Naples Daily News Weekend Digest Miss something this week? Catch up on a few of our big stories in this quick digest
Local couple aims to build a community for the disabled
Terry and Debby Kays recognize they face hurdles to develop a housing community that offers an extended family atmosphere for people with disabilities.
There’s the barrier of costly land in Collier County. There’s making the concept appealing to enough families. There’s potential objections from neighbors.
The Kays, who operate the local nonprofit advocacy group, Adonis Autism, nonetheless are steadfast in their focus.
They want to develop what they call “cohousing,” where families live side by side in a community they run with a shared mission of caring for loved ones with autism or other disabilities. The concept is for safe, affordable and financially sustainable long-term housing.
The planned name is Osprey Village, and the Kays are searching for families to join them.
She named her son Courage — now it takes all of hers to keep going after his sudden death
She wants to close her eyes, just for a moment, to make the pain stop.
Since her baby died, Danae Woodall wants to make the world go away for a moment. But she knows if she did, she would miss out on all the life still going on around her — the lives of her two surviving sons.
She feels she can't watch her life unfold before her without him, but yet she goes on.
She's a mom.
"Part of me is the grieving mother that wants to close my eyes for a moment and say, 'This is too much, this hurts so badly,' and not engage in the pain," said Woodall, who lost her 11-month-old son on April 10. "But the thing that is compelling in my heart is that I don't want to miss any moment."
Courage Woodall, the little blond boy with saucer-sized blue eyes, drowned in a pool while on a family visit in Golden Gate Estates.
His first birthday would have been this Wednesday.
Collier County pickleball tourney worth millions
Collier County is scoring big as the chosen spot for the first-ever U.S. Open Pickleball Championships.
Hundreds of athletes will compete in the tournament, and thousands of spectators will watch. Events kicked off Tuesday at East Naples Community Park off Thomasson Drive and will run through May 1.
Athletes and attendees started filling hotel rooms and RV parks as early as last week. They'll eat, shop and visit attractions while they're here, giving the local economy a boost on what the hotel industry refers to as "need dates," when business is winding down from the busy winter season.
The tournament is expected to have a $2 million economic impact on the local economy. It will bring in 835 athletes and more than 3,000 fans.
"It's on the higher end of most of our events. It's one of our larger events," said Jack Wert, Collier County's tourism director.
With visitor numbers falling in January, February and March over the year, the pickleball tournament will deliver a welcome jolt. "This will definitely help our April numbers," Wert said.
In final days for several Fifth Avenue South establishments, demolition crews aren’t far behind
A professional demolition crew circled the 400 block of Fifth Avenue South on Wednesday to survey what lies ahead in tearing down more than a half dozen storefronts on the iconic strip of downtown Naples.
A construction barrier will be erected Monday along the sidewalk on the north side of the street as well as around the businesses bookended by Cafe Luna and Kohr's Family Frozen Custard, said Jim Messina, who owns Judd & Associates, a demolition and excavating firm that has operated for more than 20 years in Naples.
Weeks of preliminary demolition work will be undertaken before any heavy machinery moves in to raze the 50-year-old structures, Messina said.
"All we can do at this point is start removing all the hazardous materials inside the businesses," he said, referring to items such as light bulbs, paint buckets and air conditioning units.
In addition to Cafe Luna and Kohr's, business units targeted for demolition include Avenue Wine Café, Bella Maria Café and a few real estate offices. All were set to close or already closed this week ahead of the Saturday expiration of their leases.
Elite Airways plans more Naples flights, but passenger loads between 20 and 30 percent
A new batch of flights to the Midwest and additional nonstop flights to New Jersey are planned for Elite Airways, which experienced passenger loads of less than 20 percent in March at Naples Municipal Airport.
John Pearsall, Elite Airways president, said the new flights will begin this fall, although he declined to say how many flights or what Midwest destinations will be added. Elite will suspend its connecting service to Vero Beach indefinitely in June.
Pearsall announced the airline will add nonstop flights to Newark, N.J., on Mondays and Fridays and discontinue Saturday trips, which now fly to Newark with a morning departure and afternoon arrival.
Pearsall's comments came after monthly totals from March were released showing Elite's planes arriving and taking off from Naples at less than 20 percent capacity, or around 10-12 passengers per flight. Those numbers were skewed because passengers in connecting cities had booked flights before Elite's service out of Naples was announced in February, Pearsall said. For the nonstop flights to Newark, without a connection, load factors have been higher.
From April 1 to April 18, overall load factors were about 30 percent. For the nonstop flights to Newark on the first two Saturdays in April, the planes were at more than 98 percent capacity.
For July and August, Elite will only fly in and out of Naples on Mondays and Fridays to Portland, Maine, with connecting flights in Melbourne. Pearsall said service has done "very well" and he expects it to continue year-round.
