(Former) Sarasota City Manager

2007-05-25T09:02:00.000-04:00

Thank You City of Sarasota - A handful of people have asked me when I was going to post again here, and it seems like a good time to do just that, perhaps for the last time. As has been reported, I have accepted a position as the very first County Administrator for Blaine County, Idaho. Blaine County is very large in land area at more than 2600 square miles and contains six cities and towns, the largest of which is the county seat of Hailey (interestingly the birthplace of Ezra Pound) a thriving mountain town that I'm told is somewhere between 8 and 10,000 people, though the 2000 census calls it at 6200. Blaine County also includes something like a million acres of Sawtooth National Recreation Area with amazingly easy access to alpine trails, rivers and lakes, The Sun Valley/Ketchum resort area, and the towns of Bellevue, Carey, and Picabo amidst some beautiful agricultural lands in the southern half of the county. In many ways Blaine County is similar to Collier County, Florida, particularly as it was back in the early 80's when I first lived there, with a large concentration of wealth in one area, lots of agricultural lands, and a large percentage of federal or state wilderness area within it's 2000 square miles.

The people I've met in Blaine County are a very intelligent, involved and progressive group (sound familiar to anyone?) They are committed to protecting what is special about their precious Wood River Valley as it develops, and have taken many steps to do just that, including regulating development on their ridgelines, something that some other mountain areas have been unable to do. (The best comparison I can think of is that would be like a Florida community regulating waterfront development to keep the waterfront for everyone - do you think that would be easy?) They have a very active "Citizens for Smart Growth" organization that would be very interesting for folks in Sarasota to look at. Roger Drouin over at the Sarasota Observer tells me I have to brush up on my Hemingway, as Ketchum was one of his major haunts, and where he is buried. (Hemingway, not Roger.) There is also a local theater scene I'm told grew partly from actor Bruce Willis' investment in the community some years ago, and a very healthy arts community overall, one of the side benefits I'm sure of the Sun Valley resort economy.

The most important part of this post however is the "Thank You," which goes out most particularly to the employees of the City of Sarasota, but also to the City Commissioners who hired and supported me and to the residents of Sarasota. As I entered this phase of transition I knew that it was an opportunity to find just exactly the right thing to do with this next chapter of my life, which as exciting as that prospect is, it is equally intimidating. Imagine you're a ten-year-old in a candy store and you're told you can have any box of candy you want, but you can only have one - you can look and smell but you cannot taste before you choose. Imagine the pressure... what if that delicious looking chocolate-covered gooey delight turns out to have a LICORICE center - and there you are with the whole box. See, that's pressure!

But back to the thank-you. Thanks to the great work that was done by the employees of the City of Sarasota and many others over the past six years, and even prior to that, and the vision of the City Commission that adopted the Downtown Master Plan 2020, doors were open to me in places far removed from Sarasota, as well as elsewhere here in Florida. Because of the fruits of the labors of those people, and the recognition by others of the quality of what we had done together, I had the opportunity to decide for myself what I really wanted to do next in my career and in my life. Ultimately the life adventure won out over the competing career ambitions of more and bigger, and that adventure awaits (though I confess at this point the adventure seems alternatively like the start of a great alpine climb or stepping off a cliff.) So to you all, a sincere thank-you for providing me with that opportunity. And to anyone who skis, hikes, fly-fishes, bikes, or just likes to look out the window at a few mountains, rivers and valleys, remember that I owe you, and I won't be hard to find. There is an airport right in Hailey (Sun Valley), also one in Boise which is a spectacular two hour drive or Twin Falls which is an hour away.

I've also been asked if I will be keeping up the blog, and the answer to that is "yes and no". I can't very well keep writing as "Sarasota City Manager", but since it has been such a good tool for me I have started another, and in a stroke of creative genius am calling it "Blaine County Administrator," and it looks like this: http://www.bcadmin.blogspot.com There should be a post up there by the end of today.

My final thanks is to the loyal readers and supporters of this blog, which started as an experiment but became a very valuable tool for me in trying to do my job in the best way I could. All the best for you and the City of Sarasota, and I'll see you in cyberspace. Or in Idaho!

2007-01-19T12:14:00.000-05:00

Balance Sheet - One of the fundamental obligations of public administrators is to do the very best we can to leave the organizations and the communities we serve in better condition than they were when we arrive. That is certainly not a knock on our predecessors; every day is an opportunity to do things better, and every improvement builds on the work that's already been done by others. As I move on to the next opportunity, I'm compelled to ask the question of whether I have met that obligation to the City of Sarasota. In the spirit of that question I make some observations:

The city itself is in excellent financial condition, and has in fact achieved the highest general obligation bond rating in its history. Thanks largely to exceptional growth in valuations the City Commission was able this year to improve some service levels without increasing millage rates, though the challenges to non-homestead property owners have also increased as their share of the overall tax burden continues to grow. Relations with our home county are extremely good.

We have adopted a citywide Continuity of Operations Plan that takes a big step beyond our traditional pre-disaster planning to guarantee the governments ability to function in the post disaster phase. Things like Neighborhood Points of Distribution (NPODS) are now a part of the vocabulary. Also on the public safety side, in the last five years we have seen a significant decrease (12%) in felony index crime rates in the city.

Downtown, Urban Planner and New Urbanist guru Andres Duany reported to us last week that our redevelopment work in the five years since the Downtown Master Plan was adopted has been "exceptionally well administered", and that we had achieved a rare combination of speed and quality with many of our downtown improvements. The adoption of those codes and zoning districts alone was a monumental step forward for the city. And although it's been said many times, it bears repeating - the long-sought downtown grocery finally materialized in the form of the Whole Foods Market.

Uptown, I also heard last week from the President of the local chapter of the NAACP, who indicated he was pleased with the progress that has been made in improving the city's interface with the Newtown Community with the opening of the Newtown Redevelopment Office and a lot of work by members of the SPD force.

On a broader scale the whole concept of Asset Based Community Development has been introduced and is at this point only very narrowly understood, but offers great promise for mining the resources of out citizens to address the issues of our neighborhoods.

Oranizationally, thanks to a lot of very high quality work by our Human Resources Department we have for our first fully developed Career Path Program for city employees, an updated and competitive salary administration system and somewhat stabilized health care benefit, a structured "Tool Kit" training series for city supervisors, and an in-house wellness nurse. We are well on the way to implementing a comprehensive building permit and review system that will serve as the platform fo much broader standardization and automation opportunities. In our Public Works Department we are also well underway with the process of seeking accreditation from the American Public Works Association, and in other departments across the city improvements in certification and training have been achieved.

We have also made a concerted effort internally to study and define what really makes a team like ours work, and have made great progresss against the dreaded "silo" way of thinking.

There have surely been adventures along the way - I doubt it's possible to move an organization and a city through as much change as we've seen in a short time without significant inconvenience. As they say, one can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. There have been many lessons learned, and in every case better systems developed for the future. I will also be the first to say that not every citizen of Sarasota is happy with every decision or occurence. It is a very difficult exercise to measure the success of something like a city based on the level of one person's individual happiness on a given day, or in a given year, as the life and evolution of a city take a long, slow path. I know there have been days downtown when nobody was happy in certain areas, and that means construction workers, neighbors, business owners, city staff and anyone else in the area. On balance however the input I have received tells me that Sarasota has improved considerably. Is that a unanimous opinion? Of course it will never be, but just yesterday I gave a downtown tour to 25 people from the City of Largo and I can fairly report that they were amazed by our improvement.

The answer to the original question is of course quite subjective. For me, I can look at Sarasota 2007 versus Sarasota 2001, both citywide and organizationally and say yes, we have come a long way on both fronts.

Finally, on a personal note I've had some great experiences sitting in the City Manager's office. I've had the honor of representing to the public some incredibly talented and dedicated people, the employees of the City of Sarasota, have met and enjoyed relationships with dozens more great people who regularly do business with city government, and have enjoyed visiting nearly all of our diverse neighborhoods.

As for that book I have in mind writing in my retirement, in the last year alone I've also been screamed at, kicked in the shins, lied to, and have met a number of characters even Carl Hiassen would appreciate. I'll not say more at this point lest the City of Sarasota come after me some day for royalties!

2007-01-05T15:34:00.000-05:00

Annual Citizen's Survey - One of the weeklies filed a story this week regarding the City Commission's discussion of our annual citzen's survey. I would say the story was biased to make the city look bad, but that would be an insult to bias. I encourage anyone that's interested to go to the city's website and view the actual discussion for yourself using the video streaming feature - the link is right there on the home page, sarasotagov.com. What actually happened was a fairly long discussion of the survey results, what one can and cannot conclude from them, what value they have, and how sometimes the results on certain items can be skewed by events that may or may not be city related. At no point did anyone belittle the citizens of Sarasota as the Pelican reported. The discussion was about how to get the most meaning from the results possible. In some cases, it was theorized that certain results (that didn't square with what we intuitively believed what people might say) could mean that we hadn't informed our citizenry well enough. If that were true, that is something we can fix, but it's a far cry from trying to "PR" our way out of a negative response, as was also stated. Frankly I found the report of the discussion more than a little slanted, probably to the point of irresponsible. But don't take my word for it, watch for yourself and draw your own conclusion.

2006-12-16T15:02:00.000-05:00

Tech Advice Requested! Given some of the limitations of the blog format, I'd like to make this a better tool for communication. For example, I would like for readers to be able to start a thread or ask me a question without having to go off-topic or wait for me to write about it first. So to those of you who are more net-savvy than I am (probably nearly everyone) what are your suggestions for migrating the format?

2006-11-16T13:52:00.000-05:00

Property Tax/Save Our Homes Issue - I am curious about the general perception people have about something. In the recent elction there was a lot of conversation about expanding "Save Our Homes" protections, and/or increasing the Homestead Exemption. There is also a great deal of concern over rising taxes on rental and commercial properties, particularly small businesses, but in reality all business. There is a direct link between increasing homestead protections and shifting more and more tax burden onto rentals, commercial property, and second homeowners, who are also an important part of this economy. I suppose my question is this - do you think people in general see these relationships, or do they compartmentalize them and see only the one that helps their immediate financial circumstance?

2006-11-03T16:49:00.000-05:00

John Wilkes Termination - Rather write an original post, I am going to post here the statement I read to the press yesterday afternoon, November 2, as follows:

City Manager’s Statement Regarding the Employment of Mr. John Wilkes

November 2, 2006

Effective at the end of business tomorrow, November 3, the employment contract between the City of Sarasota and John Wilkes, Executive Director of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, will be terminated. As you are no doubt aware, recent internal audits, conducted independently from the operation of the City Manager’s Agency, detailed a number of discrepancies in reporting and misuses of resources by Mr. Wilkes on such things as vehicle mileage records, outside employment, and travel and entertainment expense reimbursements. While some have argued that each of these things should be considered “minor”, in their sum total they represent a consistent pattern of disregard for the most fundamental responsibility of a public official, which is the proper stewardship of the public assets with which we are entrusted.

Mr. Wilkes’ contribution to the Van Wezel and its successes is noted and much appreciated by the Sarasota community. The many supporters who have spoken out in support of Mr. Wilkes in recent weeks have given clear voice to that appreciation. Personally, I wish Mr. Wilkes well as he moves on to the next chapter in his career. There is no level of past success, however, that relieves the individual from the simple standards of accountability that come with the role of public servant.

Beginning Monday November 6 Mr. John Wesley White, former Sarasota County Administrator, will assume the role of Acting Executive Director of the Van Wezel, to serve until a search process is completed for a permanent Executive Director. Mr. White, who is present today for this conference, is a nationally known and respected public administrator, and also a Senior Fellow of the International City/County Management Association. His presence will bring stability and leadership to the transition process.

In closing, I want to emphasize one point in particular. Much has been both written and said recently that the issues that have led to today’s action are a function of the inappropriate application of artificially strict bureaucratic rules and regulations to an entity that requires a different type of oversight to operate. Let me be perfectly clear on this point: The poor judgements and inattentive follow-up that ultimately led to today’s action were in no instance born of some special necessity of the Hall as a creative organization, and the record is clear in that regard.

End of statement.

I will only add for the benefit of those who have chosen to personalize these issues that there is no credible motive for anyone in my administration or at City Hall in general to seek to damage the Van Wezel, or to treat Mr. Wilkes unfairly. Such a suggestion is understandable in the heat of the moment, but patently untrue, and further completely unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.

2006-10-20T13:59:00.000-04:00

Livable Wages - Something that has received disappointingly little coverage in the local press is a conversation that the City Commission had over the course of the summer on the question of what constitutes a living wage in the City of Sarasota. That issue ties directly to the larger discussions taking place regarding affordable housing, but is much less often being talked about. In addition to all of the questions raised about how to bring housing prices down, there is little discussion about bringing wages up. I have heard reference made more than once lately to "people who earn $10 an hour" and how difficult it is for them to live - something that is hard to dispute.

Without getting into the genisis of the number (though that information is available), I wanted to report here that the City Commission took a stand on the subject with the adoption of their fiscal year 2006-2007 budget, which took effect on October 1. What they said was that $10 an hour is not enough - for anyone. They have said that no full-time city employee will be asked to work for less than $26,750 a year, or approximately $12.86 an hour. Of course nobody is suggesting that anyone can live comfortably at that salary within the city limits, particularly a one-earner family. But it is a starting point, and is a philosophical statement by the commission that speaks volumes.

Some will say it's easier for the city, which operates as a monopoly, apart from the competitive pressures of the private sector. But what about places like Whole Foods or Starbucks, where somewhat higher prices are willingly paid, which then channels into better benefits for those employees.

I don't have the answers, and realize that I've only made simplistic points. That's where you come in - where do you believe the employers fit into this conversation about housing, living wages, and benefits like health insurance? If you're an employer, please weigh in with your perspective.

(Note: Thank you to the folks at "Creative Loafing" for recognizing this blog and the people who use it!)

2006-10-12T16:17:00.000-04:00

Of Anniversaries and Absurdities - My friends over at the Old Weekly are at it again, this time to once again attach the "defensive" label to yours truly. If you haven't read the column I'm referring to, you'll have to find it for yourself. If you have, here's the backstory:

At a recent city department head meeting Human Resources Director Kurt Hoverter presented me with a 5-Year pin, commemorating the passing of that milestone in my tenure with the city. Never one to pass up an easy joke, particularly one at my expense, I told staff that "anyone who had less than five years in the pool is out!" And that anyone who claimed to have longer than 5 years was obviously lying, so "the pool" was officially defunct.

While I admit City Manager humor may be a little gallowsy at times, that's at least a TINY bit funny- isn't it? But wait - maybe I can turn this "defensive" tag to my advantage.... let's see, Ronald Reagan was the "Great Communicator", maybe I can be the "Great Defender"! But I suppose Bill Russell already locked that one up.... Darn.

SHAMELESS PLUG! One weekend remains for the third annual Sarasota Actors' Workshop production of one-act plays, this year titled "Pushing the Envelope." An evening of ten one-act plays featuring 31 local actors, including one who's a city bureaucrat during the day, "Pushing the Envelope" is up at the Backlot Theater in North Sarasota. For information on "SAW III" and a host of other local theater endeavors go to SRQTheater.com. Support Live Theater!

2006-10-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

Happy New Year! - No, I am not confused (at least not about the New Year thing). Today is the first day of the city's new fiscal year, when the 2007 budget kicks in and all of the departments have new appropriations. It's also a good time for me to get back to this Blog on a more regular basis. I'd like to say I haven't posted recently because I've been traveling the world or something like that, but it's much more mundane; we've been pretty busy down here at City Hall the last couple of months. So much for the dog days of summer! It doesn't seem long ago in Southwest Florida when nearly everyone packed up and headed north for the summer, including many of our retailers and restauranteurs, and things really did slow down. Although I've heard from retailers all over downtown that this summer was a bit slow for them business-wise, here in the city it was as hectic as ever with the spring training complex project and many other things.

Nonetheless "The Season" lies before us, and it should be an interesting one which will include a City Commission election. So Happy New Year to all, here we go. Now if it would just cool off a little bit more...

2006-08-09T17:13:00.000-04:00

Greetings, I'm Back - I confess, I took a little bit of vacation from City Hall. August is typically a good month to do that, though there is plenty happening even in August any more. Here at the city right now we're still working the spring training issue, trying to bring a new SPD headquarters into focus soon, and any number of other things.

But for now, before that vacation spirit gets away from us completely, and recognizing that this is the time of year when many Floridians travel, I'm going to ask this question - In your travels this summer, what did you see or learn about somewhere else that you think would be useful for us, or that we could replicate here in Sarasota? I'll start with an example; I was in Jackson, Wyoming which is a very high-transient place with many thousands of tourists passing through or staying in a very small town every day. One thing they do better than we do is provide public restrooms downtown. Other than at the bus transfer station and down at Island Park, I don't believe there are others here. Actually they probably have about that many as well, but serving a much smaller downtown.

What have you seen this summer that you think we could learn from?

2006-07-18T17:15:00.000-04:00

Baseball and Sarasota - As anyone who reads the paper or watches the news on TV knows, we have been working with the Cincinnati Reds to devise a plan whereby we would develop a new baseball facility in exchange for what has become a 30-year commitment from the Reds to keep Sarasota as their spring training home. Soaring construction costs have caught up to this project just as they have many others, so in spite of a state legislative appropriation we are eligible to apply for the local share is considerable. Most of those details have been well reported in the local media, and we continue to explore ways to minimize the impacts of any potential project on city tax payers.

As for public opinion, at one end of a spectrum are the die-hard loyalists who would see spring training and minor league baseball preserved at nearly any price. At the other end are those who don't feel one dime of public subsidy for such an activity is appropriate, regardless of economic impact. In the middle are the majority of people, with all sorts of opinions both on the overall value to the community of such a facility and the validity of economic impact numbers. What do you think about the project, its impacts, or baseball's place in Sarasota? If you're not sure what to think, what questions would you like to see answered?

2006-06-30T14:55:00.000-04:00

Fourth of July Weekend - Fourth of July Weekend is a big deal in Sarasota, with the parade, the Offshore Grand Prix, all of the associated events and parties, everyone's personal and family celebrations, and Tuesday night's bayfront fireworks display, which wraps it all up and is easily the largest public gathering of the year. While most people have at least one extra day off to enjoy it all, there are a great many city employees who do extra duty to help ensure that the rest of us have a safe, satisfying holiday. In advance, there are those right here in the City Manager's office who wade through all of the requests for special event permits, making sure that conflicts are kept to a minimum and required services are provided with each event so that as much as possible everyone has a good time. There's the Sarasota Police Department, whose members take on the tasks of crowd control, traffic circulation, marine protection (can you imagine what that job must be like during and after the fireworks?) and other extra duties that come with a big holiday. Quietly but spectacularly in the background are our Public Works employees, who will be hauling barricades, dumpsters and whatever else is required logisticaly to pull it all off. If you're at the bayfront Tuesday night, take a look around as you leave at the unbelievable mountain of trash the fireworks-watchers leave behind. Then look again early Wednesday morning - I promise you will find yourself in complete amazement as to how everything went back to normal so quickly. THAT is your Sarasota Public Works Department.

I know I'm leaving someone out, so just take those few as examples of the many who will give up time with their own families to ensure that the rest of ours have a great holiday. To them and all of the private-sector volunteers who also work to make the many events possible I say a big thank you. And Happy Birthday, USA!

2006-06-26T09:42:00.000-04:00

10,000 Plus Milestone! - Late last week the number of visits to this blog since December when a counter was added hit 10,000. My thanks to everyone who has participated in this experiment in "local government direct". I know this tool doesn't necessarily reach everyone in town, but it seems to be useful to some - perhaps many. Thanks for reading and for sharing your opinions.

2006-06-21T11:41:00.000-04:00

North Tamiami Trail Redevelopment - One of the items generating a lot of discussion related to the ongoing effort to plan for the redevelopment of the North Tamiami Trail has been what the project should be called. (For those that are unaware, this work has been a joint effort of the four colleges/universities, both counties, and the city, with great interest and close observation by the neighborhoods.) Recently the group recommended that the whole area be referred to as the “The Renaissance Trail,” with five subdivisions---The Whitfield Mile, The University Mile, The Ringling Mile, The Whitaker-Pioneer Mile, and the Cultural Center Mile identified from north to south. The way I understand it is that each subdivision would be "themed" in a slightly different way in terms of civic infrastructure (signage, perhaps lighting). As usual here, I'm looking for reactions to the whole idea. Any thoughts?

2006-06-09T18:01:00.000-04:00

Of New Urbanism, Arcades, and Jogging - I've recently been doing a bit of what most people call jogging (I call it "running" because it makes me feel much more athletic, but I recognize that as slightly delusional.) I've taken to making one run a week that covers as much as possible of downtown Sarasota, so I can get an up-close look at how different projects are going, what our city facilities look like, and how things overall are coming together. One thing that has been interesting as we've gotten closer to summer is how drawn I am as I go to any shade I can find, and how the few arcades that we do have make such good shade. (I know what you're thinking - "his running is nothing like people walking!" If you're saying that, you have quite obviously never seen me running.)

I also had the opportunity when I was in the Florida Panhandle a couple of weeks ago to visit a number of the small New Urbanist communities that are springing up along the coast. Seaside, for example, has all the charm its reputation would suggest, but for my personal taste was just a bit too close - though I'm sure I could live there quite comfortably. On down the coast was another called Rosemary Beach, that was also quite interesting and somewhat "roomier." Both featured arcades to the curb line under living space quite prominently - in fact in some cases small balconies or other features actually extended over the parking space., and were both attractive and functional.

My point isn't to trigger another great debate on arcades. It is simply to state that when the City Commission voted to effectively "ban" arcades, staff was also given direction to evaluate where and when arcades make sense and eventually bring that discussion forward. I think along the way everyone agreed that arcades in and of themselves aren't an evil, it's the correct application of them as a design feature that counts. I hope as the issue comes forward in the future, that's the conversation we have. My recent (welcome) exposure to arcades prompted me to say so!

2006-05-30T17:32:00.000-04:00

Senator Bill Bradley on Citizenship - Thursday and Friday of last week I attended the annual conference of the Florida City and County Management Association (FCCMA), the professional association for people who do this thing that I do for a living here in Florida. Along with the opportunity to share experiences with professional managers from around the state, the conference always features great guest speakers, and this year was no exception, with the opening keynote address delivered by former United States Senator, All-American, Olympic gold medal winner, New Your Knick, two-time NBA champion, and erstwhile presidential hopeful Bill Bradley.

Senator Bradley spoke on a number of subjects, including many of his experiences as an athlete, and he proved to be a great story teller. Beyond that, however, he talked about the concept of citizenship, and what it means to be a citizen. He struck a chord for me when he talked about how people suggest that government should be run like business, and our constituents treated like customers. He suggested that government has a much higher obligation to our citizens than as customers, something with which I have always agreed. That doesn't mean we can't apply business principles where they are appropriate, but our motivations and reasons to exist are quite different.

The Senator also talked about the role and responsibility of the citizen, and reminded us all that every time someone steps to the microphone at a commission meeting or calls us on the phone to complain, cajole, or even just downright agitate we should be grateful, as that person is exercising his or her citizenship, something that all too few people do. In fact, it is often the exercise of citizenship by a relatively small number that leads government at all levels sometimes to take actions based on that noisy few. Senator Bradley talked a great deal about how that effect in Washington makes both major political parties pay the most attention to those who might tend more to the extreme but who are the ones in the game, hence requiring that attention.

What does that mean for us here in Sarasota? If you've listened to the City Commission lately you've heard them discuss something called "Asset Based Community Development", which relies on people acting as citizens to affect change in their own community. You will be hearing more about that. We generally think of ourselves as a very active and engaged community, so here's a citizenship question for you; in our most recent city election, what percentage of the residents of the City of Sarasota stood up to cast a vote, something which many would agree is one of the most basic responsibilities of a Citizen? Write down your number somewhere - in a couple of days I'll post the answer.

ALSO! A big thank you to everyone who has participated in this experiment in communication and the right to address your government, the City Manager's Blog. My peers in the FCCMA last week picked it out for a special award for "Courage in Communication." Apparently this format is somewhat unique in our business, so thank you for being a part of it!

2006-05-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

Strategic Planning for the Commmunity Redevelopment Area - On June 5th the City Commission will advance the expansion of our CRA into the North Sarasota area, specifically the area covered by the Newtown Redevelopment Plan. Then on June 22 in a joint meeting with the CRA advisory board they will talk about strategic planning for the remaining ten years of the CRA. To oversimplify a bit, this will be largely about prioritizing the money that will be collected in the redevelopment trust fund in the next 10 years (when it expires). Much of that money is allocated already, but upwards of $70 million remains. The question - with housing, parking, roundabouts, streetscaping and other infrastructure, the cultural district, historic districts, transit, and all of the other things that have been discussed lately, and whatever hasn't that might be important to you, how would you prioritize the uses for that money?

2006-05-22T17:03:00.000-04:00

You Choose the Subject - I often wish this format allowed the readers of the blog a change to post a new topic and get comment from me and others. So here's your chance; tell me what you want to read about, and I'll post new topics to cover them - within reason of course! What's on your mind, either that's new or that you haven't seen the answers to yet?

2006-05-12T17:30:00.000-04:00

Guaranteed Hot Tip for the Week of May 15 - No, it's not Monday's City Commission meeting. Throughout the week the Florida High School Athletic Association will be holding it's all-class state baseball tournament at Ed Smith Stadium over on 12th Street. With all the attention being paid in the mass media to the Barry Bonds/Babe Ruth/"Should There be an Asterisk" conversation, the state tournament offers sports fans in Sarasota the opportunity to watch a lot of kids who have worked very hard all year compete for state championships, and it's an event certain to become a real milestone in their lives. It's all of the fun, drama and intensity of baseball at its best with none of the sideshow. If you missed it last year, don't make the same mistake again. Of course two local teams (Sarasota High and Sarasota Christian) will be representing Sarasota County, which is another great reason to go.

Head on out to the ball park, the event runs all of next week, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. So certain, in fact, that if you go and you're not happy that you did just stop by City Hall, show me your ticket stub, and I'll give you your money back myself. So play ball! And good luck Sailors and Blazers!

2006-05-08T15:19:00.000-04:00

Alpha Company Visits Sarasota - Many of you have probably seen local media accounts of city employees preparing CARE packages to send to American soldiers deployed in the Middle East, something that people all over Sarasota contributed to. The folks who organize that work call themselves "ACES", for Association of City Employees for Service. In cooperation with a national organization called Americans Serving Americans, ACES has adopted in each of the past two years an American combat unit, last year a unit serving in Iraq, Charlie Company of the 1st Army Infantry, and this year Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, recently returned from Afghanistan and previously deployed in Iraq.

Last week four very impressive young men came to Sarasota to express their appreciation for the support the community had given them during their deployment. In a presentation in the City Commission chambers last Friday they provided a slide and video snapshot of their time in Afghanistan, and heard the appreciation of many who had gathered to honor their service, including a specially-seated group of city employees who are also veterans. The pride those in attendance felt in those men was such that you could almost reach out and touch it, as was the appreciation the troops expressed for the support they had been given. I attend a lot of ceremonies and events, and this one was truly special.

A thanks is owed to all of the people of Sarasota who continue to contribute to this effort. A special thanks to the employees who make up ACES for their amazing dedication to the cause of supporting our troops, and for their tireless efforts to organize last week's visit by Alpha Company. Finally, a special thank you to the men of Alpha Company (I'm not being chauvinistic, this is an all-male combat unit) not only for your service but also for taking the time to visit Sarasota, we hope you enjoyed your stay. I don't know any of your parents, but I think I'm on safe ground to say that they must be very, very proud.

2006-04-28T14:18:00.000-04:00

Downtown Parking Master Plan - On Monday evening (May 1) the City Commission will consider the final adoption of a long-awaited master plan to govern the development and administration of our downtown parking program. The Commission has already seen presentations on each of the four phases of this study effort, and will be seeing the final plan for approval. The plan contains 41 specific implementation items, from adopting a priority map for needed parking inventory to where and how parking should be for-pay vs. free. One of the proposals is to do a pilot test on a portion of Main Street of a to-be-determined system (meters, pay stations, etc.) to test the effectiveness in turning the spaces over and practicality of operation. Up for discussion - what about meters on Main Street? Should the city charge for parking right on Main and make it cheaper or free farther away to encourage use of places like the 2nd Street garage, or should it remain free on Main? What about the Main Street retail employees who take up the customer spaces, and resist parking places like 2nd Street or Orange Ave.? Any opinions out there?

2006-04-27T14:15:00.000-04:00

Lift Station Seven Relocation - A couple of questions have been posted regarding the City Commission's decision to relocate this facility, which was the source of significant wastewater spills in both 2004 and 2005. As far as what went into that analysis, and the analysis of alternatives, I'm simply not in a position to say, as I was not a participant in those discussions. (Those who follow this blog know that avoiding the question is not typical here, but the reasons for my absence from that work, as requested by the neighborhood representative have already been chronicled.)

I can say that as the project progresses the direct and collateral impacts will be mitigated as much as they possibly can. There is a great deal of detailed engineering work that has to take place next, and we will be asking the engineers who are selected to do that work to be extrememly cognizant of those impacts as they work toward an actual design and construction plan.

2006-04-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

This Week's Housing Discussion - Among the benefits of all the public comment taken this week on the proposed density-bonus comprehensive plan amendment were the new perspectives and new players that were brought to the table. One of the things that was said a number of times during the discussion does merit some additional information, a comment that had a version on each side of the issue; either "don't let this density bonus program be the first thing the city does to address our housing issues!", or "if you don't adopt this program, you will have done nothing to address our housing issues!"

For the benefit of those who came later than some to the conversation, I would like to offer some information as to what work has already been done. First and foremost is the work that's been done by the joint City/County Office of Housing and Community Development, which has put hundreds of families in afffordable homes through downpayment assistance and first-time homebuyer programs, as well as providing fix-up assistance and larger scale financing assistance for affordable rental communities such as University Park. They's also hosted an annual "Housing Summit" fo many years. I believe I've referred to their work on this blog in the past.

The city's Community Redevelopment Area is being expanded into north Sarasota to allow some of the tax increment funds being generated downtown to be exported to generate housing where land prices are lower, and where need exists as well. Thjis is a complimentary effort to the density bonus program, and will provide significant opportunities once the legal process has been completed.

The City Commission also provided $100,000 to the Housing Authority to help fund the development advisor who will guide the mixed- income redevelopment of the Cohen Way public housing project, and is providing staff to assist. We are also working in partnershipwith the Community Housing Trust, which is looking at projects within the city limits and helping structure some of our programming. The city has also provided many buildable lots over the years to not-for-profit developers like Goodhomes.

This is a very quick summary, and I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but I wanted to get information out there that much is being and has been done. Has the problem been solved? Certainly not, but just as certainly the density bonus proposal is not the first effort out of the box.

2006-04-12T14:36:00.000-04:00

Leadership and "Grand Plans" - For four or five weeks now one of our local weekly newspapers has been reprinting front-page versions of essentially the same story, which goes something like this: "City Manager Mike McNees and County Manager Jim Ley cooked up a scheme in secret to create a recreation plan for the north county without talking to anyone, who the heck do they think they are, and who's in charge over there?!?!" (O.K., so that's my version of their story, but this is my blog. Read for yourself, you'll see I'm not far off.) Usually I'd just let it go, because we all know it's harder to fight the press than to fight City Hall. But I do feel it's important that the whole truth be told, so I will fill in some of the gaps here.

I can only speak for the city's side of the equation, but it has been an objective of the City Commission for at least 3 years to complete the spring training complex improvements that will be required to keep the Cincinnati Reds in town for another 20 years (which is something I'll have to put out for converstion in a future post.) We also have a "Parks and Connectivity" plan that the Commission adopted that calls for a major city park in eastern Sarasota, and standing orders also from the Commissioners to pursue all possible avenues for the creation of affordable housing units. In speaking with Mr. Ley, originally about the spring training issues and the competing demands for the county tourist tax, we started a conversation that eventually branched out to staffs from both agencies who looked at needs and assets on a wider scale. Ultimately a set of ideas was created that show what some of the options are if the community eventually chooses to embrace them. One of the assets discussed was the land that now serves as the county fairgrounds, but other options have been identified that exclude the fairgrounds, with the understanding that the destiny of the fairgrounds is certainly beyond the two Managers to determine, rather the fair board, county and community at large.

The fact is that before any of the ideas that have been bounced around even begin to take real shape there has to be a great deal more public discussion, and a number of very public decisions must be made. First, the legislature has to alocate spring training facility funds. The TDC and the County Commission have to go through a public hearing process for the allocation of tourist tax dollars. The recreational stakeholders have to weigh in on what they want for the future of their facilities, and the citizens at large have to weigh in on all of these issues. But every idea has to start somewhere.

Even more to the point made by our friends at the weekly, every bit of this conversation on the city's part has taken place pursuant to specific policy direction given by the City Commission. When shown the big picture ideas in a joint City/County Commission meeting, the Commissioners affirmed exactly that, and complimented both staffs for the cooperative and creative spirit they brought to the issue (which you certainly did not have the opportunity to read about.)

To cut to the bottom line, and the question raised in this week's edition about who it is that's exercising leadership at City Hall: On this issue I have certainly been the lead dog pulling the City's sled, but there's no question that it has been the City Commission standing on the back of the sled yelling "Mush!" and telling us where they want the sled to go.

When I was interviewing for the City Manager's position five years ago I heard and read a lot of conversation about how the community needed someone who would show "leadership" in the manager's chair. Ultimately many judge that leadership based on whether or not the sled is going where they personally want it to go, that's the nature of the business. But I have to believe that working together with our peers over at the county to generate good ideas to offer to address challenges of mutual concern beats the heck out of the alternative.

2006-04-10T15:19:00.000-04:00

Locals or Chains - What's Your Opinion? - Presentations by various retail experts over the last few years have emphasized the value of a mix of national and local retailers downtown. More recently the conversation has shifted to the subject of restaurants, triggered somewhat by the Pineapple Square project. Clearly the large nationals generate huge numbers - one can't argue their popularity, and numbers are needed to support quality retail. On the other side of the coin, I'm lifting a comment that was posted deeper in the blog today to start a new thread, because it articulates well an alternative point of view, as follows:

"http://www.blogger.com/profile/22131175 said...
Mr. McNees: I've been a three decade resident of Sarasota and long time fan of smart growth and new urbanism, a few things stick in my side about the proposed Pineapple Square project. When downtown had become a desolate wasteland of mediocre shopping destinations and for lease signs ruled the day, some very astute and visionary businessmen saw the area for its potential. More than a decade later, both the city and residents have reaped these early risks taken most often than not by independent restauranteurs. Now that the pendulum has swung in the other direction, Saraota finds itself again at a crossroads. Now that growth is occurring faster than your head can spin, we have corporate interests telling us that in order to attract high end retailers, downtown needs nationally operated chain resataurants to anchor the commercial and residential projetcs.If your destination is "anytown USA", then I tend to agree with these builders. Yet, the whole point of making Sarasota an exclusive location is sustaining its individuality from everywhere else. No one goes to dine in South Beach because there is a Morton's Steakhouse there. Sarasota should not allow any corporate restaurants within the downtown sector. There was a plan behind the fact that the Burger King on Main and Lemon would have a nonrenewable lease. Sarasotans love their restaurants. If you want corporate, get in your car and drive half a mile in any direction down US 41. But if you come to dine downtown, what you should find should be intrinsically Sarasota and should remain in the hands of the visionary and risk takers that have contributed the most the resurgence of the downtown sector.Take a note city managers that once you give in to one or two, it will hard to deny the ones that follow. Many think that having a Morton's downtown or from what I hear a PF Chang's, will attract people to downtown. News Flash - The people are already here. And Morton's may have a reputation, but (1), you cand find one anywhere(six other locations in Florida alone), and (2) Do not underestimate the sophistication of your residents' palate. Remember, corporate restaurants are always busy and for no other reason that "There is no accounting for popularity". Let independent restauranteurs lay the groundwork for the Sarasota food and wine scene to follow and send the corporate profiteers packing.Put pressure on the Isaac Group and Urban Land Concepts to lease the available restaurant spaces in their projetcs not to corporate chains but to independent owners.P.S. No one wears Gucci and Prada to Morton's - Sarasota needs to take a hint from the East Coast, New York and Chicago if it ever wants to have world class restaurants!!!"
10/4/06 2:52 PM

Can local independents generate the foot traffic critical to retailers? Would national retailers take a chance on a center anchored by unknown (to them) independents? Don't we want those nationals that are so popular other places - aren't they popular for a reason? What do you think?!

2006-04-02T09:51:00.000-04:00

Palm Avenue Parking - Tomorrow (April 3) the City Commission, meeting as the CRA, will discuss what objectives they want to achieve as take another run at redeveloping the city's Palm Avenue property. Of course public parking is critical, and affordable housing has been discussed, though some question the economics of that at this particular location, and have suggested that building affordable housing in the downtown core, on the most expensive land, would be little different from looking for affordable housing on the water. Some of the earlier proposals for the site included hotel rooms, which are also important with Sarasota losing hotel rooms in other locations. Of course we can't really analyze the economics here, but obviously every objective can't be met - there's only so much land. What are the most important things to you for this site? (Beyond the most obvious of course, which is that the project this time is successful!)

2006-03-31T16:32:00.000-05:00

Blog Improvement Notice! - No, I'm not getting someone else to write the blog for me. I'm discontinuing the ability to post anonymously. That doesn't mean posts will be identifiable, only that to post a comment one will have to complete a short registration process, using a name or pseudonym.

My hope is that having to identify ourselves, even if it's with a pseudonym, will make us less inclined to carry on our conversations by calling each other names. (Read the posts, you know who you are.) If some don't understand, I'll give a couple of examples of what we're going for here:

Example 1) "I don't agree with that opinion, perhaps you were unaware of certain facts that I am privy to such as......" GOOD!

Example 2) "I don't agree with that opinion, perhaps you were unaware of certain facts that I am privy to you Clueless Moron!!" NOT GOOD!

It really is pretty simple, no? Have a great weekend, Sarasota.

2006-03-28T16:48:00.000-05:00

Moving People Downtown - With the fears that have been expressed that downtown densities will bring more traffic congestion, it's a good time to talk about alternative ways to move people around downtown without their cars. Out there in the world there are a lot of really interesting alternatives; electric shuttles, racks of free bicycles (pick it up from a rack where you are, leave it on a rack where you're going,) moving sidewalks, all sorts of mini-trains or trolleys, and more traditional methods as well. How about an overhead gondola running from Hollywood 20, to Five Points, to Marina Jacks, out to St. Armand's Circle, and back. I know, it sounds crazy. But at one time powered flight sounded crazy too.

So - what are your ideas, or what have you seen out there in the rest of the world that you think might work in Sarasota? And for this stage of the game, lets leave out the part where we pick apart the ideas and find all of the reasons why they would never work - let's just focus on the possibilities. What do you think, no matter how crazy it might seem to us now?

2006-03-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

Affordable Housing Initiatives - I've just returned from a week of vacation, and am glad to see that an active discussion has been taking place regarding this issue. The density bonus comprehensive plan amendment that will be discussed this week at the planning board, and I see at a CCNA/Downtown Partnership public meeting, is only one new tool of many that are needed. If the plan amendment is put in place, Shawn Fulker is correct in saying that many steps remain before any program could be put in place. It is exactly this type of program that is needed to allow for some of the housing to be developed that has been talked about for some time, for example the housing Mr. Vengroff has talked about on his property near Park East. (Though in reading posts there was a statment about city staff comments on that, which I'm tracking down.)

No one tool, however, will solve anything, nor is it proposed that it would. It will take the combined efforts of everyone, including employers, to produce affordability, and that includes discussions about what is a legitimate living wage. I heard an employer lamenting a few months ago that his son, who worked in his very successful business, could barely afford to live in Sarasota. I know business margins are tight, but I found it curious that the idea of paying the young man more didn't even enter into the conversation.

In answer to the question about "over 55" age restriction, I am not aware of any downtown project that has such a thing. There may be other questions in the posts, I will get through them once we dispatch today's commission meeting.

2006-03-10T18:08:00.000-05:00

City Hall at the Market - Tomorrow (Saturday March 11) is everyone's chance to talk to anyone you want from the City one-on-one. We'll all be down at City Hall at the Market as part of the Saturday Farmers' Market from 7 a.m. until noon. So come on down and let us know what you're thinking, all departments will be represented. If you're one of those who demands anonymity in communicating, I guess the disguise is up to you!

2006-02-28T11:55:00.000-05:00

Too Much, or Too Little? - First, I recognize my posts have been somewhat irregular lately. My home computer has been giving me fits, and having gotten it back from the repair shop last week it developed a new trick last night and wouldn't boot up at all. May be time for an upgrade... Along with that are a couple of unanswered questions, I will get to those in the next couple of days.

For today, I want to get to a question of my own. I hear a lot of comments about the pace things are happening downtown, and there is a very interesting dichotomy; on one hard, some folks are concerned about how quickly things are changing. On the other hand, many others are concerned that the economy will get away from us, and that redevelopment has to be taken as far as it can be while conditions are right. Connected to that side is the issue of getting projects that bring public parking to fruition as quickly as possible.

Of course many of the variables that control the timing of these things are not in the city's control - the aforementioned economy, for example, or the retirements of the Baby Boomers which will have a huge effect on us in the coming years. But in spite of that, my question is this: What do you think about the pace of things? Is it all just too much, too fast, or do you favor, if redevelopment is inevitable anyway, seeing as much done as possible while the iron is hot? There are no right or wrong answers of course, but I think this could be an interesting discussion. Please, make me right!

2006-02-21T08:06:00.000-05:00

"Tending" the Blog - Clearly two people have followed a thread of discussion regarding the Salvation Army and their philosophy that most don't see as productive. Here's my question: since it wasn't really personal, but at the same time was somewhat far afield from the subject of this blog, would you prefer that I delete that sort of thng?

Secondly, Stan Z. I appreciate your opinion, I can only say that there are times when the normal demands of the job leave little room for spending time with the blog, even on my own time. Last week was such a week. Then this past weekend, I just flat took a few days off. If my lack of daily "tending" makes the blog not usable for some, it will just have to be so. As for the idea to eliminate comments altogether, that strikes me as throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Even if there are some that go astray, there are many more expressing well-defined points of view. I hate to give all power to those who misuse the forum, and allow them to dictate whether it exists.

2006-02-10T18:21:00.000-05:00

Friday Evening in Sarasota - As I look out my office window I see the sun is setting on what has been another spectacular Southwest Florida winter day. Through the wall I hear music coming from the Lemon Avenue Mall (it must be First Friday), proof that the days when outdoor music was banished downtown are truly behind us. All in all life is pretty good in Sarasota for the vast majority of us, and for those for whom it might not be there is great energy in this community to try to make a difference for them as well. No message, no agenda, and no point of view here, just call it a brief stop to smell the roses. Have a great weekend, Sarasota!

2006-02-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

NOTICE OF BLOG-POLICE ACTION! -- O.K. bloggers, you've blown up the civility code. I've deleted a number of posts that were personal rather than issue related. And it does not work to say that it's about the issue while you call someone names.

For C. Johnson who said "It is hollow and McNees should be smarter than allowing this false dialog. Perhaps it serves his purpose?", don't worry, you can still attack me if you want. I've left your post up.

Now can we please clean it up and advance the discussion, not the attacks?

2006-02-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

Pineapple Square - Obviously there's a great deal of interest in the city's decision to move this project forward. Rather than continue the thread on my previous post, I'll just put the heading up here. This is a very interesting project, to say the least, so let's talk about the issues, what you think, and why. As far as the politics go, and who should or shouldn't be elected or re-elected, my suggestion is that someone start a local political blog; I suspect it would be very popular!

2006-02-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

Gifts from God and Payne Park - It has been suggested I write about the decision to move the Gifts from God "Sunday Picnic in the Park" from Gillespie Park. I don't think I need to detail the issues the Gillespie Park neighborhood has been raising for a number of years, so I will talk about my thought process.

For background, the city ordinance that governs the issuance of permits for gatherings greater than 75 people in city parks has provisions as follows:

A special event permit may only be issued for a specified limited period of time and shall set forth conditions or requirements as shall be deemed necessary to mitigate potential adverse effects upon the public park and neighboring properties…

Our ordinance also specifies that:

An application for special event permit may also be denied on any of the following grounds:….
…..(8) There are alternate locations available, within the public park, or at another public park, where the event may reasonably be located without creating the type or degree of potentially adverse effects it is anticipated would result at a site for which the special event permit is requested;

Said very simply, having been granted the authority under the ordinance to do so, I determined that the Payne Park site offered an opportunity to mitigate neighborhood impacts based on the significant buffer areas that exist there that do not exist around Gillespie Park.

We will continue to monitor the situationto ensure that this conclusion is indeed valid, and hope to hear from the neighbors if there are conflicts. All in all, I continue to believe this is a better solution for conducting this legal activity.

2006-01-27T14:43:00.000-05:00

Of Partnerships, Conflicts, and Gossip - I heard recently from a City Commissioner, and also read in one of the weeklys the other day that there is some concern among unnamed "Main Street" interests over the fact that I recently accepted a seat on the board of directors of the Sarasota Downtown Partnership (DTP). My first reaction was to wonder, if this concern is out there, why someone didn't just say "hey Mike, what's up with this thing about you and the DTP board? Isn't there a conflict there?" After all, I have to be one of the easiest people in town to locate, and I would have had an opportunity to answer. Since nobody did, I'll address the issue here.

The DTP recently expanded its board to include a number of people intended to broaden its scope; it is the Downtown Partnership. County Administrator Jim Ley, Police Chief Pete Abbott and I are all new members on the government side, along with people like Joe Moraca who is there representing the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations. I believe this collaboration is a good thing, as the interests of the Partnership and the interests of the City and County will typically be the same. When DTP Executive Director Tony Souza came to town, he and I talked about strengthening the connection between the DTP and city government, which started with the city's rejoining the DTP as a corporate member, a move that was applauded when announced at one of their large functions. I didn't hear any comments about conflicts related to the city being a member of the organization, and don't think being represented on their board creates any more conflict than being a member.

Beyond that, one of the stated issues is that Pete Schneider, who is a city employee under my span of control, signs special event permits, and the DTP sometimes has events. Actually the DTP has moved away from being an event-driven organization. They still conduct the Saturday and Wednesday Farmers' Markets, but those are not done via the special event process, they have both been approved by the City Commission, and implemented through administrative agreements. Interestingly, in the "old days" the Downtown Association, precursor to the DTP was very much event driven, and for some time Mr. Schneider himself sat as a board member, including the first year or two I was in Sarasota. Rumor has it he also poured a mean beer at many of those same events. I didn't hear anything about conflicts at that time. If the DTP were to apply for a permit, the rules would be the same as they are for anyone else.

It is of course possible that at some point the interests of the city and the interests of the DTP might diverge. In that case, my obligation is clearly to the city, and I will act accordingly should that situation occur. Having served on a number of not-for-profit boards during my career, as do many in public service, elected or appointed, I realize I must always be aware of potential conflicts. I am happy to address issues anyone might have regarding potential conflicts that I might not be seeing, and as I said I'm very easy to locate down at City Hall - or on this blog.

2006-01-23T08:46:00.000-05:00

City Parks - What do you think? - Tomorrow the City Commission and city staff, along with some members of our parks advisory board, will be traveling to Lakeland to visit some of the city parks in their system. We will be asking them to evauate the overall level of quality of our city parks, and staff sees the Lakeland system as a good benchmark. Ultimately, the questions revolve around whether the commissioners are interested in making a larger investment to achieve a higher level of service in our parks, particularly for maintenance.

We think we have a great park system, and the status quo may be just fine. But with Atkins Park under constuction, and Payne Park soon to be, it's a good time to make this type of evaluation. So my question is this - what do you think about the overall condition of our city parks? If you were in charge, what would you do more of, or less, of, or would you leave things just the way they are?

There are no right answers here, we're just seeking your opinions. What do you think? One tricky part though - if you think things should be changed considerably, are you willing to consider slightly higher taxes to make that happen? (There's always a catch, isn't there?)

2006-01-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

Arcades - Forces for Good or Evil? - Obviously building arcades are architectural features, not forces for or against anything. But with the final batch of the initial text amendments to the new downtown development codes coming to the City Commission next Monday (January 23), the arcade issue has taken center stage, and a huge amount of emotional energy has been generated over whether or not they should be allowed.

For the record, I don't have a preference as to whether any particular building should or shouldn't have an arcade. Since I'm neither architect, planner, or urban designer that's probably for the best, as my role in this is purely professional and purely process-related, and not to advance my personal preference anyway. Toward that end, I would like to make a few points about this arcade discussion in advance of Monday's meeting, because I believe what is most important is that an objective discussion be held that deals with real issues, and I'm not sure to date that has been happening.

Much of the opposition I have heard to arcades, and a large number of petition signatures that have been generated, spring from a drawing that has been widely circulated by the Save Our Sarasota organization that purports to depict what downtown Sarasota might become should arcades not be stricken from the menu of architectural options in the downtown code. I know this because I have seen the petitions, and know that a large number of the correspondents on the issue have specifically referenced this picture. (Note: a representative of SOS has asked me to point out that the bulk of their signatures were collected before this particular rendering existed.)

In my opinion, this rendering is no more an accurate representation of any even remotely probable outcome for Sarasota, should arcades be adopted, than a picture of Times Square on New Years Eve would be. At the most simple level, I don't know of anywhere in Sarasota where rows of identical buildings exits, so I don't know why that would ever happen in the future. Of course there are more assumptions than that in the rendering process, but my point would be that to use that drawing as a platform from which to conduct the public policy discussion on arcades is just not intellectually honest, and that is fromwhere much of the opposition seems to be derived. I had this conversation with representatives of SOS, nice people all, but they seem to stand by their drawing. I certainly can't argue it's effectiveness in getting people stirred up!

There is also an assumption being made that the only way arcades could be allowed to encroach on the public right-of-way is for the resultant developable air space to be given away to the developer. The consequence of this assumption is that the only way to cure this is to prohibit the arcade in the first place. Of course there are other options; if such an arcade provided a good design solution for a particular project, the encroachment could be granted, and value back to the city could be required. That could be cash payment based on value, yet this option hasn't been a part of any discussion I have been aware of.

Finally, I'm told that some of the architectural community has weighed in that these features should be banned. What I don't understand is why the same group, or a subset of that group, that has argued so consistently that there should be no prescriptive inclusions or exclusions related to design or building form, would also argue that this particular option should be banned as opposed to not required, but allowed if and where it makes sense.

As I said before, I have no personal affinity for arcades. I do have an affinity for objective analysis, and decision making that considers all available options and solutions. It is in that spirit I offer these comments. Now I can only hope that all of that Anti-Arcade energy doesn't start chasing me around as well!

2006-01-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

Meanest City? Hardly!! By now most have heard the news that Sarasota was ranked by a Washington D.C. based "advocacy" group as #1 on their list of meanest cities in America in treatment of Homeless people. This is based, according to their report, on the City's adoption of an anti-lodging ordinance that is much more about trespassing than it is about homelessness, and which has been ruled constitutional by a local court.

All of this of course stirs up a lot of publicity, which is of course the point of issuing the list in the first place. We tried to engage this agency in a conversation over the actual state of the issue here in Sarasota, but they did not respond to me at all. If they want to label us "Most Persistent City in America in Adopting a Practical as Well as Constitutional Ordinance to Protect Private and Public Property from Destructive Trespass" then I'd say we'd gladly be #1. But Meanest City? Please.

City Public Information Officer Jan Thornburg put out a press release responding to this nonsense on behalf of the city, and rather than recreate the wheel I'm going to reprint it here, because our citzens deserve to read the other side of this story:

CITY RESPONDS TO "MEANEST CITY" DESIGNATION

Sarasota, FL: City officials rejected today the National Homeless Coalition’s "Meanest City" designation, with respect to the treatment of homeless people. "I believe that any legitimate study of the homeless population and the services provided in this community for their benefit would yield a vastly different conclusion," said Sarasota City Manager Michael McNees. The City of Sarasota boasts a multitude of compassionate social agencies and generous donors, who are dedicated to solving the problem of homelessness.

The homeless are not targeted by the City’s "no lodging" ordinance, which was recently ruled constitutional by a Sarasota County judge. It is a positive tool to safeguard the homeless. Housing people in public parks and on streets does not benefit anyone.

Mr. McNees initiated a sincere attempt to discuss the pending designation with the Executive Director of the National Homeless Coalition; however, a response was never received. "Given that…it is clear that this designation is much more about generating publicity for the agenda of the coalition, whatever that may be, than it is about legitimate public policy discussion," said McNees.

Agencies throughout Sarasota, committed to the prevention and elimination of homelessness, provide extensive services to the homeless population. Food, shelter, counseling and medical treatment are available daily, due to the generosity of private citizens. The executive directors of many of these community agencies are perplexed by the National Homeless Coalition’s designation. Here’s what they’re saying about the ranking:

"It makes no sense. It’s not based on fact. They (the National Homeless Coalition) are going to give a distorted report that paints the entire community with a set of accusations that has no bearing on what’s really going." - Bryan Pope – General Manager, Salvation Army

"Last year we provided services for 26,142 men and 6,827. Many of them we have seen before but we registered 1,402 new homeless last year. We provided 13,178 showers, counseling for 1,729 people, 10,790 laundries and 1,419 received medical treatment from doctors and nurses here….We have a half a million dollar budget. And, all that is donated. We receive no tax money at all in what we do. This is a very generous community. We’re very pleased with the public and the many foundations that provide the funds to do this." - Bob Kyllonen - Executive Director, Resurrection House

"We do a lot of prevention to make sure people don’t become homeless. We bend over backwards to make sure they don’t, especially when there are families involved. We provide them with food, food vouchers, utility assistance, budget counseling, and other counseling to prevent them from becoming homeless. We’ve had 90% success preventing homelessness with our families because of our intense work." - Rose Chapman – CEO, Jewish Family Services

2006-01-09T13:54:00.000-05:00

Where Will We Be in 2007? - Thanks to all who took a shot at answering the question about what our new, hot issues will be during 2006. Most of you pointed out things that you think should be high on our priority list, or gave your point of view on issues that are soon to be considered, like arcades, all of which is great input. So far nobody (myself included, I should add) has taken on the more difficult challege of guessing what issues we might be facing by 2007 that we haven't yet encountered or aren't yet thinking about. Of course it's difficult, if not impossible to look ahead and know what unforseen challenges lie ahead. If I'd asked the question "what should we have done differently in 2005?" there would have been no shortage of responses, I'm sure. The truth of life, and the adventure of our work, is that we all live in "drive" not in "reverse", with some corners we can see around and some we can't. That's what keeps it interesting, no?

To the person who suggested we should consolidate services with the county but probably won't, I will point out that a number of things are already consolidated, stormwater management, fire, EMS, Parks and Recreation, and Emergency Services for example. As far as Police and Sheriff consolidation goes, I have never in four years heard a city resident say they wished to give up having a separate city police force, and I don't think it has a thing to do with "power" as you stated, but rather about the level of service expected by city residents. We also work extremely well with our county staff counterparts on any number of issues, and the working relationship between County Administrator Jim Ley and me is quite good.

Finally, my thanks to those of you who have posted supportive comments on the direction the city is taking downtown, in general, and as an organization. I think we're building a great team here, and I'm glad many of you see that. We have plenty of work to do, and I'll continue to do the very best job I can to carry my share of the load.

2006-01-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year - 2006 Should be an Exciting Year! I don't think that there's any question 2006 is going to be a most interesting year. Among the issues to be resolved are Wal-Mart, Pineapple Square, the expansion of the Community Redevelopment Area, the nature of our density-bonus program for affordable housing development, and many others - and for the most part that's all just in the first quarter! Throw in the Quay, U.S. 41 roundabouts, Palm Avenue Parking, Housing Authority redevelopment planning, Ed Smith Stadium's possible renovation, putting the Downtown Master Plan 2020 codes into use, and a few dozen other issues there will be plenty to keep us busy.

Downtown, it will be exciting to watch the changes as many locations are transformed from construction sites to homes. That will certainly be change for the better. In North Sarasota, F.G. Atkins Park will be completed in a few short months, which will provide a symbolic gateway marking renewed commitment to economic redevelopment. The transportation planning that is required for that to be successful will also be completed, moving us one step closer to nuts and bolts economic redevelopment.

I hope everyone had the opportunity to slow down a bit sometime over the holidays and enjoy family and friends. Now that '06 is here, it looks like we'd better put on our seatbelts. But looking beyond the obvious, here's my question to test our collective foresight: What do you think are the issues we'll be talking about as we move to 2007, but which are not yet high on our radar screens?

2005-12-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

Downtown Discussion Continued - Thank you all for your contributions to what has been a terrific discussion of today's downtown Sarasota. The comments posted so far reflect what I'm hearing around town, over all with a majority of positive comments, but not exclusively.

One of the most interesting conversations I've had so far was with a gentleman who started his business on Main Street 50 years ago, and described the thriving retail scene which included Sears and Roebuck. He talked about the subsequent decline and how he worked with the city to change zoning to allow taller buildings and more density, and hopefully bring more customers. This was around 40 years ago. SRQ941girl said, "the old Sarasota families saw it thru the depressed era on Main St, stuck here thru the good and bad," and this gentleman personifies that comment, in fact he refers to himself and those who stuck it out downtown as "The Survivors." He had stopped by my office to go on record with how pleased he was that all of those efforts over time were bearing fruit, to his mind in a very positive way.

One other thing I have to mention is the reference to the fact that there used to be things for teenagers to do but now there aren't. Although I have to agree that roller skating on the streets around Five Points today wouldn't be well advised, I'm not sure that downtown being "closed" on the weekend to allow for that is a better option. I'll probably get myself into trouble here, but I don't think I've ever lived anywhere that teenagers felt like they had anything to do. My frame of reference as a teenager is small-town central Indiana, and I have to say that as I look out my open windows at this 70 degree January day the options for a Sarasota teenager are vast compared to what was available to me, which was basically a daily search for someplace warm to play basketball. Sure, I still have a halfway decent jump shot left over from that, but given other options for spending that time who knows what other skills I might have discovered.

Of course these looks back are always colored by nostalgia; is it the place we remember so fondly, or is it really our youth? Interesting question that one. I'll be visiting my roots this very weekend, and the funny thing about it is that little rural Indiana county has exploded and is growing even faster today than Sarasota County. I'll be trying to put myself in the shoes of Sarasota natives who are disconcerted about growth and change
as I visit there and look back at what the place used to be.

2005-12-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

"What we did have will never be the same" - This quotation is taken from a comment left on my last post. It is representative of something I am hearing from people who don't like the changes they see taking palce in the city. I would like to share some thoughts I included in an e-mail to one such person and hear your comments, because there are certain issues being raised that have to be based on misunderstanding on someone's part. Of course that could be mine.

I am hearing a lot of reference to what Sarasota used to be. One thing I know is true is that all of downtown Sarasota has been zoned to allow for 18 story buildings for more than 40 years. The fact that more of these buildings weren't built in the intervening years has much less to do with city government than it has to do with the attractiveness of those potential investments. When I studied Sarasota 4 1/2 years ago in preparation for the City Manager selection process, the predominant angst was over the stagnation of downtown and the fact that nobody was willing to invest there, and I spoke to neighborhood leaders as well as businesspeople. The Five Points property was a tall building in the past. The One Hundred Central project was formerly surface parking and a bunch of bank drive-throughs that weren't particularly attractive.

At a presentation sponsored by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects I saw an extremely enlightening (and entertaining) presentation made by a Sarasota native who had gathered photographs of downtown taken 20 years ago, a period he said had recently become a reference point for the "charm" of old Sarasota. Let me just say that it wasn't pretty, nor was anything much on the charming side. That was asphalt and concrete, which was exactly the point that native was making.

I used to come to Sarasota around that time for weekend escapes from Naples, where I lived, because there was a lot of charm here - but I don't remember any of that being downtown, that's for sure.

There is also a lot being said about the City Commission "allowing" too much downtown development. In truth it is not the city that allows development, but the United States constitution, which guarantees private property rights, which includes development rights as allowed under city codes.

Here are my questions: First, do you understand that what the City Commission did in adopting the new downtown zoning codes was lower the number of stories allowed in most of downtown? Second, if you believe less development should be allowed, would you support the use of your tax dollars to purchase development rights from private property owners, which is just about the only constitutionally-allowable mechanism to stop such development? Finally, which of the changes downtown do you see as positive?

This should be an interesting discussion!

2005-12-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

Cincinnati? Huh? - According to one of our local weekly newspapers there's a rumor going 'round that I'm job-hunting either in Cincinnati or in the Cincinnati area. I'll say simply that I'm not job-hunting there, or anywhere, and I have no idea what the genesis of that rumor might be. It is an interesting one though, even if is completely off the wall.

The paper goes on to say that I was asked about that rumor but didn't respond. What I was asked was "what's this I'm hearing about you and Cincinnati?" The only honest answer to that question is "I have no idea!"

In the spirit of COMPLETE disclosure, however, I suppose I should admit that there is one job that I would accept in a second if it were offered, and it does happen to be around 100 miles from Cincinnati. That would be the job of Director of Athletics at Indiana University, my Alma Mater. The only things that get in the way are that the Hoosiers already have a great, young A.D. so the job isn't open, that I'm probably not qualified for the job in the first place, and that I've never held a position in college athletics higher than graduate assistant coach, which was more than 25 years ago. So I don't think that call is coming, and I'm not looking for anything else.

That is of course unless Hollywood calls - but remember that old admonishment to " not quit your day job?" That one fits nicely here.

2005-12-07T16:15:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart Chapter II: - Thanks to all who posted a response to my question about Wal-Mart. Now that the Commission has authorized taking the project to the next steps, I want to respond to a couple of the comments that were made. I think one of the difficulties in decision-making on this one is in separating real issues from truisms or anti-Wal-Mart jargon, of which there is a fair amount out there, though I know some would argue it's all true.

First, with respect to comments about Wal-Mart's goods all being "made in China", (and the "by slave labor" corollary), this is an issue that reaches well beyond Wal-Mart. I'd venture an educated guess that the same thing could be said about what's on the shelves of many of our stores that are much higher "up" on the "up-scale." No doubt this is an economic issue for the U.S.A., though some would argue that is simply economic efficiency being played out on a global scale. It occurs to me to wonder what one of our leading local free-market philosophers, Matt Walsh out at the Observer would say about that - I'll have to forward this to him to find out!

Second, with respect to the quality of the wages and benefits available to Wal-Mart employees, Wal-Mart representatives say this is a somewhat obsolete argument, and I have seen some evidence to support that, though I can't provide a citation at this moment. (This is certainly something we want to know more about as well.) I know one thing that is important to the City Commission is jobs that lead somewhere, and I expect some discussion of training benefits and such to become a part of any eventual development agreement, among other things.

Of course neither of these are definitive statements, just thoughts to add to the conversation.

2005-12-02T11:43:00.000-05:00

Mayor Riley and the Downtown Partnership Dinner - I'm starting this post with a comment that was left at the end of a very long thread, so that the discussion isn't lost. The question was as follows:

"Interesting comment made last night by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley about Porte Cocheres- don't you think?"

My answer is most definitely. Mayor Riley made many interesting comments, that a Porte Cochere is not a great thing in the middle of a retail/pedestrian street was one of them, and few will disagree, myself included. He also pointed out how some in Charleston obsessed over the horrors of narrowing lane-width (he mentioned as narrow as 7 1/2 to nine feet) when it was necessary to provide space for better retail frontage (I believe he used the word arcade, but can't swear to it, and that was not the form I recall in that specific picture) and how successful that had been in spite of those ojections. Somehow that sounded eerily familiar to me...

He also talked about the sacredness of their waterfront park, and how they don't allow events there, which is something we've argued for here as well. He talked about the importance of their master plan, the importance of defining the form they want, of maintianing a quality retail frontage and relationship to the street, and a number of other things which are precisely what our master plan calls for and our planners have been fighting to preserve. I sat with a number of them, and I can't count the number of times Mayor Riley made a point and they all said YES!! because they were things that are part of our plan and that we are doing and trying to accomplish in the city.

What I enjoyed most, and hope to learn from, was his ability to articulate the large-scale policy issues on a very human scale, down to the individual. I saw that as the man's gift, and probably a big reason he's been in office so long.

Yes, it was an interesting presentation, and as with most things I'm sure many people took away different things depending on their perspective. In the beginning Mayor Riley said he was there to provide reinforcement, and I can certainly say that the members of the planning and engineering staff that were in attendance without question walked away feeling that their efforts had been validated and reinforced, as did I. Who doesn't appreciate that?!

2005-11-29T10:11:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart - To Be Or Not To Be? - I am scheduled this afternoon to hear from representatives of Wal Mart regarding the structure of their proposed Super Center development project at the corner of US 301 and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Ultimately the City Commission will have to decide whether to make the large city parcel available to Wal Mart for the project. Of course one big plus would be that cleanup of the site, currently a brownfield (former dump site), would be their responsibility. But there is of course the larger question, which is whether a new Super Center is a benefit to the economic development efforts for that area or a barrier. There are very good arguments to be made either way. So far the North Sarasota community seems generally supportive, and Wal Mart has come a long way from just building big plain box stores. My question is, what do you think?

2005-11-23T16:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving - No long speeches about how much we have to be thankful for (which we do!!) just a quick Happy Thanksgiving to all!

2005-11-11T17:08:00.000-05:00

Thoughts on Veteran's Day - I turned eighteen in the spring of 1973, just a few months after the cease-fire agreement was signed that brought what President Richard Nixon called "peace with honor in Vietnam ." I registered for the military draft and was classified 1"H", for "Holding". As I recall that was because the federal government was uncertain whether anyone from my group would be called, but we all got draft lottery numbers just in case. I believe we were the very last group of 18-year-olds that ever did.

Six years later, when I finished graduate school, I had a couple of interviews with the Air Force, and though I considered it seriously, ultimately I chose the private sector, where I spent four years before moving into public service. I suspect popular perceptions of the post-Vietnam military played a role in that decision, however accurate they may or may not have been.

By the time the first Gulf War began in 1990, I had passed thirty-five, and it was another generation's turn to heed the call to arms. Other than relatively small engagements in Lebanon, Grenada, and Panama, the intervening years had seen the United States primarily at peace.

The moral of the personal history lecturette is to say that I've always recognized that it is purely an accident of the calendar that I was never called upon to serve this country in the military, and never had to make the kinds of sacrifices so many others have made, and continue to make on our behalf.

On days like today it's impossible not to feel a little bit guilty about that. Last February I had the privilege of walking the grounds of the American Cemetery on the shores of the English Channel in Normandy. It's a place I had long wanted to see, and it was a powerful experience. I thought about those 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds, and how much they must've been like my buddies and I at that age. And about how many of them never made it home from France.

This morning, as I left the local Veteran's Day ceremony, a tall gentleman in a VFW hat stopped me, shook my hand, and said "Thank you for your service!" A little embarrassed, I quickly said "I appreciate that, but I have to tell you I'm not a veteran."

"I know who you are", he said. "And I want to say that I appreciate your service to the city, and what you do for us."

While I will say that particular comment may have meant more to me than any I've heard since I came to Sarasota, it is much more important that I say to this gentleman, and all the others he represents, with all due respect, sir, no. Thank you!

2005-11-03T17:43:00.000-05:00

Affordable Housing - I've been a number of places lately where the subject of affordable housing has come up, and have heard a common question about why the city is "doing nothing" to solve the problem. Which parenthetically is a problem all over the United States, with the exception of a few places where nobody wants to live...

The press has reported a number of things the City Commission has taken on, i.e. the development of a density bonus program and the consideration of things like inclusionary zoning. The City is also certain to be an active participant in the Community Housing Trust that Sarasota County has launched. Yet I continue to hear people ask why we aren't doing something now!?

What I am happy to point out is that we are, and have been for a number of years, in cooperation with Sarasota County through our joint Office of Housing and Community Development. If you've seen my City Focus program this month on Channel 19 you already know about this department and their amazing work. In round numbers they've helped more than 2000 Sarasota families in the last five years achieve the goal of affordable home ownership. They have brought tens of millions of dollars of federal and state housing funds into this community, and leveraged that money with private sector funds many times over. (I will provide more exact numbers very soon.) They are also often overlooked in our discussion of this vital issue.

To learn more about their wide range of available housing assistance programs, you can check them out on the web at http://www.sarasotagov.com/LivingInSarasota/Contents/Housing/Programs.html. There you can also read the "2005-2010 Consolidated Plan" which outlines the guidelines under which they work. It's pretty impressive stuff, and a good example of cooperation between the City and County cooperation that tends to pass under the radar.

2005-10-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

Questions About Speaking Up - There have been a few posts recently about employees who might want to speak up about certain issues but who say they are are afraid to. One person posted that we have a "need to have a place to put your opinions without fear of retribution." While I think this blog provides such a place, I want to make a few other comments on the subject.
I've been in local government a little more than 20 years, and for more than half of that time have supervised at least 200 people, and as many as 1600. One of the things I've heard time and again is that people are "afraid" to speak out or speak up for fear of some type of retaliation. I don't want to minimize how difficult it is sometimes for a subordinate employee to raise issues that have to do with a supervisor, or say that no supervisor has ever engaged in retaliatory conduct.

What I will say is that in all honesty I have never seen that happen, and to emphasize that such conduct would not, and will not be tolerated in this organization. I have stressed over and over in my career that "nothing bad will happen to anyone who speaks up for himself." It really is as simple as that. If there are people who believe this type of thing happens and I am unaware of it, I encourage you to call my office - I take every phone call, anonymous or not. I will gladly investigate.

But there is another side to that coin. As public employees, if we are aware of problems, wrongdoing, or mistreatment of some sort and do nothing then we are not living up to the responsibility we have to the taxpayers we work for. We're not here only to do what's easy, we're here to do what's right, and nobody under this administration will be punished for doing what's right. That is part of what accountability is about, and there's been a lot of conversation about accountability around here lately.

Does this mean anyone can throw around any allegation they wish with impunity, or that everyone gets their way? Certainly not, we are all responsible for the things we do or say, and often different people see different things as fair or right. But if there are issues out there that need to be addressed, speak up! This will be a better organization, and Sarasota will be a better city for it.

2005-10-12T22:15:00.000-04:00

Baby Boomers, Brothers, and Blogs - Denise and I had the pleasure of spending this evening in one of the City of Sarasota's finest facilities, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The occasion was slightly more casual than the average trip to the Van Wezel, as it was a performance by the 70's-80's rock band The Doobie Brothers. As one born smack in the middle of the baby boom, the show for me was a ride in a time machine only better, because it wasn't just nostalgia, it was a night of great, fresh music and a lot of fun. I know I'm showing my age, but is anyone making music like that today?

But more to the point it was one of those evenings that reminded me how lucky we are to be living in this city, in this time. Along with all of the other things that make Sarasota unique, there is of course our cultural heritage. We have the visual arts, the Opera, the West Coast Symphony, the Sarasota Ballet, Circus Sarasota, our fine theaters, and many other things. But for tonight, may I just say, Long Live Rock and Roll!!

2005-10-11T15:33:00.000-04:00

Job Opportunities - Many of you have heard recently that I had been included in a group of three finalists competing for a County Administrator's position in Eagle, Colorado. Early this morning I notified the people in Eagle that I was no longer a candidate for that position.

On one hand, it was very difficult to say "no" to the friendly, professional and open people in Eagle County, both at the staff level and on the County Commission. Any manager would be lucky to work with such high-quality people. Clearly they have a first class organization, with a jurisdiction as spectacularly beautiful as any I can imagine.

On the other hand, as the interview process ended and I returned to Sarasota, I couldn't escape the feeling that I had yet to live up to the commitment I made to this organization when I was hired four years ago. The team and organization we are building here is still a work in progress, and a lot of the work that has yet to be done is mine. In his recent book Leadership, Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani points out that one of the most critical components of leadership is loyalty. In the final analysis, I didn't see how I could be much of a leader if I ignored that principle.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been in a position to have even been considered for the job in Eagle County, and know that it is the accomplishments and hard work of the employees of the City of Sarasota, and those of Collier County, Florida where I formerly worked which made that possible. But I am also fortunate, and honored, to have the great job that I have, to be the City Manager of the City of Sarasota.

To everyone who passed a good word my way as this process progressed, a sincere thanks, with a special thanks to those residents of the city I hadn't previously met, but who stopped me in the supermarket or the gym or on the sidewalk to wish me well and say they appreciate the way things are going in the city. I'll do my best to see that your support is well-founded!

2005-09-28T22:13:00.000-04:00

Red Tide - Thanks for the great question, I'll be happy to respond with as much as I know, which admittedly from a scientific point of view is not a lot. First, I don't know of anyone at City Hall that isn't extremely concerned about the issue of red tide and not only the immediate discomfort and inconvenience it causes but also the potential for longer term environmental and economic harm, as the problem seems to get worse by the year. The big question becomes, what exactly to do? I'm not a marine biologist, and will be glad if someone more knowledgeable than I will correct me if necessary, but as far as I know there has been no definitive cause and effect relationship established between anything and red tide outbreaks.

The City Commission actually discussed this issue at a recent commission meeting, and decided to take a two-pronged approach. First Commissioner Palmer suggested that we consider stronger environmental regulation regarding pesticides, herbicides, and other potential pollutant or nutrient-rich runoff byproducts both locally and statewide, and the others agreed. Secondly, the commission agreed to make greater funding of related research something they will ask the state legislature to support this year as part of what we call our legislative agenda. Answering that cause-and-effect question is huge.

I hope this helps answer the question about what the city is doing about this alarming problem. I hope others who might be more expert and have suggestions will feel free to post as well.

2005-09-21T17:36:00.000-04:00

Of Accountability, Criticism, Defensiveness, and City Staff : As we move forward with our follow-up on engineering and maintenance issues related to the incidents at Lift Station #7, I see continued posting here of various comments on the subject, some constructive and some much more focused on continued finger-pointing.

Clearly with the events surrounding the lift station failures city staff members made mistakes, less-than-perfect judgement calls, and in some cases failed to live up to responsibilities that were assigned to them. There has been no attempt to hide or sugar-coat that fact. Each has been identified, and appropriate discipline, counseling, or training put into place. In recognition that these events took place during my watch I effectively docked my own pay by nearly $6000 per year.

Yet as recently as last Thursday I was asked if my defense of city staff in the aftermath of the most recent spill was appropriate. I would like to answer that question in full public view.

My comments at the time, which were relatively few, were limited almost entirely to statements that city staff members, like everyone, have rights to due process consideration. I did write in one e-mail that I wasn't inclined to "hang anyone" as an act of appeasement, and I perhaps could have made a different word choice. What I would like the general public to understand by way of context is that I was being told, directly, that certain members of the Public Works staff were "evil," and that they should be fired immediately, regardless of process. Frankly, the day I am willing to do that is the day I should be fired, because I don't know how I could ask 800 other city employees to come to work on the city's behalf if I'm not willing to stand up for their rights, even when things go wrong. If someone does turn up "evil", well that due process I mentioned will ferret that out, and the correct steps will be taken.

On the other side of the coin, nobody in the Hudson Bayou neighborhood asked for or caused the spills, and they had every right to be upset and concerned.

At this point, now that we have answered every question we have received, and outlined our plans for the future, I hope all parties can agree to work together to move forward. I fully expect there will be a number of people looking over our shoulder, including five City Commissioners, and I wouldn't have it any other way. As we do that, I hope we can all find something more productive to do with our fingers than point them at each other. For myself, I'm using mine to turn off the lights and go home. To all, a good evening!

2005-09-14T17:39:00.000-04:00

I have had a number of people encouraging me to disallow amonymous posts. I'm not going to do that, because I'd like to see the widest range of posts possible, anonymous or not. I do believe however that if we all treat each other with respect, whether we agree or disagree, eventually nobody will need to post anonymously. Cynics will say that's not possible, while I say it is completely possible, but that whether or not it happens is completely up to all of you.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to post, in less than 2 weeks we've had almost 150 comments posted. As Stan Z. said, we've created a real (or maybe virtual) town hall here!

2005-09-12T18:34:00.000-04:00

To Name or Not to Name - what about anonymous posts? In a perfect world, I'd love to see everyone talk to each other in the open. If the world were that perfect, though, I wouldn't need this Blog, would I? Anonymous posting is fine with me if that makes someone more comfortable with sharing a thought. Though I do think it would work better if people would choose some sort of name - say "Genius One" perhaps - because first I can recognize and connect that person's opinions if they post more than once, and secondly that makes it easier for me to direct a response to their comment. I would like to think that over time people will be more willing to self-identify, or maybe stop me at City Hall, shake my hand and say "hey, I'm Genius One!" Then we're really getting somewhere.

2005-09-09T17:07:00.000-04:00

Is it just me, or is it getting a little warm in here? First, I have to say we're getting pretty close to that civility line, attacks on employees or commissioners aren't really welcome. If there are personnel issues to be dealt with, I will certainly do so in the proper channels, of which a public blog is not one.

As for my "strengths and weaknesses" one poster continues to ask about, that person has missed the point of the entire exercise I attended. The idea is to identify your own behavioral preferences, and how they fit into the expectations of those around you and the needs of the organization. It's a very positive, productive and self-revealing exercise, and it's void of value judgements about who or what is "strong" or "weak." I know many like to make value and character judgements, but that wasn't the point. It's about self-improvement and organizational development.

So - as I told staff recently, I continue to seek the high road. Anyone else there with me?

2005-09-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

Wages, Taxes, and Fairness -- First, my sincere thanks to everyone who's posted so far and made me glad I put this tool in place. I am definitely hearing different points of view on a number of issues.

I want to comment on something that was said regarding the City Commission's apparent unwilllingness to raise taxes in order to pay city employees what it takes to be in the city's housing market.

The truth is, from my point of view, that everyone in the system, which certainly includes the Commissioners, is doing the very best they can to make good judgement calls on the many issues we face. They certainly don't need my defense, but in fairness I have to point out that they also have to consider that not everyone in Sarasota is rich, and when they raise taxes to enhance employee wages or benefits they are also raising taxes for many who have no benefits of their own or who are also struggling to keep up with the cost of living. That's not to say that legitimate points aren't being made, but I always ask for fairness and think we all could be more willing to give the other guy more of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making judgments about his (or her) motives.

2005-09-02T18:00:00.000-04:00

City Employee Wages - Here's a subject everyone who works for the City of Sarasota can get interested in. The first thing I'll say is that I believe the City Commission is committed to providing a good working environment for all employees, and that includes competetive salaries and benefits. They understand who really makes things work around here, and that's why in this year's budget they approved a transition for our compensation plan to allow people to reach what we call "market rate" more quickly than in the past. If you haven't heard the detail of this yet, you will be very soon.

Another piece of the puzzle is how we measure the competitiveness of our salary structure, which is something the Charter Officials and Department Heads spent the better part of an hour discussing this morning. I'm not sure I agree completely with the person who said city salaries are well below those of other municipalities, but I do know that we are not adjusting for competitiveness in the systematic way we need to, which is why Mr. Hoverter was leading us through that discussion this morning. We have had a series of workshops with the commission on these issues, and they understand and support the need to address them. So to the person who said this needs to be a point of emphasis for us for 2006, you are exactly right. And to those who have suggested we need to be creative and look for many ways to attack the issue, I agree with you also, and I have great faith in Human Resource Director Kurt Hoverter, our compensation guru Stacie Ross, and the rest of the H.R. people to lead us down that road.

This kind of creativity will be necessary on many fronts, as the discussion of a 4-10 schedule to save energy and reduce commuting costs points out. HOPP, I have to find out about that one. I was aware of in-city housing incentives for SPD, but don't know what HOPP stands for.

2005-09-02T17:31:00.000-04:00

Affordable Housing - This issue has righfully taken center stage in the public consciousness. Sarasota's prosperity is great, but it's tough when many of the people who help make it prosper have to live 30 miles away. For some people who have lived here for many years this is less of an issue, but for our newest employees in particular it is difficult. The housing that exists within or near the city limits that would be more affordable typically doesn't turn over much. I just went to Realtor.com, where they show 101 listings for property in what they consider Sarasota for sale between $100,000 and $200,000 and another 316 between 200 and 300 thousand. I'm sure the majority of those are condos, but there are also single family homes. What that tells me is that there are some options out there, but if someone wants 2500 square feet or a pool and yard I doubt there is much of that on that list.

To the person who asked about my take on Mr. McGruder's piece in the Pelican Press, I would say that I agree completely with what I see as his overriding point, which is that this is an issue that must be addressed on many, many fronts, as there is no simple one or two step answer. The good news is that the community, including the City Commission, is taking that seriously. On September 21st the City Commission will receive a final report form their economic consultant on tools they can adopt to help advance the issue, and I know they're chomping at the bit to get there. Their action to expand the CRA is also a big step in making tools available, because while the idea of putting affordable housing right downtown is appealing to many, sheer economics dictates that many more units can be developed for the same money just a few miles away because of the land costs.

Stan Z. I don't have that average salary number for you, I think the H.R. folks went home a while ago (at least I hope so) but I'll get it. You do make a great point, which is one we don't seem to talk much about, which is that this is a WAGE issue also. Thanks for the transition, because it takes me to the next post, though I suppose in blogland it will actually preceed this one as it is read. Which may be too confusing for me this late on a Friday afternoon....

2005-09-02T17:20:00.000-04:00

I can see already that a big challenge will be to organize these threads of discussion. If anyone in City Hall who is more Blog-savvy than I am has suggestions on how that works best please stop by my office and let me know! For now I'll try a couple of separate posts by subject.

I also see a great benefit in people responding to each other here, not just to me. Thanks again for participating, and I hope you have (or had) a great Labor Day weekend, and keep a good thought for our neighbors up the Gulf Coast. Also - (fmr.) Mayor Martin - nice to "see" you! Mike

2005-09-01T17:51:00.000-04:00

First, a huge thanks to everyone who took the time to post a message through this new channel. I'm glad to see that many of you want the same thing I do, which is a way to create constructive communication. And no time was wasted getting right to one of our real issues, which is the cost of living, particularly housing for city employees.

For everyone whose cost of commuting has skyrocketed, you'll be glad to know that the Engineering and Human Resources Departments are very close to rolling out a van-pool program that has City Commission approval that would allow people from North Port or Venice to ride together to work. I won't go into details, but look for a participation survey in the next week or so - and sign up if you're interested, because it is going to happen.

At our department head meeting Friday morning we're going to talk about some other energy-saving ideas, and one that has come up is the 4-10 idea one of the posters mentioned. So you're right on track, we really have to be creative, because the problem is going to get immediately worse thanks to Katrina.

Affordable housing - that is a large issue on everyone's radar screen. I will have to add some thoughts to this post later on, as my Old Man's Basketball League is calling my name for the moment, and I can't do the subject justice in a few minutes. The same goes for the salary and benefit issues, which are certainly related.

Again, thanks to all who participated in this new experiment today! Mike McNees

2005-08-30T17:01:00.000-04:00

Welcome. If you're here, you've discovered the Web Log of Sarasota City Manager Mike McNees. This "Blog" has been created to give interested people the chance to ask questions, make suggestions, express opinions, or in any other way give or receive input on things related to the operation of city government here in Sarasota.

It is my intention to review and update the blog on a regular, hopefully daily basis, once folks who have things to share discover that it exists and have begun to post comments. Only one rule will be enforced here - that is for mandatory civility. The goals here are open dialogue and the honest exchange of ideas. If you choose to use your name when posting that's great, if you wish to use a nickname or remain anonymous that's fine also.

The people at Google make this free platform available, and using it seems like a better idea than spending the city's money re-creating the wheel.

Once again, if you're here, thank you. What's on your mind? Regards, Mike McNees