The Cape Coral Wildlife Trust (CCWT) and the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife (CCFW) are hosting a candidate forum centered around the environment.
Carl Veaux, an 88-year-old who has lived in the Cape since 1980, is a past president of the CCFW. He said since he’s lived here, he can’t help but notice the exponential increase in development to where he doesn’t recognize the city anymore.
“We are one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, and you know, to see the traffic double and triple more now, that’s the biggest change,” Veaux said.
Veaux said that with more people moving to Cape Coral and with the upcoming election, it’s important to have an environment-centered political forum to see how candidates would factor the environment into their policy making.
“Find out what the candidates are, with their environmental stance from what they’re going to do for us if they’re elected to office,” Veaux said.
Veaux said this type of event is also important because Cape Coral is home to a wide variety of animal and plant life.
“I have a dream,” Veaux said. “We all have dreams. But my dream is to change Cape Coral into environmental town. You know, we have the biggest population of burrowing owls in the world.”
As a member of the community for over 40 years, Veaux said he feels a responsibility to step up and protect the biological diversity of Cape Coral.
“We’re going to discuss Redfish Point, which is a big contention in Cape Coral,” Veaux said. “We are going to discuss how we protect our burrowing owls and our gopher torties and the rest of the animals.”
Other topics up for discussion include the Utility Expansion Projects (UEP’s) and what would be next for the former Cape Coral Country Club.
Veaux said he has hope that Cape Coral can once again return to a more ecological and green-space oriented city that it was when he moved there and encourages those who are interested in attending to spread the word.
It’s Oct. 20 at Rotary Park. Attendees can meet the candidates at 6:30 p.m. before the event starts at 7 p.m..
Veaux said all eight candidates are planning to attend.
More information can be found on the CCFW Facebook page.
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