Naples, Florida

We just spent three days in Naples.  It's down in the southwest corner of Florida.  I'd never been there prior to knowing Dave.  It's not a place you drive through to get to someplace else.  There's only Marco Island below Naples and it's kind of like Naples, Jr.

Dave's from Minneapolis and lots of folks in Minneapolis go to Naples for a few months in the winter.  That makes sense.  Naples is a tropical paradise all year long.  We were visiting with Dave's old golfing buddies and others.  All really nice and fun folks.

Naples is astoundingly beautiful!  It's what God might have designed if he had the money.  It's one of the 6th wealthiest cities in the United States.  The median value of homes in Florida is $148,000.  In Naples it's $620,000.  And there are homes in excess of $40,000,000.

I heard a minister of a Methodist church in Naples say, a while back, that his people don't want to go to heaven - because Naples IS heaven!

Or maybe it's God's waiting room!  The vast majority of people  look like Dave and me - only much better dressed and coiffed.

They're everywhere.  But don't look for young hipsters, or children or families.  They're few and far between.

The only working folks are the ones waiting on us.  The downtown area is like this:  upscale retail store, upscale restaurant, financial institution, museum, (repeat.)

So, what's the problem?

- For working people the economy is boom in the winter and bust in the summer - when everybody heads back North.

-The working folks (not just the "working poor") can't afford to live in Naples.  They must leave and come back every day.

-50% of Collier County children live below the poverty line.

Naples is "heaven" only if you are old, white and rich.   Otherwise, it can be a pretty cold and difficult place to be.


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