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.

The distance from Sarasota City Hall to the Sarasota Bradenton Airport is, according to Google Maps, 4.1 miles. On a regular day, that’s about a 10-minutw drive, let's say 15 minutes during season. Hardly far away by the numbers, and yet the North Trail and its decades-long wish list of needs is so crazy far down the City’s list of priorities as to be almost— the word unconscionable comes to mind. I could whip out my thesaurus but how about instead I tell you what I’ve observed.

First off one could not ask for a more dedicated, intelligent, patient or proactive leadership team than the folks working together as the North Trail Redevelopment Partnership. These folks are what the New Urbanists describe as the "risk oblivious." Entrepreneurs, artists, architects, property owners and builders who knew going in the risk they’d be taking, making a life, setting up shop along a strip of asphalt that has for 40 years served us as little more than the forgettable road to somewhere else. But, despite every iteration of bureaucratic “we can’t because,” they’ve toughed it out, forming alliances, negotiating the smallest details with neighbors to the east and west, with the result being a promising but unnecessarily difficult quilting together of a few small pockets of success.

Why is it, do you suppose, that North Tamiami Trail—a vital arterial route connecting us to our airport, two colleges, a major museum, an important art college, the downtown, the beaches and St.Armands—seems always to be, along with the people who champion it, left at the back of the line?

At Thursday’s NTRP District 2 and 3 candidates forum, the answer came in the form of a question when David Morriss asked; “If you are presented with a great idea or plan that will benefit the Trail will you support it even in the face of opposition?"

Success on the Trail and throughout Sarasota ought to be the simplest matter of placing the greater good above the fears, personal preferences and reluctance of the vocal few, but it hasn’t been. No matter the effort, the hours of professional staff time and community meetings invested, public policy regarding redevelopment along the Trail in particular has been forced piecemeal, marginalized, and then easily abandoned based on the most mere of excuses. What was that word? Unconscionable. And only those of us who choose to vote can change that.

Go out today and take a drive or walk along the North Trail. Eat at one of the restaurants, or ride your bike through its adjacent neighborhoods. Look for potential, not failings, and ask yourself, what will it take to meet that potentiak? I believe we must elect individuals who don’t just talk a good game, but who possess the genuine curiosity, courage, gravitas and conviction required to stand up for, value and defend those 4.1 miles—the gateway to our city.

Pay attention. Absentee ballots drop beginning Wednesday. I’m marking the oval for Liz Alpert.

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.