Student pilots, private jets responsible for airport curfew violations
Costco formally files plans for second store in Collier
Less than two weeks after hundreds of residents packed a neighborhood information meeting to protest conceptual plans for a second location in Collier County, Costco Wholesale Corp. submitted formal development plans earlier this month for a new store proposed on the southeast corner of Collier Boulevard and Rattlesnake Hammock Road.
More expansive than shown in initial plans, the 162,671-squarefoot Costco South Naples store would be more than 14,000 square feet larger than the Costco that has operated for 25 years on Naples Boulevard in North Naples. The new warehouse with a fuel station is proposed on nearly 22 acres of undeveloped, heavily wooded land that is part of the Hacienda Lakes mixed-use planned unit development. Abutting the proposed Costco property, an additional 4 acres of commercial outparcels with more than 45,000 square feet of building area are earmarked along Collier Boulevard for other businesses that have yet to be determined. Before the Costco proposal advances to public hearings, the complex project will be scrutinized and modified by the county’s Growth Management and Community Development staff for an unspecified amount of time. Then, the proposal will be on the Planning Commission’s agenda before it is received by the Board of County Commissioners.
See ATEN KNOWS, Page 4A
3B | ROLE MODELS
Local theater’s message: Finding those we can admire in the unexpected
Desire to help
6B | A GOOD RUN
21 Spices by Chef Asif served the Naples area for 9-plus years before its closing
Hurricane forum looks at effects, challenges
By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com
With hurricane season rapidly approaching, an audience of almost 400 gathered at Naples United Church of Christ on March 18 for a forum on how Naples and other Collier County communities can better prepare for — and recover from — major storms.
“Taking the Punch out of Powerful Hurricanes: A Forum on Building Resilience” was sponsored by the Collier Community Foundation, Greater Naples Leadership and Naples United Church of Christ and featured Matt Devitt, WINK News chief meteorologist; Jennifer Jurado, Broward County chief resilience officer; and Dan Summers, Collier County Emergency Management Division director.
Panelists also discussed concerns over planned or possible federal funding cuts to agencies including NOAA, the National Weather Service and FEMA.
History of major SWFL hurricanes, and hurricane ‘anatomy’ Devitt offered a history of storms that have had major consequences for Naples and Southwest Florida and said now is the time to prepare for whatever the upcoming hurricane season (June 1 through Nov. 30) may bring.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season saw a total of 18 storms including 11 hurricanes — with five designated as major — and was the second cost-
STORM SEASON, Page 4A
Marco Island City Council chooses seventh councilor
0 51497 40346 1
By Aisling Swift
After four months of tied votes, Marco Island City Council unanimously appointed a seventh councilor, a retired CEO and local philanthropist. The March 17 vote to appoint Rene Champagne, a retired technical institute chairman and Vietnam veteran, came during a nearly 75-min-
ute special meeting, more than an hour of which was devoted to bickering over how to vote, and whether to interview the four new candidates or ask others to step up. But Councilor Bonita Schwan interrupted the discussion by nominating Champagne, and within seconds the vote was unanimous, prompting applause from residents in the audience.
Before the vote, Acting Chair Erik Brechnitz noted they’d been at an impasse since November
after more than two dozen candidates, repeated nominations and tie votes.
“Three counselors have felt that the other three counselors were intractable in their positions and vice versa,” Brechnitz said. “Also, three counselors felt the other three were being foolish and vice versa. The truth is, in my judgment, the entire council looks foolish — and I suspect if
See MARCO, Page 6A
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Clerk to host passport event
The Collier County Clerk’s Office will hold an event on Saturday to allow residents to apply for U.S. passports. The event, also happening at county clerk offices statewide, will be held 9 a.m.-1 p.m. March 29 at Heritage Bay Government Services Center, 15450 Collier Blvd., Naples. Passport Saturday is a oneday event that clerks statewide host to accommodate residents who are planning to apply for a U.S. passport but are unable to go to the office due to jobs. Eligible people can submit applications on a weekend without taking time off during the week.
Preferred Travel & Co. acquires Central Fla.-based vacation planning company
Preferred Travel & Co. acquired Anchors Away Cruises & Tours, expanding the Naples-based travel agency’s luxury travel offerings into Dunedin and The Villages and increasing its total number of employees to more than 100. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Established in 1995, Anchors Away Cruises & Tours provides vacation planning, including cruises, cruise tours, land tours, resorts and river cruising. The company will continue to operate under its current name as a division of Preferred Travel. Its former owner, Edward Mass Jr., will remain on through the transition, and no changes are anticipated in staffing.
Both Anchors Away Cruises & Tours locations in Dunedin and The Villages will be maintained. However, the team at the Dunedin location will move to a new suite in the same building. The acquisition follows Preferred Travel’s acquisition of Landmark Travel in 2023.
Kids’ Minds Matter raises $2.6M at signature gala
All-time Olympic great and mental health advocate Michael Phelps shared his personal story of addressing mental health issues at the Kids’ Minds Matter signature gala March 12. The event, hosted at Arthrex One in North Naples, raised more than $2.6 million to support pediatric mental and behavioral health care in the region through Lee Health and Golisano Children’s Hospital and their community partners.
Member-based primary care practice opens in North Naples Membership-based health care company MDVIP opened a primary care practice at 13180 Livingston Road, Suite 205, in North Naples. Led by board-
certified internist Dr. Mailin Ortega, the practice’s special interests include preventive care, lifestyle and wellness coaching, heart health and cardiovascular conditions, such as hypertension, arrhythmia and coronary artery diseases. Ortega is affiliated with NCH North Hospital and NCH Baker Hospital in Naples. Founded in 2000, MDVIP has a national network of more than 1,300 primary care physicians serving more than 400,000 patients. The practices provide same- or next-day appointments that last an average of 30 minutes, and 24/7 physician availability.
Naples Press seeks to speak with victims of scam texts, emails, calls
Over the last few months, many Floridians have received text messages from unknown numbers warning them about unpaid Sun Pass tolls. State officials want you to know this is a scam known as “smishing” with the goal of obtaining money or your personal information.
Have you been the victim of a scam by way of email, text or phone? The Naples Press wants to hear from you for a series on these types of scams to be published in the near future. Please email scams@ naplespress.com.
Great Futures Gala raises $525K for Boys & Girls Club
The 14th annual Great Futures Gala and Youth of the Year Awards event Feb. 26 at Club Pelican Bay raised more than $525,000 to support Boys & Girls Club of Collier County’s mission to empower all young people to reach their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens. Boys & Girls Club of Collier County annually serves more than 3,500 children and teens, ages 6 to 18, through clubs and after-school programs.
Martha Perez joins Boys & Girls Club as events and corporate relations manager
Boys & Girls Club of Collier County has named Martha Perez as events and corporate relations manager. Perez is responsible for expanding corporate partnerships and ensuring successful fundraising events to increase funding to support Boys & Girls Club programs and services. Perez’s role ties together her passion for events and her interest in expanding corporate philanthropy and developing relationships for the Club. She provides leadership to staff and volunteers to plan and implement events, manage vendors, secure sponsorships and cultivate new, and steward existing,
donors. Perez’s contributions to nonprofit communications and fundraising have been recognized with the Connie RamosWilliams Nonprofit Publicity Award. Beyond her professional work, Perez volunteers as a grade-school Sunday school teacher.
Shapses revives neon art in contemporary sculpture
The fusion of neon and stone has fascinated sculptor Joel Shapses for more than 30 years. Now 80 years old, Shapses continues to push artistic boundaries by reintroducing neon into his latest artwork, “The Rites of Spring,” bringing a luminous dimension to his sculptures. The idea first struck Shapses while working with translucent stones such as alabaster and onyx. “I thought, ‘What if these stones could be illuminated from within? It would enhance the artistic effect,’” he said. Shapses referred to this series of sculptures as his nocturnal works of art because they are greatly enhanced in dimly lit rooms.
Angelina’s Ristorante raises glass to new sommelier
Angelina’s Ristorante celebrates Nick Kattman’s recent achievement of earning status as a certified sommelier. In the fine dining industry, having a single certified sommelier is considered a mark of excellence, and Angelina’s has two in-house, Kattman and Dinah Leach. Kattman joined Angelina’s in 2014 as a server and took an interest in learning more about wine when Leach arrived in 2015. Leach provided educational opportunities for fellow staff to ensure that dinner guests would have the best culinary experience with food and wine. Kattman passed the certified sommelier exam last month and was named Valedictorian of his class. In addition to earning the certification, he earned a scholarship toward his third round of examinations, the Advanced Sommelier exam.
Conservancy of Southwest Florida gala raises $1.7M Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s 2025 Magic Under the Mangroves Gala on March 6 in Naples raised more than $1.7 million to support its environmental science, policy, education and wildlife rehabilitation programs. The live auction, led by nationally renowned auctioneer Lydia Fenet, featured a record-breaking moment with the highest single bid in the event’s history: $100,000 for a week-long cruise aboard MS The World, the world’s largest privately owned yacht.
Student pilots, private jets responsible for airport curfew violations
By John L. Guerra
The “Fly Safe, Fly Quiet” logo is displayed on signs throughout Naples Airport’s main terminal and other buildings; on airfield fences, letterheads and coffee cups. It appears on the screens of self-service kiosks in the pilots’ lounge. The colorful logo is even on the doors of the trucks that fuel aircraft on the tarmac.
It may seem to be overkill, but accord -
ing to Naples Airport officials, the program that advertises the voluntary flight curfew between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. is working. The goal is to reduce noise from aircraft that would otherwise fly during those hours.
“Naples Aviation is delighted to announce that our tenants have achieved a voluntary curfew compliance rate of 98.9% under the Fly Safe, Fly Quiet” program, the airport website ( flynaples.com ) boasts.
According to a list of top curfew violators the airport listed in February, there are those who, for whatever reason, still fly
during the hours of the curfew. The Naples Airport program and other “voluntary restraint from flight” programs around the country are merely a request to avoid overnight flying. It’s also good to remember that these are curfew violations, not noise complaints — though both can be true at the same time.
The top curfew violator for February?
Treasure Coast Flight Training in Stuart, with 16 flights of multiple tail numbers. In fact, most of the violators are pilots learning nighttime flying skills.
According to a Treasure Coast official who identified himself as Don Wheaton, Treasure Coast student pilots fly Cessnas, “which are much quieter” than private jets.
“We fly into Naples from Stuart, do touch-and-goes and return,” Wheaton said. “A lot of our students are doing cross-country time building and all that. We also have students that fly at night for training.”
In addition to a touch-and-go, the pilots will “sometimes go to the coffee shop over
Naples
to
update comprehensive plan to reflect its vision
By Aisling Swift
Naples city leaders are working to boost the city’s resiliency and infrastructure while managing growth and maintaining its small-town charm.
The review is part of a $423,250 two-year contract City Council approved last month with Johnson Engineering of Naples, which presented Council with its team’s draft plan on March 17.
“The purpose is to provide an opportunity to reinforce the vision throughout all plan elements, to address new and emerging concerns such as resiliency, balancing redevelopment with preservation of the small-town charm and character … and managing the pressures of growth,” Christine Fisher, the project manager, told Council during a kickoff to introduce the team. Fisher and Laura DeJohn, of Johnson Engineering, are working with North Carolina-based Clarion, a landuse and character identity company; CMA of Fort Myers, which will conduct community outreach; and Erin L. Deady P.A. of Delray Beach, who city officials branded the state’s top resiliency planning and legal review expert.
Resilient building design focuses on strengthening buildings to withstand forces such as hurricanes, wind, flooding and earthquakes. The team will work with city Planning Director Erica Martin and city staff.
By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com
After a record-setting 2025 Naples Winter Wine Festival, Naples Children & Education Foundation announced more than $34 million in grants to nearly 50 Collier County children’s charities, at a reception held on March 17 at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón.
The nonprofit organizations receiving the grants provide a wide range of services to support underprivileged and at-risk children. This year’s grants include an $8 million investment to drive enrichment and expansion of early learning opportunities, to close what NCEF calls “persistent gaps in early childhood education.”
Since 2000, NWWF has raised more than $336 million and served more than 350,000 children in Collier County. Jeff Gargiulo served as NWWF “Team 25” chair, and Stephanie Pezeshkan served as NCEF grant committee chair.
In announcing the 2025 grants, NCEF CEO
Maria Jimenez-Lara extended thanks to the NWWF patrons “whose generosity far exceeds anything beyond extraordinary.”
“You help make three days of wine and food into year-round impact, with a lasting change for children in our community,” she said. “Because of you we have now raised and are investing an astounding $34,081,814 into this community alone. This is the power of collective impact coming together, and we will continue to shape a brighter future for those we serve.”
One of those children is Immokalee High School junior Saidee Rincon, who opened the ceremony singing “For Good” from the musical Wicked, a performance that had the audience — which included her parents — on its feet for a standing ovation at the end.
The lyrics, about an unexpected friendship that changes two people forever, seemed especially appropriate for the occasion.
Rincon, who said she has been singing since she could speak, has participated in several NCEF-funded programs through the Immokalee
Foundation since she was in sixth grade, with a focus on college preparation.
Through the Immokalee Foundation she has attended summer camps at Florida Gulf Coast University that explore careers in different medical fields, which she said have encouraged her to consider a career in pediatric oncology. She also has taken part in ACT preparation courses, and over her recent spring break toured several Florida universities.
“I feel very grateful because I think the Immokalee Foundation has really helped me, especially through high school,” she said. “There are a lot of things to get done before you graduate, and a lot of things to do to prepare for graduating. All the things that they [Immokalee Foundation] do for us is very kind of them, and I love that we’re able to participate in so many different things, like all the field trips and prep courses that we have.” She said the courses have helped her “get into good time management and routines,” and that
Outreach will include eight types of public meetings, a website listing updates and access to forms and surveys to ensure residents’ input is considered.
Seven phases will include data collection and analysis to public engagement, approval by the Planning Advisory Board and City Council and final approval by the Florida Department of Commerce. Public engagement will be held October through March but continue over two years, and suggestions made two years ago by the PAB will be incorporated.
The last major update was in 2018, but late last year, during a seven-year evaluation, Council amended the city’s Comprehensive Plan to comply with changes to state statutes, and also updated its 2021 city vision. Resident Lori Raleigh urged the
Immokalee High
From
ATEN KNOWS
“It’s not scheduled because when the package from Costco went to the county staff last Monday [March 3], the county staff has as much time as they need to dissect it and converse with Costco,” said County Commissioner Rick LoCastro, whose district includes the proposed site.
Instead of the Costco project being decided by a single hearing examiner, LoCastro’s motion that the Costco issue be heard by the seven-member Planning Commission and the five-member County Commission was unanimously approved Feb. 25 by county commissioners.
“It’s going to be heard by seven people, and all the citizens that come to the podium are not just going to be talking to one guy,” LoCastro said. “This provides much more visibility, much more transparency, much more voice. It’s going to take longer but, whatever the outcome, it’s not going to be because we streamlined it or rubber stamped it or we pushed it through.”
Costco seeks relief for eight deviations from the county land development code. The most notable deviation is the 132-foot separation between the future Costco and existing 7-Eleven properties on either side of Rattlesnake Hammock Road, because county code mandates a minimum 500-foot separation between facilities with fuel pumps.
Other deviations involve the proposed warehouse’s maximum signage square footage, number of loading spaces, plant trellises satisfying façade variations and glazing requirements, taller light poles, parking lot landscaping requirements and light poles sharing landscape islands with trees.
LoCastro said rezoning often is the biggest hurdle for a development project, but this property is already zoned commercial. “The debate is not going to be about zoning. It’s going to be about these variances and several other things,” said LoCastro, noting that concerns such as traffic, safety and setbacks also will be questioned and studied.
An entrance with a traffic signal and a right-in/right-out drive with right-turn lanes are proposed on Rattlesnake Hammock Road for Costco. Two access drives would connect the outparcel lots with the Costco lot, which proposes 819 parking spaces.
Dinner time
Q: Any idea what’s happening with the Rib City/Denny’s at Towne Center in East Naples? – Jason Pierce, Naples
SEASON
liest Atlantic season on record with preliminary estimates at $192 billion in damages.
“I am so encouraged to see everybody here right now because you guys are doing the right thing,” Devitt told the crowd. “The time to prepare for a storm is not as it’s approaching; the time to do it is on sunny, beautiful days ahead of tropical systems.”
He talked about the science behind how tropical systems develop, including warm waters, low wind shear, high humidity and rising air, and explained the difference between El Niño patterns and La Niña patterns, with the latter being more favorable to a higher number of stronger storms.
And while Devitt said it is still too early to predict what the season ahead will look like with any certainty, he said the current outlook “is right now a battle between neutral conditions and La Niña. I think right now the probability for an El Niño is 10%. The other 90% is split between either a neutral phase where it’s not either of them, or it’s La Niña.”
Importance of public-private partnerships
In her role as chief resilience officer for Broward County on the east coast of Florida, Jurado said she has seen the value of public-private collaboration in generating a “resilience strategy” for before and after major storms.
She explained how the business community in Broward County supported a $30 billion investment in the proposed resilience plan.
“The business community worked with us on that plan,” she said. “They endorsed it up front and participated throughout. We have economic resilience work groups at the regional and Broward County levels and they support us in our annual summits, so they are very present and involved in the dialogue.”
Jurado also talked about examples from other international and U.S. approaches to creating resilience including the Thames barrier upgrade in London; sea wall enhancements in San Francisco; the Hampton Roads, Virginia, green
A: Two years later than originally planned, Denny’s restaurant chain is preparing a mid-April launch in the former longtime outparcel space of Rib City at Naples Towne Centre South on U.S. 41 in East Naples, said Vic Cuda, vice president and chief operating officer of RREMC Restaurants LLC. The West Palm Beach company operates about 60 restaurants in five states — including 23 in Florida — making it the third largest Denny’s franchisee in the nation.
“We are looking at an opening date of April 14,” Cuda messaged. “Now hiring staff.”
A flyer on the door of the restaurant announces the hirings for all positions. The new Naples location at 3871 U.S. 41 E. seeks applicants for managers, cooks, servers, hosts and service assistants.
The restaurant’s local launch will mark a return to the Naples market
for Denny’s, which has more than 1,400 locations and is known for a 24-hour diner menu with “Grand Slam” breakfast specials. Despite the planned closing of more than 175 lower-volume locations within 2024 and 2025, Denny’s opened 14 franchised restaurants in 2024 and remodeled many others, according to the company’s annual earnings report. The brand has plans to open even more restaurants this year.
The local opening will reintroduce the Denny’s national casual dining concept to the Naples market after 18 years. Collier County’s only location closed in early 2007 after operating for more than 15 years at 3350 U.S. 41 N., a space now home to Blueberry’s restaurant. The new Denny’s will replace the freestanding 4,200-square-foot Rib City location that permanently closed in mid-2020 after operating for more than 20 years.
infrastructure plan; and coastal restoration and stabilization projects in Fort Lauderdale.
She noted the vulnerability of the Gulf coast of Florida to storm surge, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, due to wider, more gently sloping continental shelves with large shallow-water areas that will produce larger storm surges.
Jurado cited other factors that can create exposures for communities, including building on wetlands, depriving shorelines of sediments and the basic geology underlying the area.
“All of those things will come into play,” she said. “You will have questions about the overall integrity of [building] foundations. We have lots of exploration of how much will some of the evolving climate conditions be compounded by the way that we built and where we built, and then the density and the cost of the infrastructure of the region in which we live.”
Breaking the damage-repair, damage-repair cycle
As director of Collier County emergency management since 2003, Summers cited some of the factors that increase the region’s disaster risk and vulnerability, including a growing (and aging) population; aging infrastructure or lack of infrastructure hardening; more intense storms; and concurrent disasters that severely limit government and private resources.
He noted that a new Carnegie Foundation
study showed that Florida has spent $27 billion in disaster costs from 2023 to 2025, putting it in the top five with Puerto Rico, Louisiana, New York and Texas.
“We’ve got to do better,” he said. “We cannot continue this path of the damage-repair, damage-repair cycle that we deal with.”
In addition to trying to help break that cycle, Summers said the main “resiliency” responsibilities of the county’s emergency managers are preventing the loss of life; finding ways to protect infrastructure and environment; finding opportunities to expedite the return to pre-disaster conditions and sustain or improve quality of life and place; and find efficiencies in disaster recovery and reduce waste and duplication of efforts.
Summers reminded the audience that all disaster relief efforts are “federally funded, state supported and locally executed — and you’re part of that local execution.”
Concerns over funding cuts
In response to questions submitted from the audience following the presentations, panelists also discussed concerns over planned or possible federal funding cuts to agencies including NOAA, the National Weather Service and FEMA.
Regarding cuts to NOAA, Devitt said they affect programs including weather balloons whose data is used in meteorologists’ forecasts.
More in East Naples Naples Towne Centre has other new businesses opening soon, according to Luli Cannon, vice president of leasing for center owner RMC Property Group. Targeted to open in early April, Tropical Smoothie Cafe is building out a 1,750-square-foot outparcel space that most recently was Benzer Pharmacy. Dunkin’ Donuts also had a location there years ago. The adjoining 2,000-square-foot unit is home to Renew-YU, a health and beauty spa that recently opened in the Publix-anchored center.
Planet Fitness muscled its way into the 21,000-square-foot space that Save A Lot food store vacated years ago in the adjoining Naples Towne Centre North. The fitness center is targeted to open March 28 at 3725 Tamiami Trail E. after relocating from its longtime spot a mile away in Gulf Gate Plaza at Bayshore Drive and U.S. 41 East. Smash Fitness, a family-owned and -operated gym in Southwest Florida, is soon replacing Planet Fitness at 2650 Tamiami Trail E. in Gulf Gate Plaza. This sixth regional location for Smash Fitness will offer a variety of equipment, including a turf area, glute studio, infrared recovery saunas, supplement shop and smoothie bar. Also, an anchor tenant may be coming soon to replace Big Lots, which closed its store in the retail center in late 2024, said Ryan Hayoun, leasing agent for Isram Realty Group, which owns Gulf Gate Plaza.
“We’re working on something but I can’t really disclose it right now,” Hayoun said. “We’re close.”
The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim. aten@naplespress.com.
“If you have less weather balloons, hypothetically, you could have a less accurate forecast to a certain degree,” he said. He also noted a conversation he had recently with someone at the National Weather Service, who said they were “overworked, understaffed, they need help and this is not what they needed.”
Summers added that his division is paying “very close attention” to what is going on with federal cuts.
“We learned today that our wildfire meteorology, which is a secondary subspecialty that gives us forecasting for our first responders during wildfire interface, has been dramatically cut,” Summers said. “So we don’t know what our wildfire weather resources are going to be.”
As for FEMA, Jurado called the agency a “critical partner.”
“First, you need local money to be able to leverage, but what are you leveraging against if those funds are not available? You’re just doing less: I mean, you can’t fabricate the money,” she said. “And it’s critical, again, because of the cost escalation. We can’t afford four or five years waiting for the funding environment to improve.”
In an interview following the event, Summers said his division has “major concerns” about possible cuts and changes to FEMA, and he said he thinks it has been prone to take the blame “when state or local government is not as prepared as they should be.”
Speaking from his own experience, “My engagement with FEMA has always been firstclass; it’s been professional,” he said. “Congress has written the law as to what they allow and don’t allow to be reimbursed and how that’s done, so that’s number one. Number two, any time you bring in 3,000 to 5,000 additional temporary employees in a disaster zone, sometimes things don’t go well, as was the case in North Carolina, but it doesn’t mean the entire organization is at fault. So is there opportunity for improvement? Absolutely; there’s always room for improvement.”
He said the new Carnegie Foundation study showed that 80% of FEMA’s field reserve staff or long-term recovery staff have been cut.
“We need those individuals to help us put these programs together, whether it’s philanthropic, or land use, or temporary housing,” he said. “I don’t like being the county’s emergency manager going blind into hurricane season, not knowing what my federal partner can and cannot provide.”
Denny’s is targeted to open a restaurant in mid-April in this former Rib City outparcel at Naples Towne Centre on U.S. 41
in East Naples. Photo by Tim Aten
From page 1A STORM
Dan Summers
Matt Devitt, WINK News chief meteorologist, discussed the history of major Southwest Florida storms and hurricane anatomy. Photo by Therese McDevitt
Collier’s federal grants still active, county says
By John L. Guerra
In spite of the Trump administration’s executive order freezing federal grants, Collier County’s grants remain intact, county spokesman John Mullins told The Naples Press last week.
“We have not been notified of any change in status pertaining to current federal grant awards,” Mullins told the newspaper.
Seven days after President Trump’s inauguration, his Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing federal agencies to withhold contractually obligated grants across the federal government.
On March 6, a federal judge in Rhode Island extended a block on the administration’s attempt to freeze federal payments. Though many local leaders and nonprofits worry
about the future of administration funding, Collier County “continues to operate under our current grant agreements,” Mullins said.
A list of the county’s active local, state, and federal grants that Mullins sent The Naples Press includes a $115.7 million public assistance grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grant helps communities pay for debris removal, emergency protective measures and the restoration of public infrastructure. The county has $522.5 million in federal, state and local grants — the majority of which are federal.
A sampling of the county’s dozens of federal grants include:
A $76 million U.S. Treasury State Local Fiscal Recovery grant to support response and recovery from COVID-19. Think American Rescue Plan Act.
A $25 million Federal Transit Administration Section 5307 grant, which provides
transit capital and operating assistance, and for transportation-related planning in urbanized areas.
A $21.1 million Federal Highway Administration grant for highway planning and construction.
A $6.6 million Housing and Urban Development Home Investment Partnership Program grant. The program funds the building, buying and/or rehabilitating of affordable housing. The program also provides direct rental assistance to low-income Americans.
A $13.1 million FHA Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant. It’s how the highway administration invests in road, rail, transit and port projects that promise to achieve critical national objectives.
A $10.4 million HUD Community Development Block Grant. The money helps counties provide decent housing and a suitable living
environment, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.
There are a host of smaller federal grants on that list, including HUD emergency shelter grants ($1.6 million); the Department of Justice’s Adult Treatment Court ($1 million); federal airport improvement program ($1.8 million); Department of Health and Human Services Emergency Home Energy Assistance Program ($210,454); and $200,000 from the FHA’s Safe Streets and Roads for All, which pays for road improvements and transportation technology to reduce injury and death on the county’s roads.
Mullins said he has not reached out to federal agencies to find out the status of any of these grants.
“We have not received any notification of a change to our grant awards and therefore have not had to inquire on a status change,” he said.
Permit holds and stop-work orders
Countywide permit-fraud probe continues
By Aisling Swift
Collier County is continuing its investigation into widespread permit fraud, focusing first on open permits and ongoing construction — issuing stop-work orders if construction started.
At least 400 single-family homes and commercial buildings already were built and issued certificates of occupancy using fraudulent architectural seals, which provide assurance of safety-code compliance and structural integrity.
Meanwhile, Nova Homes of South Florida, reportedly one of the builders that used Dave Wainscott Designs, said it dropped Wainscott, one of the largest users of fraudulent architectural seals, and hired a new company. Nova Homes contends it’s also a victim of the fraud. Its county permit-pulling privileges have been revoked.
The investigation, which includes the FBI; Collier County Sheriff’s Office; Naples and Marco police; and the Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design, involves the fraudulent use of an architectural seal belonging to retired architect Gene Cravillion, 91, who has dementia and has lived in a North Naples assisted living facility since August 2022. However, someone recently renewed his license.
Wainscott was caught in 2023 by the Marco Island Building Department using the seal of architect Leonard LaForest, who was suspended for unlicensed activity in October 2019 and died Nov. 15, 2021.
“We are continuing to collect current and historical data on permits back to 2022 on Cravillion, but have not begun our inquiry into LaForest due to limited staff resources,” John McCormick, an engineer and director of the county Building Plan Review & Inspection Division, said in an email to The Naples Press
The inquiry into LaForest’s seal will begin once the county concludes its investigation into permits stamped with Cravillion’s architectural seal, he said, adding
“It’s evident that there was widespread fraud by a variety of people. There’s a notary involved that notarized something that they knew was fraudulent.”
—John McCormick, an engineer and director of the county Building Plan Review & Inspection Division
it’s focusing on active permits with Cravillion’s seal and asking contractors and owners to submit paperwork using a new engineer of record.
If a current permit application with Cravillion’s seal is found during the intake process, McCormick said, it’s returned to the applicant to resubmit. If it’s discovered during the plan-review stage, he said, a rejection is issued — and if it’s already under construction, the county issues a stop-work order.
“However, at this point, we have found the numbers to be minimal,” McCormick said of open permits, adding the county is asking concerned residents to review their permits on the county CityView public portal. If they discover the fraudulent seal, they should contact the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
State-required digital seals verify the authenticity of architectural documents, establish an architect’s identity and show safety-code compliance, structural integrity and adherence to local, state and national standards.
McCormick first brought up the fraud during a county Development Services Advisory Board meeting in February, calling it “substantial,” saying plan reviewers found at least 400 permits involving single-family homes and commercial structures totaling at least $40 million that were built and received certificates of occupancy. He said the “blatant” fraud spread up to Sarasota, with a small amount on the East Coast.
“It’s evident that there was widespread fraud by a variety of people,” McCormick told the DSAC. “There’s a notary involved that notarized something that they knew was fraudulent.
“… We’re responsible for safety of the public,” McCormick said. “I don’t want buildings collapsing … and I’m not trying to be dramatic … We were defrauded by the whole process.”
McCormick noted the state didn’t pull Cravillion’s license until Feb. 3. He said the county is considering what to do with buildings that already received COs.
The county is looking into a software upgrade to allow it to search for designers and architects, and may hire other staff to ensure the review doesn’t hold up other permits.
In March, McCormick told the DSAC the 400 fraudulent seals his department had found a month earlier had increased, and county employees must review about 200,000 permits dating back to August 2022.
Through a public records request, the county provided The Naples Press with 189 open permits flagged through the end of January, but said it’s continuing to investigate. The majority involved ASSA (Agencias Sarmiento S.A.), which is owned by Octavio Sarmiento, who has not returned calls or emails seeking comment.
County records show ASSA submitted 88, while Wainscott submitted 20. Thin Line Group, owned by Carlos Barbato, and Tru Drafting & Design Inc., owned by Isaiah Trujillo, submitted 15; and
SP Drafting, owned by Santiago Pinilla, submitted 11. The county’s list included 12 other design or drafting companies that used the fraudulent seal. Two others — GB Drafting Design Corp. and JArchiTEC Design & Drafting — were added to the list.
Through interviews, The Naples Press found some others were involved with Wainscott, who earned an architectural degree but is not a licensed architect. He also submitted numerous plans to Marco Island. He has not returned phone calls and emails seeking comment. His state general contractor license is delinquent.
State DBPR records show Wainscott has a history of unlicensed activity: After he was caught using LaForest’s seal in 2023, he allegedly began using Cravillion’s seal.
Marco Island declined to provide The Naples Press with data involving Cravillion’s seal, saying it’s exempt under the state public records act due to the ongoing investigation. The city of Naples provided data showing two stopwork orders were issued and another permit was placed on hold. All used Dave Wainscott Designs.
“I was floored,” builder Mark Kropp, of Kropp Construction, said of the Naples building official calling this month to say his project was on hold.
Kropp said he asked why and was told the plans were signed by Cravillion, who was “completely incapacitated and has been that way for two years.”
Kropp said he was unaware because his building partner on the $2.75 million house hired Wainscott and he’s used him for at least 25 years. When Kropp called Wainscott, he said he was aware of the investigation but never mentioned he was being investigated.
Kropp said he met Wainscott last summer.
“I requested to meet face to face with [Cravillion] because we were going over some issues on the permits … things that we see on the drawings that we want to do differently,” Kropp said. “He told me [Cravillion] was vacationing in the Hamptons or on the East Coast, at his summer home.”
Before the city called to say
the permit was on hold, Kropp said, Wainscott told him they had to hire a new engineer because Cravillion had been hospitalized.
Nova Homes of Southwest Florida is among builders that hired Wainscott, whose office was next door to Nova Homes’ office at 3825 Beck Blvd. Wainscott no longer works there and the business has been taken over by engineer Joshua Greenwell, who worked with Wainscott as DWD Design Inc.
In a statement to The Naples Press , Eric Pacheco, Nova Homes’ operations and sales manager, said they were alerted to the fraudulent seal on Jan. 8, when Collier’s deputy building official provided a memo from Investigator Melissa Minacci, of the Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design.
Nova then terminated its relationship with Wainscott and hired an architectural and engineering firm to resolve permit issues “as expeditiously as possible.”
“We expect our partners and subcontractors to uphold the highest standards and strictly adhere to all legal and regulatory requirements,” Pacheco said. “Wainscott Designs failed to meet these obligations, compromising the trust we placed in them, and we are taking this matter very seriously.”
In 2023, Nova Homes sent homeowners letters about the fraudulent use of LaForest’s seal, advising them Marco Island issued stop-work orders until documentation could be corrected. Nova Homes said it was “blindsided” and its design firm, a well-respected company used by many, assured Nova the firm was “unaware of staff actions,” and it wouldn’t happen again.
Two years later, Wainscott was caught using Cravillion’s seal, letters signed and sealed by Cravillion were sent to Collier County, someone passing as Cravillion inspected work at a Nova Homes site and the Contractors’ Licensing Board was told he was at the October CLB hearing.
If your permit application is stamped by Cravillion after August 2022, contact the state board’s investigator, melissa@ manausalaw.com
THE STREETS OF GREEN
the residents were given a choice and were polled, they would like to get rid of all of us.”
The numerous meetings prompted accusations of quid pro quo, collusion by voting blocs and repeated suggestions to resolve the deadlock by holding a special election, which the city attorney advised against. The city charter says Council must make the selection, but within 60 days, which had elapsed.
It was the fourth special meeting held solely to select the seventh councilor. The deadlock had continued during special meetings and twice monthly meetings that resulted in ties involving the same factions: Brechnitz, Stephen Gray and Tamara Goehler vs. councilors Darrin Palumbo, Deb Henry and Schwan.
The seat was vacated midterm by Councilor Greg Folley, who was required to resign Nov. 5 after a failed bid for the State House District 81 seat.
The election brought in four new councilors, including two who ousted incumbents — leaving Brechnitz and Palumbo as senior members. One ousted incumbent, Becky Irwin, was among the four who applied this time.
Others were Allyson Richards, founder of Our Daily Bread food pantry and a former Parks & Recreation Board member who has served on numerous boards; and Melissa Tschida, a nurse whose family operates Paradise Coast Restoration.
Champagne’s application noted Council “experienced challenges” functioning as a team to benefit the community and his leadership and teamwork skills would be a positive addition.
“The concept of ‘compromise’ to move the council forward is missing, and I believe I can help develop the value of compromise among the councilors,” Champagne wrote.
After the vote, Brechnitz asked that Champagne be immediately sworn in so he could join Council’s
5:30 p.m. regular meeting.
Champagne serves on numerous boards and committees, including Marco Island Fire Rescue Foundation, Marco Island Historical Society and Marco Island Academy, toward which he and his wife Tish donated $2.5 million for its new building several years ago. The couple have lived on the island more than 15 years after he retired in 2007 after 22 years as the former chairman and CEO of the now-defunct ITT Educational Services Inc., which had 130 ITT Tech campuses in 38 states.
In his application, he said he has the necessary skillsets and described himself as a fiscal conservative who favors sound financial budgeting, prioritizing, listening to community needs and “clearly communicating” the plans of Council and city manager to voters. Politically, as an “Independent,” he’s “unafraid of making decisions that are required.”
At its regular meeting, Council voted for a chair and vice chair — another vote that had repeatedly tied. Acting Chair Brechnitz, who had been vice chair, was nominated, along with Palumbo and Schwann, who is an attorney. Brechnitz won 4-3, with Schwann, Palumbo and Henry voting nay.
For vice chair, Gray and Schwann were nominated and Gray won 5-2, with Henry and Schwann opposing. Council then took a break to rearrange their seats.
Champagne got to work during a parks master plan presentation, telling Council, staff and residents he’s been reviewing the strategic plan.
“This is the strategic plan adopted by the city. Allegedly residents, council members, all voted on this thing and approved it,” Champagne said. “It’s out of date, OK? It’s obsolete and until such time as we decide what we want to be 10 years from now, not just take a plan and pass it from 2019 to 2024 and then add 10 more years to it — the same words — that doesn’t work.
“So what we need to really do is spend some time prioritizing what is it as a city we wish to accomplish,” he added. “… I’m here. I’m going to keep bugging us until we decide to sit down and talk about these kind of things.”
From page 3A
there and fly back out,” Wheaton said.
The rest of the violators are a mix of training schools and private jet leasing companies. According to the Naples Airport Authority, in February, RexAir had a dozen “violations,” as did Naples Air Center, a pilot training program based on Aviation Drive.
Triana Rodriguez, Naples Air Center’s dispatch manager, explained that its pilots also fly quieter prop planes.
“Most of the people flying are students and they do have night requirements, so those are flying at night,” she said. “We only have one multi-engine [airplane]. The others are Cessna 172s and Piper Warriors.”
The other February violators and their number of violations include FlexJet, a provider of fractional ownership aircraft, leasing and jet card services, with 10 nighttime flights; EnvySky, a Miami-based continuing education company that also provides time-building for pilots, with six violations; JetSelect, a charter service, with five; and Ameriflyers of Texas, another flight training school, with four violations.
Every quarter, the airport also recognizes and “celebrates the efforts of aviation enthusiasts”
who show the highest level of noise-conscious operation during the curfew hours.
On another front, NAA Commissioner Robert Burns worried that notes under an airport noise complaint graphic were inappropriate.
The airport added notes to a graphic describing 5,360 noise complaints the airport has received between March 2024 and Feb. 2025. The bulleted notes read:
• 85% of comments are from nine households • 33% of all comments are from one person in the northeast quadrant
• 86% of 5,360 comments are from 10 users of the AirNoise app Burns told his fellow commissioners that the notes could “intimidate” members of the public by singling them out.
“It doesn’t feel that way for me,” Chair Rita Cuddihy responded.
“Does it have a negative effect on people filling out comments?” Burns asked.
Commissioner John Crees said the notes aren’t meant to be intimidating, but simply add context to the numbers in the graphic.
“There is no name, rank, serial number attached to those [comments],” he said.
The other commissioners seemed to agree with Cuddihy, and the discussion moved on to another subject.
Retired officers from the Naples Collier County NYPD 10-13 Club walk in the parade.
A representative from the Big Cypress National Preserve hands out candy to kids.
Students and staff from St. Ann Catholic School hand out bead necklaces and candy to attendees.
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch rides in the parade with I Want To Live In Naples Real Estate Marketing Group.
Every spring the Naples St. Patrick Foundation hosts the Naples St. Patrick’s Day Parade. This year celebrants came out dressed in green on March 15. To see the registered organizations walk the procession, Neapolitans gathered around Third Street South, Fifth Avenue South and Eighth Street South.
Photography by Alexandra Cavalier
team to look at the 1998 plan, which was more than 700 pages.
“It was really a great comp plan,” Raleigh said. “It had all these safeguards in there for preserving and protecting the residential character of the community.”
She noted developers were responsible for paying for 100% of all associated costs of developments, but that language was tweaked and now they only contribute to those costs. The plan was reduced to 400 pages about 15 years ago, she said, and “watered down” to 200 pages since, while the city’s vision since 2005 has remained consistent.
“We need to really get some more meat back on the bone,” she added.
State statutes require local governments to adopt a comprehensive plan, which provides a blueprint for future land use, services and infrastructure, ensuring orderly, balanced growth over 10- and 20-year horizons. Included among the 10 required elements are coastal management, intergovernmental coordination, housing, water resources, recreation and transportation. Naples has two more, its vision and public school facilities.
“The plan identifies long-range strategies, programs, standards and levels of service for public investments … expressed through goals, objectives and policies,” Fisher said, noting it’s the foundation for other city plans. “They provide guidance for documents such as the land development code, parks master planning, bicycle and pedestrian master planning and the stormwater master plan.”
CMA Outreach will consider the community vision and its distinctive character and educate residents about environmental resilience, said CMA Office Manager Carolyn Usher, adding the
From page 3A
NAPLES COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The Comprehensive Plan is a local government’s blueprint for future use of land and the provision of basic services and infrastructure based on data and analysis of the city’s demographic and physical conditions forecasted over 10- and 20-year planning horizons
Guide physical developments of the city (Future Land Use Map)
Define long-range strategies, programs and standard level of service for public investments
Express intent through goals, objectives and policies
Address 10 different subjects (elements) plus others added locally.
• Future land use
• Housing
• Transportation
• Conservation
• Coastal management
• Public facilities (and water resources)
• Parks, recreation and open space
• Intergovernmental coordination
• Capital improvements
• Private property rights
• Vision*
• Public school facilities*
* Added by Collier County government
Source: Florida Statutes 163.3177
team will hold public meetings and group discussions to address issues, including parking, transportation and traffic.
To encourage participation, they will use flyers, postcards, questionnaires, webpage developments, phone outreach and social media. City residents can sign up for updates on the comp plan website, naples2045.com
The website allows residents to suggest topics and provide feedback. “Our goal is to make our engagement efforts accessible and transparent, fostering trust and collaboration,” Usher said.
Clarion Associates will focus on future land use and community character and will review housing, neighborhoods, economic development, transportation, infrastructure and resiliency.
meetings with Foundation advocates have helped her stay focused on her grades.
“Our advocates keep us on our toes and make sure that we’re doing what needs to be done,” Rincon said. “It has helped me a lot with goal setting and staying on top of my work.”
And while a medical career may beckon, she said singing will always be part of her life.
“As long as I get to sing throughout my life, no matter what I’m doing with it, I’ll be happy,” Rincon said.
Funding for early learning a high priority
NCEF funding this year includes “traditional” grants of $6.7 million to 32 nonprofits and $16.5 million to 17 agencies for NCEF multi-year strategic initiatives focusing on early learning, healthcare and out-of-school time. Another $2.9 million was earmarked for future projects and strategic initiatives.
For the $8 million early learning program, NCEF commissioned the Florida Chamber Foundation to conduct a study identifying critical needs, strategic recommendations and best practices. NCEF said the funds will support areas including infrastructure improvement, staff salaries and program enhancements.
“We will concentrate in communities that we haven’t been able to develop,” Jimenez-Lara said in an interview after the event. “We’ll be concentrating on Golden Gate, east Naples and Golden Gate Estates to really develop some early learning infrastructure and options for parents.”
Dawn Montecalvo, president of the Guadalupe Center, said the Florida Chamber Foundation study outlined the needs for early learning in Collier County with a focus on three main goals.
“We have to have enough slots for the children, and then affordability and tuition assistance for parents because the costs to run early learning is past what [some]
“Our starting point is working with your vision that you established in 2020,” Clarion’s director, Leigh Anne King, said.
Deady said she’s been working with St. Augustine, which has similar issues.
“What we’re seeing in a lot of waterfront communities [is that] people are coming in, buying properties, elevating the property, elevating the seawall and then that has impacts on the adjacent neighboring properties,” Deady said. “So what types of policies can you put in place to potentially deal with those impacts?”
Through the state’s Resilient Florida program, she said, her firm secured more than $250 million for local government statewide on living shoreline projects, wastewater relocation, water in -
Advocacy Center of Collier County
of Southwest Florida
frastructure, road elevation and other issues. She said the city’s stormwater services, which are being upgraded, will be key. She also noted Florida’s Always Ready law dedicates $100 million in grants yearly to resiliency projects.
Council member Beth Petrunoff said there are a few city developments that residents “universally do not like,” so she wants to ensure the amended plan doesn’t allow similar developments, and she wanted to know what residents love about Naples.
“What is ‘charming’? Because I’ve been getting a lot of pushback and I have trouble defining it,” Petrunoff said, noting it’s a question on the website. “… We need to figure out what small-town character means to people, including those who live in a high-rise … They may have a very different opinion than somebody living in a historic cottage.”
She also wanted to consider the age of survey-takers, noting the average age in Naples — a city of roughly 19,000 residents — is 68, while the county’s is 54 and nationwide, it’s 38. Council member Ray Christman called Naples a “city of neighborhoods.
“Our neighborhoods are often very different … in terms of their look, their feel, their priorities, so you really need to dig in and try to understand what people think and what their priorities and points of view are,” Christman said, noting homeowner association networks can provide feedback, as well as other groups.
He noted flood risk and economic sustainability are viewed differently now than three years ago, and residents are concerned about their property values.
“How [resiliency] gets integrated in the comprehensive plan will be important,” he added. “But also an important challenge is to make sure that we make it real and meaningful — and not just words.”
For more information, visit naples2045.com or email info@naples2045.com
The Education Foundation of Collier County – Champions for Learning
Tee – Naples/Collier
Success
Time
YMCA of Collier County
Youth Haven
actually afford,” she said. “And then quality, and that means making sure you have the best teachers, who have the best training, who are being paid fairly and who want to be at work.
“We’re investing in our children to make sure they are kindergarten ready.”
Childhood mental health crisis
addressed in strategic initiatives
On top of the “traditional” grants awarded this year, NCEF presented funding for what it called special projects/out-of-cycle grants, including $1 million to the David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral Health for its capital campaign.
DLC CEO Scott Burgess said the capital
Marco: Police will enforce federal immigration law
Marco Island Police Department has agreed to support nationwide efforts to assist with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
City Council approved an agreement between the city and ICE on March 17, allowing it to comply with state law, which mandates that local law enforcement agencies “shall use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
On Feb. 13, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed stringent anti-immigrant laws — the strongest nationwide — to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan.
The federal 287(g) program allows state and local law enforcement officers to conduct immigration-enforcement tasks under ICE supervision. ICE trains officers to identify, process and detain immigration offenders. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office, which has used the program for 17 years, is increasing its powers as a result of the new state law.
Marco Island’s agreement will allow designated and trained Marco Island police officers to comply with immigration detainers issued by ICE, which will provide officers with mandatory training. Local departments statewide have been signing agreements because they could face fines and/or civil proceedings initiated by the state Attorney General. Included among the rights granted to Marco police officers will be the ability to interrogate aliens or those believed to be aliens to determine if they’re in the country illegally and transport them to the county jail, where they’ll be detained for ICE proceedings; arrest anyone they see entering the country illegally; serve and execute arrest warrants for immigration violations; and issue immigration detainers to hold aliens for ICE proceedings.
Aisling Swift
campaign, Hope for Collier, is part of a “bold plan” to add new buildings and new services to meet the needs of the community related to behavioral health, including the Van Domelen Children’s Center of Excellence, named for Naples philanthropist Julia Van Domelen.
Burgess said the groundbreaking for the Van Domelen Children’s Center of Excellence will take place in 2027 as part of the broader comprehensive capital campaign, with completion expected in 2028.
“This will be a new building on our main campus and will include our full continuum of behavioral health services for children,” Burgess said. “That means everything from children’s inpatient mental health, with two units for up to 30 children, to emergency evaluation and assessment that we do with kids 24/7, to our traditional outpatient services which include family group therapy and doctor services.”
He said the $1 million from NCEF for the capital campaign will go toward the furniture, fixtures and equipment for the new children’s center building.
“We want to have a beautiful and empowering environment that is child- and family-friendly in every way, shape and form, and this [NCEF] contribution to help us build that environment is incredibly important, and we value it so much,” Burgess said.
In addition to the $1 million capital grant, DLC received $2.1 million to be used over three years as part of NCEF’s ongoing mental health initiative. This funding supports services such as psychiatrists, school liaisons, healthcare liaisons and an adolescent day program — the only one of its kind in the area — which is a voluntary treatment program providing structured, intensive and medically supervised treatment to teens, according to DLC.
The mental health initiative supported by NCEF is designed to help address what the organization calls a “mental health crisis,” with a 100% increase in the number of deaths by suicide for Collier County children aged 10 to 19 between 2017 and 2022, according to NCEF data.
Genetic testing available for those with hereditary cancer risk
By Jean L. Amodea
At one time, many only wished that they could know in advance what type of cancer they might have in the future. Today, with medical and technological advances, that possibility exists. Three years ago, HALO Precision Diagnostics developed a hereditary genetic testing protocol — the Halo PathWay — that has since served millions by providing early identification and detection of cancers in those with a predisposition due to a family history of cancer. With early screens and medical management, later-stage cancers that may result in death can be prevented, offering a sense of relief and reassurance.
“While there are always risk factors that will increase your risk for cancer, testing involves the detection of variants or mutations in the DNA that do not change,” explained Rebecca Sheller, senior account executive, Halo Precision Diagnostics. “If you’re carrying one of these variants, your children have a 50% chance of cancer.” Seven types of cancer can be tested: breast, ovarian, colorectal, endometrial, gastric, prostate and pancreatic. Testing is provided in breast imaging centers, where it is easy to reach potential cancer patients who can be identified as appropriate for genetic testing through their responses regarding family history. In Naples, Halo PathWay genetic testing is conducted at ProScan Imaging center.
While filling out the form is often tedious, Sheller cautioned that it is crucial for patients to fully and accurately complete medical history questionnaires, especially questions concerning family members, as that information can assist medical professionals in assessing risks. Unfortunately, she said, only about 50% of patients respond fully.
Criteria for genetic testing
“If you or your family — including parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, first cousins or children — meet the following criteria, based on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, then hereditary cancer genetic testing should be considered,” she said. They are:
Personal History:
• Breast cancer at any age
• Ovarian cancer at any age
• Metastatic prostate cancer at any age
• Pancreatic cancer at any age
• Endometrial or colorectal cancer under 50
Family history:
• Breast cancer at 50 or younger
• Ovarian cancer at any age
• Male breast cancer at any age
• Three or more breast cancers in relatives on the same side of the family at any age
• Metastatic prostate or pancreatic cancer in a first-degree relative
• Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry with a relative with one breast, ovarian or pancreatic cancer at any age
• Endometrial or colorectal cancer under 50
The process
Patients fill out a questionnaire. If there is a “yes” response on the family history, they will meet with a Halo “navigator” who will verify the date of birth, validate the family history and ask additional questions. If the patient has questions about testing, a nurse practitioner navigator will answer them.
What: Genetic testing for cancer prevention and detection
Where: Visit proscan.com/ florida-womens-services for locations in Naples
Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Contact: halodx.com or 239.624.4443
“If the patient agrees to test, we will take a 2-milliliter saliva sample,” Sheller said. “They must fast from food and water for 30 minutes before testing. The test is sent to our Halo Precision Diagnostics molecular diagnostics laboratory in Aliso Viejo, California, and results are returned in two to three weeks. If negative, the navigator will send the report to the patient. If positive, our nurse practitioners or physicians will review past imaging exams and family history and evaluate the hereditary cancer genetic testing results. The report will reveal the risk for cancer based on the variant discovered for each cancer. The patient is called and the meaning of the positive result [is] discussed to give the patient in-depth screening recommendations for the particular cancer.”
The report is sent to the patient’s physician, and if the patient or the provider needs additional counseling from a genetic counselor, that is offered. The decision for medical management is ultimately between patients and their physicians, but early screening, said Sheller, allows patients to be proactive in their health decisions.
‘Catching cancer’
“Knowledge is power; that may sound like a cliché, but this is the knowledge that can determine if you catch cancer at zero or stage one as compared to finding cancer at a later stage that has a higher risk of death,” added Sheller. “The impact of cancer on family members is immeasurable both in having to watch a loved one wither away, feel sick or struggle and deal with financial hardship. Catching cancer at earlier stages prevents everyone from suffering.”
Commissioners agree not to alter golf conversion rules
By Aisling Swift
Collier commissioners opted not to amend controversial rules that allowed developers to convert golf course properties into residential.
They voted unanimously on March 11 to let the 2017 rules stand after the Planning Commission contended revisions needed work, agreeing staff used a “hatchet,” not a “scalpel,” to reduce them from nine pages to two. “I don’t even know why we’re here,” said Vice Chair Dan Kowal, whose district had two conversions that prompted Bert Harris claim lawsuits. “It’s already Bert Harris-proof.”
The rules prompted three lawsuits under the state Bert Harris Act by developers and property owners who contended they were overly burdensome. The 1995 Bert Harris Act says that if property owners can prove a governmental action “inordinately burdens” their property, they’re entitled to compensation.
Kowal noted nothing “ever came to fruition” with the lawsuits, one of which was settled in December and allowed the 82.5acre Links of Naples Golf Course in East Naples to be redeveloped into 369 homes. The settlement reimbursed the developer for $250,000 in legal fees and allowed 122 more homes than what the developer proposed in
2023, when commissioners denied the development.
The March 11 vote came a month after Collier Circuit Judge Lauren Brodie ruled in favor of Riviera Golf Estates Homeowners Association, finding the developer, La Minnesota Riviera LLC, cannot convert the golf course until after Aug. 18, 2030. The developer filed an appeal with the state Court of Appeal on March 10.
The East Naples 55-plus gated community of nearly 700 homes surrounds the 18-hole golf course, which closed in 2022. Brodie ruled the 2000 deed couldn’t become the “root deed” until 30 years after it was recorded. Under Florida’s Marketable Record Title Act, that’s the period when all claims or encumbrances against a property would be extinguished, clearing the title for the developer.
Brodie’s ruling made the county’s remaining Bert Harris claim moot, but whether it stands will be up to the appellate court. The time to challenge Collier’s conversion rules has lapsed, but would have reopened had commissioners amended them.
The amendment process began in 2023, after commissioners asked staff to clarify the conversion process to give the Board of County Commissioners discretion to modify the minimum average width for buffers if a golf course is next to a residential community, and to make it defensible against Bert
Harris claims.
Planning & Zoning Director Mike Bosi noted the process contained prerequisites that went beyond other rezoning processes, so staff suggested eliminating those since that’s what triggered the lawsuits.
“What we arrived upon was a simple process,” Bosi said of reducing nine pages to two.
“The reductions were pretty dramatic.”
After a pre-application meeting is held for a golf course conversion and before a developer could submit a rezoning application, he said, they’d be required to hold a neighborhood information meeting to promote a dialogue between residents and developer to seek compromises — the intent of the conversion process. Staff also clarified that a greenway — 100-foot buffer — would be required, but the Board of County Commissioners would make the ultimate decision over whether deviations could be granted.
But in August, the Planning Commission unanimously agreed staff needed to work on it further, contended they’d used a “hatchet” and should have used a “scalpel” and could still face lawsuits from neighbors whose property values would be devalued because they’d lose their views of a golf course and open space. The Commission sent the rules back to staff, which asked county commissioners for direction.
At the meeting, several Riviera Golf Estates residents objected and a Lakewood Golf
Course representative sent county officials a letter urging them not to make changes.
Riviera Golf Estates resident Ron Flock told commissioners he was worried about their discretion in reducing the greenway buffer, which is an average of 100 feet but not within 75 feet in the original wording, and was amended to an average of 50 feet. “That really concerns me,” Flock said.
Peter Osinski, vice chair of the Riviera Golf Estates board and chairman of its Golf Course Working Group, told commissioners 200 homes were purchased in Riviera Golf Estates since the regulations were enacted, and many made their purchases with the understanding they were protected by the greenway and other conversion requirements.
“If changed, homeowners like me could bring Bert Harris claims,” Osinski said. “It’s a two-edged sword … We say, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.’ We say, ‘Leave the baby as it is,’ and highly recommend that. There’s no reason to change and there’s also a consideration that you may open a Pandora’s box of new Bert Harris suits if you do.”
Before the unanimous vote, Commission Chair Burt Saunders made a motion to include a requirement that staff consider adding flexibility into the buffer requirements and to bring that back to the board for review. The motion failed. Saunders then seconded Kowal’s motion to let the process remain unchanged.
Alana Cuchi, Halo PathWay genetic testing technician, shows the amount of saliva needed for testing to determine whether the patient has a genetic variant that may indicate a predisposition for cancer.
Photo courtesy ProScan Imaging
Philanthropy in action REAL ESTATE
By
The role of Realtors is to find the perfect community for their clients. But they don’t often publicize the roles they themselves play within those communities that go beyond floorplans and square footage.
“Our members are deeply engaged in community service,” said Karen Borrelli, president of Fort Myers-based Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association. “They participate in various initiatives, volunteering their time.”
One such event is this month’s Clothing Drive, continuing through March 31. The Young Professionals Networks at Naples Area Board of Realtors, Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association and Bonita Springs-Estero Realtors are working together to collect gently used clothing for those in need in these communities.
It was members of the Young Professionals Network who learned that a code enforcement complaint had been issued against a donation collection pod located behind popular restaurant FK Your Diet. They brainstormed how to respond to the void left by the pod’s removal. NABOR President Terrilyn VanGorder said, “A clothing drive was quickly organized.”
The restaurant’s owner, Doug Miller, has used his location to assist those in his community since Hurricane Ian. “Our goal is to help this local restaurant owner continue being a good neighbor to those in need,” VanGorder said.
Items that would have been donated to this particular pod are being gathered and will eventually make their way to Miller for distribution. This is due to Realtors seeing a problem and immediately stepping in to address it.
The clothing drive is one of numerous projects organized year-round where Southwest Florida Realtors help the areas where they work and live.
In 2024, NABOR launched its Charitable Foundation, which partners with the Collier County Community Foundation to distribute funding to local charities that provide housing, disaster relief and educa-
tional scholarships.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors encourages its members to be of service throughout the year. Throughout the U.S., agents will be lending a hand to various nonprofits during its Realtor Volunteer Days May 10-18.
Known as the Realtors are Good Neighbors campaign, service projects are organized through local Realtors’ groups such as NABOR, RPCRA and YPN themselves or in collaboration with area businesses and nonprofits. Those who sell homes are just as busy helping those who live in them.
“We want the community to know that Realtors in Southwest Florida
support and appreciate the compassionate efforts of local businesses and individuals who help other residents in need,” said Antonio Barrosso, chair of NABOR’s YPN.
Once the clothing drive ends, volunteers from the real estate industry will celebrate a Free Family Fun Day in June when safety education will be provided to families. This will be followed by their yearly participation in Clean Up Florida Waters taking place in July. Members help other groups clean up the waterways and beaches that so appeal to Florida homebuyers.
These events, combined with other humanitarian outreach campaigns
during the school year and holiday season, showcase the talents of local Realtors beyond just finding the right 4 bed, 2½ bath home for their customers.
Borrelli of RPCRA described the group’s Leadership Development Academy, which collaborates with the Salvation Army, Community Cooperative and other organizations.
“Last year, our Leadership Development Academy recognized the importance of supporting the community,” she said. “Their group project, in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties, provided essential school supplies to more than 130 students and teachers.”
Notable to the real estate industry in Southwest Florida are the effects of damaging storms and hurricanes. The homes agents researched, located and finalized are occasionally damaged, destroyed or otherwise affected. Again, their humanitarian outreach endeavors assist homeowners battered by storm season. The Realtors Care Foundation stepped up after Hurricane Ian, supporting families with financial contributions for repairs.
“Our Realtors Care Foundation was created to assist members of the community who have suffered financial hardships,” Borrelli said. “Whether as a result of a natural disaster or unforeseen events, we help by paying for maintenance or repairs to their homes.”
Notably, a plot of land was donated by local real estate groups to Habitat for Humanity. A new home was built after Ian’s destruction.
A Buyer Brokerage Agreement; what is it?
With each issue of The Naples Press that includes a real estate page, we will ask a real estate professional questions about issues of the day. For this edition, we spoke to Angel Lashley, a Realtor with John R. Wood Properties.
Carroll, CCIM,
of Investment Properties Corp. represented the seller, and Christine McManus, CCIM, SIOR, of Investment Properties Corp. represented the buyer.
LEASES Millennium Physician Group LLC leased 10,200 square feet of medical office space at 800 Goodlette-Frank Road N., suites 100, 200 and 205, in Naples from Healthcare Realty Services LLC Gary Tasman and Vanessa Tyler of Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Property of Southwest Florida represented the lessor.
Sauna Ventures Galleria LLC dba SweatHouz leased 2,225 square feet of retail space at 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 152, in
Q: What is a written Buyer Brokerage Agreement, and why are buyers being asked to sign one?
A: With a focus on clarity and transparency, The National Association of Realtors (NAR) now requires that when Buyers choose a Real Estate Agent to work with, a written Buyer Broker Agreement is completed. The need for a Buyer Broker Agreement is one of the changes resulting from NAR’s recent settlement on Aug. 17, 2024. Buyer Broker Agreements have been around for quite a while and have been used regularly in several states. Following the NAR settlement, these agreements are now required to be used nationwide, and Real Estate Agents will ask a buyer to sign a buyer broker agreement prior to showing properties to the buyer in-person or in a live virtual home tour.
The primary purpose of this agreement is to establish a clear, exclusive relationship between the buyer and the broker/agent. The buyer agrees to work only with that specific broker/agent for the duration of the agreement, and not to seek representation from another broker. The agreement ensures that the broker is compensated for their services, typically through a commission, if the buyer purchases a property within the specified timeframe, even if another agent or broker was involved in the transaction. The agreement outlines the scope of the broker’s duties, the buyer’s expectations and the terms of compensation, fostering transparency and clarity in the relationship.
The buyer benefits by having a dedicated agent who is committed to their
needs, which can lead to a more efficient and focused home search, as the agent is incentivized to find properties that meet the buyer’s criteria. The agent benefits because the agreement provides the agent with the certainty of compensation once they successfully help the buyer find and close on a property, encouraging the agent to invest more time and effort into the client’s needs.
Keep in mind that compensation for the agent is fully negotiable, and the Seller may be willing to offer compensation to the buyer’s agent, as they have in the past. A seller may offer to pay all, some or none of the compensation owed to a buyer’s agent. A buyer should always be informed of all financial details, including knowing upfront how the agent’s compensation will be paid, and if the buyer will be responsible to pay any portion of it or not. Additionally, and for transparency purposes, offers of compensation are no longer allowed to be made within the multiple listing services.
Beyond the Buyer Broker Agreement, there are numerous benefits of working with a real estate agent. Buying a home is often the largest purchase most people will make in their life. Choosing a professional and knowledgeable real estate agent to work with can assist throughout each stage of the journey, beginning with assessing your individual needs and preferences, searching for all potential properties, facilitating showings and negotiating, as well as providing guidance and support throughout the entire process.
Have a conversation with your prospective agent to better understand the services they will be providing. Work with your agent to learn and understand the complete range of options available to you. The goal is for you to make the best possible decision based on your specific needs.
A native of New York and veteran real estate professional, Angel Lashley first lived in South Florida before moving to Southwest Florida in 2019. For inquiries, contact Lashley at alashley@johnrwood.com or 239.302.4362.
Naples from Ridgeport Limited Partnership. Tara L. Stokes of Investment Properties Corp. represented the lessor and lessee.
Alico Inc. files development application for master-planned community in Collier Fort Myers-based Alico Inc. continued its transformation to a diversified land company by filing a development application for the first of two villages, Corkscrew Grove East Village, in what will ultimately be a 3,000-acre master-planned community in northwest Collier County. There will be an additional 6,000 acres of land in Collier County that Alico will set aside for permanent conservation. The development plan envisions two distinct 1,500-acre mixed-use villages, East Village and West Village, that will create a new residential and commercial hub near the intersection of Collier, Lee and Hendry counties. Initial development is planned to begin with Corkscrew Grove East Village, and construction is expected to commence following completion of all required permits by 2028 or 2029. The Corkscrew Grove Villages represents a key component of Alico’s strategy to monetize four strategic assets in four separate counties, including Collier and Hendry, totaling approximately 5,500 acres, or 10% of its land holdings, within the next five years through higher-value development opportunities. Management estimates the total value of these 5,500 acres of near-term developable land could be approximately $335 million to $380 million.
Angel Lashley
Members of the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association align with the Community Cooperative to provide goods and services to local communities. Photo courtesy Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association
M. Melanie Pefinis
As an icon rises along the Vanderbilt Beach skyline, there will be a new address in Naples to surpass all others. With coastal residences of unrivaled space and finishes, 50,000 square feet of inspired amenities, and impeccable service by the first name in luxury, every moment of every day will be yours to enjoy at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Naples. A rare opportunity reserved for the few, the time to select your residence is now.
The best time to select one of these incomparable homes for yourself is now. 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road Suite 106, Naples, Florida 34109 Phone 239-249-6260 The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Naples Pricing from $5.2 million. RCRNaples.com
Ongoing events
Collier County Fair
Through March 30 at 751 39th Ave. NE, Naples. The Collier County Fair & Exposition includes rides, competitions, exhibitions, entertainment and the everpopular fair food. This year the Nervous Nocks Jetpack Flying Water Circus entertains daily, with the Jurassic Kingdom Lockdown, a Show Me Safari petting zoo and racing pigs. Admission ranges from free to $20 and armbands offer unlimited admission to almost all rides and range from $12 to $40, depending on the date; details online. NOTE: Bagsize policy in effect this year. collierfair.com or 239.455.1444
‘Lend Me A Tenor’
Various days and times through April 13 at Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples. Ken Ludwig’s laughout-loud, Tony Award-winning production comes to The Studio Players, and not one door is left unslammed in this classic farce. $35. thestudioplayers.org or 239.398.9192
‘Man of La Mancha’ Various times through April 13 at Sugden Community Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave. S., Naples. The musical version of the famous tale, told by author Cervantes as a play within a play, of the deluded Alonso Quijano, who styles himself as Don Quixote, out to save fair maidens and right wrongs. The musical yielded the song that has become a standard, “The Impossible Dream.” $50-$55. naplesplayers.org or 239.263.7990
Michael Jackson musical
Various times through March 30 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Naples hosts the area premiere of the multi-Tony Award-winning musical on one of the greatest performers in poprock history. MJ is filled with both Michael Jackson’s sobering story and the hits that he still managed to form — full of energy and catchy melody-lyrics blends, including “Billie Jean,” “Rock With You” and “Say Say Say.” $229-$449. artisnaples.org or 239.597.1900
‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’
Various times through April 19 in the Struthers Studio at Gulfshore Playhouse,100 Goodlette-Frank Road S., Naples. Done with both seating and cabaret style, this musical memoir of Billie Holiday brings both her spellbinding music and her reminiscences of a hard life. $114$144. gulfshoreplayhouse.org or 239.261.7529
Those historic little homes
9 a.m.-4 p.m. TuesdaysSaturdays through June 7 at the Marco Island Historical Museum, 180 S. Heathwood Drive, Marco Island. Marco Island Historical Society presents “The Florida House,” a trip back in time to 1960s Marco Island. See the homes as the Mackle Brothers envisioned them, as the latest and greatest Florida architecture for Marco. Free. colliermuseums.com
Matisse at NAI
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays through April 13 at
CALENDAR
NAPLES FASHION WEEK
5-10 p.m. March 30-April 5 at Ferrari of Naples, 11291 Tamiami Trail N., Naples. Naples Fashion Week begins with an opening party at The Maddox at 6:30 p.m. March 28; followed by an opening runway show with Elsie at The Perry Hotel 3-6 p.m. March 30; a private runway show at NFW Collective featuring designers from Rouze, 5-7 p.m. April 2; and an international design show with live music, designers and other events 5-10 p.m. April 5. Ticket ranges include $1,000 Ultra VIP with selection and preferred seating at all events; $500 Select VIP and $150-$300 for individual tickets depending on seating area. For tickets and more information, see naplesfashionweek.com
Naples Art Institute, 795 Park Ave., Naples. “Art in Balance: Matisse and His Illustrated Works” features a selection of more than 140 works that reveal Henri Matisse’s genius as a printmaker and his unique approach to composition, color and form. Spanning from the late 1930s through his final years. $15, $10 members. naplesart.org or 239.262.6517
Everglades exhibition 10 a.m.-4 p.m. TuesdaysSaturdays, noon-4 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 21 at The Baker Museum, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. “Entangled in the Mangroves: Florida Everglades Through Installation” features the work of nine Florida-based artists who explore the critical importance of the Everglades through diverse media, including painting, photography, ceramics, film, poetry and installation. The exhibition highlights its ecological and cultural importance and the urgent need for its preservation. Curated by Dianne Brás-Feliciano. $10, $5 students or full-time military with ID, $1 for SNAP benefits visitors. artisnaples.org or 239.252.2611
Florals exhibition 1-4 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays through April 30 at North Line Plaza, 2171 J & C Blvd., Naples. Viewers can see Melissa Belz’s acrylic floral paintings. Free admission. naplesart.studio or 239.821.1061
This weekend (March 28, 29, 30)
Tribute all-star show
7 p.m. March 28 at the Norris Community Center, 755 Eighth Ave. S., Naples. Jimmy Mazz
brings the voices of icons Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley, Kenny Rogers and The Temptations and a special tribute to the days of the “Ed Sullivan Show.” Dawn Turlington joins him with a variety of adult pop favorites, channeling Karen Carpenter. For specific seats, visit the box office at the center. $33.85 at eventbrite.com
Rock History: Michael Jackson
10 a.m. March 28 at the Ubben Event Space, Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Charles Bergeron, Ph.D., professor of jazz history and program director for jazz pedagogy at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, looks at the life and musical legacy of the King of Pop from childhood and beyond his groundbreaking Thriller (1982), that catapulted him to superstardom. $36. artisnaples.org or 239.597.1900
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram
8 p.m. March 28 at Seminole Casino Immokalee, 506 S. First St., Immokalee. Joined by Samantha Fish, Grammy-winning guitarist and vocalist Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram plays the blues. $49-$74. casino.hardrock.com
Shell tree workshop
Noon-3:30 p.m. March 29 at 6300 Janes Lane, Unit 3, Naples. A coastal shell tree workshop is being offered at the Empty Bowls Naples studio. Participants will build an 11-inch shell tree with instructor Jacqueline Glasgow to take home. $60. To register, email friendsofebn@gmail.com
‘Ageless Harmony’
3 p.m. March 29 at Berea Baptist Church, 1851 County Barn Road, Naples. It’s an annual show of The Chorus of the Everglades,
$55. cameratanaples.org
Free Seraphic Fire concert
4 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at Moorings Presbyterian Church, 791 Harbour Drive, Naples. See Hot Ticket
Naples Fashion Week
5-10 p.m. March 30-April 5 at Ferrari of Naples, 11291 Tamiami Trail N., Naples. See Featured
Next week (March 31-April 3)
Movie talk – ‘The Brutalist’ 4 p.m. March 31 and April 1 in the Daniels Pavilion at Artis— Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Elaine Newton, professor emeritus of humanities at York University, Toronto, discusses the themes in the highly awarded film The Brutalist, which shows an immigrant family’s climb to success at a high price. $48. artisnaples.org or 239.597.1900
Lucy Yeghiazaryan
Various times April 2 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Jazz singer Lucy Yeghiazaryan joins the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra. $65. artisnaples.org
including its own quartet and guest appearances from two other local quartets. It is a freewill offering, but registration is suggested. evergladeschorus.us or 239.963.5808
Camerata meets Dvořák
4 p.m. March 30 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 500 Park Shore Drive, Naples. A Dvořák work for cello and string orchestra featuring Naples Philharmonic principal cello Egor Antonenko and Glinka’s Grand Sextet headline the Camerata of Naples concert, along with violin selections from Bizet’s Carmen by Naples Philharmonic violinist Askar Salimdjanov.
‘Four Old Broads’ Various times April 2-13 at Arts Center Theatre, 1089 N. Collier Blvd, Unit 432, Marco Island. Life at the sanitized senior village where they live has dulled, so four friends sign up for a “Sassy Seniors” Cruise. But first they have to find out what’s happening to the residents of their little neighborhood since a new nurse with strange pills has come on board. Will they get to the ship? $30. marcoislandart.org/artscenter-theatre or 239.784.1186
‘The Half-Life of Marie Curie’ Various times April 2-27 in Price Studio Theater at Sugden Community Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave. S., Naples. Trailblazing scientist Marie Curie is already an unusual person, having won a Nobel Prize with her late husband and working long hours at more discoveries in the 19th century. But
CALENDAR, Page 4B
Drive,
Miami-based Seraphic Fire brings 17 sparkling voices for a free concert of Lenten vocal works from the ancient to the contemporary. Its “Music of the Passion” harmonic works range from Allegri’s rarely heard “Miserere” to Alice Parker’s arrangement of “Hark, I Hear the
COVER STORY
Local theater’s message: Finding unexpected role models
By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com
Some of us remember our first role models, such as the saintly nun who was our fifth-grade teacher. That calling was our destiny, we were certain — until the cute boy two rows over smiled at us and suddenly restructured our life options.
Two local theaters currently embrace unexpected role models, with results both hilarious and profound. And as in fifth grade, the results may not be as initially pictured.
The possible impossible dream Ladd Boris came out of New York retirement for the role of Sancho Panza in The Naples Players’ Man of La Mancha
And this wasn’t just any retirement: Boris sang in the Metropolitan Opera, among others, over 30 years. He worked in musical theater in regional or touring productions from The Phantom of the Opera to She Loves Me. Further, he had already played the role of Don Quixote’s bodyguard and companion in eight other professional productions.
But he moved into a hotel in Naples for three months to play the character, an unpaid role in community theater.
So there’s little question about how much Boris loves the character of Sancho, the faithful assistant to the musical’s hero. While everyone else is singing “The Impossible Dream” along with Quixote, Boris’ heart is with his humble manservant.
There are two reasons, one from his own relationship with his father, whose face at the bus terminal was the first thing Boris looked for when he arrived in New York to see weekend opera matinees that inspired his own career. He was 13 when he ventured in for his first solo trip, intrigued by the Metropolitan Opera fare he was hearing on the radio.
His parents were divorced, but his father would meet him at the station, add $2 to Boris’ 50 cents for a Sunday matinee student ticket and then accompany him back to the bus from Manhattan to Union, New Jersey. The roles were poignantly switched when his father became terminally ill and Boris became his caregiver. When he died in 1989, it was in his son’s arms — as Don Quixote does with Sancho.
Two weeks later, a friend called Boris. Her company in Daytona Beach had lost its Sancho Panza to an accident, and she felt he could handle the meaty role. Oh, and could he be there tomorrow?
“It was a means of getting me out of myself after what I had just gone through,” recalled Boris. “I really had had no designs on musical theater.”
He didn’t know the story — or its ending — when he said yes. It was an emotional two-week run, he remembered: “I was not in the best mental shape.”
But musical theater became his life, and the role of Sancho Panza
his first choice to play whenever possible. Boris has even played it in Naples before, for TheatreZone in 2009. Dawn Lebrecht Fornara and her husband, Charles Fornara, both on staff at Naples Players, are friends of Boris, and when he told them last year the only role he’d ever come out of retirement for was Sancho Panza, they were ready with the
suggestion.
Boris loves the character for his courage.
“He goes on this journey — knowingly to the unknown — by his own choice. And he sees his joy and his happiness through the eyes of this crazy man, whom he really loves,” he said.
Further, in following the Don he also becomes his caregiver. “His
purpose is not just to escape [his previous life], but to make sure this man is safe.”
Coming out of retirement for a Naples Players production was an unexpected bonus, he said: “I adore this community. I feel grateful and fortunate that I can be with people who are indulging in this for the sake of their passion. And great talent!” he declared. “I’ve been in
decent-paying jobs in companies that were far, far, far, far below this company’s standards. This is Broadway-level work.”
What: Man of La Mancha
When: Various times through April 13
Where: Sugden Community Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave. S., Naples Tickets: $50-$55. naplesplayers. org or 239.263.7990
‘Lend Me a Tenor’ For most of Lend Me a Tenor, its eight actors are chasing each other, beating on doors, being seduced or mistaken for someone else in this laugh-out-loud theater classic farce. But behind the story of opera superstar Tito Merelli’s longawaited appearance in Cleveland and the harried hotel assistant manager who finds himself onstage in Merelli’s Pagliacci costume, there’s a lesson for one of its actors.
John Strealy, who plays the assistant manager and aspiring tenor, Max, said he had jitters not unlike the character he plays. Strealy will be singing a few bars from the opera Don Carlo onstage with Ron Pirrelo, who plays the high-strung Tito in The Studio Players’ production.
“I find him relatable,” Strealy declared of Max. “He’s not very sure of himself, and then going into this, I wasn’t exactly sure how things were going to be, but I’ve been told my voice works out, and I think that gives me enough confidence to keep going forward.”
He’s been listening to opera to get a sense of the style.
“I can’t say I’ve sung seriously — a little speak-singing in high school, but that’s about it,” he said. He likes the way Max tries to work with everyone and wins over the famous See ROLE MODELS, Page
Sancho Panza (Ladd Boris) tends to his dying master, Don Quixote (Austin Gardner). Photo courtesy The Naples Players
Opera manager Henry Saunders (Matt Flynn ) tries to revive comatose tenor Tito Mirelli (Ron Pirrelo) while assistant hotel manager Max (John Strealy) watches in alarm in Lend Me a Tenor, The Studio Players’ current production. Photo by Harriet Howard Heithaus
Downhill with Lady Day is a gripping ride at Gulfshore
Out of the churning sea of celebrity bio musicals rises Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill a play with a disarming revue title that portends bobbing along with her down memory lane.
It’s not.
In fact, the audience, particularly those who bought the cabaret seats on the floor of the Struthers Studio, are in the back seat of a slo-mo car crash, watching the famed singer drink herself into her final, heroin-laced tunes at a Philadelphia bar. For those who have drug or alcohol problems in their family, Lady Day is a horror story.
Within it we learn about her demons — and possibly take away some understanding of those in our family’s and friends’ lives. None of us knows what specters they, too, have stared down, and even this play only reveals some of the abuse with which Holiday dealt.
Few people in today’s play-going generation even remember her years of fame. Those include a sold-out Carnegie Hall appearance, even after her release from prison; tours with names such as Artie Shaw and Count Basie; the fact that she wrote some of her own hits, including “Lady Sings the Blues” and “Don’t Explain.” Whether she or Arthur Herzog Jr. wrote most of “God Bless the Child” would be an interesting posthumous boxing match. But giving both credit, they brought an American songbook classic to life.
The fact that we are not children of Holiday’s era makes the story more intriguing
— and more haunting. It’s difficult to fathom the treatment Holiday received, such as not even being allowed to use the sole “colored” restroom in a supper club because it was for
NORTHERN ITALY: FROM THE ALPS TO THE ADRIATIC
August 20 – September 3, 2025
JOURNEY THROUGH CENTRAL EUROPE
August 30 - September 14, 2025
INSIDER’S JAPAN
September 8 - 20, 2025
PARADORES AND POUSADAS: PORTUGAL & SPAIN
September 15-29, 2025
MACHU PICCHU TO THE GALAPAGOS
October 28 - November 12, 2025
EGYPT AND ETERNAL NILE
November 17- December 1, 2025
MOROCCAN DISCOVERY: FROM THE IMPERIAL CITIES TO THE SAHARA
November 18 - December 1, 2025
men in the waitstaff. (Holiday did improvise a novel solution, and the audience Thursday cheered it.)
It is equally hard to visualize being drummed out of the nation’s most musical city, New York, as a performer because of her prison time. The audience will learn that and much more, and still will not have dug deeply into a tragic life transcended by her powerful, gifted voice.
The studio at Gulfshore Playhouse demonstrated its versatility once again, with Marcelo Martinez Garcia’s ingenuity transforming its long-horizon backdrop for The Lehman Trilogy into the cozy stage and bistro floor
of Emerson’s Bar & Grill. The yellowed walls are plastered with photos of past performers; flanking one side of its two-step stage are transom-height windows that shed a little manufactured streetlight into the room. You can almost smell cigarette smoke. Because fashions circle again and again, the costuming doesn’t cue us to the date of this performance. But when Holiday’s pianist, Jimmy Powers (Levi Barcourt), offers up an instrumental as a new tune he’s heard that’s “going to be hot,” we recognize “My Favorite Things.” That sets it in 1959 — helpful,
See LADY DAY, Page 5B
when an affair with her lab partner is exposed to the press by his wife, she is banned from her own laboratory, picketed and shamed in public. To the rescue comes Hertha Ayrton, a fellow scientist who spirits her away from Paris so she can recover her destroyed identity and selfesteem. $50-$55. naplesplayers.org or 239.263.7990
Leonid and Friends
8 p.m. Thursday, April 3, at Seminole Casino Immokalee, 506 S. First St., Immokalee. Leonid Vorobyev and his band mainly cover songs from the band Chicago but have recently started to cover songs by Earth, Wind & Fire, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Ides of March, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan and Deep Purple, and also offer new original material. Tickets start at $45. casino. hardrock.com
Strauss and Storytelling
7:30 p.m. April 3 and 4 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. The Naples Philharmonic with guest artist Gabriela Montero performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concert No.3. Two Richard Strauss works, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and his Suite from Der Rosenkavalier are also on the program. $15-82. artisnaples.org
Next weekend (April 4, 5, 6)
Naples Jazzmasters
2 p.m. April 5 at River Park Community Center, 301 11th St. N., Naples. Jazz in the key of Dixieland from this veteran group. Freewill offering. thenaplesjazzsociety.com
Mandy Barnett
Various times April 5 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Grand Ole Opry member Mandy Barnett will sing Patsy Cline’s music. SOLD OUT. artisnaples.org
Southland Bluegrass Music Festival
Noon April 6 at Seminole Casino Immokalee, 506 S. First St., Immokalee. Various bluegrass stars in the outdoor amphitheater, including headliners Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Del McCoury, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Travelin’ McCourys and Alligator Alley. Free admission. casino.hardrock.com
Village People
7 p.m. April 6 at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Village People, the singers of popular songs “YMCA” and “In the Navy,” perform at Hayes Hall. $59-79. artisnaples.org
From page 2B CALENDAR
Tracy Conyer Lee plays Billie Holiday at Gulfshore Playhouse through April 19. Photo courtesy Gulfshore Playhouse
Front Row
Harriet Howard Heithaus
From kid composer to commissioned one: Frazar Henry premiere Sunday
By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com
At age 19 — when a lot of American students are still trying to figure out what their college majors are — Frazar Henry is flying back to school from a premiere of one of his music compositions in Portland, Oregon.
This weekend, just a month after his last trip, he’s back in Southwest Florida for another premiere: His Seas of Glass, commissioned by the Gulf Coast Symphony for the concert celebrating its 30th anniversary. Then it’s back to Oberlin College in Ohio, where he’s — no surprise — a music student.
Henry has had a score sheet in hand since elementary school, when he wrote a fanfare that became part of a Classic Chamber Concerts program in Naples. By 2017, the Fort Myers Mastersingers were premiering his first orchestral work, In Exordium (In the Beginning). The composer was 11 years old.
The Naples Philharmonic
brought his 2019 string quartet, Going Around, to its on-location school concerts, and Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music musicians premiered his Keyshot sax quartet, also completed in 2019.
Henry has won two ASCAP/ Morton Gould youth composing awards, two of the major ones among about half a dozen. But being commissioned to write for a full symphony goes beyond the medals.
Henry recalls scouring for themes after talking with Gulf Coast Symphony Artistic Director Andrew Kurtz; “something related to Florida” was the idea, he said. One of the concepts that characterize the state — hurricanes — came to mind, but Henry wanted to make it a positive one.
“That sort of idea of turmoil and the waves and things like that became a metaphor for the main idea of the piece that I wanted to get across, which is carving out a space for yourself in the midst of uncertainty. One of the reasons it’s Seas of Glass is the change [from]
even if riffing on The Sound of Music is something of a stretch; the musical’s tryouts in New Haven were nearly three months after Holiday’s July 17 death.
As it is, Lady Day’s deteriorating demeanor at Emerson’s Bar & Grill does tell us, as the show progresses, that Billie Holiday will not pass this way again. She stumbles, drains the artfully placed “water glasses” of their gin, loses some lyrics and cowers at singing some of the crowd’s requests that are emotionally freighted for her. In the final scene, Tracy Conyer Lee effects a chilling heroin zombie metamorphosis of her character postinjection. Be ready.
Lee, who is her ninth production as Lady Day, creates an amazing Billie Holiday, including those minute head snaps on “Gimme a Pig Foot” and other tunes, and captures, for the most
SAILING TO SEAS
What: 30th anniversary concert of the Gulf Coast Symphony, featuring the Florida premiere of Seas of Glass , written by Naples/Bonita Springs composer Frazar Henry, along with excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and Stravinsky’s Firebird plus pop and jazz selections
When: 7 p.m. March 30
Where: Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, 13350 FSW Parkway, Fort Myers
Tickets: $39-$85 at gulfcoastsymphony.org
sand to glass,” he said. “The mood of the piece brings this kind of transparent shifting.”
The 6-minute-plus work received its first premiere in Portland. But Florida will first hear it Sunday.
This score was composed with a benefit many music writers don’t have for creating the orchestral sound he wants.
“I do write with some digital notation software that allows me
to add those instruments, but that often doesn’t replicate a lot of the nuances, so you can’t hear the slight camber differences between registers and really know what’s going into it,” he explained.
“Because I’m at Oberlin and it’s a conservatory, I’m able to ask my friends who play these instruments if they would illustrate things for me, and ask if certain parts are feasible.”
part, that slight up-throat effect and facility of switching between straight and vibrato sound that characterized Holiday’s voice. She also is well attuned to the pace of her slow, but inexorable, decline — also with careful direction, we’re sure, from Marshall Jones III.
We would go to hear Barcourt, who plays Holiday’s humoring, protective pianist, on his own; he is a phenomenal musician. And local virtuoso J.R. Erb as the bass player has magic fingers and a worried deference toward the unraveling star.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill is not a play you will be able to see often because of the requirements of its main character. But Lanie Robertson’s courage to create it puts it among the best in its genre, and Gulfshore’s handling of it pays the tribute it deserves.
Harriet Howard Heithaus writes about arts and entertainment for The Naples Press.
That ability is shifting his composing thrust, as well. More of the works he’s writing are on commission now, he said.
“Of course I don’t always have time to write things I want to write,” Henry conceded. “After all, I’m in school.”
In his childhood, Henry concentrated on piano, and he still studies it. However, the Frazar Henry who played Beethoven for local concerts during elementary school years is now listening to Ravel, Brahms, contemporary composer Kajia Saariaho and technical innovator Olivier Messiaen.
Composing has become his main focus, as well. It’s one with demands he’s still debating, he admitted.
“For composers, there’s kind of the obvious path of going to grad school and doing all the academic stuff. But I think I ideally would love to stay being a performer and composer and be a part of music ensembles,” he said. “I would like to be thought of as a composerpianist.”
GOING TO THE GRILL
What: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
When: Various times through April 19
Where: Struthers Studio at Gulfshore Playhouse, 100 Goodlette-Frank Road S., Naples Tickets: $114-$144 at gulfshoreplayhouse.org or 239.261.7529
Frazar Henry likes to find a practice room at Oberlin College where he can compose in a quiet environment. Contributed photo
FOOD & FLAVOR
RESTAURANTS
21 Spices restaurant in Naples permanently closing March 31
By Tim Aten
The contemporary Indian restaurant 21 Spices by Chef Asif will permanently close March 31 after serving the Naples area for more than nine years.
Chef Asif Syed, who launched his popular local restaurant in late 2015, has decided to write a new chapter in his life and explore “new opportunities beyond Naples,” although he’s not ready to share specific details about his next venture. While Syed can’t say where he’ll land until everything is finalized, he said it will be a very big city because he knows he can perform on a bigger stage now. For certain, though, he’ll continue to enjoy being a chef of Indian cuisine somewhere else.
“It’s what I’ve been known for. I don’t want to change or do anything else,” Syed said. “Cooking is my passion and Indian food has become very, very popular now.”
A professional chef for nearly 30 years, the executive chef and co-owner fondly reflects on his successful run at 4270 Tamiami Trail E. in East Naples. Syed said he doesn’t have any regrets.
“These past 10 years have been an incredible experience,” Syed said. “We have built something special here, and I am beyond grateful for the unwavering support of our guests, friends and the Naples community. Your kindness and enthusiasm have meant everything to us.”
Born in Hyderabad, India, a city known for its hospitality, Syed perfected his progressive fusion style of cooking while working in
Asif Syed, who launched 21 Spices in late 2015, is closing his popular local restaurant at the end of March after a nine-year run in East Naples. Courtesy photo
Europe. His signature culinary style blends classic techniques with exotic flavors he discovered while traveling.
“21 Spices aptly straddles the line between what’s expected from Indian cuisine and the modern interpretation of what an Indian restaurant can be,” according to a 2016 dining review in Gulfshore Life magazine, which named Syed
one of its 2019 Men of the Year. Syed launched his upscale 21 Spices on Dec. 21, 2015, in the Sugden Park Plaza anchor space with a full bar that previously was home to Cafe Luna East and Boston’s Restaurant & Sports Bar. Even before creating the flavorful menu for 21 Spices, Chef Asif had already made a name for himself locally and on the national stage.
For 14 years, Syed previously was executive chef at the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort, where he featured some of his classic Indian dishes. Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri dubbed Syed “The King of Curry” when the local chef competed on “Guy’s Grocery Games” in 2015.
While operating 21 Spices, Syed attracted attention on “Beat Bobby Flay,” when his signature Tandoori Chicken bested Flay on a 2018 episode of the TV show. In 2019, 21 Spices became a Blue Zones Project Approved restaurant and Syed showcased his culinary skills at the prestigious James Beard House with a dinner titled “Innovative Indian Cuisine by Chef Asif,” earning him recognition as a James Beard-featured chef. In 2022, Syed was honored to be among influential Muslims to be invited to the White House for an Eid al-Fitr reception marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Syed plans to take a few months off before pursuing another opportunity.
“I want to take a break and I want to see my mom. She’s in India,” he said.
Syed will be in Naples for a short time because his children are still attending school here. He said he is scheduled for a few events this spring in South Florida.
As a culinary artist, Syed said he’ll go with the flow, but as a resident of Collier County for 25 years, Naples will always be home to him just as the United States will always be home.
“America is my home. I can’t see doing business anywhere else,” he said.
21 Spices will be open 3-9 p.m. daily until the end of this month.
“This is a bittersweet moment, but I would love to welcome everyone for one more meal before we say goodbye,” Syed said. “Thank you for making 21 Spices such a special place.”
Paddy Murphy’s Irish Pub rolls out full food menu on Marco Island
By Tim Aten tim.aten@naplespress.com
Although Paddy Murphy’s Irish Pub launched on Marco Island on St. Patrick’s Day of last year, the bar didn’t roll out its extensive food menu until this year.
“Just trying to bring a little piece of Ireland to Marco Island. It’s a lot different than anything else you’ll see around here,” Paddy Murphy’s co-owner
Mike O’Regan said. “It’s kind of a typical Irish menu. We did a lot of research while I was in Ireland.”
While the menu might be typical for Ireland, it’s far from what one would expect at the average watering hole. The recently rolled out menu elevates the Irish pub to a full-service restaurant and has been well received by its patrons.
The authentic menu includes entrees such as shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash and even an Irish breakfast with Irish bacon, sausage, eggs, traditional black and white pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and a grilled tomato. The menu also has
starters, salads, handheld sandwiches and hot open-faced sandwiches served over brown bread.
“It’s not something you normally see around here, but everybody really likes it,” O’Regan said.
Appetizers include Paddy’s pretzels and pub cheese, a basket of fries topped with Irish curry sauce, potato pancakes, mac-and-cheese bites, tuna poke and Irish Nachos.
“Irish Nachos is homemade potato chips with the shepherd’s pie mix on top with some grated Irish cheese and onions,” O’Regan said. “Everybody really loves them.”
The most popular entrees include the fish and chips and shepherd’s pie, which is a recipe from O’Regan’s wife, Mary Jo, and features a classic mix of ground lamb and beef with onions, peas and carrots enriched with Irish brown gravy and topped with mashed potatoes.
Fan-favorite sandwiches include the corned beef sandwich, as well as Paddy’s Smashing Burger and Murphy’s Classic Reuben.
21 Spices launched Dec. 21, 2015, in the Sugden Park Plaza at 4270 Tamiami Trail E. in East Naples. Photo by Mark Riehle
Chef
TOP LEFT: The Bangers & Mash entree at Paddy Murphy’s Irish Pub features Irish sausage over
Photos courtesy Paddy Murphy’s
A taste of Romanian home cooking at Tableside Restaurant
By Samantha Garbarini
“This might be a mistake.” The thought races through my mind as we step into Tableside Restaurant at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt. It’s 6:30 p.m., and the restaurant is completely empty. For a moment, I consider if we should go somewhere else, but there is nowhere else in Naples if I want to try Romanian food.
After a few minutes, a woman rounds the corner, greets us and leads us to a table underneath a large photograph of an imposing castle jutting out of a rugged green forest. Bran Castle, marketed as Dracula’s castle (though there are no ties to author Bram Stoker and only a loose affiliation to real-life inspiration Vlad the Impaler), is one of the few associations Americans have with Romania. Tableside Restaurant chef and co-owner Gabriel Ilie is making a good case that we should know his native country’s cuisine, too.
As we peruse the menu, I see threads of familiarity in the traditional Romanian dishes. Street food-style sausages and minced porkstuffed cabbage rolls are staples of other Eastern European cuisines, as well. Stewed pork in tomato broth with onions and spices sounds vaguely reminiscent of Hungarian goulash without the heavy emphasis on paprika. The trio of Romanian dips includes a smoked eggplant salad and a red pepper spread that nod to Turkish and Levantine mezze.
We order a handful of plates and settle in with a crisp lager from Timişoreana, Romania’s oldest brewery, and a smooth red wine made from the indigenous fetească neagră grape.
By now, a dinner crowd has started to roll in, and it seems many of them are well-acquainted, stopping to say hello to friends before nabbing a nearby seat. The kitchen door
From page 6B
Paddy Murphy’s has a storied history in Collier County. Although the full bar launched only a year ago in the Publix-anchored Marco Town Center, the local business had a 22-year run in downtown Naples. Redevelopment in 2020 forced the closing of the original location, which had operated on Fifth Avenue South since 1998.
From page 3B
“We haven’t had food in a while, so it’s kind of a new undertaking for us,” O’Regan said. “We kind of learn on the go. We’ve got a really good chef and we had some help from my sister-in-law, who’s an executive chef at the Manor House in Galway, [Ireland]. She helped us a lot.”
Paddy Murphy’s features a 50-foot bar and two stages for live entertainment, including traditional Irish music sessions from noon to 3 p.m. every Sunday. The Marco Island venue at 1089 N. Collier Blvd., Suite 440, is open daily 11 a.m.-2 a.m. with happy hour 3-6 p.m.
Tito: “Over the course of the play they develop a bond, I guess you could say; a friendship.”
People will have to be friends in Lend Me a Tenor because they are occasionally packed together like a roll of Lifesavers on the compact stage in the Joan Jenks auditorium.
“I have eight people on half the stage at the same time several times. It’s a traffic jam,” declared director Paula Keenan. “There are no huge parts in this play. It’s truly an ensemble piece.”
Most directors would run for the nearest exit, but Lend Me a Tenor, Ken Ludwig’s best known comedy, has been a mission for Keenan.
“I was in a very bad production of it many years ago, and I thought, ‘I can do better than that,’” she said. “I think I have, and that sounds arrogant. But I’ve got a great cast.”
All eight are veterans of community theater comedies in Collier County, and Keenan has worked with six of them previously.
“Ninety percent of the solution is casting well, and I was very lucky,” she emphasized.
The blocking has to be impossibly precise, which adds to the fun. Every character needs to be in an exact space at an exact time — “And they aren’t,” she added, laughing.
What: Lend Me a Tenor
When: Various times now through April 13
Where: Joan Jenks Auditorium, Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples
Tickets: $35 by phone at 239.398.9192, $37.75 online at thestudioplayers.org
swings open again and again as our server wheels a butcher block-topped cart from table to table, finishing each dish with a final garnish and doling out little silver cups of biting garlic sauce and pickled peppers.
The cart arrives at our table with a sizzling platter of mititei, beef-and-pork sausages that are formed without casings and served with tangy mustard. The fat little cylinders are unlike any sausage I’ve had before, slightly bouncy in texture and absolutely bursting with rich juices. We also share the trio of Romanian dips — a dense white bean spread topped with pink stewed onions, a creamy bowl of smashed eggplant and a sweet relish of roasted peppers — accompanied by tender flatbread.
The most popular entrée, judged by the frequency with which it flies out of the kitchen, seems to be the cabbage rolls. Like all the Romanian dishes on the menu, the recipe was passed down from Ilie’s mom and is made from scratch using traditional (and often laborious) methods. For the cabbage rolls, Ilie ferments whole cabbages for two weeks until they achieve the prefect sauerkraut-like tang. Then, he makes a mix of pork, rice, onion and spices; hand-forms each roll; and slowly simmers them in tomato broth for three hours.
Other mains are similarly braised, including a Fred Flintstone-worthy pork shank nestled into a bed of brothy white beans and a rustic stew of tender pork, simmered in an onion-flecked broth and served over soft polenta.
Perhaps because the food is so stick-toyour-ribs comforting or because it’s lovingly presented tableside, the experience feels a bit like being invited into someone’s home and having their grandmother cook you dinner (albeit with more modern decor).
By the time the bill arrives — it’s shockingly affordable for a white-tablecloth restaurant with guéridon service — I’ve decided my only mistake was not trying Romanian cuisine sooner.
The Irish Nachos appetizer at Paddy Murphy’s Irish Pub includes housemade potato chips topped with shepherd’s pie mix, grated Irish cheese and onions.
Photo courtesy Paddy Murphy’s
A portrait of Bran Castle overlooks a dining table at Tableside Restaurant, an eatery that serves Romanian food, at the Galleria Shoppes at
Photo courtesy Tableside Restaurant
Maria Mirelli (Kathleen Barney) figures she’s trapped her lecherous husband, and the company’s soprano, Diana (Cindy Sepich) and opera fan Maggie (Rosie DeLeon) are afraid of what will happen if she does find him in Lend Me a Tenor Photo by Harriet Howard Heithaus
COMICS & PUZZLES
1. GEOGRAPHY: Mount Everest is part of which mountain range?
2. MOVIES: Which color film was the first to win an Academy Award for Best Picture?
3. ASTRONOMY: Which planet in our solar system is believed to be the windiest?
4. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Where is the U.S. Constitution stored?
5. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a group of lemurs called?
6. TELEVISION: Which city is the setting for the dramatic series "The Wire"?
7. GEOLOGY: Which country has the most active volcanos?
8. LITERATURE: Which character in a Charles Dickens novel famously said, "Please, sir, I want some more"?
9. ART: Which Dutch artist is considered a master of light and shadow, creating dramatic effects in paintings? 10. SCIENCE: What is an
OLIVE
By Emi Burdge
THE NAPLES PRESS CROSSWORD
WILLIAM
WILLIAM
Karl Faerber: 239-248-1961
Andrew Christopher: 239-821-3560
Madleine
SPORTS
Year after year, Cup after Cup, Everblades continue to shine
There aren’t very many truisms in life, things you can simply rely on regardless of outside influences.
Death. Taxes. Torrential rain within 24 hours of washing your car. Red lights when you’re in a hurry.
And the Florida Everblades being really good at hockey.
The ECHL franchise in nearby Estero continues to set and reset the standard of minor-league hockey excellence, much like Sergei Bubka continually resetting the pole vault world record in the 1990s — an inch at a time, inexorably, until onlookers realize that the Blades, like Bubka, are miles beyond the rest.
At this rate, the Kelly Cup, awarded annually to the ECHL champions, is going to be renamed for Blades coach Brad Ralph. After all, the Everblades have already captured the Patrick J. Kelly Cup a record-most four times — including the last three consecutive seasons.
Florida’s sustained excellence in the ECHL is remarkable all on its own, though it is even more incredible given the oft-transient nature of minor league hockey. The Blades, as is the case with nearly every ECHL team, is affiliated with both an AHL and an NHL franchise — in Florida’s case, its AHL affiliate is the Springfield Thunderbirds and the NHL affiliate is the St. Louis Blues.
That means Everblades superstars could well be Thunderbirds and eventually Blues at a moment’s notice, throwing the fragile aspect of team chemistry into disarray.
Ralph and Co. seem to have cracked the code with all that, assembling a squad year after year that can withstand call-ups and still beat the brakes off the opposition en route to hoisting the Kelly.
Of course, it helps to have an absolute brick wall in net that wears a Cam Johnson sweater. In his sixth year with the Everblades and third season as the team’s
primary net-minder, Johnson has solidified his standing as an elite goalie. To say he is tough to score on is charitable, too, as Johnson’s
goals-allowed average has gone down from season to season (from 2.85 in 2022-23 to 2.21 in 2023-24 to 1.93 so far in 2024-25).
FC Naples to host second round of Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
By Naples Press Staff
FC Naples is set to host the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, bringing the tournament to Naples for the first time. After a 2-1 victory in its tournament debut, the club will now face the Little Rock Rangers at 7:30 p.m. April 2 at Paradise Coast Sports Complex.
“The Little Rock Rangers played an exciting style of football in the first round of the Open Cup,” FC Naples Coach Matt “Gaffa” Poland said. “They are an amateur side that always performs well and will be another challenge for us in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup.”
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the longest-running soccer competition in the country. Second-round pairings were made on a geographic basis; home teams for each round were determined by random selection among those who applied to host.
The winner of this second round match will advance to the third round (April 15-16), where it will face one of the 16 Division II professional teams from the USL Championship, setting the stage for an even greater challenge.
Individual tickets for the second-round match against Little Rock Rangers are available online at fcnaples.com/tickets. Supporters are encouraged to arrive early to experience the full match day atmosphere.
Allowing fewer than two goals per game is a sick number, and it easily leads the ECHL among goalies who have played more
than 30 games this season. I asked Johnson where — if there was one spot to shoot at — he was most vulnerable. His response: “My off day?”
The Blades also have had dominant scorers over the years, though this year’s batch is a much more balanced bunch, as no Florida player ranks in the ECHL’s top 10 in goals scored.
Forward Carson Gicewicz leads the Everblades with 25 goals (good for 12th in the league) while also being by far the most penalized Florida player, with 68 penalty minutes (1.10 minutes earned per game).
Sure, you say, Johnson is great. And Gicewicz can fill both the net and the sin bin. But there are plenty of teams that have had great goalies and aggressive scorers that still can’t sniff the sustained excellence the Everblades enjoy. So, what is their secret?
The secret is this: There isn’t one, beyond embracing the relentless grind and being genetically incapable of accepting the average. Ralph hasn’t won more than 500 games with the Everblades by being content with “decent.” Johnson may joke that Ralph has gotten a smidge softer over the years, but the Everblades aren’t taking any days off to head to the beach.
Unlike last season’s mad dash to even make the playoffs, the Everblades have already clinched a 2024-25 Kelly Cup playoff spot. Which means Ralph’s squad could theoretically rest just a bit before the march to championship No. 5 begins.
But if we know the Florida Everblades like we think we know them, there will be precisely zero rest and relaxation. That isn’t how champions are programmed, and it certainly isn’t how banners get hung at Hertz Arena.
So get ready, ECHL. The Florida Everblades are once again the class of your league. And they’re hungry for yet another Kelly Cup.
Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson airs weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on Southwest Florida’s Fox Sports Radio (105.9 FM in Collier County) and streaming on FoxSportsFM.com.
Carson Gicewicz (15) of the Everblades battles Mackenzie Dwyer of Savannah.
Colin Theisen (43) gives extra effort to help Florida succeed. Photos courtesy Florida Everblades
