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Sarasota city voters in City Commission Districts 2 and 3 do not have easy decisions in the May 12 City Commission runoff elections. Here’s why: In the way the four candidates see the issues, not much separates them. They are all pragmatic people.

In fact, if you’ve had the opportunity to listen to the candidates, you easily can see how similar three of the candidates are in how they would approach the city’s most crucial issues. These three candidates, in particular, are all lawyers — District 2 candidates Liz Alpert and incumbent Commissioner Eileen Normile; and District 3 candidate Shelli Freeland Eddie.

Alpert and Eddie are in the same line of practice — family law. And Normile and Eddie served as prosecutors  in New Jersey and Sarasota, respectively. 

The only non-lawyer candidate is District 3 incumbent Stan Zimmerman. He has spent most of his career as a news reporter.

So take the three lawyers. No surprise, each is analytical in the way she thinks about how the city should address such things as traffic, the homeless, housing availability, the bayfront, transportation and unfunded pension liabilities. Do it the lawyer way: Gather the evidence, listen to the testimony from all sides and arrive at what each believes is the best decision for the city and its taxpayers. This is what Alpert and Eddie do every day in their law practices. And this is how Normile has conducted herself in her short tenure on the commission.

Fair enough.

Zimmerman, likewise in his short time as an appointed incumbent, has shown similar proclivities. He uses his reporter’s curiosity to ask questions for pertinent information to make balanced, reasoned decisions.

Put the four candidates altogether, and their intelligence (all respectably intelligent candidates) and professional, public demeanors are such that Sarasota city voters won’t make a bad choice in the May 12 election.

None of the candidates has the charisma or vision of a Marco Rubio. None likely would bring needed, bold  leadership to the City Commission. But all four would be safe bets to maintain the commission’s long record of incremental, around-the-margin change.

But two of the four must be chosen.

Here are other ways to evaluate them:

Old Guard vs. New Guard

For years, an unspoken Old Guard Establishment (longtime Sarasotans) has dominated the City Commission. These are the commissioners with links to the entrenched neighborhood association hierarchy, the shadow government of Gretchen Serrie, Kate Lowman and former mayors. In this category, you might go like this:

Old Guard Establishment

• Mayor Willie Shaw

• Vice Mayor Susan Chapman

• Commissioner Suzanne Atwell

(To her credit, although a commissioner since 2009, Atwell is independent enough that she goes in and out of the Old Guard with her votes.)

Old Guard Candidates

• Commissioner Stan Zimmerman

• Commissioner Eileen Normile

Although both were appointed to the commission less than a year ago, they are perceived to be tied to the neighborhood association advocates, who tend to be anti-growth.

Newcomer Candidates

• Commissioner Eileen Normile

• Liz Alpert

• Shelli Freeland Eddie

Normile can fit as old and new. A full-time resident of Sarasota only for six years, she immediately immersed herself in the community shortly after she arrived. She became president of the Bird Key Homeowners Association. But she also maintains independent thinking on the commission, willing to buck the Establishment.

Alpert can be regarded as a longtime Sarasotan, having lived here since the mid-1970s, departing for Tampa for many years and then becoming a resident again more than a dozen years ago. She ran unsuccessfuly in Sarasota in 2012 for the Florida House. She was spurred on to run for the commission because of her interest and optimism for the future of the city’s bayfront. A Democrat, with Democratic Party backing, Alpert is not part of the city’s Old Guard. 

Eddie is the newest and the youngest, a resident here for 12 years and age 41. A native of Charleston, W.Va., she is earnest, among other issues, about making Sarasota a more sustainable community for young adults.

Who is best for the taxpayers and future of Sarasota? It’s a tough call. We have often said elections are always referenda on incumbents’ performance. In that vein, Normile and Zimmerman have performed adequately, not spectacularly (they blew it on the Ringling College street vacation). At the same time, we’ve always been partial to having new, younger candidates and fresh perspectives emerge for the City Commission. That would be Eddie.

Our recommendation: An edge to Normile for District 2; an edge to Eddie for District 3.