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Ben Official: Nelson sworn is as third mayor of Bonita Springs
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Nelson sworn-in as Bonita's third mayor
Ben Nelson was sworn in as Bonita's third mayor Monday morning, April 28, at Bonita City Hall.
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Mayor.
It’s time to start calling Ben Nelson by his new title.
More than a year after he declared his candidacy, Ben Nelson took his seat at the head of the Bonita Springs City Council on Monday morning as the city’s third mayor.
“This didn’t take long, only a year or so,” Nelson said. “Thank you for being patient, Bonita Springs.”
James Thompson, senior judge from the Lee Circuit Court, performed the swearing-in ceremony in front of a standing-room-only crowd that gave Nelson a standing ovation after the deed was done.
“The ladies and gentlemen that serve you in these offices are true patriots,” Thompson said.
The ceremony took place before the City Council’s normal zoning meeting, which comes on the fourth Monday of every month. Nelson’s term officially started Friday, but Monday was the first city meeting of his four-year term.
Although he just moved into the position after serving eight years as the District 6 City Councilman, Nelson already is working with the city manager and staff on the agenda for the City Council’s next regular meeting on May 7.
“It is not like the mayor has that much more power than the rest of the council, but it is customary the contact I have with the city and staff will be a little closer,” he said.
One of the first policy issues Nelson plans to address is the funding of LeeTran bus route 150 through the city. During Nelson’s absence from the council, the members in a 4-3 vote decided to stop funding the public transportation. Nelson supports keeping the route.
Nelson defeated incumbent Jay Arend in the April 8 runoff election after the duo were the top two vote-getters in the four-way Jan. 29 mayoral race.
In attendance during Monday’s ceremony was former councilman John Joyce, Local Planning Agency member Jose Lopez and Bonita Springs’ first mayor, Paul Pass.
“Ben is a high-quality person, and he will be a good leader because his personal integrity means as much to him as anything,” Pass said.
The city will be facing some important issues in the next four years.
For Bonita Springs’ downtown redevelopment project, Nelson already has indicated he wants to rezone the 5.3-acre property that used to be Bamboo Village mobile home park, even though Antaramian Development Inc. of Naples has dropped out of its partnership with the city to revitalize the property.
The council already was divided on the Bamboo Village property, and Nelson will have to build a consensus to continue with the rezoning without Antaramian.
During the time in February when his term as District 6 representative was over until his election as mayor, Nelson met with the other council members to learn their thoughts and feelings on certain topics and know them better personally.
Once in office, the Florida Sunshine Law does not allow the council members to discuss business outside of official meetings.
“It was really good to get to know them as people,” Nelson said.
Nelson is Bonita Springs’ longest-serving elected official. Only he and Arend had served a full two terms since the government formed in 2008, and Nelson now is the only remaining member from the founding City Council.
“There is no one better to lead us right now,” said Ben’s wife, Lori Nelson, who stood by his side during the inauguration ceremony.
During the zoning meeting — his first duty as mayor — the City Council denied the request by the downtown restaurant Taqueria to begin serving beer.
“Now, we get to work,” Ben Nelson said.
Comments
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"The first case was whether to allow the downtown restaurant Taqueria to sell beer."
why not, they already sell drugs and hoes there
#1 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cire,
Give me a call and let's do something positive together to clean up our city. My husband and I are game any weekend.
Oh, by the way we denied the beer license.
#2 Posted by MarthaSimons on April 28, 2008 at 1:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"...My husband and I are game any weekend..."
bringing the ms-13, la eme and the surenos too?
wow, how do i not feel threatened by that? city gov't officials shouldn't threaten citizens. is the mayor gonna bring his mother in law?
#3 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 1:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wow...what kind of a "person" picks on the mayors mother in law? And councilwoman simons was very friendly and positive to you...and you thought it was threatening? You need to get help...soon! NDN needs to do like other chat rooms and start banning destructive hate speach.
#4 Posted by someguy on April 28, 2008 at 2:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Someguy - A coward that's who. Cire likes to sit at his computer and spout out hateful messages, but I guarantee he does nothing good for this community or contributes anything as a citizen. The best you can do is pity their miserable, lifeless existence... and believe in kharma.
You're right - the NDN should not allow this kind of posting that brings innocent people into the discussion. I doubt the Mayor's mother-in-law has anything to do with this.
#5 Posted by iamme on April 28, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
think about it. a downtrodden, crime ridden area.. prostitutes, drugs, vacant lots, empty buildings... and it doesn't improve? you people don't think 'shangri la' and it's "invisible ownership" might not be an under the table organized group... or 'family'? don' think for a minute that sometimes peoples cars blow up and 'things happen' when someone gets smart enough to see things and voice an opinion.
couldn't it be possible that someone named vito in an organized "something" told someone else to "lay low and back out" a few years ago, for a few years, and let it sit?
no, i don't wanna meet no ones "family". someone might offer someone some concrete shoes to shut up
the m-i-l thing was a joke.
#6 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 3:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
you are darn right i'm a coward. i don't want to call martha, no matter how sweet or innocent she is.. or how nice her husband might actually be. that isn't the point. she sits on a city council in charge of millions of dollars. all it would take is an innocent name drop and a month later my house burns down, my car blows up or i'm found in a parking lot dead from sudden "cardiac arrest"?
why so naive... people? i'd rather state that the criminal illegals, the prostitution, drugs and such conditions in the "old41 downtown corridor" are the way they are for a reason anonymously than to come out and declare it publically, as myself. be careful about shangri la. someone named vito might just have an interest at stake there and WANTS it to rot, just as they do the downtown. ever think there might be a set of bones in the middle of that vacant lot that they don't want antaramian development company to find?
i can't prove someone in cleveland, new jersey, kansas city or detroit runs what's happening in Bonita Springs, but niether can you deny it. i'd rather be a cowardly comment poster and be alive than "come out" and be found dead someday soon.
the area is crime ridden and it stays that way. nelson was elected mayor... and antaramian suddenly pulled out?
coincidence? i think not. sshhhhhhh
#7 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 3:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
LOL!, Cire, you are more demented than I thought before. Thanks for the laughs you freak. You must never leave your house. Hasn't your therapist ever told you the more you focus on these dilusions the worse it gets. Get out, volunteer, be part of the solution not part of the problem...it'll do your mind good.
#8 Posted by HereFishyFishy on April 28, 2008 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
yeah... "believe in kharma". lol
#9 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 4:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hmm, "therapy". calling someone a 'freak'? that's nice. are you a graduate of therapy? did your t'pist suggest calling people freaks.. or do you just happen to live in the downtown corridor and use name calling to justify trying to use city gov't and its citizens to fight your neighborhoods plight/blight?
if i was to 'leave my house' and happened to drive down your old41 corridor street (which i wouldn't)... would be be out in your yrad waving your fist yelling 'hey you freak' at all the cars? lol
#10 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
shangri la sits under "secret owners" that might just possibly have "crooked noses"... and the slum area stays illegals, drugs, illegals, prostitutes and illegals? ever think that maybe that might actually be the plan for someone in organized c-cr-cri-crim-cxxxxx...? (ok.. i can't actually say it).
i will say this one more time and then you all can have fun with me all day long. i don't care...
"nelson was elected mayor... and antaramian suddenly pulled out?
coincidence? i think not. sshhhhhhh"
#11 Posted by pit_stop on April 28, 2008 at 5:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Martha, You are a brave woman to put yourself toe to toe with the wackos in these blogs. I commend you, and you have my respect.
#12 Posted by docwatson on April 28, 2008 at 6:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! I have not heard of anyone bragging about being a coward in a very long time. Thanks cire for letting everyone know this. As for myself, I actually have no problem at all walking down the "old 41 downtown corridore" as you put it. In fact I regularly have my hair cut at a salon just north of Terry and Old 41 and will continue to do so. Your comments tell me that you have a phobia for the unknown. Have you yourself ever tried be among these Latino people you lable so quickly as "criminals" or rely purely what you read in the papers? You really need to get out of the house more often.
#13 Posted by ravenhawk on April 28, 2008 at 8:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Martha, give me a call when you get ready to do something "positive". I'd like to know what you have in mind. Blessed be.
#14 Posted by ravenhawk on April 28, 2008 at 8:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Cire (Eric) may think he is anonymous, but he is naive to think so. He thinks he hides behind his computer, and his gates on Signal Road.
As stated before... he serves no purpose in this community... except a little (and I mean very little) entertainment for the bloggers.
And CIRE, while I realize you lack the ability to be compassionate, perhaps you should put yourself in someone elses shoes before you start trying to make jokes about their mother. Not funny.
#15 Posted by iamme on April 29, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey Skip,
We just did a river clean up from Kent Rd to the "bat bridge" at Matheson this past Sunday. Ronda, Terry, Al and Joan joined us.
We plan on another one soon. If you don't mind getting wet, we have stuff to cleanup up along the banks at Carpenter Rd and Oakland Dr. If you have a pickup truck and a winch, you could be the star.
If not, I can get you a canoe.
I'll call you when we get our plans together. You free on Sunday afternoons?
#16 Posted by MarthaSimons on April 29, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Martha, getting wet is not a problem at all and I have a truck but no winch. Actually I am not too busy these days and Sunday will most likely work for me. Talk to ya later.
#17 Posted by ravenhawk on April 29, 2008 at 6:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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