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Daylight savings has fitness group looking for a new workout spot

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CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- Daylight savings has a fitness group looking for a new place to exercise in Cape Coral.

Geo Bracero ended his group workout at Jaycee Park early last Wednesday, and now he’s considering other locations to exercise.

A park ranger told them they had to leave because no one's allowed in Cape Coral parks before sunrise and after sunset.

“Most people work until 5:00 p.m. And 6:00 p.m. comes around and it gets dark and it just makes it a little hard,” said Bracero.

Makes it hard to find a new place to exercise. They’ve been meeting at Jaycee every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. for the past two years. Bracero said he’s concerned about finding a new available space to accommodate the nearly dozen people who workout every week. He said he’s researched other parks but he’s concerned about things like safety, parking and equipment.

“It’s a good area that has some workout stations as you can see behind me here,” he said pointing to the equipment he uses to do push ups and curl-ups. 

The city suggested alternatives, but Bracero said workouts won’t be the same outside of Jaycee Park. He said the parking is convenient since the lot is connected to the park. They’ve tried other places that would cause him to lug heavy equipment to the meeting place.

Bracero went to the City of Cape Coral to see what other options the group has. City spokesperson Connie Barron suggested another place to exercise.

“There’s this terrific linear park that we have along Del Prado Boulevard. It runs four miles on both sides from Pine Island Road all the way up to Kismet Parkway. That particular stretch of roadway is lit,” she said.

Barron said she wants to accommodate Bracero’s group, but said parks close for an important reason.

“It’s mainly because of public safety,” she said. “We have at least 19 or more public parks here in the City of Cape Coral and we cannot patrol them on a 24-7 basis.”

Barron said as of now the city won’t be able to extend hours for Bracero’s group, but another option is renting out a park.

“But there is a fee. What it would cost to keep the lights up, because that’s mainly what we have to incur,” she said.

“We do our boot camp…our little workout group, there’s no charge. And I’d hate to have to extend that charge to anybody,” said Bracero.

Bracero added tomorrow’s workout is postponed. Barron said she plans to talk to Cape Coral Parks and Recreation about other options and will update Bracero within a week.