It's the economy, commissioners

This was another one of those “what-were-they-thinking?” moments at the Sarasota City Commission.

Gretchen Serrie, chairwoman of the city’s Charter Review Committee, requested the commission approve for the March ballot a question that would repeal one of the dumbest charter amendments ever approved in city history — the infamous anti-Wal-Mart amendment codifying the city’s minimum-wage rate at $10.70 an hour for businesses with more than 50 employees and that receive more than $100,000 a year in subsidies from the city.

Amazingly, and beyond comprehension, voters approved this amendment in 2007.

And it worked. Wal-Mart Stores opted not to build a supercenter in Newtown.

The organizers behind this amendment were a national anti-Wal-Mart group. They paid Sarasotans to sign petitions to place the group’s minimum-wage question on the city ballot, and then they campaigned throughout Newtown and the city to brainwash people into thinking Wal-Mart is bad for America.

To the Charter Review Committee’s credit, its members at least see that job creation is Sarasota’s most pressing issue.

But, alas, city commissioners don’t. Indicating they know what’s best for voters, they decided against placing the question on the ballot.

Most surprising was the vote of Commissioner Terry Turner, an economist. He indicated the issue was not urgent because there aren’t any companies requesting the change or walking away from Sarasota as a potential location because of the law.

Sarasota city commissioners still don’t get it. The city’s economy is really, really ailing. And any step that can show the world Sarasota is open and improving its business climate should be taken.

Turner knows full well that the $10.70 per hour minimum-wage law is a job killer. As for the other three who chose not to put the question on the ballot, when you ask “What were they thinking?” the answer is: They weren’t.

+ St. Armands parking choice
This time they apparently were thinking.

Sarasota city commissioners correctly voted this week not to remove parallel parking spaces on St. Armands Circle on the leg of John Ringling Boulevard leading to Lido Beach.

This seems to be one of those never-ending battles — parking and traffic on St. Armands Circle. It will always be thus.

That is, unless …

First, eliminating any parking slots around St. Armands cannot possibly improve anything. Indeed, longtime St. Armands merchants and property owners will tell you the Circle actually could use 1,000 more parking spaces.

The spaces could be accommodated, of course, via the construction of a parking garage behind the Columbia Restaurant on the city’s property. But true to Sarasota form, a few residents whose homes would be near the garage have been able to squelch the garage; your standard NIMBY protest.

So here are the choices:
A) No garage. Result: Satisfies a few residents; keeps the congestion; forces more motorists to drive on the side streets, drawing more complaints from St. Armands residents; limits stores’ sales, the city’s sales-tax revenue and the local economy.

B) Build garage: Result: Eases congestion; draws more visitors to St. Armands; generates more sales, sales-tax revenue and healthier economy; upsets a few residents.

As economist Thomas Sowell often says: There are no solutions, only choices. We would choose “B.”

+ Embarrassing Atkins
Sarasota Vice Mayor Fredd Atkins is famous for his inappropriate remarks. Here are two more from this week’s City Commission meeting:

• “I don’t have many little white women as a hero, but Susan Chapman, you’re all right with me.”

• When commenting on the minimum-wage law, Atkins referred to Wal-Mart as “the gangsters from Arkansas.”

The end of his term cannot come soon enough.

+ Ted Morton: loyal friend
The city of Sarasota lost one of its leading leaders last week with the death of Ted Morton, 85, founder, patriarch and longtime owner of Morton’s Market family business.

Morton qualifies for the accolade that “they don’t make them like him anymore.”

He was special.

He was special to The Observer Group. Always a supporter of our endeavors, Morton was one of the first paying subscribers to our sister paper, the Gulf Coast Business Review, when it started in 1997. And he remained loyal throughout.

Friends remember his love of life, family and food. But what we cherished was Morton’s storytelling — his colorful and humorous accounts of Sarasota history and the people who made Sarasota what it is today. Morton was one of those people.

When we heard the Rev. Fred Robinson of Sarasota’s Church of Redeemer describe Morton, Robinson said it best. Be sure to read the excerpts from his sermon below.
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TRIBUTE: TED MORTON, SARASOTA PATRIARCH

The following are excerpts from the sermon delivered Monday by the Rev. Fred Robinson at the Church of the Redeemer at the funeral service for Ted Morton, longtime Sarasota civic and business leader who died last week.
— Editor

We have gathered this morning to give thanks for the life of Ted Morton, a longtime faithful member of this parish and a leader in this community.

Your presence here bears witness to the tremendous impact Ted had on the lives of so many.
In his death we have lost a patriarch of this parish family as well as a patriarch of this community of Sarasota.

As we give thanks to God for his life, we mourn our great loss of fellowship with this dear man who embodied so many of the ideals we cherish: love of family, love of God and his Church, love of community and love of country. And he did it all not in a self-conscious or prideful way, but in a humble way, in a way that flowed straight from his heart to ours. And of course, his love of people, consistent with his chosen profession, seemed inseparably joined with his enjoyment of a good meal! …

Ted’s enjoyment of a good meal in this life was a preparation for what he could expect the other side of the grave. Whatever that feast is like, you and I know that he is enjoying every minute, especially as he is reunited with his beloved Pauline.

When Linda and I first came to Sarasota almost 17 years ago, one of the first persons I got to know was Ted. He took me to lunch, after which he showed me around the store, where I saw Pauline, whom I had met at church, of course, and I met Eddie, D.K. and K.C.

Then he set me up with a charge account with a discount, and then he drove me around the city, all the while telling me his history and asking questions about my life. It was at that time that I told him I enjoyed playing racquetball for exercise, and not long after that I received a call from John Watson, who had heard through the Ted Morton grapevine that I played racquetball, and would I like to get together to play?
I realized through that incident that Ted was a man who got things done!

Over the years we had many lunches, and Ted and Pauline and Linda and I enjoyed a close friendship, including an annual trip to Tampa to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After Pauline’s death, we continued that kind of friendship with Ted and his dear friend, Maureen. I give thanks to God for the friendship Ted and I shared in addition to my relationship with him as his priest.

Ted was one of the most faithful members of this parish. If he wasn’t in church at the 7:30 a.m. mass on Sunday, I knew that he was either sick, a family member was sick or he was out of town. Otherwise, he was occupying his pew on the right side of the nave, third pew from the front.

Our 7:30 Mass is a said Mass; that is, there is no music at that service. You might be surprised to learn, however, that Ted was a patron for our music program. Ted was an usher regularly at that 7:30 Mass, he served on the Finance Committee for many years and was a canvasser several times for our every member canvasses. He served on our vestry a few times and served as senior warden when both Father Fitzgerald and Bishop Iker were rectors.

Senior warden is the leading lay position in the parish. I am sure that Father Fitzgerald’s and Bishop Iker’s experiences were the same as mine, and that is that I knew that if I ever had a problem, either personal or having to do with the parish, I could talk with Ted and he would do anything in his power to help, and I also knew that anything I said to him would never be repeated to another soul. That is the kind of friend he is.

Every parish or local church has its own personality, and that personality is largely the result of the very active people of the parish. The Church of the Redeemer in many ways reflects Ted’s personality, and that is one of the reasons this is a very special place.