Florida City Fights Off Cookie-Cutter Development

"Everglades City's moves to preserve its local charm are instructive, teaching communities in Florida and across the US how it's possible to build on the unique geography and history of a place to create its own future."

"'A lot of towns, when they use the term character, what they mean is, 'Go away, don't bother me,'' says James Nicholas, a retired University of Florida real estate professor, whose own family has ties to Southwest Florida rumrunners, or Prohibition-era smugglers."

"Whether led by former rumrunners or wealthy newcomers, places such as Ybor City, Tarpon Springs, Saint Augustine, and Boca Grande are glimmers of 'old' Florida amid the flood of cookie-cutter condos throughout the state's inland and coastal communities."

"What's unusual about Everglades City is that it has been less interested in acquiring money and influence than in maintaining the pirate's mentality, says James Kaserman, co-author of 'Pirates of Southwest Florida: Fact and Legend.' 'They like their independence. They like not having to sit in little boxes and follow the maddening crowd,' says Jeanette Schwam, a 33-year resident of Everglades City. 'That's what their forefathers were.... They don't want it to be a millionaire's cove. They want it to be an individual place.'"