Top Ten Natural Signs of Fall in Sarasota Florida

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:

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

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

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:

The Seven Challenges of North Trail

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.

Meta-Advice for Advisory Boards

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.

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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.

Regarding Commission Districts

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.

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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

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: