NAPLES, Fla. — 2023 brought the City of Naples, a centennial celebration like no other, rebuild efforts that continue after Ian and a financial disclosure law the state passed last year that had some on the City Council questioning their job.
Now that we are in 2024, City Manager Jay Boodheshwar tells Fox 4 he is looking forward and says the city has exciting things to come.
"The list of things that we'd like to accomplish is probably longer than what we're going to be able to do," said Boodheshwar. "Resiliency and the environment have been a focus of this community and will really come into light with some of the projects that we're working on."
Boodheshwar says one of his top focuses for 2024 is public safety as the city now has a new Fire Chief, Phillip Pennington, and a new Police Chief, Circo Dominguez.
"It's busy in Naples right now, and it's evidenced by the traffic that we're seeing on the roads," said Boodheshwar. "One of the things that we want to be very deliberate about this year is developing more proactive plans for dealing with parking, traffic, and communication to the community when there are issues that affect the roadways."
He also says they are looking into equipment, like body cameras, to ensure all first responders are well-staffed and prepared for emergencies.
"The reality is with body cameras, people are you know, they're going to think twice about misbehaving because there's a record now of your interaction with their officer," said Boodheshwar. "It also holds our officers accountable too. I mean, there are procedures and policies that we must follow."
Boodheshwar says the city is also working on updating the Police Department and Fire Department's apps so that citizens can stay up to date as things break.
