Two weeks ago on Mondays With The Mayor when we asked Mayor Dan Allers if he’d be running for reelection next year he did not commit. Last night he did. Why does he want your vote in 2024? Watch his response HERE.
Allers, Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt and Councilman Bill Veach are all coming to the end of their first term in 2024. Veach has not committed to running and, while he hasn’t announced anything official, the expectation is that Atterholt will run again. There have been no other official announcements from any candidates to run for council as of yet.
Council terms are 4 years and the only requirement to run is that you’re a Fort Myers Beach resident (owner or renter) for one year. The Fort Myers Beach Town Council is a nonpartisan race. There are no districts or voting areas on the beach, when elections are held the top vote getters out of whoever runs are elected. The Mayor’s seat is not an elected position. The Mayor is appointed by the 5 sitting council members at the time and that seat comes up for a vote every year.
Residents and property owners, whether they live here or afar, deserve and demand the names of the entities or corporations that are pushing for workforce housing. These properties will ALWAYS produce an income for those who own them.
Be very careful who you vote for, do your homework on all the candidates, Ed wants you to follow his lead, as he usually does……..can not believe his followers will continue to follow, you can have your own opinion.
Sorry but Dan is as qualified to be Mayor as Much as Ray murphy was – which is NOT at ALL.
Like Ray, Dan has NO real ties to FMB- not a homeowner or business owner . He has NO practical experience or background for the job . All elections are partisan and each candidate should have a platform of what they are running on- there is zero accountability for poor decisions that linger forever . How about a real debate and not a JOKE with chamber of commerce nonsense and kids questions –
Need Folks who will speak the truth and have independent thoughts-
Would be great to get away from FMB feelings and nonsense that brought us All to this point –
Bill Veach left wind politics is a Plague to the Island , Allers is way over is head , only one who has been there more than a yr that actually has a record of accomplishment and responds to constituents is Jim A.
Each week Ed and Kim give Allers a platform to get a message out of the updates. It seams though there usually are not updates or Dan doesn’t have answers to questions that are asked but finds a way to discuss a non answer for many minutes at a time. There are previous mayors like Anita who knows the towns workings inside and out, just go back and listen to Ed’s previous interview with Anita and you’ll notice a huge difference in knowledge and intelligence on the subjects discussed. It seams Dan wants to be liked by everyone including the town staff and permitting department. When there are the problems and challenges homeowners are dealing with the staff in permitting and town who are rude to people there should be some consequences on the staff instead of excuses of what they are dealing with is demanding. If the staff recognizes Dan’s weakness they will get away with what they are doing to residents and walk all over them.
Even though no one has asked, my opinion is to be an elected member of the council, one should be an “0wner” not a “renter”!!! An owner would have more of a stake in what happens to FMB whereas a renter is at the “mercy” or “whim” of the landlord who could decide at any time, if the price was right, to sell the property! Where does that leave the Council?? I have lived on FMB for 33 years, and I lost my house and everything I own in the storm. I still own the property and am very much interested in what happens to this island, my home for all those years.
Residency and ownership should be a requirement for anyone seeking to be mayor or council person.
Then put your name in the hat
I might venture to say there are more property owners of FMB who live out of state that have no say in the governance of their community. What rights in a voice should they have?
On the Council I represent all taxpayers. I’m sure the other Councilors feel the same way.
You cam reach me at johnking@fmbgov.com
Do they have a right to vote in the election for counselors?
You have to be a registered voter on Fort Myers Beach to vote.
After the storm Dan was the only council member we heard from. It was Dan I was listening to on BTR as I was in line to get to the island the next morning that said the pier was gone, Times Square was gone, The Cottage was gone and if you have a wooden home on the beach it is more than likely gone. He was there from the beginning! As officials made it to the south end we then heard from Jim, what an emotional report that was! He also said that he and Dan had made the decision to stay on island to be of immediate help after…..not our then mayor, who we heard nothing from for days and when we did it was always different info.
The election wasn’t held till November (and John King, who wasn’t on council yet but running) got out info about absentee ballots and deadlines since so many of us were displaced. The new mayor and vice mayor were put in place weeks after that, so it wasn’t a few weeks. The poor response and lack of a plan was on the prior manager and mayor.
It certainly sounds like they are having most departments devising respond plans now (Communications plan was just discussed at Monday’s council meeting)
With a never before seen level of disaster, manager and many staff resigning, dealing with FEMA, the state and federal authorities all at the same time I feel like our mayor and vice mayor have done a stellar job of leading now and looking to the future.
Anyone can be a leader.when things are going great. It’s when the Sht.hits the fan.and your in the middle of a disaster. That’s when you find out who the real leaders are..
Dan Allers and Jim Atterholt re-elected by a landslide! The two of them have been stellar in their strong leadership since being elected.
The South end supports Dan. We supported him in the past election and will again.
Thank you Dan Allers, you have my vote…but honestly Ed you need to get in the game!
I agree. Ed needs to get in there too!
Yep, Ed needs to get in the “game” and assuredly we will not need a Town Hall just relocate to Wahoo Willies. Get serious, we need leadership not a perpetual “Happy Hour” and our rebuilding is no game! Thank you Mayor Allers, lets hope you can get a pulse on the community beyond Ed. Does the mayor grant interviews to Beach Observer/other news entities or just exclusive Mondays to BTR?
We are very fortunate Mayor Allers has committed to run again for Town Council. He inherited a severely damaged island and a broken Town Hall. Both are being repaired We all wish it would go faster but we are moving forward….thanks to leadership that was sorely lacking prior to the election.
Instead of people voting for people because they like them, maybe they should be voting for people that are the most qualified and look at what the candidate’s agenda is. Allers and Veach keep claiming everyone wants “work force housing” and it is being sold as a place for “teachers and first responders” can afford to live. I would bet my home that that is not who will be living there. All of you need to spend some time and really research what “work-force-housing” is. Ironically this came up right after the storm. We didn’t have power, the loss was still raw, we had thieves looting and yet we are supposed to believe that home owners were worried about housing for the “work force”.Scrolling through a dictionary…..
“work force housing” —a plantation characterized by social and political inequality. Ironically the Gov. of Hawaii was walking in the still smouldering ashes of the homes and he immediately said ” I am going to figure out how to acquire land here so we can build “work force housing”. It’s a land grab. It is an agenda. Pay attention! 15 minute cities are the agenda. Where do they have 15 minute cities? China. Remember the line from Saul Alinksy stating ” You will own nothing and you will be happy”. Who are these people that Allers claims want this “work-force-housing”? Are they home owners? Instead of voting for who you know or who you like, do your homework and look at who is pushing a certain agenda such as work force housing. Maui is gone because people voted for people they liked and didn’t worry about what their agenda was.
There is a movement in the housing industry that large investment corporations such as blackrock and Blackstone along with hedge fund companies buying up entire new developments only to make it the community “rental” properties and never to be sold. They offer the builders more for the entire development than the builders could make selling them individually. The dream of home ownership by middle class families is being dissolved. (You will own nothing and be happy)
Ray Murphy was the mayor during the aftermath of the hurricane. He was no where to be seen or heard. Dan was!
Control it the aftermath of a disaster was not the position he ran for, nor was trained for. Look at other town and cities that have experienced hurricanes and years later they are still recovering. Our complex is still waiting on permits but I don’t blame Dan or any council members.
If new construction projects are brought to the council it is their job the heat them out and work through those ideas as well as help home owners but their job is not to micro manage the staff. Staff that was employed at the time of the hurricane should have been trained in emergency management. We can only look to the future and hope those measures are in place or a better understanding as to what is required. All new staff should be going through emergency training at some point. Living where we do it’s not if but when.
I voted for Allers because it appeared, since he kept running that he really wanted to get on the council and help, I have been very disappointed. There are still people with no power and are left fighting the permit dept while this guy does nothing. Each week Ed tried repeatedly to ask Allers the same questions and Allers will bloviate for 15 min. giving the same non-answer the week before. We have homes ready to fall over and Allers is still talking about a letter from the lawyer asking them what they are going to do. There is zero reasons why these safety risks are still standing. Allers has been asleep at the wheel and only concerned about the turtle lights and aquiring land to build his work force housing that no one wants except “green new deal” people.I will not be voting for Allers or Veach. We are not interested in 15 minute cities.
Hi Jenny,
First, thank you for your vote in 2020. You are correct I wanted to be involved and that is why I chose to run.
I completely agree with you on these properties being safety risks. We have a specific process we have to follow to intervine on what happens on someone’s private property. We would like nothing more than to have all of the properties completely cleaned up, and we will do so, if it is not taken care of by the property owners. However, property owners have rights and we must abide by the law to see every step in the process is followed before we can take action. That process has started.
I have been an advocate for years trying to get sufficient lights on our island. As you know there are several requirements that need to be met for both FDOT and FWC to accomplish that. We have been working very hard to find the balance that meets our environmental requirements and the safety requirements of our residents and visitors. I believe we are very close to accomplishing this goal.
Workforce or affordable housing is a major issue across the country. Not just on Fort Myers Beach or Lee County. I support the effort, but I’m not confident it’s a viable solution on the island. I believe we have far better options that would give a greater benefit to everyone just off the island. It’s a very complex problem that requires participation and money from many entities to achieve. The land acquisitions I have been referring to were for public green space uses or other community common areas.
I certainly respect your option that I or any other Council member have been asleep at the wheel, but will have to respectfully disagree. Everyone of us have been fully engaged and will continue to do so. Not every problem will get fixed overnight, but believe me you have a group of people fighting hard to ensure they get fixed.
If I can be of any assistance to you or anyone else that may be having issues, please do not hesitate to reach out to me: allerd@fmbgov.com.
I appreciate your response. I am 100% aware of what the Work Force Housing push is in this country and if people knew what it really is, they would not be pushing for it. I am not sure who you are speaking with that is wanting this program here. If the home owners knew the truth of what it really is, they would not want it and I highly doubt home owners are asking for this. First there is the push for the surveillance cameras and then is the push for the “work force housing”. Most communist countries are building these programs so they can control everyone. Obama was the first to start to push this agenda in the US. Here is a quick video from Maui where you will be able to see the Gov. pushing his work force housing as the fires still burned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UzyS79VHoc As people find out what this program is really about, they will push back. If this plan moves forward I would sell my home immediately. I have no intention to live in a 15 min city.
Workforce housing is just another name for section 8 housing.
Wish we had a mayor that would lead us. Town staff were left to figure it our and scamble following the hurricane, whoch resulted in most of the staff that had been there to leave/resign. If Allers acted more as a leader than manager he would do great. Funny how BTR will always criticize this or that the Town of FMB does but never blame his best buddy the mayor. #EndItNow
You going to run?
Are you?
Are you going to run?
Hmmm.. If my memory serves me correctly (and it does) – Ray Murphy was the Mayor after the hurricane, who didn’t call a council meeting or have a press statement or any communications with residents whatsoever until he came up with the idiotic idea to bus residents back on the island that they illegally kept closed.. That was until our Governor stuck his boot in his ass and opened the island as it should have been. How quickly we forget.
Ray was the mayor. I think Allers was sworn in a couple weeks later. But I will say that during that time of silence by ALL of them, Including Dan, the only communication/updates we had were from Ed and Kim. Ed and Kim immediately stepped up and were digging for any help, information, resources that they could find to help the people on the beach. So with that said, if they were able to get information out, every Town Council member could have grabbed their cell phones and told us what they knew. Every one of them were silent. Yes, they were dealing with their own problems but as a Town Council member, they could have told us on a personal level, what they knew. They did not. So while it is easy to point fingers at the presvious town council (I am not defending them) just keep in mind that the other town council could have tried to help us. We really had zero help except for Ed and Kim.
Maybe you should look into Florida law about who can call for emergency council meetings and who is responsible for the response? And, I succinctly remember hearing from Dan after the storm, on BTR, and not a peep from the people (Ray and Roger) who were supposed to be communicating with residents. One of them was too busy trying to figure out how to get wet wood to burn I guess…
Norman,
With all due respect, maybe you should go back and re-read what I said. I specifically said ” On a personal level”. I didn’t say “call a meeting”. If Ed and Kim were able to find info to keep us informed, any of the council members could have “ON A PERSONSAL LEVEL” shared what they knew. I am NOT defending the previous regime at all. But I am saying the town council memebers could have at least give us any info they had. It was crickets.
Jenny – Understand what you wrote, I just feel you are not being accurate – This is Dan was continually communicating.
He was on BTR the day after the storm (29th) (Waring this isn’t easy to listen too):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1067650840580075
And the Day after that (30th):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=463942655758760
Again on October 1st:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1759419571085976
Again on October 2nd:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=2039221256277910
Respectfully, I think you get the point. It’s disingenuous to say Dan was silent, and these videos are as personal as you get. He was on the island giving updates to BTR almost daily.
Well, I thank you for posting this. I am not on facebook so that would explain why I didn’t know he was posting videos. All I kept hearing was residents complaining that town council was silent and to me, they were. I appreciate you pointing this out but unless he changes his push for work force housing, I am out. I like Dan as a person and I appreciate him providing buttonwood after the storm but our island as we know it will change if they keep pushing the work force housing. If you heard our past mayor Anita’s interview, she brought it up and said it was a new “buzz” word and she had not heard anyone being in favor of it except town council. Work Force Housing will destroy any area that it is implimented. I wish people would educate themselves more about what it is and not just think it’s some nice program so workers don’t have to drive. I really wish that when candidates ran for office, we are able to know what their political affiliation is because that would help us make more educated decisions. Have a good evening Norman.
Correct. THANK YOU! There was constant communication via Facebook, the only avenue to know what was going on and boy oh boy did we get information! I was glued to Facebook day after day, week after week, for months. And Dan, who was not Mayor, was functioning as Mayor. Jim and Dan were ON IT! Blood, sweat and tears. BTR was in constant communication with Dan and Jim. As I said during and after the hurricane, if someone is not following on Facebook, BTR and all Dan and Jim’s communications through them, “So sorry, it is your fault for not being dialed in.” People need to take responsibility for themselves and not expect the Town to do it for them. Additionally, if someone doesn’t have electricity…. that is on them. That is on their property for not being “ready” for electricity. Thousands were affected and hundreds have rebuilt. By the way, people, Dan and the Council do not work for FP&L.
Keep in mind there was no internet or power for that matter anywhere near the beach or most of fort myers. Ed lives further inland and had the means and services to communicate. Dan was also running buttonwood to hand out free food and supplies.