Mayor Bill speaks about life in Naples…

Mayor Bill Barnett

Today is December 22nd and it’s a gloomy rainy day and I’m loving it! If it were only 40 degrees colder it would be snowing.  Of course, I say that with tongue in cheek because I have a difficult time with anything colder than 55 degrees outside. As we all know the question this time of year is did you get your shopping done and my answer is no, I like to go the day before Christmas and the same applies for Chanukah. For some strange reason I just like the pressure, yet I always manage to get everything done.

Life in Naples as Mayor is always interesting to say the least. Next month on St. Patrick’s Day will be our City Council Election. There are three Council seats with eight candidates running for them and one seat for Mayor and two candidates running, with one of them being me. Of the eight Council candidates three are incumbents and the other five are all first timers. For those of you that follow our local politics you know without a doubt that we have a well-balanced functioning Council that accomplishes a lot for our City.

Naturally there are always those that would disagree with my opinion and they have a perfect right to do so because the old adage of you can’t make everyone happy is so true! There is a local kitchen and cabinet maker in Southwest Florida that when doing their commercial they say that before you buy from someone else you should read their pamphlet on what to look for when shopping for a new kitchen and cabinets.

Well, from just finishing my sixteenth year as Mayor of our City I can and will give you my thoughts on what you need to look for when selecting a candidate that runs for a City of Naples Council seat and Mayor. I will do that for the March issue of Life in Naples. Between now and March there will be many candidate forums where you can hear what they have to say but believe me it goes a lot deeper than that when making a selection.

On the fun side and and after waiting for what seems an eternity the new Seed to Table Market has opened in Naples. Run by the Oakes family it’s a lot more than a supermarket, it’s an experience that’s worth the visit. For you Northeasterners
that are familiar with the Wegmans food chain this store has a slight resemblance. From the beautiful produce to the spectacular bakery, meat, and seafood as well as homemade pasta there’s a lot more to see. We saw friends of ours there and like us they said this wasn’t just going to a grocery store this was like finding a food treasure store.

I asked what they liked best and the wife said the homemade ice cream that’s made on the premises and her husband said the upstairs bar and all the areas there that you could eat at. We of course bought a lot more than we expected to and the fact that there was valet parking available was just an added bonus. Make sure you make time to not miss the opportunity to visit Seed to Table where there’s a good chance you might see me!

A final word about our current local campaign. Some of you may have seen a negative broadside from a former member of
Council who has quit the Council and then fled the City. But she still feels entitled to make up facts and unfairly criticize all
seven members of our hardworking and dedicated City Council. It is easy to tell lies and convenient to tell only part of the story behind important and complicated votes.

For example, on two of the issues (the Beach Hotel Perpetual Easement enforcement mechanism and the composition of the proposed independent Ethics Commission) our City Attorney told the Council that to vote otherwise would have been beyond Council’s legal authority (ultra vires in lawyer-speak) and unconstitutional. I am running for re-election on my real and factual record of success.

Mayor Bill

I do respond to e-mail at mayorbill@naplesgov.com

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.