Cape Coral council debates ZombiCon

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Cape Coral City Council members debated hosting ZombiCon on Monday night, a week after Fort Myers rejected allowing the event downtown next year.

City leaders voiced their concerns after the deadly shooting that left one person dead and five others injured, just two months ago.

Several council members and Cape Coral Police Chief Bart Connlley agreed ZombiCon is just too big for the city.

“If they’re coming with 20,000 people, where are we going to put them?” said Councilman Rick Williams.

Councilman Jim Birch says he’s talked to Fort Myers city leaders and businesses and says he doesn’t want ZombiCon coming to the city.

“I understand the logistics, I understand the problems and I understand that those problems we won’t overcome and don’t want to overcome,” said Birch.

Things got heated Monday night when Councilman Richard Leon called out those against the event, calling them “short-sighted.”

He says the council shouldn’t make any decisions before ZombiCon organizers can even approach them.

“Pushing Daizies does so much for the community that not everybody realizes, and it’s amazing what they do and nobody knows about it. Talking about raising money for food, for the homeless, for the arts, musicians, local musicians. There’s so many good things this does. One incident, tarnished that.”

Birch says he doesn’t need a proposal to know ZombiCon isn’t right for the city of Cape Coral.

“It’s not about government getting in the way,” said Birch. “It’s about common sense.”