Naples Island Business Association President Michael Dene, of Michael’s Restaurant, and Vice President Bart DeLio, of ThatInsuranceGuy.com, recently took a look at the changes that have been going on in Naples Island this past year.
“I think a lot of people would be surprised at the changes that have gone on this year,” Dene said.
“I agree,” DeLio said. “The entire island along Second Street was repaved and re-stripped, but the city did such a good job that it is hard to tell.”
When the NIBA found out that the city of Long Beach had plans to repave Naples Island, they contacted City Councilman Gary DeLong in order to try to have some input into what improvements could be incorporated into the repaving.
“We had a list of items that we wanted to try and input to take advantage of the ongoing construction,” Dene said.
“We had earlier had the lanes changed on the South side of the street from three lanes to two in order to slow traffic through Naples. But the bike lane was 6 feet wide and people were still driving in it,” Dene said.
“Michael bugged the city engineers until they finally shrank the lane down to five feet,” DeLio said.
“This really made it clear that this was a bike lane and not a car lane and I think traffic has slowed down as well. The city also added a bike lane on the North side of the street That was a long needed improvement,” he said.
Other improvements that came with the repaving included improved cross walks, electricity added to the reshaped medians, added irrigation, a bus stop relocation and some repainting of the limited time curbs to be more consistent. These improvements have also created the opportunity for NIBA to partner with other Naples Island organizations.
“We have partnered with the Naples Improvement Association to help pay for pavers at several of the crosswalks and have also partnered with the Naples Island Garden Club in order to put planters along Second Street,” Dene said.
NIBA also contributed to the costs.
“We helped pay for the soil and the garden club has picked out planters and plants in order to brighten up the business strip along Second Street,” DeLio said.
The NIBA rushed to get lights put up just before the holidays. “The NIBA paid to put up lights along the medians and Michael and I had two Happy Holidays from Naples Island signs made and trudged out in the dirt in our dress shoes and hammered them into the ground,” DeLio said.
“Then we pushed the city to trim the trees along Second Street which, considering all the storms we have had, we really did at just the right time,” DeLio said.
For more information about the Naples Island Business Association, visit www.NIBA.org.
