The five-year relief plan

We’re stuck on traffic.

No one can get it off his mind. But instead of talking about how bad it is, the conversation has shifted. Instead of “It took me XX minutes to get here!” the tone is pleasant surprise and relief: “It took me only X minutes to get here.” 

But everyone is still talking about the Vue … and Fruitville and U.S. 41 …  and U.S. 41 and Gulfstream.

“Who let them build that thing so close to the road?”

“What are they going to do there?”

We have some answers. You’ll be surprised. Maybe pleasantly so. 

Start with the easy one: The Vue condominium and Westin hotel. 

You may find this difficult to believe, but building to the lot line on U.S. 41, with the building seemingly hanging over the road, is required in the city code. City Manager Tom Barwin says that came from the famous Andrew Duany “new urban” downtown plan the city adopted in 2004.

And actually, city officials told us, the Kolter Group voluntarily moved the building back. Don’t blame Kolter.

More good news: When the Vue is completed, Barwin says, the Vue’s facade on U.S. 41 “will be light, glossy modern and iconic” in the style of the Sarasota School of Architecture. The sidewalk next to the building and 41 will be wider than it was before, and the road will be straightened so there won’t be a goofy jog in the right-turn lane.

There’s more. Judge it for yourself:

Barwin says the Florida Department of Transportation will start in June constructing a permanent and better right-turn lane on 41 at Fruitville heading north, and a raised median  island extending from Gulfstream to Fruitville. FDOT also will straighten that portion of 41.

At the same time, FDOT is moving forward on constructing roundabouts at 41 and Gulfstream, Fruitville and 10th and 14th streets.  

And to demonstrate FDOT’s commitment to addressing the logjams at 41 and Fruitville and Gulfstream FDOT has cut in half the time it normally takes to construct the roundabouts — from 10 to 12 years to five to six years.

City Engineer Alex DavisShaw says she has never seen FDOT work this fast.

Yahoo. But sorry, it’s difficult to celebrate. Five to six years before construction is completed?

Overlay on that the Greenpointe project at the old Quay site. Its regional president, Rick Harcrow, says if all goes as planned, it hopes to begin construction in the first quarter of 2017. He says that project is estimated to take seven years.

To date, Barwin and DavisShaw told us, Greenpointe and Kolter have more than met their required traffic obligations and have been coordinating and cooperative with the city and FDOT.

Somehow, though, it remains difficult to imagine that roundabouts at Fruitville and Gulfstream will be the answer. It will be half of a decade before we know … 

What about an underpass?

City elections: Change the how, not when

It was just a dream, after all.

For a while, the Sarasota City Commission had many of its citizens thinking the commissioners finally were going to buck the Old Guard mayors and the city’s Shadow Government meddlers and actually give voters the opportunity to decide whether they wanted to move city elections from March to the even-year November elections.

But then the lawyers (in this case, the city attorney) got involved, and the defenders of “we’re still little Sarasota” and all things status quo came out in usual force. 

At that point, the issue before commissioners Monday night became complicated and legally eye-glazing … And then there was all that discussion about electing a candidate who would only win a plurality … and how November elections are just so … so partisan and full of money … and OMGosh … it all sounded like, if voters approved this, it could be so much work and so many things to resolve and … so … so … just shoot me!

And they did. The commissioners took the easy way out (for them) and killed the issue. Again.

The reality is Sarasota’s city commissioners will never put on a city ballot any change to a system that would make it more difficult for them. 

Look on their foreheads. There’s a sign on all of them that says it all: “What’s in it for me?”

The only way the city’s elections — be they for an elected mayor or to increase voter turnout — will change is when the electorate has too much pain. That’s human nature. People don’t change until there is too much pain.

And right now there isn’t enough pain. Certainly that is so among the sitting commissioners. Why change what got them where they are? Indeed, it’s unrealistic to expect commissioners to change anything. That would be work.

Likewise, there isn’t enough pain among the electorate, or so it appears. Its expectations of city government are low to begin with. What’s more, Sarasota seems to be doing OK in spite of city commissioners who were elected by less than 20% of the city’s voters. As long as they aren’t raising taxes, leaving garbage in the streets or letting crime run amok, the city’s electorate will remain complacent.

Nonetheless, it remains a point of frustration that so few Sarasota city residents vote in the commission elections. It taints the results — in a way that makes them feel as if the winners are not altogether legitimate. They are truly elected by a few.

How can that change? 

Former District 3 City Commission candidate Matt Woodall has said if the commissioners won’t let voters vote on changing the election date, he’ll take the matter directly to voters. Woodall says he’ll gather the required signatures to put the question on the city ballot.

But before Woodall takes that on, perhaps there is another approach. 

People respond to incentives and convenience. If we were in Vice Mayor Suzanne Atwell’s chair (she was the only commissioner who motioned to let voters have their say on moving the election date), we would ask the commission to back a citizen  task force whose job would be to solve this problem:

If city elections are to remain held in March of odd years, what incentives and conveniences are needed to persuade more people to vote? 

Don’t change the when. Try changing the how.