are chronically annoying to the point of toxicity.
- bane 9y agoMy father lived in an HOA community approximately once, and that community was in Florida. He gets very animated and upset whenever the topic of HOAs comes up based on his experience with them...the word "Nazis" usually comes up somewhere in his rant. I've heard similar stories from other ex-Floridians. I've lived in both in my home states (mid-Atlantic area) and have found them to be a useful local governing group in most cases, minor annoyance in others, but nice to have when the local county can't be bothered. Is there something particularly toxic about Florida HOAs? Is it really the retirees with nothing to do?
- int_19h 9y agoI think it's mostly that you have an unusually good experience (or take on it). HOAs are seriously hated by a lot of people. Google "HOA hate", and check out the results.
- kjs3 9y agoThat's interesting, considering places like Tampa are the posterchild for practically non-existent code enforcement.
- mrfusion 9y agoWhat part of the state do you want to move to?
- oftenwrong 9y agoThis is the first place I read about Lee County: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/8/17/suburban-poverty-boomtown-lehigh-acres-florida https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/8/17/suburban-pover...
- strictnein 9y agoThis is a great photo: http://static.politico.com/ce/b4/b97e9c2c4b7bbe65a225751c7f61%2F2-full-heilner-cape-coral-hires-9194.jpg http://static.politico.com/ce/b4/b97e9c2c4b7bbe65a225751c7f6...
- nikolay 9y agoIt's so good that it looks fake like a screenshot from SimCity or another simulator!
- mcculley 9y agoI'm a Florida native. Many of the issues in Cape Coral are common to other cities and regions in Florida. I've been toying with the idea of suggesting that we deny political franchise to immigrant residents (e.g., retirees). We should allow voting only to those born here and those who have made a commitment to the state beyond their own lifetimes (e.g., raising children here). I'm 45. For my whole life, every issue around infrastructure is politicized between retirees on a fixed income who are not willing to pay taxes for infrastructure from which they will largely not benefit and younger people who want more infrastructure (e.g., because they have jobs to go to and would like better roads or they have children and would like better schools). The baby boomers and other retirees simply outnumber the active citizens, so such measures get voted down. These demographics are changing, but it will still be decades before matters improve.
- baus 9y agoI've never heard the idea floated of denying the right to vote to state residents. That's pretty reactionary
- tareqak 9y agoIsn't this similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_States#Prisoners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_St... ?
- mcculley 9y agoI don't think such a proposal would get any support. I'm not even sure it's a good idea. But I do think it is a useful gedankenexperiment. The political franchise should not be given to those with no skin in the game.
- JBReefer 9y agoYou have reinvented Jim Crow laws, one of our greatest national shames. The fact that you think this is OK is fucking horrifying.
- Robdel12 9y agoGrew up on SWFL. You can tell when you enter into cape coral because the trees disappear and you start seeing empty fields with a couple of houses on top of mounds. I don't miss SWFL.
- Shalomboy 9y agoJust went for the first time to buy a replacement monitor. It's shocking how accurate the above statement is.
- bitsnbytes 9y agoI have lived in SWFL and Central florida most my life and have never been to Cape Coral. Anytime you mention cape coral in Naples peoples eyes light up in fear, like its some horrific place. The news in Naples is pretty suppress and the only thing you ear bad that occurs come from Fort Myers or Cape coral. However, I have been fighting the temptation to purchase a decent sized house on their on the water. The same house in Naples would easily go for several hundred thousands more. We have some friends that live their and they swear its not as bad as people say? One of these days I need to make it out there.
- Robdel12 9y agoOh yeah, my dad pays $500 a year in property taxes for a house on a creek with gulf access. Pretty cheap! But the con is, there's no tech work around. That's the reason I ended up leaving. Plus I wanted a life change. And sticking around the kids I went to high school with wasn't going to provide that :P
- michaelbuckbee 9y agoIt's a small portion of the article, but the contrast of Cape Coral to Babcock Ranch was super interesting. https://www.babcockranch.com/ https://www.babcockranch.com/ It actually brought to mind "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong" style of burbclave.
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- bitwize 9y agoWow, it looks like Mitch & Murray finally got in some closers.