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:

Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

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

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

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.