American Pie: Winding Down In La-La Land
The "snowbirds'' are flying north, after wintering in Florida. Now, for a few weeks, until they too soar off to Connecticut, John Merchant and his wife can enjoy for a few weeks the reduced congestion and the spectacular flowering trees and bushes that are just starting to bloom - the violet Jacarandas, the orange blossoms, the Frangipani, and the bright orange, Royal Poinciana trees.
Florida misses its "snowbirds'' who are so willing to volunteer their time to help others, as John reveals.
It’s the end of winter here in Florida. The feeling is sad and nostalgic, rather like the end of a northern summer. Over the past seven months, friends were made and experiences shared that now will be just memories until the fall. With the departure of the “snowbird” winter residents to their northern roosts, traffic is less congested, and it’s possible to get a table in a restaurant without a reservation and without waiting an hour or more. Things are winding down in La-La Land.
Prices are dropping in the supermarkets, and theater and concert calendars are in hiatus until the fall. You can walk the beach without stepping over bodies, and without circling for twenty minutes to find a parking space. Most of the housing developments are like ghost towns, and the only humans in evidence are the grounds people and the security and maintenance workers.
After the cloudless skies, low humidity and often cool days of winter, the temperatures have been building over the past couple of weeks. By mid-May, daytime highs will be approaching the summer norms of 90 plus degrees, and there’ll be less cooling at night. The huge cumulous clouds that have already started to build throughout the early part of the day, soon will bring thunderstorms each afternoon, restoring the brown grass and half-empty ponds ready for the fall. The air will hum with the sound of air conditioners.
I too will be moving north to my boat in Connecticut for the summer, but a full five weeks after the main exodus, so my wife and I will have a brief time to enjoy the reduced congestion and other benefits of a diminished population. We’ll also delight in the spectacular flowering trees and shrubs that are just starting to bloom: the violet Jacarandas, the orange blossoms, the Frangipani, and the bright orange, Royal Poinciana trees.
But the reduced population isn’t all to the good. Many winter residents perform volunteer services that are close to being essential. Snowbirds take care of hospital patients, deliver meals to the housebound, shuttle seniors to appointments, and take on a myriad other tasks that allow the community to function. An article by Jennifer Booth Reed in my local newspaper, the News Press, reports that area nonprofit organizations are hurting.
Nita Flores, quoted in the article, said “Today, I wound up having to take somebody out of the kitchen to deliver Meals on Wheels, which should have been done two hours ago.” Flores is the volunteer coordinator for Community Cooperative Ministries Inc., the Fort Myers-based organization that runs a day care, soup kitchen, senior transportation service and Meals on Wheels for parts of the county. She’ll lose about half her volunteer base by the time all the Northerners go home.
Other agencies tell similar stories. Phones started ringing after Easter at the Friendship Volunteer Center in Fort Myers, a clearing house for volunteer opportunities. “There are at least 10 agencies that feel an immediate crunch,” said Kim Berghs, the director of community engagement. The center recruits volunteers for more than 100 Lee County organizations. Right now, Berghs is targeting teenagers who want to help during their summer vacations.
“We usually have something for everyone,” said Deb Schuyler, director of volunteer resources and auxiliary development for Cape Coral Hospital. She’s losing 175 to 200 seasonal helpers. The hospital has a total of about 1,100 volunteers. It relies on them to do everything from transporting patients, to running test results between departments, to staffing gift shops. “We really can’t function too well without our volunteers because they do so much for us,” Schuyler said.
Volunteers aside, I’m sure Florida wouldn’t be without its snowbirds, with their huge contribution to sales and property taxes, and the money they spend on food, services and furnishings. But the summer/winter cyclical variation in population places a strain on some businesses.
My favorite Chinese restaurant closed for good last month. Bo Ling, the owner, said that in the winter they couldn’t get staff, and in the summer there was insufficient business. Prices in other restaurants are high in the winter because they need to make enough profit to see them through the down season.
Like many demographics in the USA, Florida’s population shifts are constantly changing. Although the official statistics since 2002 are not yet available, there is anecdotal evidence that increasing numbers of people who moved to Florida from the north are resettling in the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee.
The reasons are primarily economic. Property taxes have soared, and the cost of insurance has dramatically increased as the result of the devastation caused by hurricanes. But the inflow still exceeds the outflow, and for many people who can afford it, the increased cost of living is a small price to pay to avoid the grim northern winters. I for one will be flapping back and forth while ever my wings will carry me.
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