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Residents and business owners on Fort Myers Beach are raising concerns after the Federal Emergency Management Agency called for the removal of temporary structures off the island.
According to FEMA, temporary structures like trailers and shipping containers that are not compliant with FEMA guidelines will need to be removed by Monday.
Howie Hoffman, a Fort Myers Beach resident of over 25 years, said that these removals could hurt local businesses that are still recovering from storm damage.
“There’s been hurricanes, there’s been red tide. There’s been a lot of disasters,” said Hoffman. “You could tell the beach is crowded today. That’s good for the businesses that we have, and we gotta let those businesses survive.”
According to the town of Fort Myers Beach, over 50 businesses have been asked to leave the island.
“Listen, it makes sense to leave us here. Leave us alone. FEMA wants to penalize us. We’re living here, we’re victims. We’ve been in a disaster, and the government wants to make us pay in one way or the other. It makes no sense to me,” said Hoffman.
The removal of these temporary structures will have an impact not just on local businesses, but on the local economy of Fort Myers Beach as a whole.
With snowbird season approaching, business owners whose structures do not comply with FEMA regulations are being left with no choice but to pack up and leave during their busiest time of year.
“It sucks that the businesses have to go through that. It’s greed, you know, it’s something to do with money. Let these people earn a living, for crying out loud. That’s the American way,” said Hoffman.
Meli’s Ice Cream is one of the businesses operating out of a trailer on Fort Myers Beach.
Vincent Padula, who works at the establishment, said that while he doesn’t think Meli’s Ice Cream will be impacted, he is sad to hear about the several businesses that are.
“I feel like those businesses bring the regulars and tourists down here because they’re still in business for a reason. And I think once you kick them out, it kind of ruins the atmosphere around here, and it starts to bring in more, bigger corporations and kind of ruin Fort Myers Beach,” said Padula.
The town of Fort Myers Beach said a request was sent to FEMA asking for the deadline to be extended to June 1, 2025, but it was denied.
This post was originally published on here
