News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 75

Reports From Staff Writers, Bureaus And Wire Services News-Press Edelblut From 'Little Plumber' To City Father Business Real Estate A SECTION SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 1975 i 'i one of the original members and was part of the team which wrote the city's zoning laws. Edelblut says a seat on the zoning board is "a thankless job." There is no pay for the job, Edelblut says, and "Of course, you're going to make friends angry because you can't put your friends ahead of anyone else when you make a zoning decision." But, he said, "It's been a pleasure to serve on the board." Edelblut has watched Fort Myers grow from a town with a population of little over 2,000 into a metropolitan area and he feels that the main zoning jobs in the area are finished. "We have defined business districts, and the industrial zones are pretty well established," he said. Edelblut foresees a stronger residential development in the east part of the city. "About 60 per cent of the population is there, he said," We'll have to have the houses there.

And we'll have to open more access routes to get those people into the trade zones." Edelblut says that Palm Beach Boulevard will eventually have the volume of traffic that U.S. 41 now has. The city needs the access routes to "get the people into shopping area, get their money and send them back home." Edelblut also foresees the eventual use of Second Street as a main arterial road. The recession, he says, and the current difficulty in obtaining mortgage money have curtailed the city's growth at the proper time. "We're already over-built in condominiums and apartments the whole area, east and west coast." The surge of people into Florida, he says, will be dried up at least for a few years.

At 80, Edelblut, says he plans to spend more time at home now, probably tinkering in his garden with the lush plants and flowers he tends there. And, of course, he'll be watching the Kansas City Royals play ball. "I go to every one of their games here," he said, "and I have four years. In fact, I've had the same seat there for six years." In the 1920s, a truck traveled Fort Myers with "Here comes the little plumber" imprinted on the front and "There goes the little plumber" on the back. The nickname "little plumber" was carried by Walter J.

Edelblut a long time area businessman and veteran of the Fort Myers City Zoning Board. Edelblut, who resigned last week from the board to turn his seat over to "the younger generation," came to Fort Myers in 1919 from Virginia to visit the sister of his late wife, Mary Alma. And he never left. When Edelblut came to visit, Walter Langford was building a lavish home on the corner of First Street and Fowler. Edelblut was commissioned to install the china tubs, basins and gold plated fixtures.

Since then, Edelblut's plumbing shop (located on Oak Street near the courthouse) he grown into the Edelblut Construction firm and the "little plumber" has become one of the city fathers. Edelblut joined the city zoning board in 1952 as ill FORMER ZONER WALTER EDELBLUT resigned from city board after over 20 years Week Shows Deed Tumble 1 Activity there began shortly after the first of the year. Carter Sandin Realtors, reported that they handled the sale of 45 acres east of the airport with frontage on Crystal Drive which brought $100,000. Dr. Anthony D.

Migliore and a group as trustees bought the land to hold for investment from another group represented by Gene Bartholomew. The building permit situation clearly points up the nationwide stoppage of building and construction as buyers and builders wait for the economy to adjust upward and for prices to show some stabilizing direction. There were 140 permits issued in the county last week for $1,007,715, against 249 issuances in 1974 for $15,322,375. Lee County issued 78 permits for $666,050 the City of Fort Myers, 35 for $162,651 and Cape Coral, 27 for a total of $179,014. A complete list of all other sales and permits can be found page 4F, Lee County deed recordings reflected only about one half of the activity last week as compared to the same period in 1974, and just one sale was in the catagory of $100,000 and over.

There were 422 recorded deeds totalling $3,968,600 last week compared to 905 for $7,840,200 in 1974. However, reports of increased sales activity in the area remain strong, especially in the field of second homes and retirement homes. Over the past few weeks several developers have reported that their activity has increased dramatically and a substantial number of contracts have been written. These will not be reflected in News-Press articles until they are a matter of public record. The latest development to report major activity is the Bay Beach project on Fort Myers Beach.

Marketing Director Dan Morgan said Thursday that last week marked the time when that comlpex topped the $1 million mark in sales. in I TT II I II II I 1 I NX, I I If Ml I IW 11 I II I lj I i 7 .3 News-Press Graphic By DAVID BEATTY Inside Today's F-Section Rate Increases Public Service Commission Action Expected Monday Search For 07 Is Cold Chore Elusive energy sources lure producers into the Arctic, where water musf be brought in on trucks. The icy oil-hunters know that their search may be in vain 12F Gardening BROMELIADS are a colorful bunch of tree-hangers, some of which can be used as domestic plants 8F Charlotte increased operating expenses for 1974. Total operating costs to the power company were $563,683,000 in 1973 and $792,431,000 in 1974. Public Service Commission members are remaining tight-lipped concerning what aspects of the proposed boost, if any, will be excluded from final commission approval.

Ken Mingledorff, executive assistant to Commissioner Paula Hawkins, said there are "some items that may be excluded." And Donald Weidner, an associate mitted an interim grant of $69 million to raise stockholders dividends to their traditional 8.57 per cent level, which accounts for a $2 rate increase to the average consumer. The apparent thief of higher corporate earnings and dividend returns to shareholders is the price of fuel. According to the annual report, fuel costs nearly doubled in 1974 to $400,115,000 from $204,606,000 the previous year. The $195 million fuel boost represented the major part of public counsel, representing customers, recently testified at commission hearings that the company should be granted profits of 13 per cent, rather than the 14.5 per cent it requests. Weidner said the company should limit its increases to $61 million.

officials disagree. In a recent corporate publication, Executive Vice President John Hudiburg said the rate increases would allow the company to guarantee its shareholders Turn To PSC, Page 2F A COMMERCIAL building sold last week for $65,000, and a building permit was issued for a $40,000 home 10F Collier A PARCEL on U.S. 41 sold last week to a Michigan man for $142,250 11F What's Really Worrying Burns? By DONNA JABLONSKI News-Press Business Writer The Public Service Commission is expected to rule Monday on Florida Power Light proposed $164.8 million rate increase. The request, which officials say is a necessity in view of climbing fuel costs and inflation, may mean an additional $4.50 tacked on to the monthly light bills of the average customer. The Public Service Commission, an agency that regulates the utilities industry, has probed and studied the request since August to determine if the total proposed hike or portions of it are justified.

Florida Power Light serves 1.6 million persons in 35 Florida counties, representing nearly half the state's population, according to commission records. The company requested the additional charges on Aug. 2, to adjust its annual gross revenue to $143.3 million, public service commission records state. And, according to Joe Myrick, district manager of Florida Power Light in Fort Myers, if the entire sum is approved Monday, the boost will raise the average customer's bill by $4.50 per month. Myrick explained that the "average customer" uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity monthly.

While the final vote is expected Monday by Public Service Commission officials, the electric company would be automatically allowed to implement the rate increases if a decision is not reached by April 1. If imposed the rate hikes and the commission later decided not to allow them, customers would be reimbursed for the charges by the company. In January, the commission per Business Beat By Richard P. Dennis Chairman Arthur F. Burns of the Federal Reserve Board said last week that he's "worried about the future of this At least that's what the Associated Press said that somebody said he said.

You see, Arthur Burns reportedly doesn't grant head to head interviews with newsmen. Well, I'm very glad that Mr. Burns has, even if by proxy, let us know that he is concerned. But I wonder if his worries might not be pretty much divided among the state of the country, Sen. William Proxmire, and certain national publications that have made some pretty interesting observations in recent weeks about the board's activities concerning current high costs and interest rates.

Proxmire, chairman of the Senate. Banking Committee, said a few weeks ago that he was going to call That could just be one of the things that the AP said that somebody said that Arthur Burns is concerned about. Then there's Forbes Magazine, the bi-weekly news and business publication that in a recent issue real ly took the Fed to task for what it said were questionable efforts in pressuring the nation's major banks into bailing out some near defunct real estate investment trusts, REIT'S, and helping utilities, a couple of big retailers and the airlines. Forbes quotes former reserve board member Andrew Brimmer, who left the post last August to return to his teaching job at Harvard. "The real story is that the Fed gave commercial banks instructions not to permit the REITs to fail and to be sensitive to the credit needs of utilities, airlines and certain retailers'" he was quoted.

So the banks loaned doubtfully sound REITs $11.4 billion at a time when many of those REITs were close to bankruptcy. They increased their loans to public utilities from $5.9 billion to $8.4 billion, and rescued financially troubled W.T. Grant with a $600 million loan from a group of banks at 5 per cent interest, Forbes says. How did the Fed get the big banks to make what are obviously substandard loans to those faltering industries? A Fed official says that in many cases there was resistance On the part of the banks to do so. How did the Fed break down that resistance? "Oh," says the Fed man, "out of 120 banks in a $500: million line, (of credit), maybe two or three wouldn't want to go along.

So, there would be a call from our top man to their top man, just to make sure he understood." Time will tell if the banks will suffer losses from the questionable Turn To Page 2F 5 Arthur Burns up to Capitol Hill and ask him to justify what he's doing in keeping interest rates high. Proxmire had a pretty simple logic to that. He said, "If we can drive those interest rates down, people will be able to borrow money to buy houses, and to buy cars, and that will help to create jobs." On Feb. 12, Proxmire sent down a concurrent resolution that has now been passed by both houses with little modification. The resolution may well be the first step toward some semblence of control and Congres sional involvement in the independent, and heretofore almost sacred, dealings of the Fed.

The resolution provides that the board will be required to sit down with the Congress twice each year and go over its predictions and planned moves as regard both long and short-term interest rates. It also provides that sometime in this first half of 1975, the Fed must do something to encourage lower long-term rates: A formidable challenge in this economic climate, but an imperative one..