Thomas Barwin is Sarasota's city manager

From time to time I wonder what John Ringling, Owen Burns, Bertha Palmer, Emma Booker and legendary City Manager Ken Thompson (1950-1988) would think about how the City of Sarasota has evolved over the decades. Would those visionaries who laid the foundation here be pleasantly surprised with how strong neighborhoods have filled in our boundaries or at what an economic and cultural powerhouse the city has become?

With 53,000 full time residents, equating to only 14 perent of the county’s population, our “small town with big city amenities” contributes 37.2 percent of the sales taxes collected in the county, nearly 30 percent of the visitor taxes and represents a disproportionate 18 percent of countywide property tax value. In government jargon Sarasota would be called a “donor city” in that our community contributes much more in tax revenue to the state and county than we get back.   

The whopping value of state and regional revenues which are generated within the city to help fund other entities are generated from a combination of assets beginning with downtown Sarasota serving as the economic and business center for the region. With 95 percent of all storefronts occupied and 88 percent of our 2.5 million square feet of downtown office space occupied, we are home base for an increasing number of internet start-ups who have joined lawyers, bankers, financial advisers, accountants, doctors, marketing-advertising firms, media, architects, engineers, insurance companies, city/county government and many others. Downtown employees appreciate working in a walkable downtown setting with business synergies, good independent restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, bars and people.    

But life is not all work. On the softer side of living, recent visitor bureau surveys indicate that 3 million of the estimated 4 million annual visitors to our county visit attractions in the city.  

Lido Key and Siesta Key’s beaches are bolstered by our high quality performing arts halls, the symphony orchestra, opera, ballet, museums, botanical and wildlife gardens, live theater, a comedy club, an aquarium, movie theaters, special events, three outstanding universities, marinas, convenient in-town golf, tennis, fishing piers, lawn bowling and professional baseball. Although some of our facilities need freshening most of our beloved cultural gems thankfully survived the great recession.      

I doubt Ringling, Burns, Palmer, Booker or Thompson would be surprised with our economic and cultural success. I suspect however that they would be disappointed if we ever rested on our laurels or shrunk from our commitment to being the economic and cultural beacon that Sarasota was destined to become.

The can-do spirit of our historic visionaries remains in place to this day as many residents continue to be active in community building efforts and regularly remind those in leadership positions throughout all sectors of the community to problem solve and advance opportunities together toward further enhancing the magic of living and working in our diverse and welcoming community.

Thomas Barwin is Sarasota's city manager