Cape Coral crime stats

The (Fort Myers) News-Press reported today that the major crime rate in Cape Coral rose 2 percent in 2005, following a 14 percent drop from 2003 to 2004. The rate also is also lower compared to 2001, when about 42,000 less people lived there, according to the Cape Coral Police Department. there are about 150,000 residents now.

Aggravated assaults dropped from 236 to 226, but all other crimes increased. The city had one more murder in 2005 than 2004. Robberies increased 72 percent from 43 to 74. Burglaries also increased — from 882 to 1,026, or 16 percent. The population also increased by more than 13,000 in the year.

Among cities with more than 100,000 people, Cape Coral ranks third in the state based on population-based crime rate, according to the department. Only Port St. Lucie and Coral Springs had lower crime rates.

Water Woes Continue in Cape Coral

With a severe lack of rain, Cape Coral's water levels have plummeted and the problem could get worse.

The News-Press reported that Lee County received just .32 inches of rain in March. That's the 10th-driest March on record since 1891, according to the National Weather Service. It's also the driest March since 1955. The area typically gets about 2.75 inches in March.

With Cape Coral’s rapid growth — 150,000 residents and climbing -- residents are using about 40 million gallons of water a day for their lawns, said George Reilly, the city's utilities manager, all drawing from a limited amount of water in the Cape's Mid-Hawthorne Aquifer. The aquifer is the primary source of water for people who have wells and aren't connected to the city's water system.

Problems can start happening when water reaches 60 to 70 feet below the surface in the Cape's Mid-Hawthorne Aquifer. That's especially true for shallow wells

Options, if problems keep getting worse, include stepping up watering restrictions or freezing building permits in the Cape, according to a spokesman with South Florida Water Management District.

Employers to add more workers in Cape Coral areas

Fifty percent of employers in the Fort Myers/Naples area (which includes Cape Coral, the largest city population-wise in the are) say they plan to add more workers from April to June, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released March 15. None plan to cut back on their work force.

The survey shows job prospects will be best in construction, durable goods manufacturing, transportation, public utilities, retail, finance, insurance, real estate, services, and public administration.

Lee County added more than 14,000 jobs from January 2005 to 2006, a more than 6 percent increase, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. That put its job-growth rate at the top in the state.

From 1999 to 2004, Fort Myers-Cape Coral added 41,000 jobs and wages grew to $2.68 billion.

In January, the unemployment rate stood at 2.3 percent in Lee County and at 2.4 percent in Collier County. Those rates are some of the lowest in the state and that means fewer people are out hunting for work.

Another recent survey, by USWorks for Professionals for the Workforce Development Board, shows 59 percent of employers in Southwest Florida are looking to expand in the next two years. More than 1,600 businesses in the five-county region responded to the survey, which has been conducted for four years. The results were released March 1. Employers listed their top challenges to expansion. First on the list was recruiting a qualified and trained work force.

Lee and Collier counties have both seen strong job gains in professional and business services. In Collier County, there was a 43.4 percent growth in those industries between 2000 and 2004. The industries provide higher paying jobs to such professionals as accountants, lawyers and engineers.

In Florida, 44 percent of employers surveyed in the Manpower study said they planned to add employees. Forty-six percent expected no change, 4 percent said they would cut their work force and the rest had yet to determine their staffing needs.

Of the 16,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 30 percent said they planned to step up their hiring activity in the coming quarter.

In Florida, the most jobs are expected to be added in Pensacola, Boca Raton, Broward County, and Daytona Beach, where employers plan to increase their work force by at least 60 percent.

Cape Coral - Fort Myers Hispanic population booms

The Cape Coral - Fort Myers, Fla., Metropolitan Statistical Area saw a 55 percent increase in its Hispanic population between 2000 and 2004 -- the highest increase during that timeframe in the nation, according to the Brookings Institution's report released in March 2006. Cape Coral is the county's largest city.

In Lee County public schools, Hispanic children comprised 62 percent of the enrollment growth between the start of the past school year and the start of this one. A quarter of the district's students are Hispanic.

At Florida Gulf Coast University in Estero, Hispanic enrollment has grown from 166 students at the university's opening in 1997 to 664 at the beginning of this school year. Hispanic students now represent just over 9 percent of total enrollment.

Edison College, which has several campuses in the three-county region here, created a Multicultural Task Force in 2003 to help the college better embrace its mix of students. Hispanic student representation jumped 43 percent between the 1998-99 and 2004-05 school years. Black and Asian enrollment increased, while the percentage of white students is on the decline.

The Brookings report, "Diversity Spreads Out: Metropolitan Shifts in Hispanic, Asian, and Black Populations Since 2000," was authored by Visiting Fellow William H. Frey.

Cape Coral area ranks 2nd on Milken list

The Milken Institute ranked the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area as the second best in its annual "Best Performing Cities" list of the nation's 200 largest metro areas. The area ranked first on the 2005 list. Still, local economic growth remains solid.

The Milken Institute is a nonprofit California-based economic think tank founded. Florida communities took six of the top 10 rankings.

The ranking is based on a formula that includes growth in the number of jobs and the total earnings from those jobs from 1998 to 2003, plus gains from 2004 to 2005 and other factors. The overall growth in the population and the increase in the number of retirees played a role.

Growth in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area included industries such as medical services, and professional and business services sectors including architects, engineers, legal services and company management.

The Naples-Marco Island area in this part of Southwest Florida surged from No. 15 a year ago to No. 3 this year. The Palm Bay-Melbourne area on the east coast of Florida ranked first.

Cape courts Cleveland Indians

Cape Coral officials are courting the Cleveland Indians, hoping to make Cape Coral the preseason home of the MLB team sometime before 2010.

Cape Mayor Eric Feichthaler told the Naples Daily News on Dec. 22, 2005, that nothing is in writing, “but we're confident we'll be able to move forward with this team or another team.”

So it sounds like a done deal.

The mayor suggested building a stadium in Festival Park, a 211-acre site in the north part of the city that is otherwise planned as a community park. This was also to incorporate Seahawk Air Park, where radio-controlled plane enthusiasts practice their hobby. Since 2004 or so, the city has been buying and assembling the land necessary to create the park. Water and sewer service is not yet available at the park site, and is scheduled for such service by 2015.

The stadium could cost upwards of $40 million or more, plus operational costs. In addition to the stadium, the Indians likely would want a clubhouse and six practice fields, The News-Press of Fort Myers reported. The mayor would seek funds from the state and Lee County, possibly tapping into tourist development funds, to make it all happen.

A spring-training team would give the city an economic boost. The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, who both have spring training homes in Fort Myers for example, generate about $24 million for the local economy when they are here in February and March, according to a Florida Sports Association study.

Feichthaler told The News-Press there would be substantial fan support in the area to support an 8,000- to 9,000-seat stadium.

There could be side benefits to the public for such a deal. There is the potential to develop a multipurpose complex that the public could use, for instance.

The Indians haven't indicated whether they're interested in coming to Cape Coral.

Police Spokesman Turns Crime Analyst

The News Press reported Dec. 17 that the Cape Coral Police Department's media relations honcho is stepping down to become a crime analyst for the department.

Angelo Bitsis, 55, has held that post since about 1995. In his role, Bitsis was the department's spokesman, answering questions from the news media. He also hosted a cable television show, wrote newsletters and performed other public information types of tasks.

He's been in the public information field for 35 years. He was the media relations coordinator for the Miami Police Department, and a public information officer in the military for four years before that.

His new job entails compiling statistics and tracking crime trends in Cape Coral.

The newspaper reported that there are 13 qualified applicants for the job, according to city officials. The job pays between $34,700 and $52,300 a year.