I appreciate the concerns raised by guest columnists Dan and Charlie Bailey about Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution. They are very knowledgeable about land-use law and have responsibly represented development interests….We have put hundreds of millions of dollars of extra community effort into environmentally sensitive lands, education and infrastructure. We put extra community effort into health care for the public hospital through its taxing authority. Yet we fail to address the need for extra community effort in enhancing and protecting the area that houses our community's greatest concentration of cultural, educational and visual assets, North Tamiami Trail!
Maybe the wart is so prominent, or has been there so long, we can't see it. Or maybe this just meets Sarasota's standards. Or maybe this is a minority, poor area and doesn't really affect or concern us.
However, with the treasures in this concentrated area, it has the potential of being the engine of Sarasota's greatest economic development effort. It really already is; we can't, or refuse to, recognize it.
Bob Richardson
Inspired by WSMR
Sarasota has lost a rare gem. It wasn't a building or a historic landmark or a person.
It was a local, homegrown radio station -- LIFE 89.1 WSMR. After 14 years on the air, providing uplifting and encouraging music and programming in a time that is so desperately needed, WSMR signed off the air Wednesday at 5 p.m. Doug, Lee, Laura, Sandy, Brian, Ann and a host of others provided a valuable asset to and for this community, and they will be greatly missed. I thank them for their dedication, devotion and professionalism -- for their unselfish service to our community. Countless lives have been touched, changed and redeemed through this radio station.
There is a time and a season for all things. May God bless their efforts and this wonderful city of Sarasota.
John William Meyer
Forget paid parking
Once again, the city of Sarasota is giving consideration to placing parking meters in our downtown. The downtown merchants are suffering through a recessionary economic climate, summer doldrums and various construction projects. The installation of meters will not only help to ruin the appearance of our downtown streets but also sound the death knell for many businesses. During all this construction, folks have already sought out alternatives. Why give them yet another reason not to return to our downtown?
The city commissioners and city management speak of the troubled financial position of the parking authority and how revenues from meters may help to alleviate that. Believe me, there are several ways to address that situation besides throwing yet more money at it.
Be smart. Work to preserve our downtown, not ruin it! Put this issue to bed once and for all.
Amendment 4's utility
I appreciate the concerns raised by guest columnists Dan and Charlie Bailey about Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution. They are very knowledgeable about land-use law and have responsibly represented development interests.
While raising concerns and identifying hypothetical problems, they did not address the other side of the equation -- the dreadful prospects for growth management under current legislative leadership, who are sympathetic to development interests and have undertaken systematically to dismantle Florida's growth-management and water-resource protections. In the same fashion that the Legislature tried last year to remove constraints on oil drilling within eyesight of our beaches, legislators have substantially weakened our protections against inappropriate development and will soon undertake the abolition of the state agency responsible for oversight of growth management.
I was among the legislative staff who worked on the Environmental Lands Management measure that was the precursor to the landmark 1986 legislation that the current legislative group is trying to repeal, albeit in pieces. I am proud of the foresight exhibited by Warren Henderson, Bob Johnson and others from this area who led the legislative fights to create safeguards for our environment over the past 40 years. What will be left to protect Florida's irreplaceable environmental and historical resources? Shall we return to the virtually unregulated era of development?
It's hard for me to believe that Dan and Charlie Bailey want that result, but I am unaware of any realistic alternative to prevent the current legislative leadership from ensuring serious harm to our environment. Destructive legislation has begun and is destined to continue unless immediate, dramatic and insurmountable obstacles are placed in the way. Overreaching as it might be, Amendment 4 may be our only choice.
John Wesley White, Sarasota
The author is a former Sarasota County administrator.
