SOS Recommends "YES" on County Charter Amendment

The SHT recommends voting "YES" on the referendum question concerning requiring county approval for land use changes for annexed land outside the urban service boundary.

Sarasota County voters will soon be asked: Should the County Commission have the ability to approve proposals that would make annexed rural lands ripe for city development?

The case for voting "yes" is compelling, especially since county approval would only be required if the land isn't covered by a city-county planning agreement.

A voter-approved amendment to the county charter is necessary to give the commission a say in city-initiated changes to lands lying outside the "Urban Services Boundary" and designated by the county plan as rural.

Likewise the Pelican Press recommends a "YES" vote:

Let's cool the overheated growth in South County

Voters countywide have a chance March 13 to slow the growth that is exploding in southern Sarasota County, as Venice and North Port expand their tax bases by bringing formerly rural lands into the cities and permitting massive, sprawling developments.

Fortunately for the cities, the residential streets from all these projects empty onto county roads - rural county roads - and ultimately onto state roads, which the cities have no obligation to improve or maintain. That falls to all county taxpayers.

The same is true for providing schools for these residents' children, water and sewage treatment, drainage, storm sewers, parks ... The list goes on.

Since 2000, North Port has increased its size by more than 18,000 acres and has rezoned land to accommodate 26,520 new homes or apartments. County Planning Department calculations say that ultimately will mean 253,796 more vehicular trips and a demand for 3,276,500 additional gallons of water - per day.

A proposal worth venturing to the polls for - it may be the only thing on the ballot in many precincts - is a proposition that would in effect give Sarasota County veto power when cities attempt to annex rural county land for expansion, stemming this growth before it is too late.

Developers, big landowners and their legal, banking and business allies are expected to mount a late, negative campaign against the measure. Don't believe it.

The Pelican Press strongly urges all county residents to go to the polls and vote "Yes" on the county charter amendment.

Save Our Sarasota agrees with these recommendations.

Garden Club

Below are excerpts from a recent SHT article about the Sarasota Garden Club - one of Sarasota's great spaces.

Article published Feb 24, 2007

Andy Papineau, the new president of Sarasota Garden Club, has something in common with and something in contrast to his predecessors. Like other presidents, he's vigorously dedicated to preserving and promoting the 1.4 acres of city-owned lushly planted parkland on Boulevard of the Arts near busy U.S. 41.

Papineau is the first male ever elected to Sarasota Garden Club's highest office. Mable Ringling established the organization in 1927. Papineau, a Wisconsin transplant, wasn't looking to break an 80-year-old tradition. He was just looking for a garden to putter around in.

"When my wife, Mary Fran, and I moved to Sarasota five years ago, we settled in Village Walk, which is a no-maintenance, gated community," he said. "I missed my garden. Back in Sun Prairie, I had vegetable and flower gardens, as well as a rock garden; working in those spaces was stress relief from my job. Even though I retired to Florida, I didn't want to retire from gardening."

Architect John Crowell designed the [main building] structure in 1959 in the Sarasota School style with wide overhangs, a discreet profile and a Japanese feeling with the inclusion of shoji screens. Three sides of the function room are walls of sliding glass and when they open, interior and exterior spaces merge and the architecture disappears.

Other garden spaces to enjoy include a butterfly garden (25 varieties), cactus garden and a bromeliad garden. An exotic garden of hybrid hibiscus is dedicated to the military dead of World War II, and throughout the various specialty gardens are comfortable benches that have been given to Sarasota Garden Club as memorials to loved ones.

The potting shed, with its vivid blue-tile roof, reminds visitors of a Japanese teahouse and was a gift to the property from Marie Selby. Bert Brosmith was the architect."Some mornings, artists come to sketch or paint," said Papineau. "Other times, residents from the local high-rise apartments will wander over just to sit and listen to the waterfall and look at all the flowers. I call this place one of the hidden treasures of our town. It's here for the citizens of Sarasota to enjoy, and it's free."

Papineau believes his job as president is to promote Sarasota Garden Club's botanical property as one of the city's attractions and to insure that it remains an asset to the town. "We're in the part of Sarasota slated to change with the expanded cultural district," he said. "I've been attending city meetings to make sure that proposed roadways don't compromise this green space. This special land belongs to the City of Sarasota, but Sarasota Garden Club owns the buildings and leases the property on a five-year renewable contract. We're vigilant about wanting to preserve it."

All Sarasota Garden Club members (there are 185) take turns working at the Boulevard of the Arts property. To be part of Sarasota Garden Club, you join one of eight garden circles, based on interest in the specific activities of the circle. Some circles are craft oriented, others general purpose, others take on community projects. Driftwood Circle, for example, maintains Mable Ringling's secret garden at Ca d'Zan as one of its projects.

Membership in Sarasota Garden Club is $50. These dues support the club's scholarship program and help maintain the botanical park. Additionally, each garden circle has a membership fee. Circle members meet in private homes, but circles meet at Sarasota Garden Club for special events.

Besides maintaining the facilities, Sarasota Garden Club is actively engaged in community outreach through an annual flower show in March, scholarship programs, fee-based educational events, lectures, demonstrations, social activities and a variety of civic beautification projects through its circle members and through Sarasota Garden Club at large.

Saving Sarasota

An interesting approach to saving an historical home can be seen at 1386 5th St in the Rosemary District.

A new condo building is being built next to the home and it surrounds the home on three sides.

We applaud the effort to save this historic home.
The home was built in 1901.

Ringling Removes Neighborhood Nuisance

The Ringling School of Art and Design recently acquired the Shell Station at the corner of N Tamiami Trail and Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. This station had been a hangout for drug dealers for years and the activity could not be stopped.

That is until RSAD bought the property.

After letting the students do a little art work on the building, it was leveled.

RSAD has not yet determined the future of the site but have indicated it could become the location of a signature campus entry building.

Seminar: Managing Mangroves for Shoreline Health

Managing Mangroves for Shoreline Health
Homeowner Seminar
Bayfront Community Center
803 N. Tamiami Tr, Sarasota, FL 34236
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
FREE OF CHARGE
Pre-registration required as space is limited.

Agenda
9:30 - 10:00
Sign-In
10:00 – 10:50
The Importance of the Mangrove Habitat John Stevely, UF/IFAS Extension Service – Agent, Sea Grant Marine Program
11:00 - 11:50
Protecting our Community’s Mangrove Resources Matt Osterhoudt, Sarasota County Natural Resources – Manager, Resource Protection
“Managing Mangroves for Shoreline Health”

Send Registration to: UF/IFAS - Sarasota County Extension, Attn.: Robin Welsh
Twin Lakes Park, 6700 Clark Rd., Sarasota, FL 34241
Phone: (941) 861-9900 FAX: (941) 861-9886

Name:
Mailing Address: City/State/Zip:
Phone:
Fax:
Email:

Directions to Bayfront Community Center:
From Interstate 75, take exit 210 ( Fruitville Rd.) and go west to Tamiami Tr. (U.S. 41), turn right. Turn left into 10th St. and left into van Wezel Way. Bayfront Community Center is located behind the Municipal Auditorium.

Speaker Biographies:
Matt Osterhoudt graduated from North Carolina State University in 1997 with a BS in Natural Resources, Marine and Coastal Resource Management. After working with the Sarasota Bay National Estuary Program for two years, he has spent the last eight years with Sarasota County’s Resource Protection program, Natural Resources Department. At the County, he has worked in several different environmental permitting programs, supervised the Water & Navigation Control Authority dredge and fill program, and held the role of Project Scientist managing a variety of environmental projects including the Manatee Protection Plan, Habitat Conservation Plan for the Florida Scrub-jay, and the new partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to enhance mangrove protection throughout the County. He is currently the Manager of the County’s Resource Protection program. He believes that education is the key to striking a balance between natural resource protection and the needs of our growing community.

John Stevely graduated from Gettysburg College in 1972 with a BS in biology. He subsequently pursued graduate studies at the University of South Florida and received a MS in Marine Science in 1978. He has served as a regional Florida Sea Grant Marine Extension Agent for the past 27 years. During this tenure he has worked on a number of marine resource management issues, including habitat restoration, artificial reefs, waterway management, fisheries management, and trimming mangroves. He has witnessed a number of changes in the mangrove trimming regulations during his career and has worked closely with all facets of the Extension Service, including the Environmental Horticulture Program. Over a decade ago he played a founding role in the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods Program in Sarasota Bay. He strongly believes that the actions we take within our watershed and along our shorelines will affect our fishery resources.

Florida House to Move

Schools and county to facilitate discussion by community, stakeholders on future of Florida House After 13 years at its current location, the Florida House Learning Center, a demonstration home and garden for Florida-friendly, "green" residential building and landscaping, will move to a new site within the next 12 months.

Florida House, 4600 Beneva Road, is on the northwest corner of the SCTI campus at Beneva and Proctor roads. The relocation of the Florida House is necessary because the Sarasota County School Board plans to open a new technical high school by 2009 on the campus of the Sarasota County Technical Institute (SCTI).

Plans call for the new high school to share the campus with the existing adult technical school. The decision to proceed with the new school and the need to relocate the Florida House were confirmed at a school board meeting Tuesday. "We will work closely with Sarasota County government and with the many individuals and community organizations that support the Florida House to help facilitate a conversation about its future," said Dr. Gary Norris, superintendent of Sarasota County Schools.

"All of us are committed to helping find a new home for this important local and international resource, but the community must take the lead." Florida House opened in 1994 as a "guest" on the SCTI campus created by a partnership of non-profit organizations, businesses, government agencies and individuals.

It has seen more than 140,000 visitors in its 13-year history, including county residents and visitors, students of sustainability from governments and universities nationwide, and delegations from China, Egypt, Jordan, Mexico and Russia. The model Florida home and yard is a showcase for sustainability, teaching people about environmentally friendly lifestyles, landscape elements and building materials.

Florida House, funded by Sarasota County government, is staffed and operated by the University of Florida-Sarasota County Extension and volunteers. Anyone who has questions or suggestions about the future of the Florida House may send an e-mail to flhouse@scgov. net.

City Commission Elections

Save Our Sarasota does not endorse political candidates, but at this critical moment in our City's history encourages everyone to vote in the upcoming non-partisan City Commission election.

The following is a list of forums at which you can acquaint yourselves with the candidates and ask them questions about the crucial issues facing our City. Information on additional forums will be sent as it becomes available. Below you will also find voter information and a list of candidates.

Public candidate forums:
Monday, February 12 - 7:30 PM - Coalition of County Neighborhoods (CONA)
Waldemere Fire Station, 2070 Waldemere Street, one block east of 41
All candidates

Tuesday, February 13 - 6:30 PM - Bayou Oaks Neighborhood Association
North Trail United Methodist Church
Candidates Atkins, Clapp, Daniels, Kowal, Servian, Sheffield

Thursday, February 22 - 7:00 PM - Alta Vista Neighborhood Association
Payne Park Auditorium, 2100 Laurel
Candidates Bilyeu and Kirschner

Friday, February 23 - 7:00 PM - Bellevue Terrace Neighborhood Association
Waldemere Fire Station, 2070 Waldemere Street, one block east of 41
Candidates Bilyeu and Kirschner

Sunday, February 25 - 3:00 PM - Avondale & Hudson Bayou Neighborhood Associations Corner of Irving and Yale
Candidates Clapp, Daniels, Kowal and Servian

Monday, February 26 - 11:30 AM - League of Women Voters, Boxed lunch - $10 members/$12 non-members Reservations Required - 921.9778
Community Foundation of Sarasota, 2635 Fruitville Road, between Tuttle and Lime
All candidates

Tuesday, February 27 - 6:30 PM - Laurel Park Neighborhood Association
Payne Park Auditorium, 2100 Laurel
Candidates Bilyeu, Clapp, Daniels, Kirshchner, Kowal, Servian

Wednesday, February 28 - 4:00 PM - Arts Council Forum
1226 North Trail (SCOPE Building - 1st Floor conference room)
All candidates

Candidates: District 1 - Fredd "Glossie" Atkins, April Sheffield
District 2 - Richard "Dick" Clapp, Andrea Daniels, Denise Kowal, Mary Anne Servian
District 3 - Danny Bilyeu, Kelly Kirschner
You may vote only in your own district race. You can find your district at http://sarasota.perfectvote.com/FindPollPub.asp Fill in your address and scroll down to "City Officials," where it will show your district number.

Voting information:
February 12 - Last day to register to vote
February 26 - Early voting begins
March 7 - Last day for absentee ballot requests
March 13 - Election Day for 3 district seats - 4-year terms
Absentee ballots. Contact Sarasota County Elections office with a:
Phone request: 861-8618;
Mail request: PO Box 4194, Sarasota, FL 34230-4194;
Fax request: 861-8609;
or E-mail request: absentee@srqelections.com.

Information required for each of the above methods is name, address, date of birth, address where absentee ballot should be mailed and signature if mailed or faxed. All requests must be received by the Sarasota County Elections Office no later than Wednesday, March 7th, for the March 13th City Election to allow enough time for mailing.

Janice Green, Chair
Save Our Sarasota Steering Committee

North Lido - A Lasting Legacy

Laura Sperling has written another excellent column - this time about a really special place in Sarasota. She writes:

I walked back to the shore, where stillness reigned and a local Audubon club observed the skittering sandpipers. It is this side of North Lido -- improbably remote despite its locale in the heart of condo country -- that made it such a family favorite. I can't objectively state that it's superior to South Lido Park, the environmentally vital acreage whose earlier public acquisition is a story for another day. But with South Lido's crowds and boats and barbecue grills and cars, it has a different character entirely.

To my untrained eyes, today's North Lido -- which like many beaches has seen controversial "renourishment" over the decades -- looks broader and healthier than in the past.

North Lido is a wonderful, natural beach. It gives me a vision of what Florida beaches used to be like.

Take a moment to read her column and learn a bit about how this great space came to be preserved for all of us.

School Board Accepts National Trust's Offer for Independent Review

Today the Sarasota School Board voted 4-1 to accept the offer made by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to facilitate an independent review of the Rudolph buildings on the Riverview site.

The review will likely be a three-day workshop at no cost to the community or the Sarasota County School Board and will focus on the feasibility of rehabilitating the original Paul Rudolph courtyard buildings and incorporating them into the campus of the new 21st-century Riverview.

We are pleased that the School Board took this step.

Good News

Article published Feb 3, 2007

PODCAST: Riverview debate continues01/21/2007
Saving school may be studied
By LATISHA R. GRAY

SARASOTA COUNTY -- School Superintendent Gary Norris agreed Friday to recommend an independent study to see if some parts of Riverview High School can be spared the wrecking ball.Norris met with the Save Riverview Committee and said he would talk to School Board members about allowing the National Trust for Historic Preservation to study the viability of saving some of the original courtyard buildings, designed by architect Paul Rudolph.

School Board members voted in the fall to demolish the buildings and use the land for parking and a bus loop once the new school is built.Mold, drainage and other problems have plagued the school for years, and school officials have maintained it would cost too much to save them.

But architects and preservationists say the district didn't do enough to try to save the buildings designed by Rudolph, one of the founders of the Sarasota School of architecture.

They recently nominated the part of the Rudolph campus to be included on the list of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historical Sites."

"We're pleased that an organization of this stature will be looking into how the Rudolph courtyard buildings can really be used," said Mark Smith, a member of the Save Riverview Committee. "The National Trust will be picking up the costs, and we'll be working in close cooperation with the associate superintendent to make this happen.

"If the School Board agrees, the National Trust will bring in an architect to hold workshops and look at factors such as safety, costs and security.

The National Trust is a nonprofit preservation organization with about 250,000 members.The district hopes to have the new three-story campus building completed by August 2009.

Five Points Park Workshop Scheduled

Next week, the City Commission will hold a workshop to discuss the direction for Five Points Park. The Workshop will be Monday, January 29, from 3 to 4:30 PM. The following Monday, Feb. 5, the Commissioners are expected to vote on staff's recommendation - that a RFP be issued to select a landscape designer for the project.

Save Our Sarasota sent the following letter to the commissioners:

Dear Commissioners,

Save Our Sarasota applauds you for your desire to proceed with the redesign of Five Points Park that was initiated last year. The Planning Department conducted a model public process of soliciting citizen input through two workshops and a detailed questionnaire which was widely distributed.

As you probably recall, this public process produced strong consensus that the park should be designed for primarily passive uses with occasional large public events and festivals such as presently occur, and that the green area should be expanded with additional grass and flowers.

We ask the Commission to use this consensus as a starting point and to continue to solicit a wide array of citizen input throughout the process of redesigning downtown Sarasota's premier green space. We continue to strongly believe that Five Points Park should be a lushly landscaped oasis in the midst of all the downtown hardscapes.

Thank you for your consideration.

Janice Green, Chair
SOS Steering Committee

What Should Government Do?

Laura Sperling wrote an excellent column in the SHT yesterday. If you haven't read it you should. She has a wonderful way of saying what many of us wonder about:

Conservatives and libertarians tend to think that government should provide for public safety and not much more. Govern least to govern best, etc.

I, on the other hand, believe government should work much harder than that. As long as recipients do the dishes, put a chicken in every pot.

Government should build infrastructure, save the environment, educate us, broaden opportunity, level the playing field, cure disease, end injustice, support the arts, forecast hurricanes precisely, and unlock the secrets of the universe.

For starters.

Demanding as I am, though, I do not expect government to provide me with a critical mass of high-quality retail.

I'm 99 percent sure the phrase is not in the Constitution, but the idea keeps popping up at Sarasota City Commission meetings. Municipal movers and shakers apparently believe that shopping is so central to our future that it warrants special nurturing by government.

Freedom to shop is grand. It contributes to the general economy. But as civic ideals go, a "critical mass of high-quality retail" falls way short of "justice for all."

Heck, it doesn't even measure up to "timely garbage collection."

Unlike, say, sewage treatment, retail is a competitive, for-profit enterprise. The private sector seems eminently qualified to sink or swim on its own.

Something to think about. Read the entire column.

Project for Public Spaces

Project for Public Spaces (PPS) has some excellent comments and advice for making transportation part of the

About the PPS Transportation Program

"If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic.If you plan for people and places, you get people and places."

The power of this simple idea is that it reflects basic truths that are rarely acknowledged. One such truth is that more traffic and road capacity are not the inevitable result of growth. They are in fact the product of very deliberate choices that we have made to shape our communities around the private automobile. We as a society have the ability to make different choices--starting with the decision to design our streets as comfortable places for people.

Thankfully, over the past ten years, a growing number of neighborhood groups, cities, states, and even national transportation agencies in the United States and Canada have started to demand something better. PPS is showing them the way forward, helping communities realize how transportation can support their visions for their future, and helping agencies and engineers deliver on that vision.

Downtown streets can become destinations worth visiting, not just thruways to and from the workplace. Transit stops and stations can make commuting by rail or bus a pleasure. Neighborhood streets can be places where parents can feel safe letting their children play, and commercial strips can be redeveloped into grand boulevards, safe for walking and cycling, allowing for faster-moving through traffic as well as slower-paced local traffic.

For years we've helped this vision take shape around North America, by helping communities envision places, training transportation agencies in Placemaking and Context Sensitive Solutions, even helping develop policy and long-range plans integrating transportation and land use for State DOTs.

We also are constantly learning from the great cities and regions of the world. Barcelona has built boulevards and Ramblas that give pedestrians priority over the auto. Paris has developed a neighborhood traffic calming program to rival that of any city anywhere. London charges congestion fees for vehicles entering the city center, successfully reducing traffic levels and funding an aggressive program to improve transit. Bogotá now boasts a world-class bus rapid transit system and has established a mandate to eliminate private auto use during the morning rush hour by 2015.

North American communities are discovering new solutions to the problems of transportation.

Not so long ago, ideas like these were considered preposterous in most North American communities. Transit stops were simply places to wait. Streets had been surrendered to traffic for so long that we hardly considered them to be public spaces at all. But now we are slowly getting away from this narrow perception of "transportation as conduit for cars" and beginning to think of "transportation as place."

PPS sees signs of this everywhere we go. North American communities are discovering new solutions to the problems of transportation, each in their own way. In Tucson, Arizona, it means revitalizing downtown by creating a network of walkable streets and alleys that connect major public destinations. In New Jersey, it means helping towns solve transportation problems by kicking the habit of sprawl-inducing land use. In New Hampshire's North Country, it means preserving the small town sense of place by calming traffic and reviving public spaces that have been overwhelmed by car-centric development.

PPS is helping California's San Mateo County relieve gridlock and increase transit ridership by transforming auto-dominated downtown streets into pedestrian-friendly public spaces.

These projects are evidence that we can redesign our transportation networks to reflect their true importance as public spaces and supporters of our vision for our towns and cities. We are poised to create a future where priority is given to the appropriate mode, whether pedestrian, bicycle, transit or automobile. To be sure, cars have their place, but the newfound ease of walking and "alternative transportation modes" can make driving less prevalent in most towns and cities. As a result, we will see significantly more people on the streets, which will turn into public forums where neighbors and friends can connect with each other. The street itself will fulfill the critical "town square" function that is missing in most communities today.

That may sound like a far cry from where we stand now, but at PPS, we are helping these ideas take root today. From suburban New Jersey to the high-tech corridor of California's San Mateo County, communities large and small all over the U.S. have stepped forward to say the old way of doing things isn't acceptable any more.

Three simple rules to make transportation a positive force in the public realm.

Project for Public Spaces has a radical idea--transportation can create great places, not destroy them. We see the vast amount of urban land dedicated to cars, traffic, and parking lots as a huge opportunity to create public spaces that serve community. Transportation can be the handmaiden of this transformation—by redeveloping facilities from highways to boulevards, from parking lots to mixed-use transit oriented development, and from nowhere to someplace. But we must follow some simple rules. These include:

Rule One: Stop Planning for Speed
Speed kills sense of place. Cities and town centers are destinations, not raceways. Commerce needs traffic--foot traffic. You can't buy a dress from a car. Even foot traffic speeds up in the presence of fast-moving cars. Access, not automobiles, should be the priority in city centers. Don't ban cars, but remove the presumption in their favor. People first!
Stop planning for speed by removing the presumption in favor of cars.

Rule Two: Start Planning for Public Outcomes
Cars were first introduced into cities as a public health measure--removing the dirt and filth of a transportation system based on raw horsepower, in the literal sense of the word. Cars also allowed us to separate people from the pollution of mills and factories, another public benefit. Great transportation facilities, such as Grand Central Terminal in New York City, grand boulevards, cozy side streets, rail-trails, the wide sidewalks of the Champs Elysées, are transportation "improvements" that actually improve the public realm. "Right-sizing" road projects in cities and suburbs can help increase developable land, create open space, and reconnect communities to their neighbors, a waterfront, or park. They can reduce household dependency on the automobile, allowing children to walk to school, connecting commercial districts to downtowns, and helping build healthier lifestyles by increasing the potential to walk or cycle. Think public benefit, not just private convenience.

The wide sidewalks and pedestrian-friendly crosswalks of the Champs Elysées in Paris are transportation improvements with a public benefit.

Rule Three: Think of Transportation as Public Space
The road, the parking lot, the transit terminal--these places can serve more than one mode (cars) and one purpose (movement). Sidewalks are the urban arterials of cities--make them wide, well lit, stylish and accommodating with benches, outdoor cafes and public art. Roads can be shared spaces with pedestrian refuges, bike lanes, on-street parking etc. Parking lots can become public markets on weekends. Even major urban arterials can be retrofitted to provide for dedicated bus lanes, well-designed bus stops that serve as gathering places, and multi-modal facilities for bus rapid transit or other forms of travel. Roads are places too!

Transportation is public space to be shared by pedestrians, bikes, transit, and cars.

Transportation--the process of going to a place--can be wonderful if we rethink the idea of transportation itself. If we remember that transportation is the journey, but community is always our goal.

As we begin again to contemplate how to connect the bayfront to downtown Sarasota, the ideas and advice given here should ne evaluated seriously. PPS has education and consulting services that may be of use here.

Save Our Sarasota has long looked at creating great public spaces as a key for our continued quality of life improvement. This is especially true as we see greater pressures for development.

Disclaimer

Many of you know that the editor/main writer for this blog has announced his candidacy for Sarasota City Commissioner.

During the next couple months the postings will be less frequent. If any readers have announcements, issues, or comments related to Sarasota's quality of life, please feel free to forward them to us. We will make every attempt to publish the request.

Commentary and news will still be posted and will steer clear of specific candidates.

Save Our Sarasota does not endorse candidates for public office. Our mission remains the same:

Our mission is to be a constructive and positive voice for the preservation and enhancement of Sarasota.

Super Majority - An Idea That Resonates

Stan Zimmerman, president of the City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, said he was thinking about that project when he proposed requiring a super majority in the city. The neighborhood group unanimously approved the concept earlier this month.

"It seemed to be an idea that had some resonance," Zimmerman said. "Something about it feels right to me."

An article in todays SHT describes commissioner reaction to this concept when CCNA inanimously voted to ask the commissioners to enact this requirement.

Bill Earl, who heads the group, Citizens For Sensible Growth was quoted:

"When you have these important issues, you really ought to have a consensus," said Bill Earl, chair of the Citizens for Sensible Growth in Sarasota County, the group collecting signatures [to place the issue on a county referendum ballot]. "Going for the extra vote sets a higher standard."

It is a pleasant change to have the commissioners listen to the citizens.

Now, if we can change the City Charter to require the super majority for comprehensive plan changes, it could not be rescinded by a split (3 to 2) vote. Instead, it would take a voter referendum.

Duany Returns

Andres Duany returned to Sarasota last week, ostensibly to review Sarasota's progress towards a pedestrian friendly, human scale downtown as envisioned in our Downtown Master Plan that was enacted in 2001.

A public forum provided a platform for his views and remarks. The SHT story is here.

Some of his comments:

• The pace of change is extraordinary.
• The connection of downtown to the bayfront must be a priority, slowing traffic is a key element.
• One element of dysfunctional planning is that the decision makers have not become "experts", that is understanding the basic principles of planning and design.
• Sarasota is well structured (historical layout) for walkable downtown neighborhoods.
• The Master Plan intended to have free standing parking structures, not to force developers to provide parking - this allows smaller buildings - cannot retrofit the downtown, must get garages now.
• One problem is that Sarasota is getting only mega-projects.
• A well designed bus system will do wonders for downtown.
• When Sarasota Bayside is completed (Quay), Main Street will take a big hit. Must start upgrading these stores now.
• New hurricane codes have made housing very expensive. Must get affordable housing downtown.
• The planning staff in Sarasota is very good.

Sarasota Citizens Concerned with Global Warming

A message from the organizers of a grass roots effort to raise awareness of the global warming issue and show ways people can act:

We are starting a group in Sarasota to promote climate protection. Please join us. Slowing global warming is not something we can leave to others, and we are running out of time.

Our group is called SNCA for Sarasota Network for Climate Action . (Say "Snikka.") Don't worry. No regular meetings. No dues. And this is probably the longest email we will ever send you. If you want to participate and make a difference, all you need to do is give us your email address. We will "meet" and make decisions and take action via e-mail and website. We hope to create a good website (and we do need volunteer/s to help on that) that will explain the issue and our actions. We might ask you to come out to a city or county commission meeting to show that there is groundswell of grassroots concern whenever we try to persuade our officials to take action.

To join just send an email to joinsnca@gmail.com with "Subscribe to SNCA" in the subject line.

Here is our initial mission statement, to be refined as we go along.

The Sarasota Network for Climate Action (SNCA) is a group of concerned citizens who recognize that science has established that human activities, particularly human use of fossil fuels for energy, are causing carbon dioxide and other gases to accumulate in the atmosphere where they are forming an ever-thicker blanket, which is making the earth grow warmer.

We call on our local governments (county and cities):

• to acknowledge the threat of climate change and pledge to take prompt action to reduce the causes of climate change

• to sign the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which urges federal and state governments to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol target of reducing global warming pollution levels to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012, and pledges to strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution by taking actions in our own operations and communities

• to join ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiates), an association of local governments that have made a commitment to sustainable development, and which provides consulting, training, and evaluation tools for setting and achieving energy efficiency objectives

• to sign (as the county has) the 2030 challenge, a program initiated by the American Institute of Architects, which calls for increasing the fossil-fuel reduction standard for all new buildings to carbon neutral by 2030

• to establish (as the county has) an environmental department staffed by at least one environmental specialist, and set up a citizens' board to advise and recommend regarding environmental policies.

We are hoping to gather representatives from a broad base of groups and interests around town, including: architecture, media, business, arts, education, sciences, neighborhoods, faith communities, environmental organizations, etc. We are asking you to represent X. That doesn't mean you will act officially for any group you belong to. It just means that when you meet other people from your interest group, (or anyone, for that matter) we want you to promote the issue of energy efficiency and climate action.

If you can get more people to join our SNCA email community, all the better. We need to show that there is growing concern and an increasing number of people who want local action to stop global warming.

We don't have long to act. Most scientists predict irreversible damage if we do not take strong global action within the next ten years. The most dire effects will not occur in our lifetime, but we are responsible now for future generations.

You can look at these websites (among many others) to understand more about global warming and what we might do:
http://seattle.gov/mayor/climate/
http://environment.about.com/od/kyotoprotocol/
http://read-the-truth.com
http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/
http://www.iclei.org/
http://www.bbcat.org/

The last link above will take you to Big Bend Climate Action Team. This Tallahassee group's heroic efforts inspire us to help lead the Sunshine State away from energy excesses toward sustainability.

Will you join us? All we need is your email commitment. We will not give your email address to any other person or group. Our emails will be very short (unlike this first one!) and will usually lead you to links if you want to know more.

Thanks.
June Cussen
Lea Hall
joinsnca@gmail.com

County Promotes Tree Canopy

From Sarasota County:

Urban Forestry plan to help grow tree canopy

The Sarasota County Commission Tuesday approved the preliminary five-year Urban Forestry Strategic Plan, which will be used to create a performance-driven urban forest that integrates green with built infrastructure.

"The urban forest is no longer a simple amenity, but a natural utility", Urban Forestry Division Manager Demetra McBride told the commissioners. Among its numerous applications, the urban forest can reduce air pollution, act as a watershed management tool, and help improve energy conservation. The five-year strategic plan is structured to exploit those significant benefits, and to design and manage the urban canopy so that aesthetics and function are inseparable.

The plan calls for diversifying the urban forest, exploring creative opportunities for creating a canopy and further defines and applies the urban forest as natural infrastructure.

There are three strategies the strategic plan is based on:

1. Design, for the most functionally effective and the most fiscall -responsible urban forest;
   Program management, for sustained operational excellence; and
2. Education and outreach, that promotes consensus and participation in public, government, professional, economic and scholastic circles.
3. Commissioner Joseph A. Barbetta lauded the plan saying, "This is finally recognition of how important the tree canopy is to the community."
   

Among the initiatives in the plan is adding trees to stormwater retention ponds for aesthetic and environmental reasons and offering trees to people who have replaced their septic tanks with a connection to a central sewer under the Phillippi Creek Septic System Replacement Program.

Each initiative is subject to formal board approval and will take time to implement.

The final version of the strategic plan will be brought before the board in a few months for approval.

For more information about the Urban Forestry Strategic Plan, contact the Sarasota County Call Center at 941-861-5000 and ask for the Public Works Facilities Services office.

Project Contact:
Demetra McBride, 941-861-0844 or 941-650-9242, dmcbride@scgov.net

Good News!

More on the Super Majority Idea

From SRQ magazine's Page 1 e-newsletter:

Super Intentions: The CCNA Wants A Super Majority Vote To Protect The City's Comprehensive Plan

If neighborhood preservation were in trouble, would Super Majority be its hero? Members of the City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations think requiring a super majority vote when amending the city's comprehensive plan might help curb some of the growth that they feel is detrimental to Sarasota.

Currently, the 5-member commission requires just a 3-2 vote to amend the comprehensive plan and allow developers such leeway as increased density and land use changes. But CCNA President Stan Zimmerman said their group decided last weekend to press the possibility of a super majority vote (4-1) to amend the plan.

"The comprehensive plan should require more than just a simple majority to change it," Zimmerman said. "We went through all of these years of effort to develop the downtown plan--who knows how many thousands of man hours and endless
meetings--and suddenly three commissioners could walk in one day and say 'Why can't we have 25 stories downtown?'"

Zimmerman stressed that the CCNA will see the issue voted on-whether it’s on the city commission's agenda or a referendum ballot. He said the city could pass an ordinance to require the super majority, and that route would be much easier. But if they deny the ordinance, the CCNA will request a citizen vote on the issue and hope to incorporate the new rule into the city's charter.

Super Majority

At the Saturday CCNA (Coalition of City Neighborhoods) meeting, the topic of requiring a city commission super majority (4 out of 5 votes) in order to change the comprehensive plan was brought up and discussed.

This would make it more difficult to change the comp plan without having community involvment and acceptance of the change before enacting the change.

CCNA voted unanimously to:

1. Ask thecity commissioners to put this question (requiring a super majority for comp plan land use changes) on a referendum ballot.
2. If the commissioners were not agreeable to this, CCNA would consider collecting signatures to put this on the ballot.

There is a petition effort to have a similar super majority requirement for land use changes in Sarasota County. The group has more than half of the required signatures.