The proposed bayfront location for the proposed conference center has re-surfaced.
Apparently Tim Clarke, from the Chamber of Commerce, spoke to the Sarasota Economic Development Corp. and asked their support for the downtown bayfront location. City Commissioner Mary Ann Servian and County Commissioner Nora Patterson sit on the board of the Economic Development Corp.
When it came time to vote on Mr. Clarke’s proposal, Commissioners Servian and Patterson abstained. The remaining members of the board voted for the proposal.
Save Our Sarasota is strongly opposed to the downtown bayfront location - it is a very poor use for one of our last remaining great public spaces. In our discussions and talks with a wide variety of residents of Sarasota, we receive overwhelming indications that these people agree that a convention/conference center should not be located on public bayfront property.
We think that the reason the Chamber is continuing down this rocky road is that they know that funding for a privately owned site will make the whole convention/conference center idea a very tough sell, likely tougher than grabbing the choicest piece of public property available in Sarasota. This latest effort to grab public property should again be quickly sunk.
We appreciate our elected commissioners stance on preserving this bayfront property for the benefit of all of Sarasota’s residents.
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