Vibrant Naples — can it be sustained?

JCRC Day of Learning, Thursday, March 30 at 1 p.m.

By Joel Pittelman, Chair, JCRC Day of Learning

Naples is a community of lovely neighborhoods, beautiful homes, wonderful shopping, gracious dining, stimulating art and culture, and warm, sunny golf greens and Gulf beaches. It is a place where many retirees as well as families come for a vacation and decide it would be a perfect place to live. I think we all know people who came to Naples for a two-week vacation and decided to purchase a home before they left. With Greater Naples attracting so many new residents, our community's facilities and services must grow to meet the increasing demand.

As other vacation communities have grown, they have often changed in character. Tourist attractions, fast-food stands, arcades, souvenir shops and flashing neon signs light up commercial areas and convert what had been gracious shopping boutiques and dining into amusement strips. Could that happen in Greater Naples?

The Day of Learning, the Jewish Community Relations Council’s annual flagship event, will address this question. This year’s program will look at several important areas that affect our quality of life. Land use and development will be discussed by Amy Patterson, Collier County’s manager, and James French, its director of growth management and community development. How is land use and growth managed and what are their thoughts on housing needs and environmental protection?

Michael Dalby, president and CEO of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, will share his thoughts on changes we might foresee in commercial and business development. Will the business sector expand from its current local service orientation to include regional office headquarters and research and production components? How would that change our city?

Executive Director of United Arts Council Elysia Dawn will share her vision of the activities and facilities that will be needed to provide arts and entertainment experiences for the growing numbers of patrons, and the broadening range of interests that Naples will want to support.

Rebecca Smith, M.D., president of the Collier County Medical Society, will address the challenge in meeting health needs as the population expands. There may be gaps in services that will have to be filled and demands for facilities and trained health care providers to meet the advances in medical science and the community’s expectations for the highest quality care.

What the speakers, their colleagues and their competitors do in the future will affect the quality of each of our lives.

Each speaker will answer your questions about what needs to be done to keep our rapidly expanding community at the top of the list of the best places to live.

The Day of Learning will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. at the beautiful new Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center at 4720 Pine Ridge Road in Naples. Light refreshments will be provided. The entire Greater Naples community is encouraged to participate. There is no charge to attend, but you must pre-register.

Please visit Federation’s website, www.jewishnaples.org, or go to the direct registration page at https://jfgn.regfox. com/day-of-learning to register.

JOIN US

JCRC Day of Learning Thursday, March 30at 1 p.m.

Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center 4720 Pine Ridge Road

Visit https://jfgn.regfox.com/day-of-learningto register.