Fort Myers gives Zombicon the boot; will buy cameras

Fort Myers has cut ties with Zombicon organizers after nine years of hosting the event downtown.

The decision by the City Council on Monday night comes nearly two months after a shooting left one dead and five others injured in the heart of this year's Zombicon.

City officials hope downtown security cameras will deter a similar tragedy from ever happening again, or at the very least, help police identify and apprehend those responsible. Police have not made any arrests.

"This is not a movement to blame the organizers," Mayor Randy Henderson said. "The responsibility of that tragedy is solely on the perpetrator."

Council members felt the event has outgrown downtown Fort Myers and it should take place in a more controlled environment, such as an arena.

Rejecting the event will also relieve some of the strain on the Fort Myers Police Department, which has officers working overtime, and the Public Works Department, which is tasked with a massive cleanup effort, Councilman Michael Flanders said.

"This is by far the messiest event," Flanders said, "and requires the greatest amount of cleanup of any annual event held in downtown Fort Myers."

The event has gotten out of hand in the last couple years, said interim City Manager Saeed Kazemi, and public security cameras could have helped police identify a suspect sooner.

In preparation for the New Year's Eve celebration, which has attracted more than 15,000 people to downtown in previous years, the city expedited the purchase process to set up a security camera network as soon as possible.

The council agreed to purchase and install 49 cameras throughout downtown for $442,758.

Each camera location will provide a 360-degree coverage with enhanced zooming, and will give police access to the real time video in the event a 911 call comes in. These are high-resolution cameras that will allow police identify people very easily, even in low light, Kazemi said.

But council members Johnny Streets and Terolyn Watson were asking, "What about Dunbar?"

Watson said the city is jumping all over one isolated incident that happened downtown and sitting on shootings that happen two or three times a week in her neighborhoods.

Streets said he is sorry about what happened downtown, but he doesn't feel comfortable with throwing $400,000 at downtown because it's reactive. There are more pressing areas to focus on than downtown, he said.

But downtown is just the first phase of a citywide project, Kazemi said.

The ultimate plan is to implement a network all over the city that gives police access to the closest camera where a crime is being committed in real time, he said. Once the network is in place, officials will even have the capability to tap into private security cameras – with permission – and add it to the city's network.

The city had to start somewhere, Kazemi said, and with the New Year's Eve event weeks away, officials decided downtown was the best place to start. But Kazemi said he will have plans to include the entire city very soon.

"This, by all means, is not the end of it."

Zombicon organizer Angeli Chin released the following statement late Monday night:

From the bottom of our hearts we are thankful to the City of Fort Myers for the past nine years of support. We are completely aware that we have grown tremendously, much in part to the support of the City of Fort Myers, the downtown businesses and of course the loving participants who embraced the opportunity to express their love and passion with their flair of artistic creativity through the Dark Art Show, costume contest and spending a day with like-minded individuals.

We will always be a part of the history of downtown and while we will miss where we first started, we had already been in discussion about other opportunities available to the organization. Once again, major thanks to Mayor Henderson, the Fort Myers Police Department, the City of Fort Myers, supporting downtown businesses and last but certainly not least, our fantastic fans and event goers.

—Connect with this reporter on Twitter @dulaneycd.

Cost of downtown security cameras

Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency: $100,000

ITS Network Fiber Optic Infrastructure Project: $17,100

Risk Fund Reserves: $250,000

ITS Security Camera Equipment: $75,658

Total: $442,758