FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Beverly Fox
                Lee County Economic Development Office
                (941) 338-3161

Lee County Highly-Ranked by Forbes Magazine

FORT MYERS, Fla. (September 28, 2000) – Forbes magazine, in its annual "best Places" issue, has ranked the Fort Myers-Cape Coral MSA as the 62nd best economy in the nation. The rankings are based on objective data, most from the federal government, and analyzed by experts at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, CA. The criteria include job creation, earned income and output in several critical technology sectors.

Worth noting is the fact that Lee County ranked #66 in the U.S. for the number and variety of technology businesses, placing the county on par with places like Chicago, Ill., Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., San Antonio, Texas, Santa Rosa, Calif., and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Executive Director of the Economic Development Office of Lee County, Janet Watermeier, says, "This is one of the main reasons we have targeted technology businesses for Lee County. It's a key sector in the 'new economy.' and our goal is for Lee County to be a strong part of that."

Lee County already has a strong cluster of technology businesses that now employs more than 6,000 people, and that cluster is expanding rapidly.

Ross DeVol, director of regional and demographic studies at the Milken Institute, told Forbes, "The winning metros on this year's list were driven by Internet-related activity. Strong growth in Internet use pushed up demand for telecommunications services. Wireless telecom witnessed rapid growth. Computer and data processing services (Internet Service Providers, software, web design, database consulting, etc.) was another important contributor, as was communications equipment. High demand for routers, switches, and large communication boxes was driven by the Internet."

The rankings appeared in the May 29, 2000 issue of Forbes and can be viewed on the Forbes.com web site.