Our View

“Doing nothing is certainly not an option.”
— City Commissioner Paul Caragiulo

In fact, it is an option.

Commissioner Caragiulo made that comment at Monday’s joint session of the Sarasota City and County Commissions, where they attempted to agree on a site for a “come as you are” homeless shelter.

They couldn’t agree, largely because city commissioners didn’t like the proposed sites — at 1800 N. East Ave. or 1330 N. Osprey Ave., both within city limits. Nor did any of them like the potential costs — $8.9 million and $9.2 million, respectively. And those were the costs just to build them, not operate them year after year.

The two commissions left their seats frustrated — county commissioners vocally frustrated with the city, primarily the city staff, and the city staff chafing some at county officials.

Russia and Ukraine.

They scheduled themselves to reconvene in September when they will expect their respective staffs to recommend other sites.

Meantime, perhaps the commissioners should take the summer to clear their heads and come to their senses. The people they represent — the voters and taxpayers, especially those who reside in the city of Sarasota, not the homeless vagrants who will come as they are from all over — don’t want a taxpayer-funded “come as you are” shelter.

Who in his right mind could ever believe that a government-run, taxpayer-funded, “come as you are” homeless shelter could operate as effectively as the multitude of private, nonprofit charities in this region that work to care for those in need?

Contrary to Commissioner Caragiulo’s declaration that “doing nothing” is not an option, it is indeed an option. And it is for this reason: Operating homeless shelters is nowhere to be found in the charters governing the responsibilities of either commission. Neither government is mandated to provide that service.

And they shouldn’t.

Thank Dr. Robert Marbut for his consulting work and recommendations. Continue implementing those that make sense. But when it comes to homeless shelters, leave them in the capable hands of the private sector.

+ Move the bus transfer depot
Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Barbetta is right:

• The county should relocate its public bus-transfer station from First Street and Lemon Avenue in downtown Sarasota. It’s not a big enough space, nor the right place — at the confluence of one of the city’s better retail centers.

• The county should sell the .41-acre property to a private entity.

• The city of Sarasota should not buy the property, even though it has the option to do so. The city has proven too many times it’s not a good real estate entrepreneur (e.g. State Street parking garage: $4 million higher price tag than originally expected).

This is another city-county ping-pong ball. Some want the bus-transfer station to stay where it is, others don’t. Ping pong.

We side with those who said the site at First and Lemon was not appropriate even before the station was originally constructed. They have been proven correct.

It doesn’t take much to see how the current site doesn’t work. Go there any sunny afternoon, and you’ll see bus patrons lining the wall of the Whole Foods store on the west side of Lemon Avenue to avoid the sun. The canopies on the bus site don’t do the job. At the same time, you can also see the long transfer buses parked away from the loading zone; there’s not enough room for the buses.

And surely if you have tried driving through First and Lemon when a bus is trying to maneuver into the loading area, there is not enough room for a bus to turn and a motorist to go through the intersection simultaneously.

County commissioners, meanwhile, recently unanimously favored the site at Ringling Boulevard and School Avenue, the original proposed site.

It makes sense. It’s next to the Sarasota Police Station (a deterrent to bad things and bad people); it’s next to the Sarasota County Health Department (convenient for its users); and it’s large enough to accommodate the vehicles and a facility that would keep patrons from being exposed to the sun and rain.
And large enough to do what a transfer station is supposed to do — serve as a hub for bus riders to switch to multiple routes of their choice.

Every site, of course, will have its drawbacks. Mike Walling, manager of the Payne Park Skate Park, strongly objects to the proposed location. As he told the Sarasota Observer recently, prior to his taking over as manager of the skate park three years ago, vagrants plagued the skate park.

But once Walling persuaded the police department to get involved, the vagrancy problem dissipated.
If the bus station is moved near the skate park and police station, come on, it should not be difficult for public-safety officials to assure the park remains vagrant free.

In the larger and longer context of what is best for downtown Sarasota’s economic growth, relocating the transfer station and shifting that county property into the hands of the private sector would be best.

The big obstacles: Money ($2 million to $9 million) for the station and a City Commission that would need to be persuaded not to purchase the transfer-station property. Alas, the first is much easier to overcome.

SIGN IT, SEND IT
Backers of the It’s Time Sarasota campaign to get a proposed charter change on the November general-election ballot say they still have time to collect and certify petitions — in spite of efforts by others to the contrary.

The crux of the proposed charter is to replace the weak-mayor/city manager form of government with an elected mayor-CEO and legislative city council.

But before that change could possibly occur, the proposed charter needs another 1,500 signed petitions inside the doors of City Hall by July 3.

Diana Hamilton, one of the It’s Time Sarasota backers and organizers, says last week her group mailed 3,900 petitions to city homeowners with the hope the response would be sufficient.

It’s a big hope. Nonetheless, nothing is impossible.

Indeed, if you are dismayed with the way Sarasota city government operates and has operated, and if you received one of the mailed petitions, we urge you to sign it and send it in to City Hall.

Sending in a signed petition doesn’t mean you’re casting a “yes” vote for the charter changes. It means you’re giving yourself and fellow city taxpayers an opportunity to vote and be heard on whether to change the charter to an elected mayor-CEO form of government.

Opponents of the charter change often say city voters have turned down the concept of an elected mayor three times already and that there’s no reason to vote on this again.

But this time is significantly different — in at least two ways worth noting, as we have in previously in this space:

• 1) This proposal is the best-crafted version yet, crafted by constitutional law expert, Robert J. Martineau, distinguished research professor emeritus of law at the University of Cincinnati and a Sarasota resident. It proposes to set up a traditional democratic form of government. And in spite of the opponents’ charges to the contrary, the new charter would carry more, and better, checks and balances than exist in the current form of government.

• 2) One of the biggest changes included in the proposal would be to shift city elections to the November general elections. This would increase and improve the democratic process in the city.

Rather than having less than 20% of the city’s voters always decide who will sit on the City Commission, November elections would guarantee a greater plurality of voters having a voice in what happens at City Hall.

Give this measure the opportunity to be vetted in more public debate. This time it’s different. Sign the petition if you haven’t and send it in.