NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — People living in Suncoast Estates say the lack of sidewalks and street lights in the North Fort Myers neighborhood is a major safety hazard.
Residents say it sometimes feels like they are driving in total darkness when the sun goes down.
Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo took a drive through the neighborhood to see just how dark it got and spoke with concerned citizens:
“Sometimes at night time you cannot even see the people walking till you’re right on top of them,” said long-time resident Charles Garretson. “I’ve almost run a few of them over myself.”
The fact that there are almost no sidewalks throughout the entire neighborhood only increases the safety risk.
“I don’t like the idea of people pushing babies in strollers down the road on the pavement,” Garretson said.
So 20-year Suncoast Estates resident Scott Hartman is doing something about it.
“(People) are dodging cars all the time and a catastrophe is going to happen,” he said.
Hartman started a petition in January to get his neighborhood the sidewalks and street lights it needs. He says he already has close to 300 signatures.
“We just can’t survive there without some type of lights and walkways so that people aren’t challenged with getting hit,” Hartman said.
Hartman said the greatest areas of need are the cross streets along Tucker Lane, particularly Ebson Drive, Marx Drive, McDaniel Drive and Hart Drive.
His goal is to get at least 600 signatures before presenting the petition to the Lee County Commission.
“I just feel as though Suncoast has been left behind and it’s unfair to those people,” Hartman said.
