Southwest Florida is filled with Chicagoans. In Naples, Chicago philanthropists such as the late Raymond Lutgert transformed those communities, supporting their museums and galleries. The founding CEO of the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts was a former Chicago advertising executive. Plenty of real estate developers from this city turned their attention to sunnier climes, later in life.
If you’re hunkering for a Chicago-style sandwich or pie, you’ve got Beefstros Gourmet Beef or Chicago Calzone in Fort Myers. And if you long for a sheltered retirement, there’s the gentle Shell Point, located right where the causeway to Sanibel Island hits the mainland, not far from Fort Myers Beach. There, a man named Mitch Pacyna, originally from Franklin Park, was so gregarious and popular that he was known as the unofficial mayor of Fort Myers Beach.
Unpretentious Fort Myers Beach is a place where lots of Chicago families have made memories, splashing around its old pier, buying ice cream at Royal Scoop, eating Maxwell Street fare at the Chicago Dawg House, making sand angels on New Year’s Eve so as to make the folks envious back home.
Pacyna, known for his love of Chicago sports, died after deciding to try and ride out Hurricane Ian on what’s essentially an island off the Florida coast. Aerial photos suggest very little is left and Sen. Marco Rubio, who had spent childhood time there himself, declared this slice of “old Florida” to have vanished forever into the surge of the ocean.
And that causeway to Sanibel? It’s now the former causeway.
Beautiful Sanibel, a sandy paradise of gorgeous sunsets, was practically obliterated. Robert Paddor, the former owner of Evanston Subaru in Skokie, had to be airlifted from the island. Like many others from this city who found themselves in the eye of the storm, he declared himself lucky to be alive.
So this tragedy is personal for many Chicagoans and, as we watched Hurricane Ian unfold in horror from our place of safety, we’re glad there was not more loss of life. Certainly, the event was a reminder that evacuation notices should be taken seriously. Plenty of Floridians thought they could ride out the storm, a decision they later came to regret.
In the aftermath, of course, came politics. That’s inevitable in today’s America, especially since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a potential Republican candidate for president in 2024. First we had Vice President Kamala Harris igniting controversy when she said in a conversation with actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas that “we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity,” a line that some infuriated right-wing critics twisted to say that the Biden administration was planning to dispense hurricane aid according to the color of the survivor’s skin.
That wasn’t what Harris said, and, in fact the transcript also contains her saying, “I know we are all thinking about the families in Florida, in Puerto Rico with Fiona and what we need to do to help them in terms of an immediate response and aid.”
Good. But Harris, who can be politically inept to a staggering degree, still made a mistake in delivering some red meat for her elite, progressive audience at Washington’s fancy Mayflower Hotel, even as hurricane survivors in Fort Myers Beach were sifting through the rubble of their former lives. Better, really, to have been down there with them, lending a hand with the job.
Here’s the reality. It’s tempting to talk about climate change in the aftermath of a hurricane, even if there is no agreement on the level of correlation, given that there is nothing new about hurricanes. Politicians and activists think they have people’s attention. But it’s counter-productive.
Americans expect all hands on deck in a crisis, and they expect help to go to those who need it in the moment, regardless of their race or the contents of their bank accounts. It behooves high ranking officials to shut up about everything else.
You might argue the same about the media. “Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida Republicans rejected major climate laws,” said The New York Times in an especially churlish and clueless gotcha-tweet from dry Manhattan. “Now they’re seeking storm aid.”
Well, duh. Of course they are. As they should. That is their duty to their citizens who just lost most everything, as it is our duty as Americans to come to their aid.
Climate change is real and it necessitates conversations about how much, and in what form, these communities build back. Already, hurricane insurance is becoming much more expensive and harder to procure, which is in many ways the market operating as intended, reflecting the growing risk of building that dream home on the beach.
It’s only fair that those homeowners bear that risk and make their decisions accordingly. Have no doubt: this problem is increasing and changes in how we protect the planet have to take place.
More people have to be brought along. Harris has to start helping, not hurting that cause. Once people feel safe and have dried out, those conversations can and should begin.
But in the eye of a hurricane? Let’s just all do our best to put politics aside and do everything we can. Finally, on Wednesday, it looked like those politicians were beginning to get that message.
There but for the grace of God.
