When the senior George Bush was President, he said he struggled with ‘the vision thing’ and indeed a lack of vision is what resulted in him being a one-term President. In order to effectively lead and respond to a community’s challenges and conditions, a leader must know where they want to go. As a candidate for the Sarasota City Commission, District 3 I believe I have the vision to address core problems.

With a 4-year term where do I want to see our community at the end of that term? After spending extensive time with our citizens at their doors, with business people, city staff, concerned activists and members of our critical arts and culture community, I feel we are at an inflection point in Sarasota.

The backbone of Sarasota is our waterfront environment. Maintaining our bays and waterways is critical. I envision our City ramping up its efforts to modernize our waste water management system while finding creative ways to fund these expensive efforts beyond regressive rate increases. Storm water is another environmental quality concern and we must incorporate management of runoff in any redevelopment efforts.

Arts and culture is a key economic driver in our city and we can’t afford to let iconic institutions flounder or leave. In four years, I envision that we have amicably resolved capital improvement requirements for Selby Gardens and found a wonderful new location for the Sarasota Orchestra in the City. A basic responsibility of any city is to tend to elements that create our identity and drive employment.  We are already losing Mote Aquarium and the Sarasota Players Theater, we can’t continue this trend.

Another vision I have is a progressing and well-funded The Bay bayfront park project. Great cities have great green spaces and The Bay is a gift to future generations of Sarasotans as a place to gather, celebrate our community and its waterfront. In addition, The Bay infrastructure will feature considerable benefits for handling much of the city’s storm water.  Included in that environmental vision is creating a conservation easement at Bobby Jones Golf Course which will address storm water management and protect the entire property as a green space for generations.

These are critical issues for our wonderful city, our nationally recognized city. We must decide if we want to tend to our wonderful assets or rest on our laurels. This candidate sees a Sarasota continuing its path to greatness.

Dan Clermont is a candidate for Sarasota City Commission District 2.