Saturday, August 13, 2005

A Frustrated Friday

The frustration bubbled over last night at the special City Commission meeting called to review the sewage pump failures last year and this year. The pump station failures left residents angry and frustrated a the slow response from the city.

More recently, a number of issues surrounding the current building boom in downtown Sarasota has resulted in criticism of city leadership from a number of sources concerning a many different issues. The recent major flap over the parking lot acquisition deal added to the frustration level.

Last night’s meeting, reviewing the pump station issue and who was responsible, resulted in answers that were not satisfactory to all. This added more fuel to the frustration level.

The upcoming Monday night regular City Commission meeting could result in further frustration as commissioners tackle the Plaza Verdi agreement (or more accurately non-agreement) issues another time. This particular "public-private partnership" apparently has been rife with the private sector components each trying to maximize their own portion at the expense of the other parties (including the city). This is a poster child for the downside to these "partnerships".

The commissioners have had a string of tough issues to face. They have come up short of their own expectations too many times and are now feeling the pressure of the both issues and the resultant scrutiny. Will they be able to pull together and find good solutions or will the frustrations make leadership even more difficult?

Monday’s meeting should be interesting.

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