(Opinion By Doug Sperin-Smith) Why do commercial landowners always need more? The best answer is more means more value for them – but what about the community? What about the risk of the next storm?

Since Rick Loughery started living on his garage roof to protest the town's ruling that the garage was connected to his destroyed house, the town has been taking a beating in the local press. On Thursday, the town issued a statement explaining its side of the story...

A hearing is being held at Lakes Library on August 10th at 10AM called: Weathering the Storm: Oversight of the Federal Response and Recovery Efforts in Southwest Florida following Hurricane Ian. There are no representatives from Fort Myers Beach on the panels.

Join us at Wahoo Willie's Saturday for another outstanding show. At 11AM, Town Manager Andy Hyatt joins us for his first interview since taking the job. Following Andy, councilman Bill Veach is back. Bill is dealing with the same garage situation as Rick and Amy Loughery. The doors at Wahoo Willie's open at 10:30 for Beach Talk Radio followers.

By now the entire island knows that Rick Loughery is camped out in protest on top of his garage roof at 5137 Estero Boulevard. Rick wired a safe structure to sit and lay on and he only ventures down to use the rest room.

The United States Coast Guard is hosting a boating safety class Saturday, August 19th from 9AM to 5PM at the Pine Ridge Community Center, located at 15699 Pine Ridge Rd. in Fort Myers, Boaters can obtain their state boating safety certificate by taking the class.

Our brothers and sisters on Sanibel and Captiva are having just as hard a time rebuilding their community and local economy as Fort Myers Beach. If you're up for a short field trip over the bridge, here are 26 restaurants to consider visiting.

The deadline for Fort Myers Beach property owners to sign easements to receive free sand during the town's beach renourishment project is this Friday. The town extended the original deadline, which was July 31st.

On Tuesday the Lee County Board of Commissioners voted to keep the ad valorem tax rate at 3.7623 of $1,000 of assessed property value. That is the same rate as the current year. The Lee County budget is $2.6 Billion and the county employs 2,800 people.

Sanibel/Captiva President John Lai says there are now 26 restaurants open on Sanibel and the island could use a little help getting local residents over to Sanibel to spend some money and bring those restaurants back to life. The Lee County Board of Commissioners agreed.

Local Real Estate agent Jorge Barrera has put together a list of properties sold, under contract and currently for sale on Fort Myers Beach since September 28, 2022. The information comes from the Southwest Florida Multi Listing Services.

Dan Myers and his family own four residential properties and one commercial lot on Fort Myers Beach. Myers has pitched a plan to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council for a "merchant plaza" at his commercial location across from Town Hall at 2500 Estero Boulevard.