Those Special Sarasota Firsts: Flashes of Green, Streaks of Blue

Long time residents can forget. Forget what it is like to experience some of Sarasota specialness for the first time. I no longer remember my first frog-choking, house-rattling thunderstorm, but that first "how-much-worse-can-it-get" event is a humbling experience that leaves people shaken and stirred. Then there is the first twelve foot alligator at Myakka, the first sandhill crane family by the side of the road, the first tropical storm with 'feeder bands" scudding over, or the the first manatee snout breaking the surface.

I'm plant-oriented, so I try to imagine people's sense of wonder in their first Spring when the gold trees bloom, or their first rain lilies, or first night-blooming cereus, or first Royal Poinciana. After awhile one realizes that the way to reconnect with those "first feelings" is to be with people who are experiencing Sarasota for the first time. So you take people out to Myakka Park to see their first twelve footer. Or to Selby Gardens, or Mote. And then you can vicariously re-experience the first time wonder of where we live. 

Last night I turned the campaign down to simmer and ventured out with the Lemon Bay Kayakers to Midnight Beach. I left my campaign name badge home and introduced myself as Jono or Jono Miller, not my new name: Jono Miller, running-for-the-Sarasota-County-Commission-and-I'll-need-your-vote-on-November-fourth.

The paddle from Turtle Beach to Midnight Beach has to be one of the shortest around. And one of the most rewarding. Everyone was in kayaks except for Ed Freeman and myself. I have tight hamstrings so sitting with my legs out in front is not comfortable for me. Besides. I've been paddling the same olive-drab Grumman for 43 years and that brings its own comforts.

The Lemon Bay Kayakers try to make the trip each full moon. Full moon trips are popular with paddlers because as soon as the sun sets in the West, the full moon rises in the East. So if it is not cloudy there is some form of celestial light provided for the whole trip. They make the short paddle, explore around some and then head up on the beach to have very simple, somewhat unpredictable potluck picnic while they wait for the sun to set. 

This paddling group loves their sunsets. Many are relative newcomers and they relish and treasure being able to witness each evening's free light show. While some swam, the rest of us circled the food, chatting and keeping on eye on the sun as it approached the horizon. Some joked about the sun plunging into the sea and all the steamed produced. Another reviewed the various sites such as Mallory Square where the final dip garners applause, while others speculated about seeing the flash of green. 

"Riiiight," I thought to myself. "Like that's gonna happen tonight." I've seen it snow in Sarasota. I experienced the recent earthquake. I've seen the crepuscular rays at sunset meet in the East. But after 38 years in Sarasota never having seen the green flash, I had put it in a category with seeing my first panther -- a theoretical possibility but so unlikely that it could not even be wished for.  And it is certainly unlikely to appear for people who have only been here a few years. Isn't the green flash like playing the blues? Don't you have to pay your dues, put in your time to experience such things?

But there it was. When the last arc of the sun slipped below the horizon a green flame was illuminated so briefly that those of us who saw it doubted ourselves, and those who didn't see it REALLY doubted us. Ed was certainly skeptical.

It wasn't grass green, but flame green, the green you see sometime in fireplaces, a color associated with boron.  It wasn't a big flash, but a short green licking flame. It didn't last but a second, but it was not any normal sunset color I'd seen. It was the flash of green. And it looked like the picture I found on the internet (which was taken in Sarasota! -- That was affirming.)

The group stood around savoring the post-sunset sky while some swam and others tried the kahlua brownies. We waited for the moon, but it didn't show (clouds in the East), so we shoved off in the dark. Most of the kayakers had white stern lights. My old canoe sported the only red/green running light, smushed on the bow deck with a suction cup.

Ed and I shoved off quickly, wary of sand flies or mosquitos and soon noticed the bioluminescence in the water. We're both old hands with this liquid living light and Ed had actually been to Bioluminescent Bay in Puerto Rico. 

But hearing the shrieks of joy as the other paddlers set out and discovered not only that their paddles dripped cool blue light, but that fleeing fish generated darting contrails of blue flame allowed us to reconnect with the unexpected joy of this phenomenon. "Its like fireworks!" one woman exclaimed. She was right of course, but these were the cool silent fireworks, not echos of warfare, gunpowder and missiles, but explosions of life.

The bioluminescence in the bays and Gulf is nearly a well kept secret, probably because it is one of those "you had to be there" phenomena that don't photograph well and hence seldom make it into newspapers and magazines. It has been photographed successfully in that bay in Puerto Rico and Escher made an engraving of of the effect that was subsequently captured in photographs from Carlsbad (Laura Klabunde) California and one from Baja that I found on the web. But in general, it is hard to take a picture of this event, a fact that contributes to its unexpected specialness.

We paddled east across the Intracoastal on dark flat water devoid of powerboats. I think we saw one. The moon appeared. The imposing, over-lit edifices of The Oaks in summer seemed lifeless compared with the teaming water we had traversed.

We paddled through a narrow mangrove tunnel at Webb's Cove at Spanish Point, and then people wanted to head back the way we came. They wanted to see the light again, to see the mullet gather speed, blue blurs that surfaced, flew free silhouetted in the moonlight and then rejoined the water with an illuminating splash. 

When we got back to Turtle Beach, it was dark, with none of the security lights, which for some reason usually make me feel less secure. Lights are off for sea turtle nesting. We loaded quickly in the dark and I handed out four or five campaign brochures. I left the parking lot with just my parking lights on and headed to the 7-11 up the road to re-hydrate.

Was it an important campaign event? Probably not in terms of number of voters contacted or dollars raised. But it reconnected me with more of what makes Sarasota special -- a big part of why I am running. 

And, for the first time, I saw the green flash. 

It was worth it. And anyone can discover what is special about Sarasota, at any time.

Jono Miller on Underfunding of Roads, Bridges, etc.

The Sarasota Herald Tribune sent me a questionnaire. I reserved the right to post their questions and my answers on my blog (They intend to post all of everyone's answers on their website.) Here is their question about underfunded roads and my response:

QUESTION: Sarasota County and the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization have underfunded budgets for roads, bridges and other forms of transportation infrastructure: 1. Why? 2. What, if anything, should be done?

ANSWER: My own brief history of Florida goes something like this: For a little more than 400 years Florida suffered for a lack of economic activity and actively engaged in luring settlers through a variety of inducements. If we use a fire analogy, Florida’s leaders piled on tinder for decades with little heat and light produced. Sometime after the Second World War, Florida caught fire. Shortly afterwards we probably should have cut back on the tax breaks and other inducements, gradually raising the ‘price of admission’ to cover anticipated infrastructure needs. But, in general, we didn’t. The result has been a missed opportunity and an infrastructure shortfall. The time to make growth pay for itself and get ahead is during the boom times, not when times are tough.

In our panic to address overwhelming calculated and perceived shortages of roads, we may be desperately working to solve a twentieth century problem that may actually be evaporating – if oil and gas prices keep climbing we may soon have greatly reduced traffic problems, more free lanes (and a whole lot of new problems).

Hidden in this issue is the reality of aging infrastructure. When a community starts, all infrastructure dollars can be ploughed into new construction. The older the operation, the greater percentage of funds that must be spent on maintaining, repairing and upgrading what already exists. Sarasota has been new for quite some time now and the fraction of road funds, for instance, that will need to be spent on taking care of roads will be an ever-increasing piece of the pie. That limits new initiatives.

One bridge-related problem is the game of chicken states play with the federal government. As I understand it, the feds will pay for emergency bridge repairs if the bridge is really at risk. They won’t pay for routine maintenance – that’s a state or local responsibility. So states let things get worse in hopes of successfully shifting the bill to the feds once the bridge is really dangerous. Perhaps our congressional representatives can do something about this.

************

POSTSCRIPT: Oil is now selling for over $145 a barrel -- or roughly 50% more than when I entered the campaign in January. No matter what happens with offshore or Alaskan oil, none of the present county commissioners are likely to be in office when gasoline from that oil starts flowing through Sarasota gas pumps. The County Commission's challenge will be to do what it can to offset, minimize, and mitigate the effects that dramatically higher fuel costs will have on commuters and other drivers.

Jono Miller Campaign Snags Free Press

Got five bucks? If so you can support our local economy by springing for the current issues of the Gulf Coast Business Review  (July 11-17 Issue $1) and SRQ Magazine (July Issue $5). Each has a piece dealing with my campaign. I could quote them here, but then you wouldn't be supporting local business. I'm doing my part by being newsworthy, now its your turn to step up and support local journalism. 

Special thanks to SRQ's Lindsay Downey and GCBR's Mark Gordon for going beyond the high profile, top-of-the-ticket political stories to delve into the First District Sarasota County Commission race -- the one that is guaranteed to make history, whatever the outcome. 

And don't forget Steve Smith's June 29th four way comparison column in the Englewood Sun and Jeremy Wallace's (Sarasota Herald Tribune) entry also profiling the first district Republican Primary race. (It's too late to go back and buy those papers.)

Jono Truth Squad #2: Rude Awakenings -- Campaign Ad Error

Sometime in February I concluded it would be a smart move to advertise my candidacy in the Green Pages -- a great way to reach citizens interested in more sustainable approaches and a venue my opposition would be unlikely to take advantage of.

So I designed an ad (including the requisite political disclaimer language) and found that, in addition to my half page ad, I would get four 'listings' of 25 words each that would be placed elsewhere in the Green Pages. Since the political disclaimer language itself is fifteen words long and would need to appear in each listing if it were political, that wouldn't leave me much of a message (just ten words) in the listings, so I decided to make the listings non-political public service type messages with no reference to political party, office sought, etc.

Months passed. I lost track of the status of the Green Pages directory and kept meaning to check up on its progress. I was a little disgruntled because I thought it was supposed to be out by now and yet I hadn't even seen page proofs -- a fairly standard printing practice or courtesy in my experience. 

But as I eased out of Whole Foods  just before the 4th of July holiday I saw a rack-full of Green Pages and grabbed a copy. Apparently it has been out for awhile.

To my surprise 1) my ad had been reproduced without the disclaimer language and 2) the listings (I could only find three) had morphed into mini political ads without my knowledge or consent. Ack and double Ack!

That afternoon I contacted the publishers and the Supervisor of Elections office. According to the publisher the ad disclaimer language didn't show because of the way the pdf file was created -- something like it was clearly there for all human eyeballs to see in what I sent, but the printer technology couldn't recognize it --an arcane software error that  (for instance) would not have happened in glossy magazine format but did in newsprint format. Go figure.

And, according to the publishers, the listing glitch was added by a third party -- in other words, my listing submission instructions were clear enough and apolitical, but the listings were actually formatted by an intermediary who changed what I requested and the publisher ran with what they were provided. :::sigh:::

The Natural Awakenings Publishers have assured me they would communicate with the Supervisor of Elections to clarify that I had submitted my material in good faith, which had it ran as I submitted, would not have been problematic. 

I'm still awaiting word confirming that communication took place. 

POSTCRIPT

On July 7th, the publisher sent the following text to the Supervisor of Elections:

It has come to our attention that advertisements for Jono Miller in our Green Pages were submitted incorrectly from a third party. Mr. Jono's ads were submitted in an improper format by this third party which caused the necessary disclaimer to be dropped in the printing process of the ad. Given issues with time constraints we were unable to supply Mr. Miller with a proper proof before printing. We reviewed the original submission by Jono Miller and the original ad had the required disclaimer.

It was also brought to our attention that his listing was added to by the third party un-benounced to Mr. Miller and with-out his or our approval.

The added text "Democrat for Sarasota County Commission" was not submitted by Jono Miller.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if there are any questions regarding this matter.

We Deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and I can assure you measures have been taken to ensure future issues like this will not arise in the future.

Historic, Crowded Contest Defines Sarasota County's First District Commission Race

Four first district county commission candidates have qualified to run: myself (Jono Miller), John Mullarkey (no party affiliation) and two Republicans, Carolyn Mason and Richard Redding. That's more candidates than qualified in the two other commission races combined!

This is a situation that no one anticipated late last year when incumbent Paul Mercier and challenger Kirk Reid were the only candidates. Both men, Republicans, are no longer running. 

Instead voters will be confronted with a diverse group that ensures this will be a truly historic election. At this point citizens are guaranteed a significant political milestone in Sarasota County. Any of the possible outcomes would constitute a significant 'first':

• The first Democrat elected to the County Commission since 1966

• The first Afro-American elected to the County Commission

• The first NPA (no party affiliation) candidate elected to the County Commission

Mason and Redding will participate in a Republican primary and join Miller and Mullarkey on the November ballot. 

Sarasota County's Coastal Challenges

The big difference between DeSoto County and Sarasota County is not that DeSoto County is roughly 13% bigger or that DeSoto is rectangular and we are not. The big difference is our Gulf Coast, with its bays, barrier beaches and tidal creeks. To the extent we lose or compromise our coastal assets, we render our county more like an inland, land-locked county.

Our coastal resources used to be free services that we paid nothing for and benefited directly from. But times have changed. Pollution and other forms of mismanagement have resulted in declining resources that, without attention, could degrade further, endangering these assets, our quality of life, and our local economy. As a result, Sarasota County has a significant number of coastal challenges that require resources and expenditures that in many cases are different from managing inland areas away from the coast.

Here's my list (with some of the dimensions for each):

Barrier Beaches: Erosion, Nourishment, Public Access

Inlets: Migration, Channels, Management (Includes New, Big, Midnight, Venice)

Rising Sea Level: Will affect over 100 miles of coastal shoreline, historic and accelerated rates need to be considered: armoring, nourishment, strategic retreat, etc.

Bay Shoreline: Mangrove loss, replacement, restoration, intertidal habitat

Tidal Creeks: Water quality, balancing public and private use

Public Bay Access: Includes boat access, trailer parking, waterfront views, and restaurants

Dredged Channels/Canals: Maintenance, depths, who pays, spoil disposal sites

Seagrasses: Restoration, coping with algae

Fisheries: Nursery Habitat, Stocking, Artificial Reefs

Shellfish: Oysters, Shrimp, Clams, Scallops

Listed Species: Manatees, Sea Turtles (see beaches) Bird Rookeries

Stormwater/non-point pollution: Timing and quality (nitrogen in particular)

Septic and Sewage Pollution: (coliform bacteria)

Red Tide & other HABs (Harmful Algal Blooms): Research and management

Hurricane Issues: Flood and storm surge effects, reshaped coastline, evacuation, repair

Right now the state and county are no doubt spending at least some money on each of these topics. And some, like beach nourishment or rejiggering stormwater, can be very expensive. The possible expenditures range from zero to whatever number of millions you want to pick. If we had an infinite supply of money we could simply tell managers and researchers to 'take a number' and the Commission could take proposals up one at a time, approve what was needed and move on to the next. If we had unlimited funds.

The risk in a time of limited funds is that we'll splurge on the items first in line and then, when we get to a needed project further down the list, we'll either be flat out of money or we'll go ahead, spring for it, and bust our budget in the process.

Put another way, some early projects would be well-funded, while others may get nothing, or at least a lot less than they would have had they been near the front of the line. In my opinion this is not a very sensible approach to managing our coastal assets.

Because we do not have an infinite supply of money to direct to our coastal challenges, I believe a less reckless, more conservative approach is called for. In the past I've argued that we can do anything we want with our coast, but not everything. Now I'm reaffirming that by stating that some hard, deliberate choice-making is needed.

I think we should set a target spending limit on coastal assets and then compare possible projects to determine the appropriate level of expenditure in each category. How (as a friend of mine used to say) 'we can get the most toast for the least bread'. The cap on expenditures combined with implicit comparisons of project value would push the commission towards optimizing scarce dollars, rather than running the risk of funding early projects too rich and later projects too lean.

My inspiration for this approach comes from our Environmentally Sensitive Lands and Neighborhood Parkland programs. Voters authorized a certain level of expenditure and the respective committees that consider proposals end up deciding more on a basis of value to the county than their first-come, first served order in line. 

Before we had an environmentally sensitive lands program with a committee, individual landowners or agents were free to pitch their projects to previous commissions - the result was an approach that did not consider if we could be spending county tax dollars in more effective ways. Now we have harnessed the power of comparison and relative value to make better decisions about how land acquisition dollars are spent.

Likewise the available tourist development dollars are determined and choices are made, year by year, to optimize their expenditure.

I don't see why coastal projects and expenditures might not benefit from a similar approach.

Fourth Republican Enters Sarasota's District One Commission Race

It's official. Richard Redding has filed as the fourth Republican to enter the District One Contest. He will join Carolyn Mason and, if both qualify, will create a Republican primary race. Two other Republicans, Kirk Reid, and the incumbent, Paul Mercier, have left the race. 

Let's review. Mr. Reid filed November 16th of last year. If Commissioner Mercier were to have announced that he was not running, Mr. Reid would have been the leading Republican candidate, an advantage of some sort. But Paul filed last December 3rd, presumably to signal that the seat was his and he would be defending it.  A month elapsed and during that time no other Republican stepped forward. If others had been planning to challenge Paul they probably would have been advised to do so as quickly as possible since waiting to challenge an incumbent just puts one further behind as the incumbent solidifies support.

By the time I entered the race on January 4th, Mr. Reid had withdrawn (I can't find a withdrawal date on the Supervisor of Elections website). Since no one challenged Paul in December (and Mr. Reid dropped out) I interpret that to mean that had I not stepped forward, Commissioner Mercier would have been unchallenged for a third term. 

I decided to run in no small part because I believe Sarasota voters deserve choices on the general election ballot when it comes to selecting their county commissioners. And I was flummoxed during the two weeks I had no opposition because my quest to provide choice was possibly in jeopardy. 

Now, if nothing else, all Sarasota voters will have choices here in the first District contest. I welcome Mr. Redding, just as I welcomed Ms. Mason and note that we all have careers focused on serving the community. In a little more than a week we'll know if any others are entering this race. This, I would argue, is more like it. 

[And this blog may have scooped the local press.]