Monday, August 1, 2022

It takes a developer to erase a Village


Sarasota has become a national poster child for those who say the government can’t be trusted with guiding a response to a pandemic - in schools or in hospitals.

Wherever we turn, we find a politically motivated war on public entities. Vituperative School Board meetings have made national news. Now, according to the Washington Post, Sarasota Memorial Hospital faces a concerted effort to replace long-term Hospital Board members with challengers who think they can be trusted to do away with governmental oversight of public health.

It’s worth asking why this county appears so receptive to private property rights. In 1975, forward-looking Sarasota was the first Florida county to promulgate a comprehensive land use plan, putting quality of life above private profit. This year our County Commission gave mega-developers Rex Jensen and Pat Neal carte blanche to write a brand-new section of the Comp Plan. 

Pat Neal
Mr. Neal now seeks the breathtaking power to put 5,000 homes in East Sarasota, where existing zoning allows for 717 homes. This would end the rural life of Old Miakka, yet it's framed not as the taking of a 172-year-old community, but rather as a "right" inherent to a developer's private ownership. When you absolutize private property, it can rather quickly get medieval. Do we wish to give Mr. Neal such a confiscatory Droit de seigneur over the people of Old Miakka?


The pressure to privatize public health, education and planning radically undermines shared norms, values and protected rights, replacing them with a world shaped by loud voices and fat wallets.


We must not cede the public sphere to private interests. Our imperfect democratic institutions deserve protection from those who'd profit from their extinction. Our public schools, hospital, and comprehensive planning cannot be for sale.


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Pat Neal's Comp Plan Amendment comes before the Planning Commission on Thursday, August 4. The meeting begins at 5 pm at the Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd.- see Item #7.


Old Miakka has organized, lawyered up, and will be at the meeting. More here: https://www.sarasotacountry.net/


And more background here and here.



4 comments:

  1. Thank you for shining the light on unbridled development and local power grabbing.

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  2. I was born and raised in Sarasota and understand the need for responsible growth. Destroying communities that add to the attraction and charm that has made Sarasota stand out from the big cities is not in the best interest of our residents visitors and county as a whole. Developers have become obsessed with how much money they can squeeze out of our county. And once there’s no more space for our wildlife environment and even residents they’ll move on with no regrets of how they destroyed Sarasota. I pray you still have a conscious and ethics so will deny this development.

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  3. Pat Neal's push to destroy over 4,000 acres of rural lands is our version of the Siesta Key Mega-Hotels. The County and developers keep attacking our quality of life here, there, and now everywhere. We need to all stand together and say - I'm mad as **** and I'm not going to take it anymore." If you are sick of watching Sarasota County morph into something you don't like, please come and stand with us to say No to the continued destruction of the Sarasota County we have all loved. Check out SarasotaCountry.net if you want more information.

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  4. I will not be able to attend the meeting tonight. However I want to make sure that the applicant knows changes may be asked for but not necessarily given. The criteria for granting an exemption or variance it is, is it in the best interest of the people of Sarasota County. Not the owner of the property or the developer of the property.

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