Post-Charley Punta Gorda Has No Nerve For More
By BAIRD HELGESON bhelgeson@tampatrib.com
Published: Jul 8, 2005
PUNTA GORDA - Some residents call Punta Gorda the town of lies.
Hurricane Charley tore up this small Gulf Coast community in August, and many residents continue to wait for roofing materials, building supplies and workers to finish the job.
Residents often hire contractors to do repairs, usually with a promise that work will begin in a week. But a month passes and no one shows, or workers show up for a day and vanish.
``There are so many broken promises,' said Linda Messer, owner of Heidi's Hair Designers. ``Everything people tell you is a lie. It's what this town has become.``
Behind the quaint facade of Punta Gorda is a town filled with residents nervous about their future and questioning their desire to stay. Charley, they say, revealed a truth no one expected.
``It wasn't the storm that ruined us, it was the rebuilding,' said Sheri Stewart, an assistant Punta Gorda city clerk. ``We are going to hear the hammers for many years to come.'
Many residents of Punta Gorda and the rest of Charlotte County live in dread as they watch Hurricane Dennis edge toward the Gulf of Mexico and potentially their way.
``I might just run,' said Joe Petrizzo, 66, who weathered Charley in the back room of a 30-year-old mobile home that was destroyed in the storm.
Petrizzo lost nearly everything in Charley, and his wife a couple years before. He lives in a small trailer now, paid for with money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
He drives around town with pictures of his home before and after the storm. Mostly he misses the 40 orchids he gave away as the demolition crew took the remains of his home.
``I just don't think I can do it again,' said Petrizzo, who won't rebuild and plans to die in the tiny trailer. ``Not again. Not anymore.'
Punta Gorda no longer looks like the bombed-out town Charley left behind after it roared up Charlotte Harbor with 145 mph winds and tore across the state, causing nearly $7 billion in insured losses.
The streets are clean again and the power is back on. Street signs were replaced, and stoplights again regulate traffic. Dozens of damaged buildings were demolished, and another is torn down every few days. Mobile home parks that became heaping landfills of wood, insulation and aluminum are swept clean and filled with gleaming new units waiting to be installed.
Many businesses are back, as well. A few downtown cafes have returned with tempting dinner specials, business is brisk at the Chevrolet dealership, and it's nearly impossible to get a room at the Motel 6 these days.
But next to the cafes are empty storefronts, often with blown-out roofs and a clear view of the sky.
Dozens of businesses closed or were sold, but some found unique ways to profit from the rebuilding.
Charley wrecked the local dive industry, so dive shop owner Ron Morrison and his staff used their dive expertise and gear to clear debris from swimming pools and a few canals.
``We were able to make a few dollars helping people,' Morrison said Thursday.
Hundreds of homes and buildings await demolition, including several large apartment buildings.
Neighborhoods are dotted with homes draped in blue tarps, awaiting repair or demolition.
FEMA is housing 1,300 residents in 500 mobile homes, said Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County's director of emergency management. But Sallade and other local officials think at least 2,000 people still aren't living in their homes or are living in properties that are condemned.
Sid Finkel is one of them.
Finkel's townhouse was condemned several months ago after a long battle with the city over whether the eight- unit building could be salvaged. The roof was largely torn off, and most of the upstairs units looked liked trashed, soggy dioramas.
He lived amid the ruins until the city finally decided the building was doomed, forcing Finkel to leave next week.
``I get depressed when I think about it all, when I don't keep moving,' Finkel said among water-stained furniture and oriental rugs. ``I mean, I basically have to start a new life at 73. What can I do? All I can do is keep moving.'
Moving is what a lot of people are doing, far away from Florida and the maddening winds and flexing floors that rattle their dreams.
Punta Gorda lawns are peppered with for-sale signs, from the finest neighborhoods to the most tired mobile home parks.
Many are fleeing to Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Mary Jane Raster, in her 70s, is moving to Georgia to be near her son.
``I love it down here, but there's no family,' said Raster, who is moving next week. ``I heard that story about the old woman who spent five days in her bathtub after Charley, and I think that could be me.'
But many others are determined to stay, saying they won't rest until they see Punta Gorda thrive.
Residents rallied after Charley and pitched in $235,000 to hire an urban planner to complete a master plan that lays out a pedestrian-friendly community and requires new development to honor the area's history. It even includes a new convention center.
``Our goal is to become a destination for boaters and tourists,' said Roger Kress, president of TEAM Punta Gorda, which formed after Charley to steer the redevelopment. ``But that relies on no more hurricanes.'
Such plans can be tough to focus on as Dennis creeps up the Gulf and forecasters expect several more major storms this year, to say nothing of the years to come.
``We are all shellshocked,' said Stewart, 47, with the city clerk's office. ``We are all going to be like deer in the headlights for many years to come. That's our new reality.'
Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668. |
