SRQ DAILY Aug 23, 2014
"It seems curious that a plan once so despised for its apparent sweeping elimination of environmental and taxpayer protections would become so revered for its ability to protect the environment and the taxpayer."
Master: Is all growth good?
Student (thinks for awhile): Yes, I suppose all growth is good.
Master: Isn’t that the thinking of a cancer cell?
When it comes to land use and changing the 2050 plan, often the conversation doesn’t go deep. Those who claim to be “pro-business” equate building with growth, and all growth is good, right? Those who challenge the project or comp plan change du jour are labeled “anti-growth.” This approach doesn’t make Sarasota thrive. It won’t create superior development and the economic diversification we want. If your goal is excellence, you consider all angles, gather the best information and develop policies which result in superior outcomes.
How do we get there? Measure our land-use policy outcomes. County Commissioners could learn a lot from how Sarasota Memorial Hospital operates.
Years ago, when Duncan Finlay became CEO, Sarasota Memorial created a mission statement. It reads: “Our community will be served by the best health care system in America. SMHCS will be the best place to be a patient, ...to work, and ...to practice medicine. Our extraordinary people, our innovative clinical technology, and our effective use of information systems will set us apart.” SMH walks their talk. Its website lists numerous national awards for clinical excellence. During my 20 years in pharmaceuticals, I called on hospitals all over the US. SMH is a different animal. It functions more like a University hospital than a community hospital. It’s impressive.
Sarasota Memorial commits to protocols that improve patient care. Their largest payer, Medicare, holds hospitals accountable. If a hospital’s patient outcomes are poor—for example if too many patients are re-admitted 30 days after a procedure with a complication—Medicare reduces or refuses reimbursement. SMH embraces best practices. Excellent clinical outcomes result and taxpayers benefit. The resulting savings and improvement for our health, our lives, is tangible.
Turning to Sarasota 2050, there is groundbreaking data measuring how land-use policy impacts community prosperity. Joe Minicozzi, a leading author of some of this work, gained national attention for a project using Sarasota County’s property tax data! After studying Sarasota’s property tax and infrastructure records, he found it took 42 years for a suburban single-family home in Sarasota to pay off it’s infrastructure needs (longer than the life of the infrastructure). Communities all over the US are using Minicozzi’s analysis to develop their comprehensive plans and inviting him to speak and review their policies. Minicozzi shows how the right mix of development creates value and community wealth.
Charles Marohn is another thought leader in land-use policy outcomes. He documented how typical development patterns deliver a boost to community coffers for the first eight years, but once the infrastructure bills start coming due, the tax revenue generated doesn’t cover expenses. To meet new expenses, new development is approved. Marohn calls the problem “the Growth Ponzi Scheme.”
When County Commissioners decided to hire a consultant to evaluate 2050’s fiscal neutrality policy, Minicozzi or Marohn weren’t considered. Their data is absent from proposed 2050 revisions. SMH leadership would invite thought leaders like Minicozzi and Marohn to give lectures, and incorporate their recommendations into policy. Instead, our Commission is relying on 2050 landowners and their reps (like Kimley-Horn) to shape land-use policy. Insane.
We need leaders who will deliver excellence. Lourdes Ramirez and Shannon Snyder are committed to best practices in land use outcomes. Alan Maio and Paul Caraguilo are heavily bankrolled by the cache of developers who will benefit from 2050 changes which have no basis in sound, unbiased analysis—those who want to keep the Ponzi scheme going at our expense. In the end, voters hold the Commission accountable. It’s up to us. 
SRQ Daily columnist Cathy Antunes serves on the boards of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations and Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government. She blogs on local politics at www.thedetail.net
The Sarasota 2050 RMA review process has been characterized by opponents as being driven by developer-funded interests intent on unleashing unbridled, taxpayer-funded growth east of Interstate-75. On numerous occasions, in print and in public comment, changes to the plan are implied to undermine what was a seemingly grand compromise based on years of extensive public input. Specifically, opponents of the process contend that the plan is being “gutted.”
The Sarasota 2050 plan was indeed the result of years of public input. However, calling the plan a compromise somewhat dilutes the definition. While a compromise requires concessions, presumably it reaches an agreement that is acceptable to the parties involved. However, the 2050 plan was pressed into litigation and bitterly contested by some environmentalists and special interest groups who claimed that the plan would allow too much development and dismissed by some landowners and homebuilders who insisted it was too rigid and inflexible. If we can consider the 2050 plan a compromise, perhaps one Commissioner described it best as an “uneasy compromise.”
Two months after the Florida Department of Community Affairs approved the Sarasota 2050 plan, a legal challenge was filed against both Sarasota County and the DCA. The challenge would effectively halt the adoption of Sarasota 2050.
The petitioners, a group of self-proclaimed environmentalists and public interest groups, claimed that the plan was not in compliance due to issues so numerous that they took nearly 70 pages to outline their argument. The legal challenge, a nearly 18-month long process, cost taxpayers a reported, and presumably at minimum, $200,000. An administrative law judge found that the petitioners failed to establish that the plan was not in compliance and would note in some instances that there was overwhelming evidence disputing the claims.
Interestingly, some of those same groups and individuals now fight to protect the 2050 plan they so vehemently opposed 12 years ago. In doing so, those opposed to the 2050 review process make an apparent attempt to incite the public by implying that any change to the plan would undermine the compromise that was made. Apparently lost in the annals of history is the attempt by these same groups to do then what they now decry – gut the 2050 plan.
Inexplicably, the legal challenge to 2050 included a claim that the County failed to provide adequate opportunities for public participation. Yet, at the same time, 12 years later, those opportunities were apparently adequate enough for an unassailable compromise.
In 2002, it was asserted that the 2050 plan would allow unbridled, taxpayer-funded, growth in the areas east of I-75. In 2014, it’s been asserted that changes to the 2050 plan would allow unbridled, taxpayer-funded growth in the areas east of I-75.
It seems curious that a plan once so despised for its apparent sweeping elimination of environmental and taxpayer protections would become so revered for its ability to protect the environment and the taxpayer.
That is, of course, until one realizes that, for those determined to be in opposition, 2050 works because it doesn’t work.
SRQ Daily columnist Kevin Cooper is Vice President of Public Policy and Sarasota Tomorrow Initiatives for The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce
Here in Sarasota County the clandestine plot to implement Common Core thickens. Mrs. Shirley Brown and Superintendent Lori White never held a public hearing – the input of the parents and the teachers was apparently superfluous. The hubris award goes to Chairwoman Jane Goodwin who said with impunity that…“(Randy) McLendon is a little late to the party if his goal is to stop Common Core…”(the standards) are expected to be fully implemented over the next year, Goodwin said…That train has left the station already.” - May 2014.
Notice that Mrs. Goodwin doesn’t defend the standards (because she can’t) but only claims impotence in taking action. A press release from January 2011 quotes Superintendent White informing but not consulting the school community as follows: “We are excited that our district has been awarded this funding ($3.5 million) to help us begin the process of developing the reforms that are the goals of the Race to the Top program (i.e. Common Core).” Mrs. White apparently took the “slush” fund hook, line and sinker and never looked back.
Fast forward to Friday, July 11, 2014 - the elementary and middle school grades arrive from the state that showed the Sarasota County Schools receiving mixed results. “The district received two more A's, whilemore schools earned Cs than Bs in 2014.” It should be noted that Sarasota lost 8B-rated schools. What is truly alarming is the silence out of Lori White’s office. Are the effects of Common Core starting to materialize? Mrs. White, stop cowering behind your locked door and speak to the citizens of Sarasota County about these disappointing tests results. Be a real leader and speak up!
Indeed, her school board sycophants just gave Mrs. White the highest grade possible on June 17. Newcomer Bridget Ziegler, true to form, tried to avoid taking a stand but was ordered by the board’s attorney that she had to vote. Mrs. Ziegler fell right into line and the vote was unanimous for Sarasota’s commissar. It seems like Don Corleone is still whispering into Bridget’s ear: “Never tell anyone outside the Family what you are thinking again.”
Mrs. Ziegler had a golden opportunity to speak against Common Core on the Ed Channel on June 17 but refused. Now that the results from her recent survey on Common Core are in, she is finally voicing opposition. She gives no specifics because she has none, nor does her handler, husband Christian Ziegler.
In summary, every incumbent up for re-election this November should be tossed out of office. Their behavior vis-à-vis Common Core has been reprehensible, and in the case of Mrs. Ziegler, embarrassing.
Where do we go from here? One route is to consider less well known candidates running for governor like Libertarian Adrian Wyllie or Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder, a conservative activist.
A more realistic route is to pressure Rick Scott to dump Common Core 2.0 (The Florida Sunshine State Standards). The best way to do this is to demand that Bridget Ziegler propose a resolution calling for Florida to opt out of this national nightmare. If she were to do this and to lobby her fellow board members vigorously Bridget would surely be elected to the board in her own right.
If she does not do this then she truly is a COMMON CORE SISTER along with Shirley Brown and Jane Goodwin. Vote them all out. Governor Scott will notice a successful petition since he will most likely lose this race unless he pulls the plug on Common Core 2.0 and replaces it with either the 1993 Massachusetts Liberal Arts Standards (a proven winner) or the 2009 Florida Next Generation Standards. Charlie Crist accepted Common Core from President Obama in 2009 and took the slush fund of $700 million—these facts gives Crist a glass jaw. Currently Crist has no fear and even has the audacity to go on an education school bus tour.
Governor Scott, meet him on that tour and unplug Common Core 2.0 on live TV. "Mr. Crist, I believe this (Common Core) belongs to you."
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in Southwest Florida. He holds a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Connecticut and a master's in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In addition to teaching he is a former elected education official and speechwriter
Our inaugural signature soiree, Bal Masqué, is SRQ The Magazine’s biggest event of the year. Your all-inclusive ticket includes your donation to one of our event beneficiaries, cocktails, dinner and amazing performances. Introduce your palette to Venetian fare from Fête before the performances from the Circus Arts Conservatory, Fuzión Dance Artists, and Sarasota Cuban Ballet School, begin at 10pm. Don formal attire with a Venetian masquerade twist and get excited for a magical evening at the Sarasota Opera House. Get your ticket and select your beneficiary from: the Circus Arts Conservatory, Child Protection Center Inc., Suncoast Charities for Children and Suncoast Science Center. This years Bal Masqué is dedicated to children. #srqbalmasque
Morton’s Gourmet Market has unveiled its new website. Chock full of fabulous historical photographs, fun facts about the evolution of the store, fabulous finds in each department and information on Morton’s upcoming events, the new site is a visual feast. Morton’s Gourmet Market is Sarasota’s premiere full-service specialty food store that offers a wide variety of products and services including: a bakery & coffee shop, prime meats & seafood, from-scratch prepared meals, an extensive fine wine selection, gift baskets, cheese & patés from around the world, the area’s best deli, gourmet groceries & goodies, and a full-service catering department.
On August 18 the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) celebrated paying off the bonds associated with the construction cost of the 1989 terminal building by hosting an official Debt Burn. The Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority (SMAA) also celebrated the anniversary of its terminal and the ongoing terminal renovation project slated for completion by the end of 2015. Both the Ticket Wing and the Baggage Claim Area on the first floor have been completed and currently the Concourse is being remodeled. Fredrick J. Piccolo, President, Chief Executive Officer of the Airport Authority stated, “Today we will extinguish the debt that led to the realization of a vision twenty five years ago and begin a new journey forward knowing the airport has positioned itself for many years of fiscal stability and superior facilities.” Videos of SRQ’s history and the Debt Burn Event are available at SRQ Airport’s web page link below.
IMG Academy is ready to take on state and national powers in 2014 football season and is gearing up for the FOX Sports Florida Kickoff Classic against Florida 5A power Godby High School of Tallahassee today at 7pm. The game will be televised live from IMG Academy Stadium on Fox Sports South and Sun Sports Florida. The regular season gets underway against IMG Academy’s first-ever out-of-state opponents, with Washington D.C.’s St. John’s College High School at home in week one before hitting the road to Plano, Texas to take on Prestonwood Christian the following week. IMG Academy’s schedule also features a pair of Max Preps Preseason XCellent top-25 teams, with #23 St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City, N.J. visiting IMG Academy to close out the month of September, before facing #22 Trinity Christian three weeks later.
The Parkway Collection Shopping Center, located on the Sarasota side of University Parkway at North Lockwood Ridge Road, soon will add locally owned and operated Detwiler’s Farm Market to its list of tenants. Known for its farm-fresh produce, deli and market foods, Detwiler’s plans to open a 44,655-sq.-ft. store on December 1, 2014, in the space formerly held by Sweetbay Supermarket. Also featured in the space will be Miller’s Dutch Haus Furniture, which offers locally handcrafted hardwood products. Piero Rivolta, who represents the managing partner of the shopping center, said he is “very pleased, because this popular local retailer will bring a new dimension to the shopping center, already well known for its variety of tenants and an eight-screen movie complex. The new Detwiler’s will be the family’s third Florida location, joining facilities at 6000 Palmer Boulevard in Sarasota and in Venice, off the U.S. 41 Bypass South.
In September, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens will embark on a new school-year partnership with Forty Carrots Family Center. One Saturday a month, Forty Carrots will bring their “Partners In Play” program to the Ann Goldstein Children’s Rainforest Garden. “Partners In Play” is a parenting education program that provides parents with support and information about early childhood development, while creating an enriching learning environment for children. The sessions held at Selby Gardens will be garden-themed. They will give children and their parents a chance to explore the rainforest garden and learn about the environment. “Exposing families to hands-on activities at Selby Gardens is a wonderful opportunity for children to learn and engage their senses,” said Christina Rodrigues, Forty Carrots Parenting Program Director. “The gardens offer a delightful, natural space for discovery, where parents and children can play together with the support of Parenting Educators.”
The second race in the second annual Sarasota SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard) Race Series lands at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota today, August 23. Tickets for competitors are available at www.sarasotasupseries.com and admission is free to the public with activities, board demos, skateboard races, vendors and entertainment for all ages. Races start at 9am Saturday morning. Events and Activities for the August 23rd Sarasota SUP Series Race include: Elite 10 K "Choose your own course direction" Race, 5K Recreational Race, Grom 1 K Race; “Dash For Cash" Sprint Races; Free Longboard, Penny Skateboard and Vert Ramp course for all to enjoy; lunch and SUP Sarasota Custom Flex Fit hats to all entries and Division Winners receive custom Camelback Water Bottle Trophies; Raffle Prizes from Camelback, Kona, Go Puck, Tommy Bahama, Sports Authority, SUP Sarasota, The Compound Board Shop, NK SpeedCoach, Riviera, Starboard, Board Balance, etc.; Tommy Bahama Lounge with free appetizers and cocktails;Kona Girls paddling the park giving out free Kona Brews and a Kona Cornhole Area; Lazybunz Water Lounge where you can relax and listen to some tunes in the cool water.
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