SRQ Daily Columnist Diana Hamilton, after living 35 years in Sarasota, labels herself a pragmatic optimist with radical humorist tendencies and a new found resistance to ice cream.

I took up in the mid-‘90s with an oh-so-funny, tragic Irishman by the name of Timmy Leahy. Tim had a dynamite pitching arm with a 90-mile-an-hour fastball and a big future in baseball until the day he went out barefoot, half in the wrapper, to mow his mothers’ lawn. Not his last mistake.

Tim when I knew him drove a beautiful, near-perfect Cadillac. We called her Pearl. She was as voluminous as she was graceful. We could have lived in her, and nearly did a couple of times.

I loved that car and when Timmy decided to drive it north to Boston, I made him take it over to Reese's Chevron for a check-up. Pearl, you see, had this clunk. I could hear it, so could Rick Reese, so could pretty much anybody who was wasn’t determined not to hear it. The universal joint was going, but Tim wouldn’t hear it, and kept at it, bugging other mechanics until someone finally told him Pearl was fine and good to go—no problem. So off they went and somewhere on the other side of Gainesville, sure enough, Pearl’s universal fell out.

The City of Sarasota today reminds me of that old Cadillac. She glides along a beauty to behold, providing a near-perfect ride in the lives of most who live here. But like Pearl, she has developed some serious clunkin’ in a way too many of those who claim to love her refuse to hear.

On Tuesday, four days from today, when the polls close at 7pm, perhaps roughly 15 to 17 percent of approximately 36,000 City voters will have voted. By around 7:30 or 7:45, the votes for the District 2 and 3 City Commission seats will have been counted. That’s tragically how little time it takes to determine the future of a City – a maximum 45 minutes.

For many, this Tuesday’s City Commission election will be a referendum up or down on the continuing reign of City Commissioner At-Large Susan Chapman. Chapman’s own name is not on the ballot this time around, but the names of her two sworn allies, City Commission appointees Eileen Normile and Stan Zimmerman, are. And even with a three-candidate race in both districts, our historically low voter turnout could well result in an outright win for both and an absolute lock-step majority for Susan Chapman.

Homelessness, open meeting laws, the Luke Wood lift station, the State Street project, Bayfront 20/20 , the form-based code—no matter how loud or urgent the clunk, Susan Chapman much like my tragic Irish boyfriend, has proven to consistently listen only to what she wants to hear. With Normile and Zimmerman elected, Chapman will be in the driver’s seat and the rest of us—well, we’ll just be wrong. 

If we are extremely lucky, both races will move on to an April run off. That’s when the real campaign for the hearts, minds and future of Sarasota will begin. That’s when the rubber (forgive me) meets the road for those of us who wish to get on with repairing what’s broken. Be ready.

Early voting continues 8:30am and 4:30pm thru today, March 7, at the Terrace Building on Adams Lane in Sarasota.

SRQ Daily Columnist Diana Hamilton, after living 35 years in Sarasota, labels herself a pragmatic optimist with radical humorist tendencies and a new found resistance to ice cream.