Can You Hear Me Now?

Sculpture at City Hall.

Nobody's Listening

Jack Cartlidge
1967





Bob Ardren has a good article about the City's 2005 Survey results in this week's Pelican Press:

But the number of citizens pleased with the direction the city is going, how welcome city government is to citizen input and whether government listens to its citizens are all below the norm for cities the size of Sarasota. In fact, Sarasota was ranked in the bottom half of cities its size when it comes to listening to its citizens.

The Pelican also has an editorial about the survey:

A mirror reveals truths about the City of Sarasota. It isn’t always a pretty picture when we stare into the mirror in the morning. But the City of Sarasota can take comfort that along with its warts, that morning mirror, in the form of a recent poll of its citizens, also revealed some genuine beauty.

Looking at ourselves can be a source of insight. The insight does no good unless a real effort is made to understand and act upon the issues identified. While Sarasota has many positive aspects, we also have areas that need considerable focus and improvement. For some of these issues the process has started, for others we may still be denying there is a problem.

Again, we hope our City leaders take a long, hard look at these survey results. Listen to what was said.