Greed vs the Common Good in a Civil Society

Where are we headed?

A recent SHT editorial took downtown landowners to task.

"Landowners and business interests challenged the Duany plan in 2002. The city made concessions to keep the master plan from bogging down in legal mud.

But now, with the regulations still in limbo and more challenges threatened, it appears that the "settlement" was just a temporary reprieve.

Must this disputatious ground be plowed over and over? Will the community's vision ever be realized?

Property rights are vital to a civil society, but so is the voice of consensus -- and the people spoke plainly five years ago. We urge potential challengers to aim for the common good. The master plan can serve it, if given a chance."

Save Our Sarasota agrees wholeheartedly with these statements. Why are these land owners denying the rights of the residents to bring about the vision we have for our city.? Does greed trump vision? Those "civic leaders" who are rushing to cash in on the old code allowance for 16 story buildings are also greedily pushing the system to establish their place in the line waiting to cash in on what is left of Sarasota.

A few days later we read about David Band and Wayne Ruben’s project for twin 16 story towers at Fruitville and Washington. Of course this version has many more condos than announced previously. A city planning staff is quoted: "It's a really excellent plan for one of the premier downtown intersections in all the city," said Allen Parsons, a senior city planner. "We want to see this corner celebrated."

Creating a major traffic problem and tying it up with more parking issues is not an excellent plan and hardly a way of celebrating. I suppose that the developers are celebrating their expected profits, and once again their ability to say "screw the residents, I have my rights.’"

Then we read that Michael Saunders is going to be nice and buffer her 16 story building from Laurel Park. It was great of Bruce Franklin to advise her to forget the commercial space idea and go for condos. After all, the market speaks louder than the residents.

Apparently they all know the speculators are lined up to purchase condos.

But, there’s that nagging vision thing. The residents (read voters) are not thrilled at all by the massive building and disregard for traffic, green space, good planning, and affordable housing. Instead we get excuses and inaction.

We urge City Commissioners to say "enough!" If the developers want to take the city to court, stop all development downtown until the code is in place and all challenges have been disposed. Hire the best legal team we can find to preserve our vision and our rights. We believe there is plenty of support for this approach.