All Eyes on Southwest Florida

Homeless & Unemployed Ecstatic Over Presidential Visit

Presidential visits are nothing new to Southwest Florida. During his eight years in office, President George W. Bush would frequently fundraise at the waterside mansions of his friends in Naples and Fort Myers. At the time, most local residents were oblivious to the looming housing bath. The housing sector was booming, the NAR was preaching the joys of home ownership and construction jobs were abundant. Fast forward to 2009 and some areas of Southwest Florida look like a bomb went off. (Check out the slide show in yesterday's New York Times article on Lehigh Acres.) In 2004, Southwest Floridians regularly camped out for the chance to put down deposits on new homes and condominiums. Today in Fort Myers, homeless people like Roy Hendrix are camping out to see the president. "I get to see the president of the United States, in my town,'' said Hendrix, 51. "That's better than any rock concert or the World Series.''