We must vigorously oppose John Albion ------

Lehigh Acres Watchdog, Inc.
vigorously opposes

Commissioner John E. Albion
in his misguided pursuit for the Florida House seat, representing Lehigh Acres,

for the following 27 reasons:

1) Albion does not listen to the people, he only listens to the big developers in South Lee County.

2) Because of Albion's recent vote against Sheriff Mike Scott's budget, Lehigh Acres lost, among other things, 20 new Sheriffs' deputies that Lehigh sorely needed.

3) During the past 36 months, 97% of the rezoning cases in our community were approved by Albion without even a question about their impact, making Lehigh the clogged bedroom community that it is today.

4) Because of Albion's misguided votes, Lehigh Acres has lost 85% of its zoned commercial and agricultural lands to high density residential developments during the 14 years he has been in office.

5) Albion will not allow a land swap of county owned lots in Lehigh Acres to help finish Lehigh's Eco Park project, one of the few open spaces left in our community.

6) However, Albion has encouraged the swapping of Lehigh lots for other Lee County projects outside of Lehigh Acres, and he recently voted to spend $16,000,000.00 for only two acres of land on Pine Island.

7) Albion has allowed the proposed, half-billion-dollar CR 951 project to run through a populated area next to I-75, and away from Lehigh Acres; removed Lehigh Acres from the study area, and voted to destroy 74 homes in South Lee County in an eminent domain land grab.

8) Albion closed Lehigh's direct access to the new airport, and he has made no provision for an eastern access to the airport in the future.

9) Albion voted to cram the extension of Del Prado Boulevard down the throats of the residents of North Ft. Myers.

10) Albion has interfered with the Lehigh Acres planning process and meddled with the not-for-profit group - the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Corporation, and runs it with an iron first.

11) Albion killed the Lehigh Acres CRA, taking millions of dollars from our community and diverting the money to South Lee County.

12) Ten years ago Albion voted to widen Lee Blvd (what else could he do?), but since then the county has not started or finished any major road improvements in Lehigh Acres. Why? After all, Lehigh Acres had only 38,000 residents then -- and now has over 63,000 residents – we need more and better roads Now!

13) Thanks to Albion there are No road improvements on Lee County 2020 traffic ways plan, and no money in the budget to widen killer highway State Road 82.

14) Why does Albion and the county administration deny Lehigh Acres residents their rights to the same core level of service as everyone else in Lee County????

15) Albion continually votes to spend Lehigh's impact fees in other communities like Gateway.

16) Albion denied the citizens of Lehigh Acres their rights to vote on their own community plan.

17) Albion is allowing FGUA, Lehigh's utility company, to borrow millions of dollars to fund a huge water and sewer expansion in our town, and then send you the bill in the form of six figure assessments and new taxes.

18) Albion continues to rezone more and more high density residential projects in Lehigh Acres despite the fact that FGUA has no additional capacity, and has resorted to dumping effluent into Lehigh's canals to "handle" the overload.

19) Albion has raised the dollar amount you pay in ad valorem taxes every year that he has been in office.

20) Albion and his family just took a week long luxury trip to Hawaii on "county business," and You paid for it!

21) Albion closed our community library in Downtown Lehigh, and now he wants to close our Senior Center.

22) Albion refuses to build a county annex in Lehigh Acres despite our soaring population and the poor transportation network which denies us access to county offices in Downtown Ft. Myers.

23) Albion and his Lee County attorneys are suing the East County Water Control District to try to weasel out of paying the county's fair share of local taxes, shifting the burden to Lehigh Acres taxpayers.

24) Albion forced the East County Water Control District to pay $350,000 of the Lehigh taxpayer's money to repair roads they had no business owning and maintaining in the first place.

25) Albion supports the expansion of the Gulf Coast Landfill toward the intersection of Lee Boulevard and State Road 82.

26) Albion screwed up the once-in-lifetime opportunity for the government to purchase the Babcock Ranch, and he is now supported by its new owners.

27) Albion refuses to support the South Florida Water Management District's Lake Labelle project which would divert floodwaters from Lehigh Acres and the Caloosahatchee River.

John Albion once said, "I don't live in Lehigh Acres, and I Never will," but he is supposed to represent us, and NEVER has.

The fact is he is moving (carpet bagging) from his home in District 72 (South Ft. Myers, Bonita Springs and San Carlos Park) to our District 73 (but not to Lehigh Acres).

Why?

Why is he moving to run for State Representative?

Why is he leaving a job that pays $78,000 for one that only pays $26,000?

Is it because his wife works for millionaire Realtor Frank D'Allessandro?

Is it because he is backed by Sid Kitson, Al Hoffman and the biggest developers in Lee County?

Is it because he knows he'll make a fortune for himself and his backers?

Why doesn't Commissioner John Albion listen to the people from his District????

Isn't that his job???

Does Albion have a new agenda for Lehigh Acres???

Or is it the same good ole boy game that has denied Lehigh a place at the table for decades???

Isn't 14 years enough time for the people of Lehigh Acres to be fed up with Albion's lack of attention and leadership?

Click here to see the latest news on "Lehigh's" Missing Commissioner.

Write and tell Albion that there's a lot more to running for State Representative than just the urge to travel.

Aloha!