City Whacks Pioneer Trees - Palms Most Abused

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

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. 

Term Limits: Stifling Competition?

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!

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. . .

I believe . . . term limits for County Commissioners

I believe term limits for Sarasota County Commissioners:

Five Directions for Water Management in Florida

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

Term Limit Ballot Measure

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