Coming up, millions of dollars in new construction is popping up around southwest Florida.

While local officials celebrate the impact this growth will have on the region's economic future.

Some locals aren't thrilled about the changes to the old Florida way.

And a statewide cuts have put some arts programs on the fringe.

One local festival is shining a light on New and original performances.

The stories up next on Southwest Florida in focus.

You're watching Southwest Florida InFocus coming up.

Will a building boom lead to big economic changes in our region?

Take a trek through the new wildlife corridor that protects Florida's ecosystem.

By linking millions of acres of protected land and keeping the arts alive.

How?

One festival brings new and original programs.

Center stage.

Hello, I'm Sandra Victorova Thank you very much for joining us.

Well, just about everywhere you look in southwest Florida, you see construction.

We wonder, is this just a building boom, or is it the long awaited diversification of our economy away from the dependance on tourism works?

Mike Waltzer reports.

$66 million to buy land to build an Amazon distribution center here.

155 million to buy an industrial complex there.

Just more deals as huge corporations invest in Southwest Florida.

Why?

We were somewhat affordable, and we're still are somewhat affordable for people coming from, larger markets like California or New York.

So I think that's the big reason of the why here and why now, after you see you, professor Amir Neto directs the regional economic research institute.

He says manufacturing until justice and health care are driving much of the growth.

We're moving towards, high pay, higher paying jobs.

One elected official is pleased, but my kids are actually, if they live to be the age of 90, they'll see the year 2100.

And I like to think, what kind of life will they be able to build here?

Will they be able to do it here or do they have to move away?

And I think right now, at the rate of growth that we're seeing with the new opportunities that we're seeing professionally out there, I think my kids will be able to actually set down roots here in their hometown, and that's something that really makes me proud.

It's just the kind of depressing, honestly.

20 year old William Pavelka and Fgcu junior are planning to become a teacher.

Says the growth makes him sad.

The student run Eagle News magazine carried an opinion piece by the Cape Coral native.

Kind of heartbreaking seeing a lot of all the changes, a lot of buildings getting torn down.

And I grew up around a lot of memories that were had there.

It's very destructive to me.

Grateful.

Avila also is a Cape Coral native, and after you see you business major, she says growth represents new jobs to keep her here.

Especially in FSU, there's a lot of opportunities here for me to sort of find employment for me to, you know, find a job, a good something that I like doing that will help me in the future.

So I have hopes.

William Pavelka says he may want to move to a less developed area for his teaching career.

When the time comes.

You know the point where I can't, I can't drive.

I can't leave my house without hitting a traffic jam.

I don't know what I can do.

Get out, get out!

Exactly.

Commissioner Brian Hammond points out Lee County has preserved almost 48mi of land through conservation 2020.

Gretl Avila says the natural beauty should keep her here.

I really do like Florida.

You know, we're surrounded by beaches.

You know, we have the Everglades right there.

Environments like so big here.

I really do like it.

I don't want to move.

Professor Nadeau says affordable housing remains a problem.

We are getting the jobs.

We are getting the amenities.

And those are going to be crucial to have the young community here.

But then we go into can they stay here?

Is there housing available?

And that's where I think it's the, our next challenge.

Nadeau sees two solutions building vertically, which is happening now.

And eventually people moving inland to Hendry and Glades counties.

The bottom line, according to Commissioner Hammond, I think you're going to see us have a more well-rounded, diverse economy.

And he says that's encouraging for all the people moving here.

As the Census Bureau estimates, the current year round population at more than 400,000 and Collier County and about 850,000, and Lee, with 1 million likely in Lee in just a few years.

For GCU news, I'm Mike Walter.

In 2021, state leaders signed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law to promote government investment in the wildlife corridor.

The blueprint for this initiative covers nearly 18 million acres of linked wilderness and working land, 54% of that area's existing conservation land.

The other 46% still needs to be acquired for future conservation.

The cost to do that would easily surpass $4 billion.

This connected habitat is designed to protect the ecosystem and economy by improving things like flood mitigation and allowing threatened animals to roam so they can thrive.

The Florida Wildlife Foundation hosts informational expeditions into the wilderness walks Eddie Stewart and Amanda Inscore.

Whittamore followed some Southwest Floridians on their trek.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor celebrated a milestone in November when they unveiled a new sign at the Baca Hatch's Strand Preserve State Park.

Florida Senator Kathleen Passa Domo was on hand to celebrate 5060 years from now.

Our grandchildren are going to talk about the greatest thing that the state of Florida did in the 2020s was establishing the Florida Wildlife Corridor, because it will become our Central Park.

The event also kicked off a six day strand to Slew Expedition for a few hikers.

They hiked, biked, and kayaked through the corkscrew watershed north to the Caloosahatchee River.

Part of the goal is to inspire people to come out and enjoy themselves through the eyes of the trekkers that are doing this expedition.

The teams had a chance to experience wading through wetlands, through the fact I had to strand.

Seeing the Picayune Strand and the restoration effort had terrific behind the scenes working lands, access to sea tomato operation and orange groves.

So it's been not just wild, but working landscapes which hold the whole thing together.

This particular trek hosted educators like Laura Fote.

It's important to me to be a trucker, because I want to be able to share my outdoor love for wilderness with the next generation, but it's not real, real pink.

I always try to spend my time and energy connecting people and places, and I feel like that's what this trek has been all about, is connecting wild places to one another, but also connecting humans to those wild places in a meaningful way.

Wildlife Corridor Foundation founder and photographer Carlton Ward Jr hopes these treks illustrate an issue that's confronting all of Florida's unprotected lands.

I think climate change is driving more and then migration of people.

So that just is one more pressure on the wildlife corridor.

And so we have to move faster if we want to save more connected habitats.

We have to do it now.

And it's really in this next decade, I believe that we're going to determine the future of the corridor, and that matters in a really big way for South Florida, for southwest Florida, because we have 4 million acres of contiguous public land down here.

That's an area twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

And so now it's about whether we can save enough of that green space so that all these stepping stones of public land have the connective tissue of those working lands to keep them connected and whole.

Florida's arts and culture sector generates an estimated $5.7 billion in economic activity annually.

Yet many arts organizations were left in limbo after Governor Ron DeSantis unexpectedly vetoed $32 million in arts funding earlier this year.

The governor said the decision to make the massive cuts was influenced by state dollars going to fringe festivals, despite the budgetary hurdles.

The Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers continues to support its fringe Festival.

Fringe is for everyone.

Everyone should have access to a fringe festival once you're here at a fringe festival.

It's an energy unlike any other festival.

You go to.

What is a fringe festival?

A lot of Fringe Festival is basically a performing arts festival.

It covers the whole gamut.

You have dance, you have theater, you have storytelling, stand up, all kinds of different things.

That's what I do.

Art is important to a community.

It sets the standard for your area.

It makes your life better.

We had this great variety of shows that we, were given.

One of them tomatoes tried to kill me.

But banjo saved my life.

Incredible story of a CEO who got some disastrous news.

Changed his whole life, and now he's on tour during a fringe show.

I'm forever grateful to the fringe movement.

Ladies and gentlemen, Keith Alessi.

Tomatoes tried to kill me, but banjo saved my life.

Fringe is uncensored, uncreated stories.

Anybody can enter a fringe festival lottery.

You could sit onstage for an hour and just stare at the audience if you'd like to.

And I'm sure somebody has done that.

I am really impressed by the fact that this is a new festival.

This is perhaps one of the best run festivals I've attended in terms of organization, from an artist standpoint.

Support from an artist standpoint and the support of the audience has been unbelievable for a two year old festival.

The fringe movement allows people from diverse backgrounds to come together.

It's not just limited to the shows.

We also have a kids fringe component.

I think having things like fringe and especially like Kids Fringe and Family Fringe today is awesome.

Any way to bring the kids into the theater and make theater more accessible to young people and families and more parts of our community, I'm all for it.

That's what I love about bringing this festival to Fort Myers, because you're getting something new every time you're coming to this festival.

Joining me now is Alliance for the Arts executive director, Molly Rowan Dechert.

Welcome, Molly.

Thanks for your time.

So I want to start with help us to understand the impact.

When the governor vetoed this 30 plus million dollars in arts funding last June.

What was the impact to the local arts community and to the Alliance?

Yeah, well, I mean, the Alliance is the local arts agency for Lee County, so we produce a lot of programs, fringe being one of them.

But we do a lot of free and accessible programing across the county, and we were really steadfast in not wanting to scrap that.

So we actually cut people.

It is very important that the arts remain accessible to everybody.

And we have worked so hard.

We were afraid by cutting programs we would backslide.

We didn't want to do it.

I know you obviously communicate with artists throughout the community.

You know, other performers, actors, etc.

talk to directors.

What has been the the yeah, the impact sort of community wide.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, 588 agencies lost their funding this year, and that funding provides critical subsidies so that, you know, ticket prices aren't through the roof and those that are less fortunate that can't access the arts on a regular basis can.

So that does trickle down to artists, because there's less money to go around to produce those types of programs.

I think it remains to be seen how deep that impact is going to be, but it's definitely being felt.

So has this cut in funding impacted your ability or the Alliance's ability to produce fringe?

No.

Just to be very clear, there's no event that is produced at the alliance that receives any sort of arts funding from the state.

We use all of those dollars to create free and accessible programing across the county.

So fringe has never been a part of the state dollars, the local fringe festival.

So for people who might have never attended a fringe event, is there a real cultural and artistic, you know, importance to a community?

Yeah, fringe has been going for years.

It was born in Scotland.

There is a very, I would say high brow, wonderful performing arts festival.

And a lot of the artists that applied to that festival were frustrated that they could never get in.

So they literally produced a festival on the fringes.

And it's not just here in Florida.

It's global.

So it's a wonderful way to to see shows you'd never see on a traditional stage.

It's for artists.

It's by artists.

And it is, it is just really wild, good fun.

So looking ahead, we know you're, departing, the Alliance.

But what is your hope for the future?

And where do you think the opportunities lie?

In supporting the arts community, especially at this time where there's been such a cut in funding?

Yeah.

I mean, the funding was devastating, but we're also coming across, you know, coming through a natural disaster and a pandemic.

So the arts are really hurting, and we are a top five industry in the state of Florida.

And it's important to remember that the work that we do, art, is a wonderful byproduct of it.

But really, you know, we are an economic engine.

We provide jobs, we provide access.

The arts are important.

If you don't have the arts, you lack a vibrant community.

And I assume you would say fringe is here to stay?

Yes, absolutely.

Because it's supported by ticket sales, as you mentioned.

Yes.

It's it's supported by ticket sales.

And, we do have a few critical sponsors, so it has nothing to do with state funding.

Molly, thank you so very much for your time.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

The City of Fort Myers is honoring a man who pushed for civil rights in our region since the 1960s.

Brian Monti reports.

What's in a name?

Sometimes we may have no idea the person a street is named after.

As you travel along, Doctor Martin Luther King Jr Drive in Fort Myers, you will now see the street named after Reverend Isidore Edwards Junior.

It's at the corner of Palm Avenue.

Who was Isidore Edwards junior?

You don't need a pulpit to preach.

He was a fighter.

He was a fighter for the first civil rights and president of the NAACP at that time.

Reverend Isidore Edwards Jr was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida.

At a young age, he joined the military and served in World War Two.

He moved to Fort Myers in 1961 and became the pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Myers.

A year later, Reverend Edwards served as the first president of the Lee County NAACP.

He helped pave the way to integrate public schools in Lee County as well as the hospitals.

Now, more than 60 years later, the City of Fort Myers has dedicated a street sign in his honor.

Family, friends, community leaders, and members of Friendship Baptist Church gathered to remember the man who was dedicated to making a difference.

I can say with the surety that a man walked among us and brought real change in a very difficult time of our community.

Gerard Eddy is a historian and serves as a director of diversity and Inclusion for the School District of Lee County.

To be a leader, you had to be fearless to go up to the fathers and mothers that be that ran Lee County and question them and demand a level of justice requires you to be fearless.

And everyone that is known.

Reverend Edwards has said he was fearless.

It was his faith and fearlessness that helped Reverend Edwards Jr. Push for change.

During a time when segregation and injustice was preeminent.

Edwards died October 31st and 2020.

The new street sign not only represents a name, but a legacy of a man who fought for justice and equality to all.

Oh, for Wjcl news, I'm Bryant Monteiro.

Hurricanes and human intervention make for difficult sea turtle nesting seasons.

So with three hurricanes impacting parts of southwest Florida this year, how did this nesting season turn out?

Joining us now is Cathy Worley, director of science at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

Cathy, welcome.

Glad to be here.

So my understanding is, is that nesting season actually started strong in places like Sanibel.

But then we had the two hurricanes, Helene and Milton.

So what was sort of the final picture on this?

Did the storms sort of devastate these, these nests?

It depended on where you were.

Okay.

Along the Gulf Coast, the more north you got in this state, the worse the search was and the worse the effects to the nests were.

In our county down in Collier, where I work, we lost about 48% of our nests to both to any sort of storm that went through.

So what we had ended up with was an average nesting year, but a below average hatching year.

We didn't.

The storms basically wiped out the nests so you wouldn't have the hatching.

And that's what made it an unsuccessful year.

Pretty much on the Gulf Coast.

But the good news is, is the nests were steady, if not improving in numbers.

So the previous two nesting seasons were strong winds, right?

Yes, they were very good years.

We were, especially where we are down in Collier.

We had a upward trajectory in nesting, if you think about it.

When the Conservancy started this project, this was way back in 1983, and we only had like about 50 nests on key Wayne Island.

And this was, you know, typical along the Gulf Coast.

There was just not as much nesting due to, turtle predation and things like that.

Something special about this season was the fact that we saw some leatherback turtles.

Right?

Why is that so special?

Well, they generally don't go to this coast.

In fact, I've only seen two nests, and I've been doing this since 1996, and I've only seen two nests on key weight.

And, basically, we had one this year.

There was a false crawl, but we think she's the one that went up to Sanibel and nested there.

What does that mean?

A false crawl is when a turtle comes up.

They don't like the sand, or they don't like the condition, or they run into something and they just don't like it.

And so they leave.

They don't nest.

It's called a false crawl.

Kathy, let's end with this.

For folks who know already that we need to be careful with the bright lights on the beaches at night.

What are some other common mistakes and how do that people make and that we can really change and really help?

Turtles, you know, turtles are really special.

First of all, they've been around for millennia, and they have gone through and survived so much.

They're almost like a living dinosaur.

And through no fault of their own, their numbers have declined.

So anything that we can do to increase their numbers and increase their ability to survive is important.

And that includes not only turning off your lights at night because they're attracted to them, but also removing your furniture from the beach before nightfall so that these turtles don't run into things, obstacles, anything you can think of as an obstacle or it.

And also plastics and trash.

Pick up your trash.

It's easy.

You go to the beach, carried out.

There's cans everywhere.

You can drop it off.

And, because turtles tend to ingest plastic, if you think about it, you see a plastic bag floating.

It looks like a jellyfish.

And they eat jellyfish.

So, and that can cause great health concerns in there for them.

So just pick up your trash.

Turn off your lights and remove your furniture.

And, you know, the turtles will appreciate it.

Thank you, Kathy, and thank you for the work that you do.

Thank you.

Coming up.

What happens when he can't find time to take your dog for a walk?

You bring in the bus.

We'll explain right after the break.

did A new business is lending a paw to Collier County pooches and their owners by offering them the chance to get their daily walks in at any time and use.

Cary Barbour explains the company is also having an impact on the local humane society.

A couple of times I've called and said, hey, I'm driving by.

Do you guys have time to just bring me out a dog?

That's Jamie Daniel of Naples, owner of my dog's mobile gym, housed in a short former school bus.

The mobile dog gym includes two slat mills in a climate controlled atmosphere.

Slat mills are treadmills that are not motorized.

They only move if the dog moves and the dog controls the speed.

Daniel further describes the slat mill.

This they actually have to think.

You can see them having to focus on where their feet go, what is happening.

They have to pay attention to what they're doing and it's all on them.

They correct themselves.

Daniel, who's had a whole career working with animals, heard about mobile gyms for dogs through a friend.

He said, you know, you need to do you need to do this.

And sent me the tick tock.

And I was like, well, that's a no brainer.

She got a good workout.

You know, she doesn't want to go home to go back to school.

Daniel has regular clients around town, dogs that are particularly energetic, maybe dogs whose vets recommend they lose some weight.

But she also donates at least five hours a week running dogs at the Humane Society of Naples.

Although the dogs are well cared for at the shelter, this therapy helps them in a special way.

Let's go.

You're going to go push them a little bit more to get out of their comfort zone.

Monita Bergmann is a dog care lead at the Humane Society of Naples.

She and Daniel work together to help the dogs to the mobile gym.

Here's Bergmann.

I can see from from an outside perspective is the relationship that she develops with the dogs.

Jamie has a way of kind of pushing them, but also not past what they're capable.

And the dogs are the biggest beneficiaries.

The people around them say they're calmer after a session in the mobile gym.

As for the shelter dogs, they are in a better place to be adopted into their forever homes.

Daniel even offers dogs a free session if they were adopted from Humane Society of Naples or domestic Animal Services of Collier County.

That's the coolest thing, is to see their transformation in a way.

For WGCU news, I'm Carrie Barber with help from Andrea melendez in Naples.

Coming up next week on Southwest Florida in Focus, a closer look at amendment two, placing the right to hunt and fish in Florida's Constitution.

How this new measure aims to protect the traditions of the past.

Be sure to join us for that story and much more on WGCU Have a great week everyone!