Jeff Lytle: Region flies higher with competition for airport parking

There was a big, half-page ad in last Sunday's paper.

In this section, to be precise.

Maybe you saw it.

It was taken out by Southwest Florida International Airport to promote on-site parking. The ad, starring a little Flipper cartoon ("Our porpoise is to save you money!") told how affordable, efficient, convenient and safe it is to leave your vehicle there.

It seemed like an ad by Florida Power & Light on the virtues of electricity — until you remember or become aware of the competition for parking right next door to the airport.

Now there are two big lots — one to the north, one to the south, along the main access road — and two parking-friendly hotels, both to the south, offering park-and-fly service. (One of those lots, Drive 'n Fly Out, declined comment.)

This sort of thing has been part of the culture in much of the rest of the world for decades. But bear with us in this part of the Sunshine State. Still new here.

Yet, airport publicist Vicki Moreland says the ad had nothing to do with competition. She says the ad was about recruiting new customers. She said the ad reaches out to travelers from Naples and Marco Island — as well as Punta Gorda in Port Charlotte in papers up there — who now ask friends, relatives or limo services to drive them to and from the airport.

If these travelers only knew how cheaply they could park, she says, they might drive and park and fly.

The airport charges $11 a day or a maximum of $60 for the first week, then less the longer you stay away. The privateers easily beat the first week's rate, but struggle to match full weeks' rates after that — depending on specials and coupons offered by the privateers. It pays to shop around.

Though the off-campus business is growing — judging by the number of cars you see every time you drive by — Moreland says there is enough demand to go around, though airport traffic for 2011 was about the same as the year before.

Anyway, Moreland says, the airport gets a piece of the action from the privateers.

By Lee County law, the airport gets 4 percent of the first $20,000 and 8 percent of the rest of their business per year in return for the privateers being able to run shuttles to and from the main terminal. That revenue totaled $111,000 last year — less than 1 percent of the airport's own parking revenue — but is bound to grow.n n nTalking about parking, hang on to your baseball hat. The cost per car is doubling for Minnesota Twins spring training games — from $5 to $10.

FYI, you get a $2 discount if you buy your parking pass when you buy your game tickets.n n nWe tend to look at the crowded and growing Republican field to succeed U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers, as he aims for the Senate, as a sign of healthy energy and interest.

It also means that the eventual nominee will be chosen by a tiny fraction of Republican voters. Remember, there are no runoffs, so the highest vote-getter when all these candidates collide on the same ballot in August will be the winner.

A clever candidate could target the right little niche and the rest would be history.n n nOur opinion pages were happy to host letters from dozens backers of candidates and causes.

As time ran out we asked writers of attack letters to understand that they were too late; there would be no opportunity for responses.

Most writers understood or accepted our invitation for a last-minute plug for their candidate, minus the venom for the other side.

Most, not all.

One emailed: "All this fairness makes me sick."n n nThanks to readers who brought children's books to our lobby for the North Naples Rotary Club drive that we talked about here last Sunday.

Seven boxes and crates full of reading materials are ready for Circuit Judge Elizabeth Krier to give to youngsters who go with their parents for meetings and hearings at the Collier courthouse.

Thanks for your generosity.

Lytle is editorial page editor of the Daily News. His email address is jlytle@naplesnews.com. Call him at 263-4773.