Meet Naples Resident Jo Ann Maloney Smallwood

Work: Owner, Smallwood Design Group, consultant for landscape design/project administration.

Park Shore Fund board member: Our goal is raising private funds to implement a master plan for upgrading, enhancing, and beautifying all Park Shores landscape and art to include sculpture.

Swan Lake Association board member: I invited city of Naples Councilman Ray Christman to lead this project with city staff and our board to restore the water quality of Swan Lake/Moorings Bay/Venetian Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Through these efforts, the Naples City Council adopted our pilot program. These efforts led to my working with Naples city staff and Naples City Council to adopt a pilot program c to stop the use of chemical nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer. In its place, the city has agreed to begin using an organic biological product called Quantum Growth, by Ecological Laboratories, which replaces damaging fertilizers that are causing cyanobacteria or blue-green algae in our waters, killing fish and aquatic life, and harming human and pet health.

Stop the Clam Pass Parking Garage board member: We successfully stopped this 400-car garage that would have destroyed the most important mangrove forest in Collier County.

Proudest achievements: Creation of Naplescape and Collier Naplescape to landscape the medians along the Tamiami Trail. Additionally provided pro bono services for 13 years to ensure 144 miles of medians in the county were ratified and codified into the Collier County Comprehensive Plan. The purpose was creating an aesthetic balance between architecture and nature. 

Expectations for the future: Continue my commitment of community Involvement to make a difference in the health, beauty, and quality of our sense of place.

Local causes supported: Park Shore Association board member. I redesigned the Raymond Lutgert Beach Park for Park Shore and oversee the landscape maintenance of its design.

Most frequented healthy food restaurant: Food and Thought

Where I pick up my copy of Natural Awakenings magazine: Food and Thought

How I invest in my community: By actively participating on the Park Shore Association board, the Park Shore Fund Board and the Swan Lake Board, creating the two pilot programs with the city to restore water quality naturally and cost-effectively, and stopping the use of destructive chemical fertilizers destroying our water, I stay involved in projects protecting our city’s quality of life and work with our city council to implement positive change. 

 Favorite quote: "By caring, we create exciting positive results."