Jono Miller Campaign '08 and beyond

The Great Indian Beach Palm Massacre of 2012

2012-01-21T06:43:00.005-05:00

There are two types of neighborhoods in Sarasota: the most recent is the type where everyone belongs to (and pays money to) an association and the norms and expectations of all the neighbors are codified.

These neighborhoods offer fairly predictable appearance and people can buy a home without worrying that an eccentric neighbor is going to get all creative and populate their front lawn with with stereotyped gnomes, sombrero-wearing Mexicans languishing under concrete cactus and dutiful diminutive black jockeys holding yard lights.

Then there is the older type neighborhood, where you don't have to join (or pay) the association and the norms and expectations are not written down and not enforced. Homes in these neighborhoods can vary considerably and it is there can be tensions among neighbors regarding what is appropriate. Neighbors take their cues from other neighbors and infer what the range of acceptable behavior is. New residents typically temper their visions of their new property with principles garnered by observation of the surrounding homes. I'm talking about neighborhoods like IBSSA.

The following observations are not personal, because I have no idea who owns the property south of Indian Beach, the site where, on Friday January 20th, 2012, the great palm massacre took place.

Now, according to the City this vegetable genocide is all above board and sanctioned and makes perfect sense.

It is, after all, private property and the trees that were removed will (are projected to) be offset by new trees and all this is outlined in a landscape plan prepared by a professional landscape architect. The palms (mostly cabbage palms) were not dug up so they could be repositioned because this site is an important archaeological site and digging the trees would disturb the site.

But I, for one, challenge this narrative.

1) If this is such an important archaeological site, why are we building a private residence on it? Furthermore many of those trees (including the native palms) may have been there when Fort Armistead was established in 1840 to deal with the local Indians. So the trees are actually part of the historic/archaeological record just as much as any mouldering bones or eroding pot shards. To claim that one is respecting local heritage and then removing most of the trees is disingenuous.

2) Unless they are planting seeds, the new trees called for will involve digging site-disturbing holes, just as relocating the old trees would have.

3) I believe it is a polite fiction to say trees can be replaced. You can replace a light bulb, a TV set, or Uniroyal Tiger Paw GTZ All Season tire. But you cannot replace a living tree anymore than a family that loses a child can "replace" the child by adopting another, or a new puppy can "replace" a faithful hound of 15 years. Living things can sort of take the place of a previous living entity, but they cannot replace because they will never be the same as what preceded them.

4) I also bristle at the implicit finding that if Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Schmo want to remove trees they have to argue and wheedle with the city, but if one is able to afford a landscape architect then the city rolls over and approves mass killing. This certainly seems like a double standard.

5) I would like to assume that moving into a neighborhood like ours is motivated in part by wanting to be part of the neighborhood, that rather than an private enclave or bastion with no neighbor contact, that new residents would want to be accepted by those who live around them. But this is not always the case, particularly along the bayfront, which has drawn the wealthy and powerful for over a century. But even John Ringling and Powel Crosley, whose wealth and power in their day almost certainly eclipsed that of the new owners of 916 Indian Beach, had the decency and forbearance to leave some of the native palms.

We all understand that you have to break eggs to make omelets and siting a house on a lot, (particularly a small, constrained lot) may involve removing trees. Thoreau did to build his cabin as did Jesse Colin Young (see Ridgetop lyrics).

But when you have a gigantic lot populated with native trees saturated with both natural and cultural history, I think it all comes down to respect:

• Respecting the people that came before
• Respecting the current neighborhood
• Respecting those that will live here in the future.

Beyond Hollies and Poinsettias: Alternative Christmas Color

2011-12-24T10:49:00.000-05:00

Red and green symbolize the Christmas season, but there are ways to get those living colors without resorting to the ever-popular (and sometimes overused) poinsettias and hollies.

Bougainvillea var. "tomato"

Bougainvilleas are an option, although many fall into the pink,magenta, or salmon end of the spectrum. An intense red is the variety "Tomato", but, as the name suggests, this heads off in the red-orange direction. There's also a variegated Bougainvillea (sorry, I don't have name for it -- use link to see options) with green and white leaves that offset the red bracts.

Variegated Bougainvillea

An intense red bromeliad that is blooming right now is the spikey Aechmea orlandiana. There are a number of cultivars out there so look around.

Aechmea orlandiana

An old fashioned Florida plant is the Turks Cap Hibiscus, which is so easy to grow from cuttings that it is hard to find in Nurseries. The flowers, which never fully open, are bright red and may well be the basis for Red Zinger Tea.

Turks cap Hibiscus

Still Shopping? Consider Penzey's Spices on Main St.

2011-12-20T08:50:00.001-05:00

Looking for small, different gifts, from a store on Main Street? Consider Penzey's spices just east of Pastry Art (south side of Main, east of Lemon, 1516 Main). They haven't been open very long, but I know them from Minneapolis. They sell all manner of spices: eight varieties of Cinnamon, real Vanilla beans, more than a dozen chili peppers -- 250 spices and seasonings in all. And not just popular North American spices, but Central American, Caribbean, Asian, etc. (no Antarctic spices, tho). You can buy small (.3 ounce) jars that work well for stocking stuffers, or four fit in a squarish box they sell for about 50¢ (easy wrapping). They are open 10-6 most days, except Sunday when you can knock an hour off either end.

And no, I don't own stock or have some "arrangement" with the store -- I just think this is a place worth supporting. They are a national chain, but the employees are local and they chose Main St. and not a mall. Check it out -- I'll be surprised if you don't leave with something.
And don't tell them I sent you, because they have no idea who I am.

Sprawl is not the Answer and May be Dying a Natural Death

2011-11-26T19:50:00.001-05:00

I'm not much for using this blog to redirect people to other blogs, but STREETSBLOG , which "is a daily news source connecting people to information about sustainable transportation and livable communities" recently posted an intriguing article titled Quantified: The Price of Sprawl in Florida. The brief article has a graphic showing how much excess housing capacity already exists in various counties (Sarasota is shown as up to 25% more housing allowed at buildout, which I suspect is low). You may want to read that posting in juxtaposition with a November 26 2011 New York Times opinion piece by Christopher B. Leinberger: The Death of the Fringe Suburb. Leinberger argues that "suburban fringe" is doomed because the boomers that populated the fringe are downsizing and moving in towards city centers with more walkable amenities while the millennials also favor urban centers. Taken together these pieces suggest that efforts to revive Florida's economy by making it easier for new sprawl are likely to fail and fail miserably.

Do Term Limits Place Sarasota at a Regional Competitive Disadvantage?

2011-11-25T18:02:00.001-05:00

As I understand it, part of the argument for term limits is to prevent County Commissioners from acquiring power. But power is something we want our commissioners to have, particularly when working in a regional context. If Sarasota County were an island floating in the Gulf of Mexico, its commissioners might not need to collaborate (and sometimes compete) with other counties. But Sarasota County exists in a regional context and one that, in general, is not term-limited.

The map below shows many of the counties immediately surrounding Sarasota County, The light blue counties are not Charter Counties and cannot impose term limits (or at least without going to the Legislature). The counties in reddish tones are Charter Counties and can vote to have term limits. The light pink (Pinellas, Charlotte, and Lee) have not voted for term limits while the darker ones (Sarasota, Hillsborough, Polk, and Orange have.

You'll note that none of the counties contiguous with Sarasota County have term limits (even though Charlotte could). Of the seven counties Sarasota is most likely to be lumped in with, only one, Hillsborough, has term limits. This means that if term limits are enforced in Sarasota County (or even if no one served more than two terms for any reason) Sarasota County commissioners could, and almost inevitably would, be dealing with commissioners from neighboring counties with many more years of service.

What would this mean, as a practical matter? More experienced, longer-serving commissioners can be expected to have more contacts in agencies and the Legislature, have a better memory of prior agreements (or disputes) and generally have a more nuanced and complex understanding of their county's regional situation, especially since it is relatively rare that commissioners are elected with deep understanding of issues outside their county.

These regional issues include water supply, both transit and road-building, utility corridors, navigation, habitat connectivity, hurricane evacuation, and other issues.

Only 15% of Florida counties have term limits. Whatever real or imagined benefits accrue with those counties as a result are tempered by liabilities. In recent years Sarasota County has been well served regionally by commissioners with years of experience. If commission length of service is truncated to a maximum of two terms (eight years), it is reasonable to assume our regional influence will also be truncated.

Top Two Floral Ways to Tell it is Thanksgiving in Sarasota

2011-11-24T07:09:00.001-05:00

Earlier in the season I posted a list of the top ten (actually eleven) ways to tell it is Fall in Sarasota Florida. Now here's a Thanksgiving-specific supplement.

Tithonia diversifolia. These giant sunflower relatives can tower twelve feet high and is sometimes called Giant Mexican Sunflower. They are ruthless nitrogen fixers, which means they grow well in poor soil and I use them to quickly screen views. Their leaves are said to make great fertilizer and have the annoying habit of hanging onto the plant when dead. But their ability to thrive and their habit of falling over and re-rooting, combined with an ability to set viable seed means than can become invasive -- sort of a sorcerer's apprentice plant. Nevertheless they bloom reliably every year at Thanksgiving, providing glowing color on our table.

Tithonia diversifolia

Billbergia nutans This bromeliad is known as Queen's Tears, but it must be a queen from a psychedelic era because the inflorescences feature paint-box intense red, blue, green, and yellow. This plant is so easy to grow that an alternate name is Friendship Plant. Again, it can be relied upon to bloom right around Thanksgiving.

BIllbergia nutans

City Whacks Pioneer Trees - Palms Most Abused

2011-11-21T17:23:00.001-05:00

No sooner had the pixels faded on the revelation that only Live Oaks can be Grand Trees in the City of Sarasota than we discovered major pruning underway in Pioneer Park. Cypress along Hog Creek have been shorn of their lower branches and oaks have also been attacked. Now, the City will probably argue this is another way to end homelessness or reduce liability, but this work is certainly open to question.

What is not open to question is how the City prunes cabbage palms. The accompanying picture from Pioneer Park shows how the city does it. Please note there are only about a half dozen fronds left on the tree in the foreground and those few fronds point almost straight up.

Healthy Cabbage Palms dramatically overpruned by City Staff

This approach is completely contrary to the Tree Care Industry Association American National Standard ANSI A300 (Part 1)- 2008 that states: "8.3 Live healthy fronds about horizontal shall not be removed. Exception: Palms encroaching on electric supply lines."

The International Society of Arborculture best management practices use nearly identical language: "Live healthy fronds should not be removed. If they must be removed however, avoid removing those that initiate above the horizontal."

The City of Sarasota is not doing right by our trees. Please ask Commissioners for some external review of the city's policies and practices.

Flawed Process Erodes Neighborhood Goodwill

2011-11-10T06:43:00.000-05:00

The City of Sarasota Planning Board approved a new Goodwill Supercenter following a flawed process that had neighbors who support Goodwill pleading for more answers. By a 3-2 vote the board gave a green light to a new 30,000 square foot facility on the North Trail even though 1) Goodwill declined to hold a neighborhood workshop, 2) the information available to public on-line was inadequate and possibly inaccurate, and 3) City legal counsel essentially told the board that a proposal need not meet all the criteria they are required to use when evaluating a project.

No Neighborhood Workshop. City staff testified that they had advised Goodwill to meet with neighbors, but no neighborhood workshop was held. Had there been one, many of the concerns raised by the public might have been addressed. But, somewhat ironically, an operation named Goodwill took a pass and has wandered off in the direction of ill will. They are not starting off on the right foot.

Packet materials not available online. The error of not meeting with neighbors was compounded by another mistake, possibly the city's.The information available online did not include a plan view of the site and many documents alluded to in the testimony could not be accessed by clicking on the link attached to the agenda item. Can you believe there was no map that showed the site with the proposed building!? That meant citizen testimony was based on information that differed from what City staff and possibly the Planning Board were contemplating. If you ask me (and no one has) the City should be required to post the complete, most current information packet online at least 24 hours before a hearing. Failure to do so seems tantamount to not advertising a hearing properly.

No need to meet criteria. In order to approve the project, the Board had to find the proposal in compliance with seven provisions of the NT (North Trail) zoning district. That included Whether the proposed development, design, and layout has preserved the natural features and characteristics of the land; including but not limited to the regard given to large trees, . . . According the documents attached to the meeting packet, 77% of the trees are slated for removal.

Personally, I don't see how you can remove three quarters of the trees from a site and claim to have met this criterion, but the City's legal counsel had a solution. According to his reasoning, the project apparently doesn't have to meet all the individual criteria, just meet them "on balance".

So if the City encountered a lifeboat bobbing about with seven people and six were in great shape (100%) and one was dead (0%) they could radio back that they found the life boat and, on balance, everyone was in good condition (600 divided by 7 = 85.7%).

In response to my objections, a representative of the applicant came forward during rebuttal and said at least two of the trees I made particular mention of were being saved. But the public still has no way of knowing if that is true or not. And it is not clear how remaining questions regarding access (a DOT issue) are to be resolved because the Planning Board was the last stop -- this matter does not need to be approved by the City Commission.

The owner of the parcel (no doubt channeling President Bush's enthusiastic endorsement of "Brownie") claimed "We landscaped the heck out of it" while the audience sat with dropped jaws staring at two giant monitors that displayed the following image:

This stark view with a smattering of palms (and some Ixora?) makes Family Dollar look luxuriant.

While there were a few NIMBY arguments, most citizens raised legitimate concerns about noise, traffic, impact on the environment and CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design) a term the project architect had never heard of.

I was there to talk about the trees and, without any prior conspiring, Gretchen Serrie also mentioned the noteworthy pines on the site. While doing research I learned that the only "grand trees" in the City are Live Oaks.* Pines need not apply. That means the South Florida Slash Pine on the Caples lawn, a specimen with no known superior anywhere on the planet, would not be considered a grand tree by the city. This travesty is compounded by the fact that anyone can grow a grand Live Oak in 30 years, while the pines on the site might be five times that age. More evidence of the City's cluelessness regarding our arboreal resources.

Some of the magnificent pines on the site seen by an estimated 40,000 people a day.
We still don't know which of these will be protected and the Planning Board didn't bother to find out.

Special recognition is due Chris Gallagher and Susan Chapman who recognized the need for more information and were outvoted.

The public has been treated very poorly in this process because of the lack of a workshop and inadequate posting of information, and it would appear the trees may be treated worse. We still don't know.

-------------------------------------------------------------

* Grand tree: A Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) or similar nomenclature for species, consisting of a tree and its root system whose single trunk or combined trunk DBH size is 24 inches (addition of all trunk DBH for a multi trunk tree) or greater.

If the grand tree regulations only pertain to one species, wouldn't honesty dictate that they call it the Grand Live Oak program? Otherwise it leads the public to believe there is some protection program in place to protect old, large, venerable, acclaimed, or otherwise noteworthy trees. As mentioned above, Live Oaks are fast growers. Read on for an image of a Live Oak planted in the mid-80's.

Substantial Live Oak planted in the mid-80s as a sapling on the New College Campus.

Trunk of Live Oak shown above. This tree is less than 30 years old.
A slash pine this diameter could easily be five times as old, but would have
no special protection in the City of Sarasota.

Term Limits: Stifling Competition?

2011-11-03T07:00:00.002-04:00

Oh, and here is another negative unintended consequence of two term limits: potential competitor back-off.

Let's get inside the mind of someone considering a challenge to Commissioner X, who is just completing a first term.

Should I run against X now, knowing X hasn't accrued many negatives and is the incumbent? . . . .Nah, I'll just wait four years when there will be an open seat.

Thus, instead of fostering challenges, two term limits may inadvertently give people a pass on their second term, functionally creating what amounts to an eight year term -- not a great outcome if candidate X is only a mediocre commissioner.

Stop Me Before I Vote Again!

2011-10-27T17:37:00.000-04:00

I keep reading that anyone who argues against term limits for Sarasota County Commissioners is "ignoring the will of the voters." Really? Which voters? Because the record seems pretty clear what the will of the voters has been. . .

Or at least pretty muddled and contradictory.

Of course term limit advocates point to the vote in 1998 when a two term limit charter amendment passed by more than two to one. They hang their hat on that outcome and actually believe the electorate sent a clear signal that they had no stomach for any ding-dang third termers.

But they are not likely to mention the Mills v. Bishop race on that same ballot. David Mills was running for a third term against a qualified opponent, Bill Bishop. And in a classic actions-speak-louder-than-words display of fickleness, they elected MIlls to his third term ~~at the exact same moment~~ soon after they said never again to third terms!*

* I actually now believe the referendum was on an earlier primary ticket and the voters then subsequently gave David Mills a third term in the general election that followed.

Now some will argue Bishop was fatally flawed, being a Democrat and all, but the Republicans had earlier picked MIlls over Lee in a primary race.

What looks like a way to punish politicians who overstay their welcome in the eyes of some, actually boils down to a way to punish fellow members of the electorate who want to vote for third termers. It creates a ceiling above which no commissioner, no matter how beloved, can rise. In the rush to prevent bad commissioners from serving term limits instead prevent good commissioners from serving.

So the question is: which will of the voters should prevail -- what they said once in 1998 or what they did in 1998 (and continue* to do)?

*I say continue because in 2010 the electorate that supposedly can't stomach third terms propelled Nora Patterson to her fourth, even though they could have voted for Democrat Hawkins in the general election (or in the Republican primary, Smith).

Makes it seem like the proponents of term limits who claim to be dissatisfied with uncontrollable politicians are actually disgruntled because their peer voters can't be controlled.

I believe . . . term limits for County Commissioners

2011-10-26T19:14:00.000-04:00

I believe term limits for Sarasota County Commissioners:

1) disenfranchise voters, because some people in 1998 would be deciding who you and I can't vote for in the twentifirst century

2) shift more power to staff and administrators, because the institutional memory will lie with staff and administrators who have no term limits and will therefore have an easier time manipulating elected officials

3) create guaranteed lame ducks with no second term accountability to an electorate, because once they get elected to a second term they need never consider the electorate again. If they are good commissioners they can vote their conscience, but if they are not so good they can act on behalf of their supporters, further their own interests, or generally thumb their nose at the electorate. ( And the whole premise of term limits seems to be based on the proposition that, if not initially rotten, elected officials soon turn towards the dark side.)

4) reduce our influence both regionally and on a state level, because it takes commissioners awhile to master the county and only then can they be effective leaders on regional issues such as water, transportation, infrastructure corridors, etc.

5) insure that any commissioners we do happen to like will be prevented from serving because we have elections to get rid of leaders we don't like and term limits perversely insure we get rid of any leaders we do like.

Show me where those statements are wrong.

Five Directions for Water Management in Florida

2011-10-12T17:41:00.001-04:00

I'll be speaking about water issues at Ringling College tonight so posting some of my thoughts about water is probably a good idea.

Strengthenregional approaches to water

•The legislature haschosen to rein in the water management districts precisely at the time we arerealizing they have a far larger job to do. Water challenges and opportunities mustbe approached regionally.

Movetowards restoring Florida’s original hydrology

That includes raisingaquifer levels, rehydrating wetlands, and watershed protection

•Develop and implement a strategy to restorethe Floridan and other aquifers to historic levels that support spring andriver flows

(EX: Restore KissengenSprings!)

• Undo some of the more egregious hydrologicmistakes of the last century.

• Continue land acquisition that restoreswetlands, safeguards watersheds, and gets people and potential homes out offloodplains

Percapita demand reduction

• Develop strategies for further reduction inper capita water demand, including efficiencies and paying people to use lesswater. This will no doubt include both carrots and sticks – more water-frugalappliances, increased awareness/feedback, and tiered conservation ratestructures

(EX: Use telemetry toenable households to visualize water use in real time and include dataregarding comparable neighbor households in water bills.)

• Wean Floridians off water consumptivelandscapes, particularly turf.

(EX:Consider banning use of treated potable water for turf irrigation.)

Broadenthe mission with more comprehensive analysis

• Previous analysis did not take into accounttotal energy, energy source, and carbon implications of water supply projects.

•Timing of flows needs tobe recognized as important as quality and quantity of water

• Work with healthdepartments to bring water safety assurance to every home and developstrategies to address new quality concerns

Decentralizationof water supply

• Make progress on household-scale point-ofuse water systems for both potable and non-potable uses.

• Chart a course of transition from central utilitiesto hybrid systems that maintains the economic viability of central supplywithout charging users more money for less water. (EX: One solution might be to shift more charges for central supply tofire service protection. Another might be to financiallyreward utilities that conserve water and consequently avoid major projectcosts.)

Term Limit Ballot Measure

2011-10-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Commissioners: I hope you will indulge my Midnight Pass adversary and term limit ally, Bob Waechter, and allow him to read this brief statement on my behalf, as I am unable to attend today.

I could be a proponent of term limits if I lived in a community where the elected leadership was firmly entrenched, unchallenged, and never seemed to voluntarily leave office or get voted out.

But that is not the case in Sarasota County. The last three-term commissioner in District 1 (Sandgren) stopped serving in 1980, back before Jimmy Carter was bailing out Chrysler. Recent incumbents Mercier (2 terms) and Mills (4 terms) decided on their own not to run again. Commissioner Staub, arguably one of the most popular commissioners ever, stopped before completing her fourth term. And both Shannon Staub and Commissioner Patterson defeated incumbents to gain their seats on the Commission. The fact is that more than half of all recent Commissioners have served two terms or less. So, in my opinion, we have a reasonable balance of experience and new perspectives on the commission. Idealistically, then, I oppose term limits for Sarasota County Commissioners because I believe voters still have the ability to vote out Commissioners they don’t like (ask Gene or Jack) and I can’t see why voters would then support term limits to force the expulsion of those Commissioners they do like.

But I seem to be cursed with being both an idealist and a pragmatist. (That’s why I’m working with Bob) and I recognize that the public generally supports term limits.

Therefore I am asking that you consider drafting and holding hearings on a potential January 2102 ballot measure that would preemptively adjust county commission term limits to three terms. If passed, such a measure would retain both the term limits most of the public seems to crave and increase the likelihood that we could rely on a balanced number of experienced commissioners to lead our increasingly large, complex, and challenging County government.

SIncerely,

Jono

Why we may not want to run government like a business

2011-09-30T18:49:00.002-04:00

Before we get too enthralled about running government like a business, come along with me and examine one day's (Sept. 30 2011) business stories from the Sarasota Herald Tribune:

MORGAN IS GUILTY IN A PONZI (BIG front page story)

FORMER BROKER GETS FIVE YEARS (front page of Business Section)

MANATEE'S TELTRONICS IS CLOSING (front page of Business Section)

RAYMOND JAMES TOLD TO REPAY $1.69 MILLION (front page of Business Section, Marketplace)

FAILED SARASOTA PROJECT SUBJECT OF ANOTHER SUIT (front page of Business Section)

AFTER COLONIAL BANK FAILURE, REPAYMENTS (page 3 of Business Section)

Top Ten Natural Signs of Fall in Sarasota Florida

2011-09-23T19:00:00.001-04:00

The Sarasota Herald Tribune's Tom Becnel filed a engaging report: Top Ten Signs of Fall in Florida, presumably as a condolence for those Sarasotans who miss the honking of migrating geese, the cider-pressing, leaf-raking and other signs of Fall that distinguish more temperate regions of our great nation. Along the way he cast each and every "sign" as a cultural phenomenon, describing how one can discern the change of seasons around here by the behavior of people. Here are ten ways to tell it is Fall in Sarasota without resorting to an anthropocentric point of view:

No.11 (a bonus sign) It Cools Off at Night. We still have some of those sweltering days, but when you go out to get the newspaper or remember you didn't put the trash, you're shocked by how cool it is.

No.10 End of Rain. Sure, we might still have a hurricane or tropical storm, but the dry season is starting - expect October to have about one quarter as much rain as September.

No. 9. Local Citrus. Sure you can find limes and some other citrus at odd times, but Fall brings the historic Hamlins, Parson Browns and Navels as well as the newer hybrid citrus varieties such as Fallglo and Ambersweet.

No 8. Shorter Days. Yes, our perception of day length is affected by Daylight Savings, but there is no denying there is less light each day. One minute less each day right now.

No. 7 Beautyberry. We may not have many Fall foliage displays, but Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) sends out a violet signal no Northeastern plant can match. This native plant grows well, and responds well to pruning in January.

Beautyberry, Just one of the top ten signs of Fall in Sarasota Florida.

No. 6 Sunsets Sliding South. If you have a chance to watch the sunset from the east side of our bays you can see the sun marching south, ticking off condos like giant megaliths erected to monitor the sun's movements.

No. 5 Holly Berries. Whether you have the domesticated East Palatkas or the wild Dahoon (Ilex cassine) or other species, Florida hollies add both seasonal color and form a link to the upcoming holiday season.

No. 4 Eagles and Ospreys. Some of the magnificent fish-eating birds hang around all year, but their migratory cousins show up, swell their ranks, and set about nest-building.

No. 3 Prairie Wildflowers. If you have never walked the prairies at Myakka and seen the profusion of Fall wildflowers that include Liatis, Carphephorous, Solidago, Hyptis, Elephantopsis, Pine Lily and many others, get out there.

No. 2 Chorisia speciosa. Once you have seen one of these trees, your Fall will never be the same. There's a small one on Cocoanut (maybe around 19th), a larger one opposite the dogtrack on Old Bradenton Road and a spectacular specimen up in Bradenton (I think west of the Royal Motel) that is just starting to bloom now. These massive trees have dramatic pink flowers in the Fall, usually between now and Thanksgiving. In addition to an unmatched Fall color show, they have bizarre green (photosynthetic) trunks covered with wicked spines -- probably to deter animals from nibbling on the photosynthetic trunks.

No 1. White Pelicans. The number one sign of Fall in Sarasota for our family is migrating White Pelicans. These monsters have a wingspan second only to the California Condor (in North America) and make our resident Brown Pelicans look like scale models or maquettes. They are so big that we usually spot them through the windshield while we are driving down 41. They can fly in a long line (like geese), a vee formation (like geese) or high up in a gigantic spinning formation called a kettle (like vultures). That's when they move the slowest and exhibit a fascinating transformation: as they circle first you see their white plumage, then on edge they seem to disappear, then when they come back around you see their black feathers and then they get hard to see again until the flash of white. White, invisible, black, invisible -- very cool. PS I saw my first 2011 flock headed south on October 17th, two long loosely connected Vs, maybe 75 birds total.

A NOTE ON CAPITALIZATION: I capitalize the seasons Fall and Spring, but not summer, autumn, or winter. Why? Because Fall and Spring are nouns with other meanings -- Did you have a bad fall? is different than Did you have a bad Fall? Without the capitalization it can be confusing. Nothing reminded her of Florida so much as thoughts of a particular (Spring or spring)?

County Commission District 3 Election Results Now Available • 419 Days Early

2011-09-14T23:58:00.000-04:00

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune predicted that "instant incumbency" might confer a political advantage, but now we see the power inherent in the system. Wednesday evening, the 14th of September, all but three or four of the most prominent and proven local Republican fundraisers solidly lined up behind the Christine Robinson juggernaut.

I always assumed a juggernaut was some sort of nautical warship, like a dreadnought. I mean, "naut" is right in there at the tail end of the word. But it's really a gigantic chariot that early European observers believed that the faithful threw themselves under out of devotion. So metaphorically, a juggernaut combines nearly unstoppable momentum and a totally committed horde of true believers.

The list of hosts, sponsors, and patrons is truly breathtaking. And her supporters include not just the men behind the curtain, but also each of the four other sitting County Commissioners. Every one. Juggernaut indeed.

Ms. Robinson became a county commissioner because of a single "vote", but that one vote happened to be the Governor's when he appointed her, frustrating dozens of Republicans who seemed to think they deserved a chance.

To be fair, Christine was (and is) far more qualified than many, if not most, of the other Republican contenders. But if their fate wasn't sealed by instant incumbency, it is now. Way beyond the amount of money raised, this pre-emptive event sent a clear signal that other Republicans don't need to waste any time or resources imagining being the District 3 Commissioner. And the message is probably even clearer to any Democrats or others who might have considered having a go.

The 2012 ballot will be crowded and possibly confusing. Luckily, we have a system that takes the worry out of many elections. Is this a great county, or what?

Overpruning Weakens and Threatens Palms

2011-09-07T07:29:00.001-04:00

The Sarasota Herald Tribune was kind enough to print my guest column advising people that simply put: you cannot improve an established palm's health by sawing off fronds. I wrote the column in response to a letter to the editor commenting on a previous article about Texas Phoenix Palm Decline, a disease that is killing our native cabbage palms, among other species. The first link above takes you to the article as it ran on September 7th. The version below is my original submittal:

I am writing to comment on the unclear recommendations of an arborist in Venice who wrote in response to your article documenting the threat posed by Texas Phoenix Palm Decline to both exotic palms and our native cabbage palm.

I am a student of cabbage palms, so I wasn’t surprised to read your article regarding the threat posed by Texas Phoenix Palm Decline (TPPD). I’ve been commuting to USF St. Pete and driving through Palmetto where, ironically, some of the most extensive cabbage palm mortality is evident.

But I had secretly hoped something might happen to limit the spread of this disease that could decimate cabbage palms in both urban landscapes and natural areas such as Myakka River State Park. Unfortunately, today I learned the disease has also been found in Duval County. It is rapidly becoming a statewide threat. A November 18^thworkshop on this threat is being planned by Hillsborough County Extension office.

Our state tree is known as a tough, resilient tree – simultaneously the most flood, wind, and fire resistant native upland tree in the state. Incredibly, it can withstand the death of all its roots. When transplanted virtually all the roots die and the palm must grow all new roots. Because a rootless tree cannot support many leaves, re-located cabbage palms are heavily pruned, down to just a few leaves. They eventually recover, although takes many months.

The arborist who wrote in advocated putting palm trees “on a regular maintenance cycle” that, he argued, would make them less susceptible to damage. If he was referring to an appropriate fertilization schedule, I would agree. But unfortunately many regular palm pruning techniques actually put palms at risk.

Palms are commonly overpruned, and cabbage palms are frequently the most abused – subjected to something perversely called “the hurricane cut.” Research after the 2004 hurricanes concluded that cabbage palms are the second-most wind tolerant tree in Florida. So there is no need to prune cabbage palms in anticipation of a windstorm. In fact, heavy pruning actually reduces the ability of cabbage palms to weather storms. But people still routinely overprune, sometimes removing more than 4/5 of the palm’s living leaves. This debilitating setback not only vastly reduces the photosynthetic capacity of the plant, but actually invites insect attack.

When fronds that aren’t completely dead are removed, the wounds release chemicals known as kairomones, -- chemical signals from one species that benefits another species, but that does not help the organism that released the chemical. In this case the wounded palm sends an aggregation signal to Palmetto Weevils.

The Palmetto Weevil is a native insect, our largest weevil, and it has been joined here in Florida by an exotic, invasive palm weevil, the Silky Cane Weevil. These two sometimes team up to cause more problems for palms. It is believed that feeding by the Silky Cane Weevil releases kairomones that attract the Palmetto Weevil, which then kills the tree, at least in Canary Island Palms. Could this one-two punch also affect cabbage palms? It is definitely possible and could be aggravated by the large number of field-grown cabbage palms that are wounded (pruned) and moved around the state. All that wounding releases kairomones and could lead to escalating palm weevil numbers.

Not only can removing green or yellow fronds invite insect attack and weaken the tree, but it even complicates diagnosis of palm problems. Palm experts can interpret the lowermost leaves to discern nutritional deficiencies and other problems. And since one of the first symptoms of TPPD is greater number of dying leaves, aggressive pruning can mask the disease. We don’t know if overpruned trees are more susceptible to attack by the leafhoppers believed to carry TPPD, but common sense argues that unnecessarily stressing plants is not a path to optimum health and disease resistance.

Bottom line: Everyone has their own aesthetics, but you cannot improve an established palm’s health by sawing off fronds. It’s fine to remove dead, brown fronds, but make sure that whoever prunes your palms knows that taking any green or yellow fronds weakens your trees, invites insect attack, and could possibly contribute to a reduction in the numbers of our state tree, the cabbage palm.

The Seven Challenges of North Trail

2011-08-16T07:58:00.001-04:00

People have been scratching their heads for years wondering why North Trail doesn’t seem to work any better than it does. After four decades of scratching my own head, here’s what I have come up with.

1) Not a Whole Market. Relatively few people live west of the Trail so most of the potential shopper-shed to the west is in Sarasota Bay. This limits the extent to which surrounding neighborhoods can support 41 businesses.

2) Narrow Lots. Many of the Trail fronting lots are extremely shallow, limiting what can be done with them. This creates pressure to intrude into adjoining neighborhoods with predictable pushback.

3) Commuters. Several well-known franchises (7-11, Pizza Hut, KFC) have folded along North Trail, which suggests to me that many of the people using the highway are not interested in stopping for a retail experience – they are headed somewhere.

4) North Trail does not run North. We assume it does, but it doesn’t. This leads to the façade of many buildings being oriented north-south, when they should be parallel with the curb. As a result the N-S buildings signal their disinterest in the motoring public. This is solvable, but will take redevelopment with rules.

5) Motel Legacy. Many of North Trail’s historic motels are gone. Of those that remain, some are well run and upstanding while others get by on clientele that create both crime and an image problem.

6) Hookers. We need to challenge the assumption that if we “re-brand” the North Trail with a catchy new moniker or some banners, the hookers will disappear. The encouraging sign is neighbor interest in taking back the Trail by walking and creating subtle pressure for illegal activity to re-locate. Hookers go first, and then we get a new image, not vice versa.

7) Capacity. No one knows what will happen to concurrency, but there is a risk the sites with greatest potential – (the corners and larger parcels) -- will be redeveloped leaving the problematic shuttered or limping sites to fester. We need a redevelopment strategy that incentivizes redevelopment of the worst sites, not the best.

Meta-Advice for Advisory Boards

2011-08-01T17:30:00.001-04:00

One time, many years ago, I was invited to address a Manatee County Advisory Board. While at the meeting a Manatee County Commissioner showed up and proceeded to advise the advisory group what he thought they should do. In fact, I thought he was more or less telling them what to do. Perhaps puckishly, I opined that in my county the advisory boards provided advice to the county commission and not vice versa. I haven’t been invited back.

-•-

The role of advisory boards is complicated, involving careful balancing between citizens, staff, and elected officials, but let me offer several comments triggered by recent developments.

There is no question that providing support for advisory boards represent a significant staff commitment. Consequently, real budget pressures have resulted in a number of boards, including two I serve on, being cut back from monthly to bi-monthly (six times a year) meetings. The total number of boards has been cut back more than half from its peak.

And if one of those meetings is canceled, as recently happened with the Parks Advisory and Recreation Council (PARC) then a third of a year elapses between meetings –- plenty of time to lose the thread of whatever was important at the previous meeting. To be honest, I supported the cancellation of that meeting for selfish reasons - I had an important conflict that day and didn’t want to be in trouble for missing too many PARC meetings.

One unintended consequence of the switch to six meetings a year is the effect on the requirement to maintain a 75% attendance record. When we met every month, I didn't worry about missing a meeting every now and then when something came up. With twelve meetings a year, one could miss three meetings and still be in good graces. Now if you miss more than one you are in trouble. I’m not sure why, but it was easier for me to attend nine out of twelve than five out of six, even though the total number of meetings was nearly doubled. Go figure.

I am told the numbers have been crunched and cutting the number of meetings in half demonstrably reduces staff burden, resulting in irrefutable and significant dollar savings. I'm sure it saves money -- just imagine how much more could be saved if we only met four, or three, or even two times a year! In fact, I believe some governments have achieved tremendous savings by not having any public input whatsoever.

In my opinion, meeting cutbacks have resulted in a false economy because the effectiveness and utility of the every-two-month boards has been greatly compromised. That's because they meet so infrequently, while the Commission, of necessity, moves on with its work. The result, all too frequently, is that the Advisory Boards and the Commission are out of sync.

So perhaps if PARC had met in July we would have had a chance of offer perspective on commercial signs at Venice Parks, conflicts at the mangrove tunnels of South Lido, and a proposal to charge for camping at the Carleton Reserve. But we didn’t meet and those matters of some general public interest and clear PARC interest went to the County Commission without the benefit of PARC consideration.

Likewise the County Commission just reallocated $18.5 million to reduce debt owed by the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program, a move I suspect the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program Oversight Committee would have supported, had we met since June 2^nd. But we didn’t meet and one has to wonder exactly where the Oversight lies?

I see three reasons why appropriate advisory boards need to be in the loop that connects staff to the the County Commission. First, and most obviously, that is why the advisory boards exist-- to advise the County Commission - skipping the advisory boards begs the question of why they even exist.

Second, (and this is why I believe they were created) it provides a venue for additional insight, consideration, and affirmation, which helps the Commission know if they are on the right track. Policy vetting by advisory boards should help ensure that recommendations going to the board reflect community perspective as well as the professional opinion of staff.

Finally, no one likes being blindsided -- picking up a newspaper and reading for the first time about an action you supposed to be informed about and involved in is not pleasant. Keeping advisory board members advised should be common courtesy.

Having served on County and City advisory boards for more than half my life, I am willing to ask if there may not be a better way to solicit informed issue-specific public opinion. One approach being tried is "wikis".

The County currently is soliciting input regarding Water Efficient Landscaping using a wiki.

In addition, I've been wondering if periodic "congresses" or other intermittent topic-driven assemblies might not enable more people to participate and produce better results with less staff involvement. The Commission and staff could identify issues and opportunities that need attention, brief white papers addressing the agenda could be drafted and circulated electronically, and those concerned could convene and thrash things out in one day (a Saturday?) instead of spreading the process over months. This could increase participation and move policy along in focused pulses rather than unfolding in slow motion.

In the meantime I serve on three active County advisory bodies and one (dealing with Florida Scrub Jays) that just sort of fizzled out with no final meeting, clear resolution or (suitable for framing?) certificate of service. So based on my present experience of serving on somewhere near one tenth of all Sarasota county advisory boards, let me make some principled suggestions:

1) Any matter going to the County Commission related to a topic under the purview of a relevant advisory board should be considered in advance by the advisory board. If it isn't, the County Commissioners should feel empowered to ask why it wasn't.

2) If it is simply not possible to meet, the advisory board members should get a courtesy notification in advance that the matter is headed to the Commission without their collective input.

3) Matters that may head to the County Commission should come before advisory boards at the earliest possible stages so that the expertise and common sense of the board members might complement that of staff rather run the risk of contradicting staff or being confronted with proposals that went from "too soon to tell" to "too late to change" between meetings.

4) Advisory Boards need to meet frequently enough to keep pace with the County Commission. Timely input is crucial to the Commission. If advisory boards are not weighing in on items going the the board, something is wrong with the process.

5) Attendance standards should be revisited. Perhaps nine out of the previous 12 meetings is a standard that would retain the 75% threshold, but allow a member serving on a bi-monthly committee to miss two meetings in one calendar year.

6) The County, both the commission and the advisory boards and staff, need to be open to adjustments both in how frequently boards meet and whether there might be better ways to used committed and knowledgable stakeholders to advise the board.

Regarding Commission Districts

2011-07-28T07:25:00.000-04:00

The following ran as a letter to the editor in the Sarasota Herald Tribune on June 10 2011 in response to the previous day's news story COMMISSION WON'T DRAW NEW DISTRICT LINES FOR SOUTH, which seemed somewhat slanted to me.

Regarding "Commission won't draw new district lines for south":

The story about commission district lines states "the City of Sarasota will have two representatives predominantly representing city residents, while Venice residents would be spread between three districts".

Wow, where to start?

First, Commissioners represent the entire county, not just their district. We have a geographic distribution requirement (districts) ostensibly to ensure that five next-door neighbors couldn't theoretically run the county, but our residency requirements are so lax that five neighbors could conspire to move into different districts and do it anyway. Allowing musical chair candidates to re-locate to gain political advantage weakens the entire premise of districts.

Second, there is no guarantee anyone from the City of Sarasota will serve on the County Commission, since both Districts 1 and 2 include significant areas outside the City.

Finally, you can't have it both ways -- where Sarasota "gets" 2 seats while Venice is split 3 ways. Why not say Venice "gets" 3 seats, while the City of Sarasota is split in two?

The best way for south county to wield more power is to field great candidates that appeal to ALL voters county-wide. The fact is that if Venice residents played their cards right they could have three Venice City residents serving on the County Commission. And North Port could have two. And the City of Sarasota and Longboat Key might have none.

----------------

Clarification: I wasn't suggesting Venice residents could hold down three seats at the same time as North Port could have two -- just that Venice could have three or North Port could have two.

City Commissioners Farewell Fracas

2011-04-30T11:42:00.001-04:00

The three departing Sarasota City Commissioners have a chance to straighten things out before they leave office and there are more than a handful of reasons why they should do. If you haven't seen Saturday's Sarasota Herald Tribune, check out the online article: Sarasota's volunteer planning board at center of uproar.

The basics appear to be that the three outgoing commissioners are (according to the City Attorney) violating the City Code by skipping an advertising requirement and attempting to re-appoint two planning boards members rather than letting the new commission decide who should serve. That is ill-advised, and not simply because the City Attorney cautions against it:

1) To do so will cloud the departure of three commissioners, each of whom should be remembered for their accomplishments rather than hitting a sour note at the end of their performance and creating a negative last impression

2) To do so thumbs its nose at the rule of law and creates a situation where the new Commission may inherit a community impression of a City commission not willing to play by the rules -- an impression the new commission has not earned (it has not been seated yet) and consequently does not deserve

3) To do so is neither gracious nor courteous. Whatever the motive this move disrespects the incoming commission and its right to name planning board members.

4) To do so places the planning commission in a very awkward situation since it is clear at least three of the subsequent commissioners do not favor this tactic. That starts the new commission off on the wrong foot with its planning board -- that's not fair to the three continuing planning board members and starts the new Commission-Board relationship not with a honeymoon, but a spat.

5) "Automatic" re-appointment of citizen board members is predicated on the concept that the members up for re-appointment have behaved admirably and are worthy of re-appointment. One of the members being considered for re-appointment has personally attacked members of the public from the dais and some members of the public (as well as the new board) may want to reflect on that behavior prior to naming a new board.

6) According to the City Attorney, this action is inviting a legal challenge - something the City and a new Commission does not need.

The public is cynical and suspicious enough these days without aggravating the situation.

Let the new commission decide who will serve on what the Herald Tribune termed "arguably the city's most important board".

The City Commission will consider the appointments on Monday, but will not be taking citizen comments on this matter during the meeting. So, if you think you want to weigh in on this, please do so before Monday.

Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

2010-11-26T14:34:00.003-05:00

Governor Crist mercifully ended what little suspense was left when he named Christine Robinson to complete Shannon Staub's term on the Sarasota County Commission, something we should all be thankful for. But, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, some grumpy Republicans are faulting Crist for his selection. Crist clearly was within his rights to appoint a friend and loyal supporter, and even if she had never met the Governor, Robinson would have to be considered in the top tier of candidates for the position -- a result of her service on the Planning Commission.

Here's a tip: If you want to say something about the Governor's selection, the time to do so is before he makes it. Carping after the fact seems both pointless and petty.

The Governor did what he needed to do. It is the Sarasota community that dropped the ball.

The Republicans held a y'all come, "Republicans Got Talent" cattle call in North Port that was supposed to result in a Republican recommendation. No such individual emerged.

The Democrats, who boldly fielded several candidates, also declined to advance a favorite.

The Sarasota County Civic League boasts of a Candidate Evaluation Program that evaluates candidates through written information submitted by the candidate and a panel interview and then bestows a rating designed to indicate the degree to which the candidate possesses the qualifications needed to serve in the position sought. They did nothing.

The two Tiger Bay organizations, which can usually be relied upon to sniff out a juicy contest, failed to take the bait.

The Sierra Club and other local organizations that can lobby and endorse because they are tax exempt, endorsed no one.

Local newspapers provided superficial coverage that reduced each contender to a postage stamp portrait and a thumbnail sketch.

And editorial boards, entities that traditionally make recommendations, not only failed to name any names, they by and large failed to address the basic public policy questions raised by such an appointment:

• Should the replacement be a Republican, like Shannon, and every other Commissioner for the last forty years, or would it be appropriate for the majority of voters (non-Republicans) to have some representation?

• Should the replacement have to have lived in District 3? If so, for how long? What does residency mean and what should it mean? Is proposing to move into the District acceptable?

• What is the appropriate mix of County experience and knowledge compared with District 3 experience and knowledge?

• Should candidates embrace "instant incumbency" and use a lame duck Governor's parting act as a springboard for re-election or should those seeking Shannon's seat agree not to run in 2012?

These questions were never publicly debated, no consensus was reached, and no local direction provided the Governor.

Perhaps no one bothered to assess qualifications and consider a recommendation because it was a foregone conclusion that Christine would secure the spot on the Board. She had the inside track from the starting bell. But if so, no one should act shocked, surprised, or indignant at the outcome.

For whatever reason, all of Sarasota County took a pass on an opportunity not only to comment on the gubernatorial appointment process, but also to seriously evaluate more than two dozen residents that felt they might make a good commissioner. I guess there's always 2012.

Everything I've heard about Christine Robinson has been extremely positive and there is no reason to believe she will be anything other than a competent, contributing member of the Commission. Republicans should stop holding her loyalty to a friend against her and be thankful that Crist didn't get creative as he did with his candidacy.

And the next time a Governor has to make an appointment, Sarasota County should not be a slack-jawed, passive spectator, but remember to engage both the issues and the Governor.

Crist Chooses Staub Successor

2010-11-24T13:59:00.002-05:00

Got a call from the Governor's Appointment Office that the Governor has decided on someone to complete Shanon Staub's term. Bottom Line: It's not me and they think the Governor may make the announcement later this afternoon.

So much for the rumor that he likes to interview all candidates for gubernatorial appointments.

Reflections on the Two County Commission Elections

2010-11-03T06:16:00.004-04:00

There aren't many of us that have chosen to run as something other than a Republican in a Sarasota County Commission race. And one thing that binds us together is that, for the past forty years at least, none of us have prevailed. If there is any solace for Mark and Cathy it is that the they received more than twice the number of votes their opponents did, the last time their opponents faced opposition. Thank you for giving the entire electorate a chance to weigh in.

When I lost I was told recovery would take about a year, which wasn't far off, but, at least in my case, it wasn't losing that was hard to accept; but some of the circumstances surrounding the loss. I hope Mark and Cathy are not nagged by comparable concerns.

Nora now returns to the Commission knowing that over 71,000 more voters think she should be serving than did previously and Joe experienced a comparable boost in affirmation, garnering more than 68,000 more votes than he did last time around. I hope this provides them with more confidence that they are, in fact, the people's choices. And, of course, this is a confidence tempered by the realization that more than 45 thousand people aren't convinced, which may be like a "room for improvement" notation on an otherwise favorable report card.

As I mentioned in a previous blog posting, it is good to know that the majority of the county commission will be serving as result of having won recently in a general election, a fact attributable to those few of us who brought them to those general elections, despite the odds, popular wisdom, and recent history.

Moving towards a county commission elected by the majority of voters

2010-11-01T17:50:00.006-04:00

THIS BLOG ENTRY IS THE FIFTH IN A SERIES DEALING WITH THE SUCCESSOR TO COMMISSIONER SHANNON STAUB. Today is a day to, without impugning Commissioners Patterson and Barbetta, thank Mark Hawkins and Cathy Antunes. For regardless of the outcome tomorrow, for the first time since 2000 the majority of the Sarasota County Commission will be serving as a result of the entire electorate having had a chance to vote for or against them in the most recently held election for their seat.

Right now, for instance, on the First of November 2010, only one commissioner, Carolyn Mason, can say that the last time there was a possibility for District seat to change hands that electorate chose her over a candidate from another party. The other four commissioners were either unopposed the last time they ran, or won in a closed primary that excluded the majority of county voters.

So when the next commission is seated, whether incumbent or new face, the Commissioners from Districts 2 and 4 will have something more closely approximating a mandate than those presently serving.

It would be inappropriate to blame Commissioners Thaxton, Staub, Patterson, and Barbetta for the lack of previous Democratic or Independent challenges to their candidacy. In fact, the lack of opposition no doubt reflects not only both their political power as Sarasota Republicans, but also general county-wide satisfaction with their leadership.

No, it is the Democrats and Independents, whose registration accounts for about two thirds of Sarasota voters who need to take responsibility for the historic lack of organized opposition. But this year they are doing their part, with Democrat Mark Hawkins challenging Nora Patterson and Independent Cathy Antunes taking on Joe Barbetta for the only two seats that expire this year. Whatever the outcome, at least we can say the entire electorate will have had a say in three fifths of the commission.

It is worth noting that he other two current commissioners each can stake a claim to being the most popular commissioners ever. While District Five Commissioner Jon Thaxton is only serving his third term so far, he hasn’t faced a Republican opponent since 2004, Democrats and Independents have never challenged him, and a write-in candidate made him the top all time vote getter, pulling in over 107,000 votes. District Three Commissioner Shannon Staub has been elected four times (only Bob Anderson topped that), also facing Republican challengers only twice and, like Thaxton, has never appeared on a ballot against a Democrat or Independent. Based on their experience, political skill, and popularity, each would have to be favored in the 2012 elections, if they chose to run.

While Commissioner Thaxton’s intentions are unknown, Commissioner Staub’s announced departure ensures that, whatever the fate of Patterson and Barbetta, we will be looking at a new Commission next year.

And, now that the voting will be behind us, perhaps the media and citizenry can focus their attention on the third race, moving from election of two to the selection of one.

A Civil Community, Most of the Time (Except When it Matters)

2010-10-30T22:50:00.004-04:00

Civility. Nothing like it. The Sarasota Civic League is against negative political advertising and features a pledge for candidates to take. USF Sarasota Manatee hosts forums about civility in politics. In fact, one is coming up November 4th. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice has a major initiative called "Because It Matters" that includes a webpage Civility in Democracy. Sarasota County has a Civility Code. So one might expect Sarasota to be a hotbed of civility. And I suppose most of the time it is. But during election season those strong voices for civility are drowned out by invective, distortions, and downright lies.

For all their well intentioned efforts, none of the above organizations actually calls anyone out for being uncivil. As a result, candidates can devolve during a campaign with no real fear of being confronted by anyone other than their opponent. The Civic League lamely proclaims that "the community and voters should assess whether a candidate kept their pledge during the conduct of their campaign." So they are willing to decide whether a candidate is qualified or not, but unwilling to decide if they can keep a pledge. This is roughly analogous to Consumer Reports warranting that a blender is made by a reputable company but being too timid to reveal if the blades are likely to cut your fingers off.

I should think voters would like to know if qualified candidates can keep their word for the duration of a campaign.

Its easy to advocate for civility when everyone is being civil. But when the discourse heads into the gutter no one seems to want to get their hands or shoes dirty.

This community would benefit from some organization willing to speak out when things turn uncivil. To be fair, the press does weigh in at times and has spoken up when candidates hit below the belt. But wouldn't it be valuable for another, independent, non-partisan group to render opinions on the civility of political campaigns? Because this is when it really matters.

Silence in the Competition for Staub's Commission Seat?

2010-10-19T22:44:00.001-04:00

THIS BLOG ENTRY IS THE FOURTH IN A SERIES DEALING WITH THE SUCCESSOR TO COMMISSIONER SHANNON STAUB. As mentioned in a previous blog posting on Shannon Staub’s successor, the Englewood Sun called for “someone with a strong South County background and a strong voice.” So I have to ask, is it just me, or has the silence been deafening?

Everyone seems to know and expect that applicants for the District 3 seat will be working back-channel access to the Governor, trying to narrow six degrees of separation to one or two. And any contenders that may have the Governor’s number on their cell phones can be expected to place a call. This sort of behind the scenes jockeying is part of our political process and is actually somewhat explicit because the gubernatorial appointment form (Question 27) asks for three persons who have known you well for the past five years. This is not the place where applicants list two neighbors and their favorite barista (unless a neighbor or the barista knows the Governor). Which happens.

But is that it? Everyone keeps their head down, seeks out contacts that might put in a good word in Tallahassee, but otherwise tries to stay out of sight? What about the strong voices? The Republicans held auditions that I believe afforded everyone present three minutes to test their voices. But since then, what has been heard?

If any readers are aware of any blog postings, interviews, letters to the editor or any other public pronouncements from others vying for the seat, please use the comment section to let me know. Because I am not hearing or seeing much.

As promised I’m attaching my responses to my own form below. Please read the previous blog entry if this seems perplexing.

Yes, I know it is small. It's a pdf and if you click on it you should be able to enlarge and read it. If you are reading this on Sarasota Speaks, the pdf may not be visible. If not, click on FULL ARTICLE to go to the original blog entry.

RE: Shannon Staub's Successor --The Missing Page in the Appointment Form

2010-10-17T12:15:00.005-04:00

THIS BLOG ENTRY IS ONE IN A SERIES DEALING WITH THE SUCCESSOR TO COMMISSIONER SHANNON STAUB.

At a recent Tiger Bay luncheon the Governor apparently referred to his practice of interviewing all candidates that apply for a gubernatorial appointment. Now that more than two dozen Sarasotans have applied to fill the remainder of Commissioner Staub's term, he would seem to have a lot of work to do.

He is aided by the staff in the appointment's office who receive the applications, and vet applicants. The application is fairly extensive (six pages of content) and asks for a lot of detail on some matters. But it is a general appointment form and doesn't actually deal with a number of important questions the Governor (and Sarasota citizens) would probably like to have answered before a decision is made.

For instance: the form doesn't ask if an applicant lives in the District in question, whether they intend to run for the District 3 seat in 2012 if appointed, or if they have ever done anything for the County or District.

In order to simplify the work of the Governor and staff, I've created a supplemental page that addresses many of the shortfalls. In the next few days I will answer the questions, forward my responses to the Governor's Appointment Office and post my responses online here.

If all the applicants would do the same, it might be a service to both the Governor, the media, and Sarasota citizens.

Of course, since I am applying to complete the term, some will no doubt accuse me of preparing a biased or leading form that plays to my strengths. I actually feel it is fairly neutral on that score, but I'll concede the point.

In response, here's my proposition to other applicants -- a possible way to balance any bias:

You design your own one page supplemental form, fill it out and send it to me. I will answer the same questions you posed and submit my response to your form to the Governor's office and post it online. The only caveat is that I reserve the right to forward your completed form to the Governor's office and post it here as well.

Below you'll find the page I think is missing from the form. Yes, I know it is small. It's a pdf and if you click on it you should be able to enlarge and read it. If you are reading this on Sarasota Speaks, the pdf may not be visible. If not, click on FULL ARTICLE to go to the original blog entry.

What kind of leader should replace Shannon Staub?

2010-10-12T21:31:00.004-04:00

Before the pixels faded on the darting emails announcing Commissioner Staub’s decision to step down, the Republican Party issued a communiqué asserting that the appointment needed to be a Republican, based on the fact that Commissioner Staub is a Republican and the assertion that District 3 is a predominantly Republican district.

There’s no getting around the fact that Commissioner Staub is a Republican, so that logic makes a certain amount of sense. But Commissioner Staub is also a woman. Does that mean her replacement needs to be a woman? She grew up outside of Florida, so should the Governor avoid a native? She lived in Canada. Does that mean who ever follows should have extensive experience outside the country? She has been committed to working on water policy. Does the appointment need to be hydrophilic?

The flaw in cherry-picking any one aspect of Commissioner Staub's many attributes is that it begs the question of which aspect or aspects are central to the appointment of a successor and which are not. Maybe being a Republican is central. Maybe her approach to leadership is more so. The Governor will decide.

The Republican leadership could have argued her replacement needs to be a Republican because all our county Commissioners are always Republican. And if you didn’t get here before 1971, that’s certainly true. That fact may call into question whether we have a functioning two party system in the County, but as a general rule you wont lose much money betting that all Sarasota County Commissioners are Republicans.

But instead, their press release argued that District 3 is predominantly Republican – an assertion that does not appear to be supported by the facts. In fact, District 3 is predominantly non-Republican, as is Sarasota County. Republicans represent less than 45% of the voters, and constitute less than a third of the overall population of the County. And in District 3 Republicans account for only slightly more than 40% of the voters.

So, if the Governor wanted to appoint someone who represented the predominance of the county (or District 3), that would be some non-Republican, a type of Commissioner we haven’t seen in forty years in Sarasota.

In addition to calling for a Republican, the party skipped what may seem like obvious requirements of knowing something about the County and District 3 and quickly stated it should be a resident of District 3. In political circles, the term “resident” is frequently used so loosely as to be nearly meaningless.

In this case, “resident” apparently means someone willing to contact a realtor to create conditions that would make it appear they could sleep in District 3 without imposing on a friend or getting a motel room, should they happen to be appointed.

The Englewood Sun came much closer to the mark when its editorial called for “someone with a strong South County background and a strong voice.”

(To be continued)

Reprint of FILLING STAUB'S VACANCY

2010-10-11T07:21:00.004-04:00

Filling Staub's vacancy

By JONO MILLER and PAUL MERCIER Guest Columnists

First Published in the Sarasota Herald Tribune: Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.

The challenge of finding the best Sarasota County resident to complete Shannon Staub's term is a daunting one, complicated by the fact that no one will be able, on short notice, to fill Shannon's shoes. Let's concede that her 14-year knowledge of the county, region and state is unique.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who has his hands full with the governorship and the final month of his campaign, also faces a daunting task. He is receiving advice and even demands regarding both the qualifications and individuals who might best complete Staub's term. So here's our advice:

Don't appoint anyone who will run for the District 3 seat in 2012.

Why is that desirable? Because it minimizes the lingering effects of an admittedly political appointment and maximizes the power of Sarasota County voters.

Of course, our advice is contrary to popular wisdom and the emerging version of musical chairs that has many hopeful contenders looking for a place to squat in District 3 -- where Staub lives -- before the music stops. And those who already live in District 3 are hoping geography will improve their chances.

But once the governor winnows down to a list of competent contenders, the question shouldn't be about who lives where, but rather when do the voters get a crack at them and under what terms.

It is one thing to let a departing governor fill a seat for two years and obsess about two years.

But incumbency is very powerful in Sarasota County. We know because, since 1980, incumbent county commissioners who seek additional terms have been successful 87 percent of the time.

Instant incumbency

That means that, if the Crist appointee runs for the District 3 seat in 2012, he or she will very likely be elected, and subsequently re-elected, etc. That's why the feeding frenzy has begun -- because getting lucky with the governor now means a high probability of success in 2012 and for years beyond.

It means that, instead of dictating who will serve for two years, the governor will be creating what the Herald-Tribune has termed "instant incumbency" -- probably determining who will serve for six, 10 or possibly 14 years.

That scenario is a disservice to both the electorate of District 3 and the whole county.

If we can't have the commissioner we elected, and we can't have a special election, at least we should have the open seat Shannon would have created in 2012. That would keep the political playing field level, instead of stacking the deck by creating one lucky winner and a large group of instant losers, many of whom might be credible District 3 candidates if they could compete in 2012 on a level playing field.

To be honest, we have to question the motives of those who would relocate in order to be able to run in 2012. We believe candidates should have broad, and not temporary or short-term, experience with the area they reside in. Renting or buying a place in a district just to opportunistically advance a political career is not the kind of admirable preparation for public service we should reward. Rather than gaming the system, residents of other districts should run for their own district's seat.

A county perspective

Let's keep in mind that our County Commission districts are not single-member districts, but at-large districts. The District 3 commissioner is not elected only by District 3 voters, but rather by all county voters. So the governor should be looking for the best replacement from the perspective of the entire county, and his or her District 3 credentials, while relevant, should not diminish or overshadow the needs of the rest of the county.

Gov. Crist has an opportunity to minimize voter disenfranchisement with this appointment; he set a precedent by appointing Sen. George LeMieux, which ensured an open Senate seat in 2010. If County Commission contenders won't take themselves out of consideration for the 2012 District 3 seat, Gov. Crist should do it for them. Ideally, he would announce his decision before the election, to subdue the rancorous jockeying and maximize much-needed transition time for our next commissioner.

Migrating opportunists and instant incumbency are not the hallmarks of good government. Sarasota County deserves better.

Jono Miller ran for County Commission as a Democrat in 2008. Paul Mercier is a former two-term Republican county commissioner from District 1; he did not seek re-election to a third term. Neither has applied for the seat Staub is vacating but each has stated that, if he were to do so, he would not run for the District 3 seat in 2012.

What one dollar is buying Ringling College

2010-04-06T21:45:00.000-04:00

I think we ought to face the fact that Ringling College is probably the most successful enterprise/operation in Sarasota County today. They've grown their program, ascended to the peak in digital arts, done more than their share to improve the North Trail, brought great speakers to Sarasota, and they are persistent advocates for creativity, a trait we all could use more of. None of this happens without great leadership and the College has had plenty.

Which makes their current persistence in a quixotic foray all the more perplexing. Setting aside the questions of whether the Municipal Auditorium could actually meet the requirements of a sound stage, one has to wonder why a great and powerful institution would develop a blind spot and engage in behavior that most people would find inappropriate. But it happens.

That behavior wasn't coming up with an idea. And while some would take our City Commission to task for entertaining the proposal, they owe Ringling a fair hearing. When successful, creative thinkers come up with an out-of-the-box idea, people that could make it happen should listen. Ringling shouldn't be faulted for brainstorming a solution to a community problem.

But by now, it should be clear to Ringling that attempting a public resource grab with this much community resistance it not only not likely to succeed, but is morphing their image faster than any liquid crystal display.

Someone at Ringling calculated the price for the municipal auditorium to be one dollar. Now they need to go back and calculate the cost, because years of goodwill are rapidly disappearing down the drain as a broad coalition of citizens clap their hands to their foreheads in disbelief and reassess their image of one of our great local institutions.

For those who can't get enough views on Unconditional Surrender

2009-07-08T17:44:00.002-04:00

If art is supposed to get people thinking and feeling, then we are extremely fortunate to have J. Seward Johnson’s giant sculpture based on Alfred Eisenstadt’s famous photograph of nurse Edith Shain (or Greta Friedman or Barbara Sokol) being kissed on VJ day. It’s a great match for Sarasota, because unlike some of Seward Johnson’s works this piece speaks directly to the many veterans and citizens here that remember the end of that war. Personally, I’m very grateful that the allies prevailed over the axis powers, and not simply because it enabled the man who was to become my father to return alive to the states.

It is interesting to compare the memorable iconic image of the Second World War with the images from the Vietnam War. The WWII shots were, for the most part, posed, if not outright staged: the Betty Grable’s pinup shot, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill at Malta; MacArthur wading ashore at Leyte, and raising the flag on Iwo Jima.

The two most memorable images from Vietnam were snapshots: Nine year old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down a road and South Vietnam’s national police chief executing a Viet Cong in the middle of a street. We’re not likely to see any giant sculptures of that sort.

So we are blessed that the photo was taken of the kiss, yet saddened to realize that there is probably no comparable statuesque moment marking the end Vietnam conflict (perhaps cutting down the tamarind tree at the Saigon embassy so helicopters could evacuate?) nor, as President Bush observed when commemorating the 60th anniversary of VJ day: There will be no “VJ day” in the war on Terror.

Although I was not born when the photo was taken, it has intersected with my life in two ways.

First, VJ Day (August 14th in the US) was my father’s birthday. So every year we were celebrating both my father’s birthday and VJ day.

Secondly, when I would vacation with my parents as young teen on Martha's Vineyard, an old man with a heavy accent would show slides of his photographs some evenings. I wasn't too interested until I learned he had taken photos of Sophia Loren. I recognized the Life magazine covers he had shot of her. It turned out he was one of the world's best photographers, a man known at the Menemsha Inn only as "Eisie”. It was Alfred Eisenstadt -- the guy who took the photograph of the sailor impulsively (opportunistically?) kissing the nurse in Times Square on VJ day. The photo the oversized bayfront sculpture is based on. And while Eisenstadt’s shot four exposures of “VJ Day” it was not posed or staged.

I’m happy to let others decide whether it should be a temporary or permanent addition to the Sarasota, but I have three observations to share about the piece.

First, while I like the vista of it coming down 41, I wish it was set apart more with less background clutter.

Second, while I like the giant scale, the shift in point of view is very unfortunate. If you look at the original photo or Seward’s life-sized recreation (shown in Times Square), we are focused on the kiss itself – the heads of the participants. With the giant version, the closer we get, the less the kiss is visible and we’re basically left looking up the nurse’s skirt. That’s not the point of the piece. If it is, we should opt for Marilyn Monroe on the subway grating instead. Ideally I think we would look across at if from some height to reestablish the original point of view, although it is hard to think of a place in Sarasota where that might work.

Finally, while I love the photo and like the kitschy sculpture, I hate the title. For those whose don’t get the connection to Emperor Hirohito’s Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, the sculpture must seem to be about the nurse’s unconditional surrender. No doubt Johnson intended the play on words. But it seems to me that misses the point – her “surrender” to a kiss from a stranger was completely conditional – it would not have happened on August 13 or August 15. The kiss was conditioned by the euphoria of the end of the war. For me, Seward’s title coverts exuberance into submission.

Originally posted in November of '08. Minor changes since.

Tom Cross: A Region's Loss

2008-12-31T13:40:00.003-05:00

Wednesday Dec. 31 2008 • Today's Herald Tribune has an obituary for my friend Tom Cross. Tom was not a close friend of mine, but he was a good friend and good ally. We got to know each other and work together on the Oaks and Midnight Pass. I think I was lumped in with Tom and Rob Patten (who who knows who else) as "the bearded boys and banjo players" that "criped the bejabbers" out of curmudgeonly elder environmentalist Jim Neville. Jim and Fred Duisberg were some of the early defenders the coast and didn't always see eye to eye with us upstart "young" allies.

I knew Tom as a goldsmith from upstate New York who bonded with Sarasota and started a career in computer-assisted illustration. Tom was the first person I knew who could successfully blend photographs and illustration in Adobe Photoshop. He spent years, professionally and as a volunteer, using illustration (and video) to inform citizens about this region's barrier islands and bays. Tom and I collaborated on a user's map of Sarasota Bay. I got it started in Adobe Illustrator and Tom eventually rescued me and finished the project. We need more artists committed to illuminating our natural environment, people willing to write and illustrate works such as : A Field Guide to Trapped Magic: Water.

My big regret is that he didn't live to see resolution of the Midnight Pass issue. Tom was centrally involved in the closing and (together with Dave Jemison) they documented the story of the ill-fated pass closure.

His ability to communicate reformed itself in his half-decade long epic contest with lung cancer, his unearned nemesis. Rather than hiding, he approached it openly, with humor, and kept many people informed not only about his status, but the cruel realities of lung cancer unrelated to smoking. He will be missed.

Midnight Pass: Post Election, Post Denial

2008-12-20T08:30:00.010-05:00

Saturday Dec. 20 2008 • One the challenges of being a candidate is how to maintain honesty and integrity while avoiding situations and positions that needlessly alienate portions of the electorate. You don't tug on Superman's cape, but you have an obligation to let Superman know what you think, particularly if he asks you directly.

Another challenge is separating personal feelings and positions from one's appropriate for a commissioner. While it is appropriate to bring one's experiences to bear on issues facing the commission, there is a big difference between what might be best for the county as a whole and what an individual might feel best represents their pre-commission constituency.

So during the campaign I didn't feature Midnight Pass, but neither did I shy away from it. I went and spoke (when I didn't have to) at Pelican Cove, brought up the subject and stayed after to chat with people. The vast majority of Pelican Cove residents would prefer an open pass and I gave them the condensed version of my concerns about that. I wrote three blog entries that dealt directly or indirectly with Midnight Pass. One about Big Pass, one about coastal challenges in general and one about a canoe trip to Midnight Beach. And I responded to people who emailed me about my position. [Sample response provided below.]

And although I left the door open to ways I might support a new channel, the two leaders of the Midnight Pass Society circulated emails against me, which, in my opinion, violated the spirit, if not the letter of the law that restrains non-profits from political activity. That wasn't a big surprise because MPS has used questionable tactics in the past.

Now, a month and a half later, two things have changed. The permitting agencies have said no to the County's proposal and I no longer have to think as if I were a commissioner. As a result, I have a new take on the matter, one you may be able to read about in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in the next few days.

SAMPLE RESPONSE DURING THE CAMPAIGN TO AN INQUIRY ABOUT MY POSITION ON MIDNIGHT PASS

Dear .......

I spent plenty of time on North Creek and around the pass in the late 70's and early 80's and I worked (hard) to acquire the entire Midnight Pass area for public use (the failed Oaks referendum) and I also fought to keep Midnight Pass open. In late 1983 I testified at the Midnight Pass hearings against the doomed scheme to "relocate" the pass. Maybe you were there too. Many of us shook our heads in disbelief when the County and State approved permits to artificially close the pass. All of this took place before the Midnight Pass Society was formed.

Once the beachfront residents and their consultants closed the migrating pass and failed to create a new channel, the County relieved them of the requirement to re-establish a new pass. Letting them off the hook left us with no pass, but also suggested that the viability of a pass in that area was in question.

I was selected by the County Commission to serve (as a volunteer) on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Midnight Pass (1984) where I supported (and I may have helped draft) a plan sent to Tallahassee that called for a major one-time opening of the pass, followed by a hands-off, see-what-happens approach. Our premise was to "re-set" the system to see if a natural pass could sustain itself, if the natural ebb and flow of the tides could keep the pass open. If not, then it would be clear that attempts to maintain a pass would be working contrary to the natural hydrodynamics of the area. In other words, we wanted to see if a natural pass could persist without perpetual tinkering and management. We felt that Midnight Pass should be self-maintaining and not require a lot of ongoing management (and public dollars).

Unfortunately, that bold consensus initiative was rejected by the state.

In 1995 I once again participated in a series of professionally facilitated meetings (the Little Sarasota Bay Forums) with the goal of reaching another community consensus. At that time many of us demonstrated a willingness to put community consensus above entrenched positions. All participating stakeholders, including the Sierra Club (which I represented), Audubon Society and Midnight Pass Society agreed to a Policy Goal and Implementation Recommendations that were later adopted by the Sarasota County Commission. I've never "worked for" the county on the pass issue as a paid employee or contractor.

While it was not the preferred outcome for any group, it did represent community consensus and I believe the stakeholders who agreed to it have an obligation to support it.

Consequently, I stand by the County's adopted 1995 position. Soon we should know if state permits can be issued and (if it can be permitted) many of us will be looking closely to see if the plans are consistent with the goals and implementation recommendations adopted by the stakeholders and the County.

In addition to determining if the proposed project meets its adopted goals, the County Commission also has an obligation to carefully consider the costs associated with re-opening and maintaining a pass. I'm confident that, if it wanted to, the county commission could find the money for the initial project. But, in addition to the challenge of identifying a revenue source, the County Commission will need assess opportunity costs for other now crucial coastal management objectives, including waterway access, red tide, and bacterial contamination of our beaches. These concerns were much lower profile years ago and fiscal responsibility dictates consideration of how we will (or won't) fund all needed coastal management projects.

I've been working on the opportunities and challenges of the Midnight Pass areas in various ways since the pass was open. Since then I've been willing to listen and work with people from all parts of the community to try to reach consensus on this contentious issue. There is no reason to believe that will change once I am elected.

Sincerely, Jono Miller

P.S. This is difficult community issue that should have been resolved years ago. Some may question my analysis and some my question my judgment. But let no one question my commitment to Sarasota's coastal resources. Whether as a member of the National Estuary Program's Citizen's Advisory Committee, walking and documenting all our beaches with students, using a NOAA grant to study neighborhood stormwater impacts, working to find alternatives to the City of Sarasota's Whitaker effluent discharge, meeting for years to secure funds needed to increase public access to our waterways, studying spoil islands with a National Science Foundation grant, documenting recreational use of Sarasota Bay or teaching about our environment, I have spent nearly forty years working on behalf of our coastal resources because, as I have been known to say, our coastal resources are what makes Sarasota County different from DeSoto County. Since it is clear that coastal resource issues are of major importance to you, I would encourage you to look closely at the records of all three of us District One candidates before casting your vote. There is more at stake here than just Midnight Pass.

Setting the Record Straight: "Facts" in a Funhouse Mirror

2008-11-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

Even though my Republican opponent signed a pledge not to base messages on "lies or subtle deceptions or half truths", she apparently approved three negative attack ads (two mailers and a TV spot) that contained a total of five separate lies, deceptions and/or half truths about me. Had I responded during the campaign I would merely have been repeating the distortions, but now I can reveal how distorted or spun these accusations were.

Each accusation starts with a smidgen of "truthiness" and goes on an excursion that ventures into the "lies, deceptions and half truths" territory.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS ARE FROM OUTSIDE SARASOTA COUNTY. This appeared three times in slightly different forms. I guess we need to define "major". My major contributor was a Sarasota environmentalist -- myself-- I poured close to $25,000 of my own money into the campaign account (as well as foregoing a half year's salary). All my other contributions came in amounts of $200 or less, which can't be said for the money that poured into the local Republican Party to defeat me.

My sincere effort to reach out the the business/development community was distorted into the haunting spectre of "major contributors are big developers from outside our county". Yeah, I had two helpful contributors who live outside the county, but happen to control land in Sarasota county. By my count about 15% of my contributions came from development-related sources. I think the comparable figure for my Republican opponent was roughly twice that. So it might be more accurate to say the campaign with the greatest percentage of developer support was my opponents. It seems both ironic and sad to me that developers are willing to fund campaigns based on labeling environmentalists as the developer's candidates.

BELIEVES FLORIDIANS DO NOT PAY ENOUGH IN INSURANCE PREMIUMS This charge also appeared three times in different forms. Although this was touted as being "on the record" it was surreptitiously recorded at a meeting with High School students that my Republican opponent chose not to attend. Instead the head of the local Republican party stood in the back of the room with a recording device. My well intentioned (and informal) effort to explain hurricane risk exposure to high school students became an "on the record" statement "that Floridians don't pay enough insurance premiums". The implication in that statement is that people should be paying more. I never said, or even implied, that.

The fact is there are plenty of articles documenting the fact that there has not been enough money paid into the system to cover the costs of a bad hurricane year. I'd recommend The Natural-Catastrophe Crisis by Michael Lewis that appeared in the August 26, 3007 New York Times Magazine Section. Here's a quote from that article:

The companies’ models disagreed here and there, but on one point they spoke with a single voice: four natural perils had outgrown the insurers’ ability to insure them — U.S. hurricane, California earthquake, European winter storm and Japanese earthquake. The insurance industry was prepared to lose $30 billion in a single event, once every 10 years. The models showed that a sole hurricane in Florida wouldn’t have to work too hard to create $100 billion in losses. There were concentrations of wealth in the world that defied the logic of insurance. And most of them were in America.

Here's another quote that deals specifically with the situation in Florida: The single biggest issue in Florida’s 2006 governor’s race, for instance, was the price of insurance. The Republican, Charlie Crist, got himself elected on the strength of his promise to reduce Floridians’ home-insurance rates by creating a state-subsidized pool of $28 billion in catastrophe insurance coverage. “Florida took this notion of spreading this risk and turned it on its head,” says one former state insurance commissioner. “They said, ‘We’re going to take all this risk ourselves.’ ” The state sold its citizens catastrophe insurance at roughly one-sixth the market rates, thus encouraging them to live in riskier places than they would if they had to pay what the market charged (and in the bargain, the state subsidized the well-to-do who live near the beach at the expense of the less-well-to-do who don’t). But if all the models are correct, $28 billion might not cover even one serious storm. The disaster waiting to happen in Florida grows bigger by the day, but for a man running for governor of Florida, ignoring it is a political no-brainer. If he’s lucky — if no big storms hit in his term — he looks like the genius who saved Floridians billions in catastrophic-risk premiums. If he’s unlucky, he bankrupts Florida and all hell breaks loose, but he can shake down the federal government to cover some of the losses.

So yeah, Floridians have not paid enough in insurance premiums to cover potential storm damage. That's what I was trying to explain the students. So much for telling the truth.

HAS A PLAN FOR PAID BEACH PARKING, BUT OPPOSES BEACH CONSERVATION/NOURISHMENT My conciliatory and speculative exploration of how free and paid beach parking might exist simultaneously became "has a plan for paid parking at the beach, but opposes beach conservation/nourishment." No mention of the fact that the concept was premised on maintaining free parking. If you want to know where they got this, see my blog on the subject of beach parking. Its pretty clear that I was trying to suggest a consensus position, not advocate all-paid parking at the beach.

I'm not really sure where the "opposes beach conservation/nourishment" came from. Maybe my position that we can't afford to nourish all 35 miles of Gulf shoreline?

LEAD THE EFFORT TO INCREASE OVER $250,000,000 IN ADDITIONAL TAXES. Guilty as charged, I guess, except the figures are wrong and the accusation fails to mention that "the effort" was repeatedly approved by (Republican) commissioners and the voting public. So sixteen years spent on behalf of the public to conceive and implement a popular environmentally sensitive lands program repeatedly endorsed by the county commission and resoundingly by the electorate became "championed the effort that led to $250,000,000 taxpayer dollars being spent to purchase land at the peak of the market." As you might imagine the total isn't $250,000,000 and very little land was purchased at the peak of the market.

More no good deed goes unpunished.

HAS NEVER CREATED A JOB OR MADE A PAYROLL and NO EXPERIENCE BRINGING JOBS TO OUR COMMUNITY This one has a definite kernel of truth, but it is implicitly based on the premise that people running for local office have to have had experience creating jobs. That's news to me. It is true that I have not held a position that had as a primary goal of job creation. [Had my opponent?] Instead I had a job instructing students about the local environment and many have stayed in the area after graduation and got or created local jobs. I believe 10% of all New College graduates live and work between Tampa and Naples. Surely my participation over a 30 year period has contributed to local employment.

But beyond preparing students to find work locally, the fact is I have created jobs here. Not a lot, but I have; both directly and indirectly. It started back in 1975 when my future wife and I created a small environmental consulting business. And yes, we did hire people on occasion to work for us.

But more importantly, I was a leader in creating the County's Environmental Lands Program, (which I was also pilloried for, see the prior accusation) a program that created the need for local acquisition agents as well as land managers. We'll work on a total.

-----•-----

I had hoped the campaign would be about issues and where the county needed to head, instead my Republican opponent descended into a litany of distorted attack ads that lacked any way for voters to independently research the truth. According to definitions provided by the Sarasota County Civic League, this appears to have been dishonest, irresponsible and disrespectful. For more on this see an earlier blog.

If you Love Your Cabbage Palms

2008-11-13T16:14:00.012-05:00

I attended (and spoke briefly) at Palm Disease Update presented by Dr. Monica Elliot, Professor of Plant Pathology and Associate Center Director of the Ft. Lauderdale Research & Education Center of the University of Florida. While Dr. Elliot covered several topics, I was most interested in Texas Phoenix Palm Disease, which is killing Cabbage Palms in Manatee County (ironically around Palmetto). For more on this phenomenon, see an earlier blog. But I ended up with new insights about why pruning cabbage palms is ill advised.

Here's my take: In my opinion, the only fronds one should remove are ones that are completely dead, the color of a manila envelope. And I'm not even sure why anyone would spend time and energy doing that.But removing green or yellow fronds has several negative effects.

1) The palm tree is able to remove nutrients from the aging frond. Removal before they are completely dead deprives the palm of these nutrients.

2) The dying fronds can serve as barometers that let plant specialists interpret nutritional deficiencies or disease. Removing these fronds can complicate diagnosis.

3) In addition, taking fronds with still-living tissue wounds the plant. Any wound is a potential entry point for insects or disease. This problem is magnified in palms, which lack the wound healing capacity of dicots.

4) Removing green fronds reduces the photosynthetic capacity of the plant. Few people would contemplate taking a third of the photosynthetic surfaces (leaves) from something like an oak, but many don't bat an eye about taking ten green fronds from a cabbage palm. This reduced capacity weakens the palm and can cause pencil-neck, a narrowing of the trunk.

These first four points all contribute to weakening the tree, the opposite effect most people want in a home landscape.

5) Some overprune to what has been called the "hurricane cut". There is no rational reason for this. If you had a hundred species of trees on your property, the last tree that might need pruning to survive a hurricane is the cabbage palm. And Dr. Elliot suggested there may be evidence that "hurricane cut" actually makes palms more vulnerable. That make some sense because the growing tip "sword frond" is more vulnerable after severe pruning.

6) Finally, it takes only seconds to pick a fallen frond off the ground. Just about anyone can do it. Removing live fronds requires far more time, the use of sharp instruments and frequently, ladders. All this increases costs and risks. Landscapers must be laughing all the way to the bank, because they are charging top dollar for dangerous work that is completely unnecessary. Cabbage palms are self pruning. The fronds fall off when they fall off and in the meantime contribute to the full spherical head that typifies the species. And who wants to be calling an insurance agent or making a trip to the emergency room to solve a problem that could have been avoided with the simple application of patience and gravity?

The photo on the right shows a young over-pruned palm. (My version shows the image with strange color.)The circles identify 21 fronds with some green left in them. Let's assume there are only 4 comparable cut fronds on the other side that we cant see, for a total of 25 missing leaves. At the top we see only a few left, maybe five. That means 5/6 (83%) of all the leaves have been removed -- a devastating loss for just about any plant.

Check out some of these other sources.

Palm Over-Pruning: What is with the 'Mohawk' Cut on Palms?

Articles about "hurricane cutting" Palm Trees

NO Harsh Pruning of the Sabal Palm!

If you don't love your cabbage palms, keep pruning. Eventually they will grow to reflect your antipathy.

Lies, inuendo, dirty tricks do the job for county GOP

2008-11-13T06:30:00.010-05:00

That's not a Jono Miller blog title. [I prefer innuendo with three 'n's. ] No, that's the headline on a story on the front page of the November 12 edition of the Pelican Press. Reporter Rick Barry provides an introduction to the shameful behavior of the local Republican leadership in the most recent election. The article is backed up with an editorial with an equally damning title: LIES, SLEAZE DEMEAN SARASOTA, THE PROCESS & GOP.

Let me be clear -- I made a lot of mistakes in my first run for office. Some were mistakes in etiquette, some in strategy and tactics. I should have worked harder and earlier on increasing name recognition. I formatted my donor envelope poorly. I have trouble remembering names. I never scheduled an interview on WENG. Etcetera. On and on.

But I campaigned hard for three hundred days, gave up half a year's salary and sunk over $20,000 of my own money into the campaign because I knew it was not a position I was entitled to, but rather something I would have to work for.

And I get it that Carolyn won. I'm not contesting, challenging or otherwise protesting that reality. Within hours of her victory I posted a blog acknowledging her win, noting its historic importance, celebrating the increased diversity on the board and wishing her Godspeed. I stand by all that.

So this is not about who won, the destination. It is about the route, how we got there.

And let's be perfectly clear: I am not starting this conversation in the wake of my loss. This is not about being some sort of "sore loser". It is about being a sorely abused candidate.

My objections began two months ago on September 14th with my blog entry Fresh Lies served on a Bed of Tossed Data: The Politics of Desperation.

Then I attended the Tiger Bay luncheon on September 18th and stepped up to the microphone to ask if the leaders of both parties if they had any standards of behavior they expected of their candidates. Not so much, it turned out.

That was followed on October 4 with the blog Mason campaign: Off Track and in the Mud?

Then it was off to USF on October 8th to hear Stephen Carter speak about Civility in Politics and Society. Again I went to the microphone to as what rules of thumb should be employed in determining when appropriate negative campaigning lapses into inappropriate dirty campaigning. If I understood Dr. Carter's answer, he recommended imagining what my mother would think and considering if it served to erode the political process. I took his advice.

On October 24th I hit the keyboard again with HELP WANTED: CIVIL ELECTION ENFORCERS.

And that was followed November 1 with Carolyn Mason: Dishonest? Irresponsible? Disrespectful? You Decide.

Which was followed with a supporter's letter Jono Miller Supporter Objects to Negative Ads Against Miller.

So long before the evening of November 4th, I was "on the record" speaking up publicly or writing about inappropriate campaign behavior. I did so no less than seven times before anyone knew the outcome of the election. In addition the publicly accessible blogs, I sent emails to the Civic League and some of the Republican supporters of Carolyn expressing my concerns PRIOR to the election.

So for me this is not a week-old story but a two month-old story.

--------•••-------

As far as I am concerned the election is settled. The behaviors of the candidate, local Republican leadership and Civic League prior to the election are not. So I'm not challenging the outcome but perhaps figuratively (and in some cases literally) what one might call the income of the election.

I appreciate the intent of Rick Barry's article. It dealt with a topic at least one writer at the Sarasota Herald Tribune was unwilling to pursue. Not really newsworthy, I guess.

And while I think Rick's characterization of Carolyn was a little harsh (and I fear the editorial may have inappropriately resorted to journalistic paralipsis, if not proslepsis) I believe he raised several issues that must be aired and resolved.

Our civic process here in Sarasota has sustained a grievous wound. It has been there awhile and after each election, we wrap it with a another layer of reassuringly sterile gauze while the underlying infection festers. Eventually, two or four years later, the putrescence seeps through and we add another layer, telling ourselves that this time we are on the road to recovery. But down deep we know that's not true. We need to unwrap this thing, expose it to the light of day, remove the necrosis and do what is necessary to really promote healing. If we don't we will lose the limb, if not the body politic.

The Pelican Press has taken the lead in exploring these issues. It remains to be seen if anyone else thinks this topic is worth the ink. I can assure you that there is more out there that is not merely newsworthy, but crucial to establishing both civility and a working two party system in Sarasota.

Unconditional Surrender

2008-11-09T08:07:00.005-05:00

It is interesting to compare the memorable iconic image of the Second World War with the Vietnam War. They were, for the most part, posed, if not outright staged: the Betty Grable’s pinup shot, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill at Malta; MacArthur wading ashore at Leyte, and raising the flag on Iwo Jima.

Although I was not born when the photo was taken, it has intersected with my life in two ways.

First, VJ Day (August 14th in the US) was my father’s birthday. So every year we were celebrating both my father’s birthday and VJ day.

I’m happy to let others decide whether it should be a temporary or permanent addition to the Sarasota, but I have three observations to share about the piece.

First, while I like the vista of it coming down 41, I wish it was set apart more with less background clutter.

Finally, while I love the photo and like the sculpture, I hate the title. For those whose don’t get the connection to Emperor Hirohito’s Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, the sculpture must seem to be about the nurse’s unconditional surrender. No doubt Johnson intended the play on words. But it seems to me that misses the point – her “surrender” to a kiss from a stranger was completely conditional – it would not have happened on August 13 or August 15. The kiss was conditioned by the euphoria of the end of the war. For me, Seward’s title coverts exuberance into submission.

Recycle Those Campaign Yard Signs!

2008-11-06T20:40:00.005-05:00

Yes, those political campaign yard and highway signs can be recycled. I'm talking about those "corrugated" (actually twinwall) plastic signs. They are #5 polypropylene. Take them to the Recycled Plastic Man in Englewood at 530 Paul Morris Dr. (off South River Road). They are open from 7-4 on weekdays. For more on this this topic, see my earlier blog Ab out those plastic campaign signs. . . recyclable? resusable?

What Happened? How Jono Miller Ran What Looked Like a Winning Campaign and Lost an Election

2008-11-05T16:02:00.011-05:00

A few weeks out, by many measures, my campaign seemed to be ahead -- whether measured by number of donors, newspaper endorsements, contributions, bi-partisan support, county and regional knowledge, internet presence, forum performance, years of community service, etc. But while the local press obsessed on how much money had come into my campaign in modest amounts of $200 and less, it now appears Republican partisans were quietly assembling a war chest of big donations to defeat me, an amount that may have totaled over $100,000. If confirmed, this means that despite my record-breaking fundraising effort, Carolyn's team actually outspent me.

I'm told the money was not routed through Carolyn Mason's campaign account, but took a more circuitous route that allows the supporters of three candidates to pool advertising resources outside their respective campaign accounts. It is believed that most, if not all, of the money was diverted to support Carolyn Mason, and not the other two members, Marie Nisco and Donna Clarke. The result was a surge of television and radio ads that continually bathed the electorate during the last couple of weeks of the campaign. The ads ran from positive personal narratives to negative attack ads that, according to definitions provided by the Civic League of Sarasota, appear to be dishonest, irresponsible and disrespectful. This is the twin-pronged strategy that drove up both Carolyn's positives and my negatives. Outspent by five or six to one on media, I faced an onslaught that running a clean campaign based on direct mail, signage and personal appearances could not surmount. So I lost.

As far as I can tell, this is the first time a candidate employing negative attack ads has been elected to the Sarasota County Commission. In my opinion, the successful intrusion at the county level of dirty attack-style ads we usually associate with state and national level contests does not bode well for our community.

If you have additional information about the details of this story, please contact me at jonocampaign@gmail.com.

Jono Miller Reflects on Carolyn Mason's Victory

2008-11-05T00:55:00.006-05:00

Carolyn Mason's election is a historic first for our county, one for which we may all feel proud. In fact, had Carolyn Mason announced she was running for the District 1 seat last November, I'm not sure I would have filed to run against her -- not because I didn't believe I would have been a superior commissioner, but because I believe our County would be well served with a more diverse commission. But that's not how things happened -- Carolyn chose to run against me and a few hours ago she won.

I don't think this is the place to explore how I lost, but I am willing to summarize how I think she won. Carolyn is warm and approachable, an experienced campaigner, and she started with 12% advantage in terms of party registration. Add to that her former Mayor name recognition and top of the list ballot placement. It is not widely known, but she hired a very skilled Republican strategist (yet another JM) and was very careful where and how and when she presented herself. She employed an intriguing advertising strategy, a mix of positive personal narrative and negative attack ads, which I suggest elsewhere were dishonest, irresponsible and disrespectful. And while her campaign fundraising was a fraction of mine, large sums of money were spent on her behalf. That's a difficult hand to beat.

As for me, I had several goals when I filed 300 days ago. Winning, of course was the ultimate goal, but along the way I resolved to:

1) Make sure all voters had a choice in the general election,

2) demonstrate that a Democrat could be competitive in terms of fundraising, endorsements and bi-partisan support,

3) communicate to the public through blogging, and

4) run a clean campaign.

In retrospect, I hit four out of five goals -- I just didn't happen to win.

While I've grown close with most of my 18 fellow Democratic candidates it is probably no surprise that I feel closest to my fellow New College candidates, Keith Fitzgerald, Adam Tebrugge and Ryan Stanley. I sense we all share that desire to win, a desire that is tempered by principle and that principle is that there are more important things than winning.

On several occasions I was approached with information or strategies to use that I felt were contrary to the pledge I signed for the Civic League. I just couldn't go there. The lyric from Loggins & Messina's Golden Ribbons seemed to sum it up: "What does it avail a man, to gain a fortune and lose his soul?"

In thirty years and, in particular, the last 300 days I have gained some insight into the magnitude of the job of county commissioner. Godspeed Carolyn.

Jono Miller reflects on his 300 day campaign

2008-11-03T22:35:00.004-05:00

After 2,505 petition forms, 80 blog entries, more than 1,000 contributions, and a half year's foregone salary; my 300 day foray into the world of candidates and campaigns has come to a close. For once, I can type the often-trite saying "Today is the first day of the rest of my life" without fear of contradiction or overstatement. Unless there is a serious malfunction, less than 22 hours from now I'll know if I am about to become a county commissioner or about to create yet another job here in Sarasota County (yes, I do that occasionally).

At this point I'm aware of many of the mistakes I've made as a candidate and still disappointed that at least one of my opponents sought the low road. That, I believe, is a road that is easy to drive, but ultimately lonely. As for me, I've done what I could to run a clean, respectful campaign and overall this has been a very positive, affirming experience replete with new friendships, allies and insights about Sarasota County. And, whatever the outcome, I will fall asleep sometime before the morning of the fifth knowing that when it comes to life's roads; I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Jono Miller Supporter Objects to Negative Ads Against Miller

2008-11-03T10:34:00.003-05:00

The following was submitted as a possible letter to the Editor by a Jono Miller supporter. It is titled: WITH NEGATIVE POLITICAL PAC ADS, IT IS ANY WONDER THAT SOMEONE OF JONO MILLER'S TALENT RARELY RUNS FOR OFFICE?

As a small business owner and active member of a local community civic association in Sarasota County, I feel compelled to speak out regarding the type of negative, misleading, and mean-spirited PAC ad that is being aired about Jono Miller who is running for Sarasota County Commissioner, District 1.

I have known and worked with Jono on various Sarasota County community issues over the past 20 years and believe that he would be mentioned a list of those that have contributed to the legacy and enviable quality of life that we all enjoy in Sarasota County. From his tireless work in protecting our most valuable natural resources as chairman of Sarasotas Environmental Sensitive Lands Protection Program to addressing important economic and social issues through his leadership with Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence (SCOPE), Jono has consistently demonstrated a rare talent in being able to understand diverse perspectives and find common ground solutions. This talent is often missing but is desperately needed in our political deliberations. We are blessed that someone of Jono's character, talent, and proven commitment is willing to consider serving in public office.

The truth is that because of his proven track record in finding common ground solutions, Jono has broad support among both local business and civic leaders in Sarasota County. And throughout his campaign he has consistently stated that his top priorities will include promoting local businesses, keeping talent here, and diversifying our economy. All are essential for our economy and enviable quality of life to be sustainable and thrive in the 21st century.

Carolyn Mason: Dishonest? Irresponsible? Disrespectful? You Decide.

2008-11-01T19:01:00.009-04:00

Like me, County Commission candidate Carolyn Mason was deemed to "exceed qualifications" by the Sarasota County Civic League and, like me, she signed a League pledge to avoid negative advertisements, a term that has actually been defined by the Civic League (see below). I turned the other cheek when Carolyn sent her first mailer that was dishonest, in part because I believe she mailed it before signing the pledge. But now, after signing the pledge, she is running a TV spot that is simultaneously dishonest*, irresponsible*, and disrespectful* and has sent out another mailer laden with dishonest distortions and half truths.

If you've seen the TV spot you know it makes three assertions about me. I have neither a script nor a transcript, but if someone will produce a copy of the ad, I will gladly debate the veracity of each statement. My contention is Carolyn's claims are lies, distortions or half-truths, or, as the League would say: dishonest.

This is where it would help to have objective civic body to investigate the veracity of such claims. But the Civic League is apparently unwilling to enforce or adjudicate the the terms of pledge, and no other civic organization seems to want to step up. So it is left to people like myself to question behavior like this: What kind of person signs a pledge and then violates it?

But this is not merely an ad consisting of what I take to be dishonest assertions. It features a corpulent man in a tutu dancing below my name. It is not clear if the man is meant to represent me or not, but putting someone's name on the screen along with an image of a person is a traditional technique for identifying someone.

At the risk of losing the corpulent, cross-dressing danseur vote, I get the sense that I am not being treated as a worthy citizen and individual -- meeting the League's definition of disrespectful. And I think it is pretty clear the ad degrades the tenor of public discourse and heightens cynicism about the electoral process. That, according to the League, makes it irresponsible.

I have already blogged about the "politics of desperation" but this is a new low.

I've worked for three decades to establish my reputation here in Sarasota County. Now a woman I assumed to be honorable is deliberately misrepresenting my views and actions for crass political advantage. That behavior that is hard for me to respect.

My moral compass prevents me from responding in kind. My final week TV ads are all positive and don't mention my opponents. I didn't even contemplate scripting or shoot any attack ads. Of my five mailers, only a portion of one could be considered negative and that contains independently-verifiable statements based on my opponents record as an elected official, which virtually everyone has told me is fair game.

If one has to be dishonest, irresponsible and disrespectful to win an election around here then I fear for our community and society.

_________________________

The following definitions are used by the Civic League to characterize various forms of political advertising.

*dishonest if they base their messages on lies or subtle deceptions and half truths

*irresponsible if they degrade the tenor of public discourse and heighten cynicism about the electoral process

*disrespectful if they refuse to treat the opposing candidate as a worthy citizen and individual

Venice Gondolier Sun Endorses Jono Miller

2008-10-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

October 26 • A sixth county newspaper, the Venice Gondolier Sun, has weighed in, and like its sister publications, the Englewood Sun Herald and North Port Sun, it is endorsing Jono Miller. Those papers join the Pelican Press and Sarasota Herald Tribune in endorsing Miller. The Sarasota Observer found Miller to be the "most ready and most qualified", but went on to endorse John Mullarkey. Text of the Gondolier appears below.

OUR VIEW

Jono Miller for Sarasota County Commission

Ashort time ago, we gently jabbed the candidates for the District 1 seat on the Sarasota County Commission for what we saw to be their shortcomings on South County issues.

The editorial came after a South County homeowners’ forum, when some in the audience told us they were underimpressed by North County candidates’ answers.

The following day we got a call from one candidate, Jono Miller, objecting. He had a firm grasp of southern issues, he said, and sent us a long, detailed column to prove it.

We were impressed. First, Miller obviously did know his stuff. Second, he really cared that we knew it. (After his column ran, Republican candidate Carolyn Mason submitted one that we printed Friday.)

We are recommending Miller for the commission seat because of his command of the issues affecting all of Sarasota County, including those specific to the southern portion, as well as his common sense, his thoughtful approach to questions and his ability to articulate positions.

Miller, a Democrat, is facing Mason and independent John Mullarkey in the race for the North County seat being vacated by Commissioner Paul Mercier.

Mullarkey has business experience, but none in elective office.

Mason is an excellent candidate who has served on the Sarasota City Commission, including a rotating stint as mayor. She works for Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army. She has a strong background and a good understanding of county politics and issues.

Miller has been involved with county environmental preservation for three decades. He has been director of the environmental studies program at New College in Sarasota until going on leave when he officially launched his campaign. Miller conducted an environmental assessment of the Myakka State Forest many years ago when the state bought the property, so he is familiar with the area.

“I feel like I have a relationship with North Port,” he said.

Asked for an analysis of the reasons for lingering bad blood between North Port and the county, Miller thought it could be traced to General Development Corp.’s original design of the sprawling community and the threat its growth may pose to the city of Sarasota.

“It’s not the fault of residents and the city of North Port that they were dealt a dirty hand,” he told us. He felt that fresh faces on the city and county commissions could help forge a new, positive relationship.

Miller also said it was likely that a new jail would need to be built in the county, and that North Port could be a good place for it, especially since it might become a major employer.

While this would be his first elective office, Miller has had extensive service on a variety of county boards. He’s been on on the board of the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program, chair of the oversight committee on voting systems, and the county Parks Advisory and Recreation Council.

Miller has a good grasp of details on a variety of subjects. More than that, though, we were impressed with his thoughtful approach and what seemed to be a natural drift toward balance on the issues. He will be a positive addition.

We recommend Jono Miller for the District 1 seat on the Sarasota County Commission.

What Five Sarasota County Newspaper Editorials are Saying About County Commission Candidate Jono Miller

2008-10-25T22:04:00.002-04:00

While thousands of Sarasotans have already voted, some local newspapers have not yet endorsed in the remaining Sarasota County Commission contest. Of the five that have endorsed, four and a half* find Jono Miller to be the most qualified.

* The Sarasota Observer found Jono to be the "most ready and qualified for the position" and then endorsed John Mullarkey. Jono will settle for most qualified.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

. . . he has repeatedly been willing to work on citizen committees with representatives of broad interests, including developers and business owners.

. . . his campaign has attracted the support of many Republicans, in addition to Democrats and independents, as well as a wide ranges of land-use planners, business leaders and community activists.

. . . Miller’s wide-ranging knowledge and experiences, his well-organized campaign and his voice of reason on contentious issues give him the edge. We recommend Jono Miller for Sarasota County Commission, District 1.

North Port Sun

We were impressed. First, Miller obviously did know his stuff. Second, he really cared that we knew it.

Sarasota Observer

. . .Miller is the candidate most ready and qualified for the position. He has an expert grasp of the issues . . .

. . . Miller gets it: He understands that the top challenge for Sarasota County is creating an environment that will lead to job and business growth.

Pelican Press

We are fortunate that one of the candidates in this race not only meets but exceeds these requirements – Jono Miller.

His campaign finances show healthy contributions from the development community. For a well-known environmentalist to receive such contributions is a refreshing change, and an example of Miller’s ability to create consensus.

We believe Jono Miller is uniquely qualified in these uncertain times to provide a steady hand at the county commission. Despite his assigning Midnight Pass a low priority, we endorse Miller for the District One seat on the Sarasota County Commission.

Englewood Sun

Miller has a good grasp of details on a variety of subjects. More than that, though, we were impressed with his thoughtful approach and what seemed to be a natural drift toward balance on the issues. He will be a positive addition.

The Sun recommends Jono Miller for the District 1 seat on the Sarasota County Commission.

Jono Miller Endorsed by Englewood Sun

2008-10-25T09:47:00.003-04:00

Jono Miller picked up his fourth major newspaper endorsement when the Englewood Sun endorsed his candidacy. (The others are the Sarasota Herald Tribune, Pelican Press, and North Port Sun). Here's part of what the Englewood Sun said: We were impressed. First, Miller obviously did know his stuff. Second, he really cared that we knew it. We are recommending Miller for the commission seat because of his command of the issues affecting all of Sarasota County, including those specific to the southern portion, as well as his common sense, his thoughtful approach to questions and his ability to articulate positions.

HELP WANTED: CIVIL ELECTION ENFORCERS

2008-10-24T18:56:00.005-04:00

HELP WANTED: CIVIL ELECTION ENFORCERS Part time. No pay, intangible rewards. Some heavy lifting. Must possess backbone, gonads or other body parts that covert well-meaning intention to action. Some experience preferred. Sarasota County is looking for dedicated citizens willing to stop the degrading and deceitful campaigning that is eroding civil government, compromising public faith in elections and elected leaders, and discouraging well-meaning citizens from considering politics.

I haven't had it bad, so far. But the ungrounded, unfounded attack ads of others that I see on TV and some mailers are so pernicious that it is past time for citizens who care about local government to stop relying on civility workshops, pledges, forums, and speeches and step up. Sarasota deserves better. Fact is, our local lectures and high-minded campaigns about civility and civil discourse are meaningless if no one objects when bad behavior appears. And the silence has been deafening. We can do better.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

North Port Sun Endorses Jono Miller

2008-10-24T08:16:00.002-04:00

Long-awaited endorsements from South Sarasota County are coming in and the North Port Sun has endorsed Jono Miller, a north county resident who has been visiting (and learning about) North Port since the early 80's. Miller's broad knowledge of the entire county seems to be reflected in the editorial endorsement. This is Miller's third local newspaper endorsement.

Excerpts from the Endorsement:

We were impressed. First, Miller obviously did know his stuff. Second, he really cared that we knew it.

We are recommending Miller for the commission seat because of his command of the issues affecting all of Sarasota County, including those specific to the southern portion, as well as his common sense, his thoughtful approach to questions and his ability to articulate positions.

“ I feel like I have a relationship with North Port,” he said.
Asked for an analysis of the reasons for lingering bad blood between North Port and the county, Miller thought it could be traced to General Development Corp.’s original design of the sprawling community and the threat its growth may pose to Sarasota City.
“It’s not the fault of residents and the city of North Port that they were dealt a dirty hand,” he told us. He felt fresh faces on the city and county commissions could help forge a new, positive relationship.

Miller has a good grasp of details on a variety of subjects. More than that, though, we were impressed with his thoughtful approach and what seemed to be a natural drift toward balance on the issues. He will be a positive addition.

The Sun recommends Jono Miller for the District 1 seat on the Sarasota County Commission.

Eight Former Sarasota Mayors Endorse Jono Miller for the County Commission

2008-10-23T07:11:00.000-04:00

October 23 • Three mayors were missing when five former City Of Sarasota mayors gathered on the Sarasota bayfront recently for an unprecedented photo. The eight mayors are all endorsing Jono Miller, candidate for Sarasota County Commission from District One. Mayors at the gathering included Mollie Cardamone, William Kline, Richard Martin, David Merrill, and Rita Roehr. Mayors Fredd Atkins, Mary Anne Servian, and Jack Gurney didn't make the impromptu reunion. The eight city leaders, Republicans and Democrats alike, represent a surprising show of political unity that boosts Miller's claims that he not only knows the county better than his opponents, but also has significant city credentials. Their bipartisan show of support adds to his growing list of organizational and personal endorsements.

"Jono is very knowledgeable of the county issues and needs. He has the experience and leadership to make some much needed positive change for Sarasota County," Former Democratic mayor Mollie Cardamone commented. Former Republican mayor Rita Roehr added, "Jono has only the best interest of Sarasota County in mind."

Miller said the numerous endorsements were the result of his work with city leaders over more than three decades: "My opponent kept emphasizing the valuable insight and experience that comes from being mayor, so I decided to call some of the former mayors I had worked with. I asked 13. One said she was already committed to my opponent, four said they would be neutral, and eight said they would endorse me."

"I am deeply honored because not only do these mayors know the city and its relationship to the county commission, but they also know my opponent and myself. They are therefore uniquely qualified to offer opinions about what kind of county leadership are needed and their overwhelming support for my candidacy speaks for itself."

Miller's Republican opponent, Carolyn Mason, lists just one former mayor on her website, Republican Lou Ann Palmer.

After the photo shoot the bipartisan group headed to a local restaurant to reminisce about the city and discuss the challenges Jono will face on the commission.

Although Miller once lived outside the city in the unincorporated county for twelve years, his record of service to the city stretches back to 1977 when he was appointed to the City's Parks and Recreation Board at age 26. For the past 16 years, Miller has been at the center of the county's environmentally sensitive lands program, which has protected nearly 45 square miles of local shorelines, hammocks, and prairies. Despite receiving the County's Lifetime Achievement award for his conservation work, Miller says his perspective has broadened in recent years.

"The metaphor is I no longer color with just the green crayons. I'm deeply committed not only to the wild areas of the county, but the cities as well – if the cities aren't working, people will leave, creating decay and sprawl."

The restaurant conversation included not only national topics that ranged from Wall Street to Wasilla, but also the difficult local economic situation the new commission will face in November. Miller conceded the commission will have to deal with tough choices, but said he is ready to focus on steps to re-energize the local economy.

"The county, SCOPE and the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce have all recently announced major efforts to understand and support the local economy and I'm committed to all three. I think our goal needs to be to make Sarasota County simultaneously known for its environment-friendly businesses and its business-friendly environment."

In addition to his environmental leadership, Jono has volunteered his time and talent by serving in leadership positions on numerous boards and committees geared to improving the community. Jono has served as president of the New College Alumnae Association Board, on SCOPE (where he served a term as chairman and was co-chair of the project on Aging), on the board of his neighborhood association, on the Booker Elementary School's Student-Parent Management Team, and was recruited by the county commission to serve on the Sarasota County Citizen Oversight Committee on Voting Systems, which he ended up chairing.

Jono Miller: Facebook, YouTube, Webpage, Blog "Four-fold Campaign Internet Seems to Work"

2008-10-22T18:40:00.008-04:00

Sure, Barack Obama has success with his high-end website. But does it make a difference locally? Based on traffic I say yes. Web Designer Nikki Kostyun has overhauled the old format, making it easier to read and easier for me to keep current. Our new webpage layout may be responsible or it may simply be that people now crave information about candidates, but my website traffic has been increasing dramatically, with over 50 visits on Monday alone and new visitors outnumbering returns 2 to 1. And website totals show over 2,150 distinct "absolute unique" visitors have checked it out. You can check out the new look too -- simply click on the highlighted text. Combine the website with the blog that now has over 1,500 'reads' on Sarasota Speaks and the YouTube Video from January (152 views) and the Facebook campaign group Jono Miller for Sarasota County Commission '08 (118 members) and -- if everyone visiting these sites like what they see and votes in Sarasota -- that could make a big difference on November 4th.

Herald Tribune Notes Jono Miller has Raised More Than One Hundred Thousand Dollars

2008-10-22T06:38:00.007-04:00

October 22 • A front page story in the Sarasota Herald Tribune's local section covers the fact that I've raised the most money in county history for a county commission race. That should help sell papers. Of course, curious citizens could have read my blog entry from October 7th for free to learn more about this phenomenon. What I failed to mention, and is absent from the Tribune story, is the fact that, because this is a race that will be decided in the general election, 222,000 are expected to vote, not a lower turnout primary (Staub - who won with a total 48,000 voting) or uncontested race (Thaxton). Reaching and persuading the majority of 222,000 costs a lot more than reaching half of 48,000 [Although to be fair, Shannon Staub did not know in advance precisely which 48,000 would be voting.]

Read the Tribune Story here.

An excerpt from the article:

He is unapologetic about his support from the county to the north.

"I don't know why it's more ominous to have money from an out-of-county developer than in an in-county developer," Miller said.

Developers have always contributed to County Commission candidates, and Miller says it reflects well on him that he has been able to court their contributions.

"It's a lot of money," he said. "I wish we could do it some other way, but there's no point in showing up at a gunfight with a knife."

An excerpt from my earlier blog:

Here's what voters need to ask themselves: Would we rather have:

1) a leading environmentalist with the endorsement of the Sierra Club, a reputation for being "a voice of reason", and a three decade track record of consistent defense of the environment supported by some developers and hundreds of citizens,

2) candidates with no stated environmental credentials being supported by some other developers or having no significant grassroots support?

Jono Miller Reflects on October 19th and Asks for Your Vote

2008-10-20T05:53:00.006-04:00

I’m writing late on October 19th to tell you that, on the eve of early voting, despite the polls, pundits, and predictions, no one knows the outcome of any of the pending elections. No one knows exactly how Obama or McCain will do in the popular or electoral vote and no one knows how Carolyn, John and myself will fare in the one remaining undecided county commission contest. But before I tell you that I need to tell you about four inspirational moments of the day: one walk and two talks and two runs.

Six weeks ago two women decided to organize a bridge walk in support of the Obama campaign. They did, and so, at noon, Julie and I found ourselves converging on a corner with a crowd ultimately estimated to be between 3,500 and 5,000. It wasn’t that long ago that comparable numbers were signing an online petition to object to renaming the Ringling bridge; but 4,000 digital signatures is nothing like 4,000 like-minded people moving forward towards a goal, whether that goal is walking across a bridge and back or electing Barack Obama. Or both. The energy contained in that group of Sarasotans was unlike anything I had experienced around here before. The newspaper makes it sound like a tee-shirt sale and estimates the crowd at half that, but it was clearly more than a tee-shirt sale and clearly more than 2,000 people.

Late in the afternoon I found myself sitting under a jacaranda, my feet scuffing a lawn and facing a group of maybe 40 neighbors south of downtown. I’ve grown weary of the sandblasted No Solicitation signs that seem to decorate so many deed-restricted developments in our county. The other week one couple offered to ‘call the cops’ when I knocked on their door (I hadn’t seen the sign). I’m sure most Americans would look askance at a foreign country if we were told their candidates were not allowed to introduce themselves to the citizenry. But there are dozens of ‘communities’ where not only political signs are banned but also the candidates themselves. So it was refreshing to address a group of neighbors that actually wanted to hear from candidates. It was democracy in action and had Norman Rockwell been alive, he might have tried to capture the moment.

Finally, there was the Democrats fundraising dinner at Michael’s on East. I’m sure you can imagine how tedious a fundraising dinner might be. And there were the obligatory name tags, the program at the place setting and the chicken. But we were graced with the presence of an American who had covered more ground than most, John Lewis, a sharecropper’s son who now represents Georgia’s fifth congressional district. Along the way he participated in the Selma to Montgomery march and spoke at the same event that featured Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech. He is living testimony to the quest for rights and a very compelling speaker. My wife and I are honored to know a man who helped Representative Lewis in his first run for Congress. Julie spoke with him about that common friend - in addition to thanking him for his service, I spoke with him about raising chickens.

Some will remember October 19th 2008 as the day the Rays made it to the World Series, leading by two runs, but for me that was just one of four memorable events. And despite its significance it was the only one of the four that I experienced vicariously, as a spectator. There is something about directly participating in democracy that is unlike anything TV can offer.

Early voting starts today and I need your help. This is your chance to directly participate in Democracy. As you may know, I’m ahead by many measures of campaigns – newspaper endorsements, days campaigning, number of contributors, dollars raised, blog entries read (over 1.500 now), etc. But I hope, we hope, that none of that matters in our system of government – what matters is the number of votes. Whether you are a regular blog reader of mine or this is your first visit; please send a link to your friends and neighbors, telling them about my candidacy and encouraging them to vote for me.

Tell them three major newspapers in the County find me to be the most qualified. Tell them I am the most committed to communicating with the public. Tell them to do their own research. Tell them about whatever you find compelling (see the poll in the upper right hand corner of the blog). But tell them to vote.

Observer finds Jono Miller Most Qualified, Then Endorses Mullarkey

2008-10-17T07:56:00.003-04:00

October 17 • The Observer family of newspapers has released its candidate endorsements. While it is no surprise that incumbent Democrat, Barbara Ford-Coates, has the best credentials for Tax Collector, it was a surprise that the Observer actually went for a Democrat. But that was it for the Democratic candidates. In the District 1 County Commission race, Jono Miller got rave reviews, then lost ground for providing leadership on one of the most popular and successful county programs -the Environmentally Sensitive Lands initiative that used voter-approved funds to protect nearly 45 square miles of the county through a willing seller program.

An excerpt of the Observer's comments about Jono appears below. (If you want to read what was said about John Mullarkey, pick up a copy of the Observer or maybe he will post the text on his blog.)

This race has two of the most thoughtful candidates in the entire field-- Democrat Jono Miller and Mullarkey. Of the two, Miller is the candidate most ready and qualified for the position. He has an expert grasp of the issues and would raise the commission’s intellectual capital.

Our one hesitation with Miller has been his support of a county tax to buy private land from preservation. Except for that, Miller gets it: He understands that the top challenge for Sarasota County is creating an environment that will lead to job and business growth. He understands that stopping sprawl and limiting densities and heights are conflicting policies. Of the two, he supports higher densities.

Pelican Press Endorses Jono Miller for the Sarasota County Commission

2008-10-15T22:09:00.007-04:00

October 15 • Just one day after another leading newspaper announced its preference in the District 1 County Commission contest, the Pelican Press has announced it is endorsing Jono Miller. In doing so, the Pelican Press demonstrated it is willing to look at the complete record and not get derailed by a single issue.

Although it is commonly reported that I am "a professor" at New College, I never have been a member of the faculty and I take pains to clarify that my position as Director of the Environmental Studies Program was an administrative position that allowed me opportunities to teach in collaboration with New College faculty members.

The text of the Pelican Press endorsement appears below.

The Sarasota County Commission District 1 race this year is especially important. The successful candidate must be prepared to create a balanced budget in a time of increasing economic stress and revisit county building and zoning regulations to create new codes.

The strengthening of the urban services boundary by referendum earlier this year places special requirements on the commissioners to weigh carefully urban in-fill development. And the county’s program of sustainability, preservation of natural spaces and park lands will be under stress.

These are challenging matters that demand experience, talent and education of the people who will be addressing them. We are fortunate that one of the candidates in this race not only meets but exceeds these requirements – Jono Miller.

A professor of environmental studies at New College, Miller has participated in countywide environmental assessments for more than 20 years. He is also one of the founders of the Environmentally Sensitive Lands program.

Miller’s campaign is reaching "across the aisle" to the business community by promising a more business-friendly atmosphere in county government. And he is a proponent of in-fill development. His campaign finances show healthy contributions from the development community. For a well-known environmentalist to receive such contributions is a refreshing change, and an example of Miller’s ability to create consensus.

Republican Carolyn Mason, a former city commissioner and mayor of the City of Sarasota, is his principal opponent. She, too, has a long resumé of civic activity at the local and state level. However, we already have one former Sarasota mayor on the commission – Nora Patterson – and we think two mayors would be one too many.

An independent candidate John Mullarkey, is also running as a fiscal conservative. "We’re going into times now where ideology doesn’t count. Numbers count," he said.

All three candidates promise to promote the local economy and preserve the environment. However, two real-time issues show differences between the candidates – building a baseball stadium and reopening Midnight Pass. Mason favors both. Mullarkey wants to reopen the pass and ignore the stadium. Miller thinks the current baseball financing plan "is disingenuous" and does "not feel re-opening the pass is a good investment at this time."

We steadfastly have supported reopening Midnight Pass for two decades, but it is not our only issue. We believe Jono Miller is uniquely qualified in these uncertain times to provide a steady hand at the county commission. Despite his assigning Midnight Pass a low priority, we endorse Miller for the District One seat on the Sarasota County Commission.

Jono Miller Endorsed by Sarasota Herald-Tribune

2008-10-14T22:36:00.004-04:00

I was humbled and honored this morning by the Herald-Tribune's glowing endorsement. Here's what they singled out:

• Wide-ranging knowledge and experiences

• Well-organized campaign

• Voice of reason on contentious issues

The final two sentences are shown below:

Why is Jono Miller ahead in campaign fundraising?

2008-10-07T06:24:00.005-04:00

People are curious about my demonstrated ability to raise campaign funds -- particularly when I am a Democrat with a proven environmental record. They're wondering how I've managed to raise more than four times as much money as my nearest competitor. There are several contributing factors.

First, I started earlier -- a lot earlier-- early January versus nearly June. That meant I had raised over $45,000 before my nearest competitor got to $10,000. So the $30,000 I have in the bank going into the home stretch is roughly the head start I created for myself by committing early and fully to the campaign.

Secondly, I have more contributors. If I added correctly, I have 739 contributions and my nearest competitor less than one sixth that number (119). The large number of contributions reflects my county-wide grassroots support. People may suspect I am getting all the big $200 maximum contributions, but the fact is I have the lowest average contribution level of all three candidates ($43 less, on average than my nearest competitor). That lower average amount reflects the support of hundreds of citizens who believe in what I am trying to accomplish.

Third, I am working harder. Not only did I start earlier, but I took a half year's unpaid leave from my job to pursue this post. That means I am working every day, most of the day, on the campaign. That's a big campaign advantage (and a big hole in our family income) that results in more contributions.

Finally, there have been some raised eyebrows about "developers" and worse (apparently) "out of county developers". A recent blog stated: Though Mason’s campaign has tried to paint Miller as an anti-growth candidate, Miller has been receiving money from big name developers in the region. . .

Here's the deal (you may want to read this sitting down): Developers do not sit out county commission races. They pick candidates and back them. I hope I'm not shattering anyone's illusions when I point out that everyone sitting on the County Commission today has received significant money from developers. In fact, it is not clear someone can be elected without significant developer support. I have some, but by no means all, local developers supporting me. Read my Republican opponent's contributor lists and you'll find "big name" development interests. Read her website and find a list of endorsers that is conspicuous for its lack of any environmental support.

Here's what voters need to ask themselves: Would we rather have:

2) candidates with no stated environmental credentials being supported by some other developers or having no significant grassroots support?

Mason campaign: off track and in the mud?

2008-10-04T14:09:00.008-04:00

One interview question candidates are supposed to be ready for is the dreaded "What are your weaknesses?" query. If you are too honest you can look vulnerable and ineffective, yet too macho an answer makes one seem to be arrogant and clueless.

I always thought that I would say I am too trusting. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, assuming they are honorable until proven otherwise.

And that's how I've approached all my many opponents in this first District contest for the county commission.

If you had asked me a week ago about Carolyn Mason, I would have said she is an honorable person. But, sadly, her first campaign mailing suggests that I may have been too trusting.

I'm not going to wade in to contradict her claims point by point -- I wont take the bait -- forcing an opponent to repeat an accusation to deny it is a tired, but proven, tactic rumored to have reached its apogee with LBJ who, according to legend, managed to involve a pig and an opponent in the process.

So let's look at the other column -- where she features herself. Her mailing features a list, not of accomplishments, but of causes or concepts she "supports". Most of the checked off boxes identify feelgood goals that anyone could sign up for. That's great. But voters might want to know what has she has actually done to cap wasteful government spending, promote green building, invest in alternative fuels (!), provide incentives for existing companies and reduce congestion, sprawl, and out of control growth?

Because I've actually worked on some of those and don't recall working alongside her.

When Carolyn entered the contest she was quoted as saying she was going to run on her record. I'm waiting to see exactly what that consists of. Instead, her first big attempt to communicate with the voters says nothing about anything she has done and instead focuses on things I have supposedly done or said. Her accusations are blend of information taken out of context, deliberate misunderstanding, and distortion with just enough connection to reality to seem plausible.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Allright, let's do one example:

First you need to know I showed up to a "Teens Tackle Politics" event to answer questions from teens, many of whom probably are not yet voters. I did it because it was the right thing to do and a similar earlier event had been canceled. Carolyn Mason was not there to speak or answer questions.

Now check out the Oct 5th Sunday Sarasota Herald Tribune and find the story about how exposed we are financially if we have a really bad hurricane. As you read you'll find passages like the following:

If Florida is unable to borrow after a major storm, nearly every insurance company operating in the state will come up short. Scores of insurers could find themselves unable to pay claims.

Homeowners would be left with late checks at best; at worst, with no money, insolvent insurers, and a clogged guarantee fund that itself must sell bonds to pay claims.

Florida's gambit to reduce insurance rates could bankrupt the state, paralyze its economy and leave tens of thousands homeless without money to rebuild.

What does that boil down to? It boils down to the fact that the amount paid in premiums by Floridians isn't sufficient to cover damages if we have a really bad hurricane year. I don't think that's a secret, but not everyone knows it. So when I tried to explain that sobering reality to that group of high school students, a grinning political operative was standing in the back of the room with a recording device -- and now I'm labeled as the guy that is "on the record" as believing Floridians don't pay enough in insurance premiums. Well, reality sucks sometimes. We're in a pickle because of the failure to understand hurricane risk exposure in Florida. That was my point. But the reader is meant to conclude that I favor charging people more, when I've never said that.

Perhaps some neutral outside entity will examine her other claims about me and provide an independent reality check. As for me, for now, I am going to try a little Matthew 5:39 and turn the other cheek.

After all, maybe Carolyn got some bad advice, or never saw the mailer -- her first name is actually spelled incorrectly in one place. In my experience most people are pretty good at recognizing errors in their own name so I'm wondering if maybe she didn't get to spend a lot of time reviewing the mailer?

And the producers were evidently in such a hurry to get it out that they incorrectly (and illegally?) listed her as running in District 5. That's the seat currently held by Jon Thaxton. Oops.

But if Carolyn is the honorable person I have taken her to be, she will renounce the distortions and lies (and typos), communicate that to the voters, and put her campaign back on a track of honest dealing. I owe her that opportunity.

WHY CAMPAIGNS RACE TO THE BOTTOM

The premise of dirty campaign tactics is based on the human weakness that I mentioned at the beginning of this entry. It relies on voters wanting to trust candidates. We would like to be able to trust people, particularly people running for office. So we extend trust --trusting that when their name appears on something that they approved, that it must be true. One would hope. Sadly, all too often it isn't.

I have worked for thirty years to earn a reputation for honesty. And I keep working. That's why you can read previous blogs of mine that correct misleading or wrong campaign information -- not information from my opponents, but facts that originated from my campaign.

Well, I'm rambling. I'm heading back to the campaign. We'll see how the Mason campaign responds. Keep the faith, spread the word. Remember, we can do better.

South Sarasota County Wants Answers

2008-09-23T21:54:00.000-04:00

Last week the Venice Gondolier posed a number of questions they thought District One County Commission Candidates should be able to field. I agree and I wrote my responses within an hour and a half of receiving the questions, but held off posting them while I tried to see if the paper would run them. That was Friday, and today I learned the paper is willing to print my answers. Below is longer version of my answers..

• What's the biggest city in Sarasota County? (Trick question).

Not that tricky…North Port in terms of land area and population but not, last time I checked, in terms of registered voters -- still 450 behind Sarasota -- that's not meant as a put-down, more of challenge to increase registration.

• What can Sarasota County commissioners do to improve relations with North Port city government? Be specific, please.

After basic respect, three things: 1) County Commissioners need to understand the territory. I remember North Port when after Warm Mineral Spring about all you saw until Charlotte County was the Police Hall of Fame (now converted to a church). I first studied North Port in the early 80's and got to know both the landscape and some folks I met then are still around.

2) County Commissioners need to know the people. I’ve been knocking on doors in North Port and spent most of primary day at the Mullen Center greeting voters. I have more visits planned before the election. Come hear me speak on October 6th at the Mullen Center.

3) County Commissioners need to know where North Port is headed. That will involve spending time one on one with North Port Commissioners, City Manager Crowell, and I’m also interested in learning more about Vision North Port.

* Do you support construction of a new jail in South County? If so, should it be situated in North Port?

Yes, and probably.

• Do we need to improve River Road? What steps have been taken in the past year and what are the realistic options for funding in the future?

Its great to have the engineering done, but apparently growth didn’t pay for itself because we don’t have the money too build it. The good news is North Port and the County agreed on impact fee schedules and seem to have agreement on the 41 River Road Intersection. I am open to suggestions, but right now it looks like this project may depend on federal funding and it is not at the top of the list.

* The next time commission districts are redrawn, would you favor a North Port-only seat?

Hmm, not sure. I’d have to know more about rules and goals of redistricting. I don’t think there is any ignoring North Port’s increasing political power.

* What area does the Lemon Bay Watershed encompass? What can we do to protect it?

I’ve actually given presentations (last one at Tringali Center) about the Lemon Bay watershed. We’ve done a good job protecting much of the remaining undeveloped land, and now we need to work on stormwater retrofits to improve the quality of water entering the bay. Some of this will be lot-by-lot and some will be more regional.

* What was the Gottfried Stewardship District? Would you have voted for it? Why or why not?

Anyone can Google this (3,662 acre overlay district proposed to be developed at two dwelling units per acre), but I was one of about five citizens to testify before the Planning Commission regarding GSV. One planning commissioner asked how I would vote and I said I would take more time with it to address some unanswered questions.

The only responsible answer for how I would vote as a county commissioner on this issue is that I would have to had read the entire proposal (511 pages, I have a copy in my lap), considered planning staff comments, incorporated public testimony from the planning commission and county commission hearings and any North Port or agency comment, reviewed DCA’s analysis and then reflected on the changes proffered by the applicant. To shoot from the hip would be unfair both to the applicant and south county citizens. I have a reputation for being open-minded and listening to all sides and I will thoroughly understand any subsequent re-surfacing of this proposal before voting.

* What's the purpose of the Englewood Community Redevelopment Area? What is the most pressing need there?

The CRA exists to improve and redevelop what I think of as the older sections of Englewood. The stormwater issues need to be resolved and I support the Low Impact Development approach. Personally, I tend to focus on the historic charm of Dearborn Street and the potential for better connection to the Bay, but I understand the CRA encompasses a broader area.

* Are the county parks in North Port adequate?

No, but we can't blame GDC for all of that. More park areas were originally set aside, but they later vanished. Now we're playing catch up. I support work on the Myakkahatchee Corridor and have been a leader in seeking protection of the lots adjacent to crucial manatee habitat on the Warm Mineral Springs run.

* Is the State Road 776 Corridor Plan working?

This is the question I couldn’t answer at Boca Royale. Its my own dang fault because I have copy of the plan here at home. It’s a VERY ambitious plan filled with dozens of amenities and features planners and citizens like, so I imagine progress must seem slow. It’s gratifying to see that two projects I worked on, Lemon Bay Park and Manasota Scrub Preserve play an important role. Because it is so ambitious and money so tight, I support a reality check to prioritize the most crucial and feasible projects.

• What can we do to boost industrial development in South County?

I think the county paid for a study that recommended more intense use of existing MEC zoning. Some of the other impediments are at the state level, like taxing equipment at the ad valorem rate.

Clueless in South County?

2008-09-20T21:40:00.003-04:00

A recent Venice Gondolier editorial suggested all three District 1 County Commission candidates (Jono Miller, Carolyn Mason, and John Mullarkey) were all equally clueless about South County. Unfortunately, it is hard for me to believe that the writer of the editorial was actually at the Southwest County Alliance candidate’s forum held at Boca Royale. Here is my response:

Yes, I marched in the North Port Fourth of July Parade and the Englewood Pioneer Days Parade. When I asked where the Englewood Parade would end and was told Englewood Elementary I must have looked clueless, so the person helping me said: " So you want to run for the County Commission, but you don't know where the elementary school is?"

I flashed him a "give me a break" look and said: "I'm not running for the dang School Board!" So maybe not knowing Englewood Elementary marks me as a hopeless south county wannabe. (At least I made the scene.) And, I’ll admit, I didn’t have a ready answer about the 776 Corridor Plan when asked about it at the Southwest County Alliance candidates forum. I chose to confess my ignorance instead of winging it.

But the fact is I have a long, rich history with south county, the Cape Haze Peninsula, Charlotte Harbor and North Port. And I suspect I am the only one of us District One candidates that can say that.

I first cruised down 776 as a teenager in the fall of 1970. I was part of a New College Environmental Biology class headed to Placida to paddle out to Devilfish Key. Since then I have paddled through all of Lemon Bay, and from Snook Haven to Sanibel (and from Ft. Meade to Chockoloskee). I’ve walked the beaches from the Charlotte County line north to Tampa Bay. Those early Charlotte Harbor forays led to my serving on the Charlotte Harbor Task Force and compiling a review of what was known about flows in the Peace River. My knowledge doesn’t stop at the County Line. I know Cape Haze, Bull Bay, Boggess Hole, and, of course, Devilfish Key.

I’ve been more than an engaged explorer of South County and Cape Haze. With my wife, Julie Morris, and Jean Huffman I undertook a major study of the habitats of North Port back in 1983. [The changing landscape of North Port, Florida as related to wildlife habitat and burning] That is one of the few documents that characterize the history of North Port before Mackles and GDC. Julie and I also worked on a major assessment of Gasparilla Island for the Conservation Foundation [Preserving the Heritage of Gasparilla Island, 1978, John Clark].

Map we produced of the Vegetation of North Port in 1948

But I’ve done more than study south county. I provided more than 15 years of leadership that led to the purchase of Manasota Scrub Preserve. That program went on to protect many key parcels along the Myakka. We should all be proud that it is now theoretically possible to park on the east side of the Myakka on 41 and walk 15 miles due north never leaving public property. I was also involved in protecting what was called the France Property – now Lemon Bay Park. Then I helped conceive and find funding for the County’s Neighborhood Parkland Program. I currently serve on the County’s Parks Advisory and Recreation Council that (successfully) recommended purchases on the waterfront in Englewood and is currently searching for non-motorized water access for the public along the Myakka at US 41. I also serve on a county group that is trying to protect scrub jays and I am arguing for approaches that do not unfairly penalize lot owners who happen to have scrub jay habitat.

I didn’t mention that I married my wife, Julie, at the Eagle Point Club in Venice or that my in-laws lived in Bird Bay Village for a while or the Curry Creek Preserve or working to keep a spring-training facility off the banks of the Myakka. But the fact is, for a guy who can walk to the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport in 25 minutes, I have a long-standing, deep relationship with South County, not merely as a spectator, or researcher, but as someone fighting for the bays, rivers, public lands, etc. I just didn’t feel it was appropriate to BS an answer about 776 Corridor Plan (although I now have a copy here on my desk).

And I can make the same promise Paul Mercier made when he ran from the First District: You’ll be seeing me in South County, engaged on South County issues; and not just when the Commission is meeting there.

I've asked the Sun-Herald papers if I can provide a guest column answering the eleven specific questions raised by the editorial. As of Saturday September 20th, I am awaiting a response.

And instead of asking shibboleth questions to separate South County sheep from North County goats, perhaps South County voters should be asking: What have you done for South County before you started running for office?

That's one I can answer.

Fresh Lies Served on a Bed of Tossed Data: The Politics of Desperation

2008-09-14T16:47:00.009-04:00

Well, here we are 51 days from November 4th and the politics of desperation have started. I guess they couldn't wait. This morning local Republicans released poll results they contend show me behind in the District One Sarasota County Commission contest. Concerned supporters have sent me copies of the press release and this blog is my reaction.

BACKGROUND

Back last year when I was thinking about running, I asked a trusted local politician with lots of of experience how much I needed worry about some youthful statement I might have made years ago. He told me not to worry about people taking the time to do deep research about what might have been said 30 years ago – “ They don’t bother taking the time to do that nowadays – they just make (expletive deleted) up.”

He was right. The recent “press release” is a work of misdirection or sleight of hand worthy of any amateur magician. The reader is supposedly focused on the polling data, which is quite suspect (see analysis below) but the real message is the spin they put on the data – an assertion that voters are reacting to my “anti-business/anti-jobs message”.

Huh?

There is a term for deliberately mis-representing an opposing candidate’s position and that term is “lying”.

The Republican press release is deliberately lying about my position on jobs and business. I have consistently argued for strengthening the local economy through businesses that are interwoven with Sarasota’s special strengths. Our educational resources (some of the best in the state) combined with our growing reputation for sustainability and our environmental assets give us a leg up on attracting “knowledge workers” committed to solving some of the crises our neighborhoods, county, state and nation face.

For example, I support 1) finding ways to create more trade and green collar jobs remodeling homes to be more sustainable and hurricane resistant, 2) transit-oriented mixed-use redevelopment of aging strip malls, 3) new centers of innovation for alternative energy (particularly solar) and studies of aging, and 4) a more business-friendly climate that emphasizes creating (or re-creating) quality jobs and one that supports our existing local businesses. Too many people have told me the local business climate is too hostile. We need to change that. Sarasota’s voters need to know it is possible for someone to be serious about both the environment and the economy. I'm that candidate and have been from the start.

And, just for the record, I don't only support green business -- I just think of all our possible avenues to a local economy other Florida counties can't match, the sustainability angle has the best chance for helping us build out of the slump we're in.

Needless to say, I’m waiting to see the evidence for their spurious accusations. I’ll probably have a long wait. Instead of anti-business/anti-jobs message they’ll find I hammer at least one of the following themes every time I speak:

When an environmentalist tells you the economy is where we need to focus attention, you better believe the economy is where we need to focus attention.

Despite our leadership in other fields, we (Sarasota County) are not one of the leading counties when it comes to creating or attracting quality jobs or supporting local business, and we need to be.

Our neighborhoods are suffering with too many vacant homes, a sobering reality that is draining our neighborhoods. These homes need to be filled with people, yes, retirees; but more importantly, working people.

And if they took time to read my blog entries here is a sample of what they would have found:

Sept 10 • Letter to Sen. Martinez: "In particular, I hope you will emphasize the need to invest in solar and other clean renewable technologies. That is especially crucial here in Florida and could be even more important for Sarasota, a county with a growing reputation for, and investment in, sustainability.I'm very concerned that solar and wind tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year— and that would be a disaster for those small businesses investing in an alternative energy future."

Sept 2 • On recycling campaign yard signs: "Jim is willing to take all the political campaign signs we can get him. They will undergo a transformation and re-appear as useful products. Here's a way to address a waste problem and support local green business and reduce transportation costs for finished products."

August 28 • "Known for his common sense and reasonable approach, Miller has made an effort to reach out to other major constituencies and has received significant, but not unanimous, support from local development and business interests, raising some eyebrows among some green supporters."

and

"Sam and Jono lost the outdoor thread for a while, brainstorming instead about the economic potential of additional photovoltaic investment in Sarasota County."

July 27th • "As Commissioner then, I believe there is a tie for the top two priorities: 1) supporting the recovery of the tax base/economy and 2) supporting the recovery of our neighborhoods, while 3) charting a course that does not drop us back into overdependence on any brittle, narrow economic sectors. Filling homes and the tax base will involve creating new (and re-creating lost) jobs, a challenging task that will require a mix of proven job generators and new initiatives."

June 2 • "Our local economy is suffering and we need come together and revive it -- not going back to old patterns that made our economy brittle, but forwards towards economic solutions that facilitate watching out for each other: buying locally, building on local strengths, investing locally, and moving towards resilience and sustainability."

One interesting factoid: On September 9th the Sarasota Economic Development Council (EDC) announced an awareness campaign to encourage business and government to buy locally when possible. This theme of buying locally was an important part of my first You Tube video released exactly eight months earlier on January 9th!

And if my opponents have been focused on the economy and jobs since January as well, I’m waiting to see the evidence.

BOTTOM LINE:

I’ve been clear about my focus on the economy and jobs since January. People that tell you otherwise are lying to you. Call them on it.

Don’t be thrown off by the poll. I’m not. I don’t need polling to tell me there's a built-in mountain for me to climb, a mountain that reflects the discrepancy in local party registration. I’ve been climbing that mountain since January when I announced I was running against a two-term incumbent. I expect to be on the other side of that mountain on November 5th. And I don’t intend to lie to get there.

Do manipulation, lying, and other forms of distortion work? Yes, to a certain extent they do. That’s why some campaigns resort to them. It is what I call the politics of desperation and I hope voters are getting tired of it.

Perhaps the next time they poll they should ask how people feel about deliberately lying about another candidate.

Now those are some numbers I would like to see.

••••••••••••••

WHY THE POLL RESULTS SHOULDN’T BE TAKEN TOO SERIOUSLY

The press release is a case study in political maneuvering. First of all, campaigns and political parties don’t release polling data unless they believe it is to their advantage. After all, polling data is supposed to give one side an unequal advantage in knowing the likely behavior of the electorate. You don’t show another player your ace, unless you think it will benefit your game somehow.

Secondly, they are not releasing any data on the questions that preceded the “ if the election were held today. . .” question. Without seeing what, if anything, came before, there is no way of knowing how much bias was front-loaded.

Third, they conveniently seem to have forgotten the other candidate, John Mullarkey, which makes about as much sense as ignoring Ralph Nader in 2000. John should not be ignored. John will draw votes and those votes could easily play a role in who wins.

Then there is the problem with the poll itself -- did they reach representative likely voters? One of the factors that is haunting political polling this year is the inability to poll people who lack land lines and who only use cell phones. “In recent Pew Research Center surveys, only about 10% of respondents in landline samples are under age 30, which is roughly half of what it should be according to the U.S. Census” Unless the polling group compensated for that, their results will be off.

Finally, more than a fifth of likely voters are undecided in the poll.

Of course, the press release is not intended to impress me, but rather potential donors who need some reason to believe that a donation at this point is not wasted money. For those people reluctant to contribute to a campaign that is unlikely to be successful, it is necessary to craft a story of possible success. Hence the press release, such as it is.

Clean Energy Tax Credits Set to Expire

2008-09-10T21:51:00.004-04:00

Earlier this evening I heard a knock at the door and discovered an earnest young man, a canvasser for Clean Water Action. He wanted three things: my name on a petition (the main value of which is probably providing a way for the organization to get back in touch with me), 2) a donation (I declined, citing my need for campaign funds of my own combined with going half a year without a salary) and 3) for me to write a letter to Senator Mel Martinez about renewing the clean energy tax credits and opposing offshore oil drilling.

I wasn't sure that was a great use of my time, but he knew how to close and I agreed to write a letter for him to pick up later. The text of that letter follows:

Dear Senator Martinez

I don’t need to tell you the recent spike in oil and gasoline prices has created tremendous public pressure to move forward on long deferred solutions to our dependence on fossil fuels, fuels that have made us unduly dependent on other regions of the world and which are apparently jeopardizing the planet’s climate.

Many have seized on additional oil exploration and development as either a solution or a stopgap measure, despite the fact that almost everyone acknowledges that drilling now has no short-term connection to gas prices. To me it seems a little like an addict looking for one more fix before checking into rehab. But the Drill-Baby-Drill chorus seems to have broad public appeal and one thing about our system of government is our right to make bad choices that defy logic and common sense.

The only thing standing between us and such bad choices is leadership and I am writing to hope you can provide some of that leadership.

In particular, I hope you will emphasize the need to invest in solar and other clean renewable technologies. That is especially crucial here in Florida and could be even more important for Sarasota, a county with a growing reputation for, and investment in, sustainability. I am very concerned that solar and wind tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year— and that would be a disaster for those small businesses investing in an alternative energy future.

Please do what you can to extend and possibly expand the clean energy tax credits and resist any energy strategies that could place Florida at greater risk.

County Budget ::yawn:: Hearing [Plain Speak Version]

2008-09-08T22:01:00.003-04:00

For those of you who missed tonight's (September 8th) County Budget Hearing in Venice, here's a brief recap. Neither of my District One opponents made the scene, not even the one who seems to have a lot of pointed and critical questions about the budget.

First of all it is a very structured (stilted) form of meeting, with a prescribed script and parts read almost like a responsive reading. The language is some form of legal/technical and the sum total of the requirements renders the process relatively opaque.

The Chair made it clear that this was not the meeting to contest the appraised value of property or discuss Grant-in-Aid awards. I think that clarification reduced the number of likely speakers.

While there appeared to be at least a couple of dozen citizens in the audience, only one spoke to question the cost of a water line extension on Shore Road. A county staff member attempted to explain the relative roles of parcels versus equivalent dwelling units (EDU's) in establishing the appropriate fees and the Chairman encouraged them to discuss the matter further outside in the hall.

The big news is a bump up from a $184,000 increase (from the draft budget) to half a million for grants in aid. These funds are distributed the various Human Services agencies in the county, and there is a demonstrated increased need, even though most agencies submitted flat (no increase) budget requests. Four Commissioners supported the increase, with Commissioner Mercier voting against. He seemed to argue that adding funds now would result in much more painful cuts next year.

The county also added $1.6 million to cover anticipated increases in the cost of energy next year.

Blog readers may be pleasantly surprised to learn that the adopted net total budget per capita is lower than FY 2005, 2006 and 2007. In addition, the number of employees per citizen continues to drop.

A local appraiser hired by the county reported that when everything is considered it is cheaper, or at least better value, to have central water than a well and septic tank.

The meeting ended with a long list of rate changes for various lighting districts [Shadow Lakes Lighting District saw a decrease in millage rates, all the others went up, some by more than 50%.] That was followed by some ritualized roll call voting.

Chairman Staub expressed her dissatisfaction with the state-required format and noted that the Governor was advocating a move towards "plain speak", which apparently is supposed to be a more straightforward way to convey government actions. It was clear she didn't believe the budget adoption came close to meeting that goal.

A final hearing will be held September 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the County Administration Building on Ringling.

About those plastic campaign signs...recyclable? reusable?

2008-09-02T09:38:00.012-04:00

Are you tired yet of those roadside campaign signs? We all will be by November 4th and they are all supposed to disappear by November 25. But what exactly does "disappear" imply? Some politicians have ambiguous signs that can be collected, stored and re-used in another campaign. Yet for many of us they are basically a disposal problem.While some are coated cardboard and others are basically plastic bags stretched over a wire frame, the vast majority are now made of a tough, lightweight polypropylene plastic called C oroplast. I was initially leery of the stuff because it is plastic and rumored to be non-recyclable. But the manufacturer makes a case for its environmental credentials. It turns out it is recyclable -- its a number 5 polypropylene, but unfortunately most local recycling centers don't accept number 5 plastic. Arrgh. My efforts to find a place that takes it got complicated. At stake was a recyclable product that looked like it might not be recyclable after all.

First I called the manufacturer. No help. Then I called the State Department of Environmental Protection. Not much help until I noticed a pdf file about a pilot project from 1996 to recycle political yard signs. That led to a call to Pinellas County who directed me to Jim Chapin with Recycled Plastic Factory, which is actually in Englewood. Jim is willing to take all the political campaign signs we can get him. They will undergo a transformation and re-appear as useful products. Here's a way to address a waste problem and support local green business and reduce transportation costs for finished products.

Later Suzanne Boroff with DEP called and provided more information and insight.

I will be talking with my 19 other local Democrats about strategies to collect leftover signs. Hopefully others (Republicans? County Solid Waste?) will join in and help make it easier to do something useful with the dang things. Suzanne gave me the number for a contact person with Sarasota County. I'll pursue that tomorrow.

That's the story on RECYCLING-- at least at this point. More detailed info will follow once a strategy emerges on collecting and transporting the signs. The other angle to consider is RE-USE.

Here are two ways I use old coroplast political signs: 1) When excavating a planting hole, I pile the soil on several old yard signs -- that makes it easy to keep the dirt out of the grass and slide it back in the hole when I am refilling, 2) I throw a few signs in the trunk, then if I have to change a tire or look under the vehicle the yard signs provide a clean surface to kneel or lie on.

Now it is your chance to get creative. I've created an email address to collect alternative uses (re-uses) for those corrugated plastic signs. Send your suggestions to reusethatsign@gmail.com and I will post all the ideas in a blog before the general election. Please mention if you have actually used the signs in the manner you are proposing or yours is (at this point) a theoretical possibility.

And if you actually like coroplast yard signs, but not the self-promoting ones you see around town, you'll be please to know artists got involved (myyardourmessage) with yard signs and came up with some real, sometimes provocative, ones you can order online.

Finally, if you have any great high visibility highway (commercial) locations where I can put up my 4'x4' highway signs (as seen above), please send an email to jonocampaign@gmail.com I'm looking for sites that will be seen by a lot of people, but which aren't already crowded with other signs. Let me know.