Longboat Observer
YourObserver.com
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012
campaign finance
3A
by Robin Hartill | City Editor
Jaleski makes campaign proposal Stakeholders Gene Jaleski wants candidates for the March Longboat Key Town Commission election to agree to spending limits, but other candidates aren’t ready to adopt his proposal. The 2013 Longboat Key Town Commission race could be crowded, with six candidates having qualified to run for four seats in the March 19 election. Former Commissioner Gene Jaleski is one of those candidates, having qualified for the at-large seat held by Commissioner Phill Younger, who is seeking re-election. Last Friday, Jaleski emailed those who had qualified for or taken out papers to run for commission seats, suggesting that all candidates agree on various limits to campaign spending. “I believe we can have a better election process if everyone agrees to curtail expenses and focus on voter education and awareness,” he wrote. Jaleski’s proposal includes either no campaign signs or a limited number of lawn signs; no political advertisements or a limited number of advertisements that would equal two full newspaper pages, while sharing the cost of placing a small box on the front page of both local newspapers that would direct voters to a website with equal space for each candidate; and equal candidate contributions to help partially defray the cost of several debates. But other candidates aren’t ready to
OVERHAUL
sign off on Jaleski’s proposal yet. Younger declined to comment on Jaleski’s suggestion. “I have absolutely no comment on anything Gene Jaleski has to say,” he said. Commissioner Terry Gans, who has qualified to run for the at-large seat he was appointed to in July, cited Jaleski’s Friends of Longboat Key blog and newspaper column. “It’s ironic for someone with his name recognition to make this suggestion,” Gans said. Resident Joseph Iannello qualified to run against Gans in March but told the Longboat Observer Tuesday morning that he planned to notify the town later that day that he won’t run for a commission seat, in part because he is focusing on building a new house. Still, he expressed support for Jaleski’s suggestions. “I think there needs to be more transparency,” he said of the process. Mayor Jim Brown, who has also qualified to run for his District 4 seat in March, also referred to Jaleski’s blog in an email Friday. “This should also include not using personally established blogs,” Brown wrote. Jaleski responded to Brown’s comment
in an email: “Good point,” he wrote. “I am seeking a level playing field for all candidates. If we agree, then I will gladly stop all other political activities in the media. I still would like as many public events as possible where opposing candidates can discuss their views with the community.” Brown said that he wasn’t ready to answer Jaleski’s proposal yet, because he doesn’t know if he’ll have a challenger. Resident Larry Grossman has taken out papers for his seat but has not yet qualified. As of Tuesday, Grossman hadn’t yet seen the email but expressed support when the Longboat Observer told him about the suggestions. “Being on the commission is very demanding with no compensation,” he said. “I don’t know why we should spend lots of money competing.” Commissioner Jack Duncan, who doesn’t currently have a challenger for his District 2 seat, said that he didn’t want to be part of Jaleski’s proposal because it would involve communicating directly or indirectly with other commissioners. “I just don’t want to get involved,” he said. “It smacks of Sunshine Law violations.”
by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor
Whitney Beach Plaza tapped for stronger codes, renovation Town officials want to strengthen codes to upgrade the site of Whitney Beach Plaza, and the plaza owner promises a complete renovation in the coming months. The roof at the former post office building at Whitney Beach Plaza is caving in. Colored cellophane now covers the inside of several vacant storefronts, which has been placed there, some say, to prevent people from seeing mold on the walls and insulation falling from the ceilings. Meanwhile, the vacant gas station on the north end of the Key is boarded up and is bordered by a fence that’s falling down. The problem is the town of Longboat Key can’t do anything about those issues and that has the Longboat Key Town Commission considering beefing up its property-maintenance code. Commissioners will discuss at their Nov. 15 regular workshop what to do, if anything, with a property-maintenance code that currently only instructs property owners to cut weeds and grass. “We have to decide whether to raise the bar on the maintenance of properties town wide,” said Planning, Zoning and Building Director Robin Meyer. “The dilemma is coming up with something that holds the town to a higher standard without creating too much conflict.” Meyer called the issue with the caving roof at the post office building at Whitney Beach Plaza “a concern.” “The ceiling is falling in and the roof is caving,” Meyer said. “If they don’t do something soon, we have an issue with unsafe structures, and as our code currently is written, things there would have to get worse before we can enforce them to make it better.” The same goes for a fence falling down at the gas station site. “If panels are lying down, we can make you pick them up, but I can’t make you fix the fence,” said Meyer. A dilemma of strengthening the property-maintenance code would be that it would create more work for Meyer’s
Kurt Schultheis
Town officials are concerned about a sinking hole in the post office building at Whitney Beach Plaza and a fence with panels falling down at the former gas station site. code-enforcement staff, which currently only has one code officer. “It would create more work for my staff if we are going to start enforcing items such as peeling paint, missing roof shingles and ripped pool cages,” Meyer said. Rich Juliani, principal of the Bostonbased JKI Investment Capital LLC, which owns the plaza, disputes rumors that mold is growing inside the plaza. Juliani said he’s closing on paperwork Oct. 31, for a $1 million renovation of the entire 35,000-square-foot plaza that could begin as early as November, pending permit approvals, and could be finished as early as May. “We’re gutting the whole thing and renovating it,” Juliani said. “And we’re starting with the post-office building first because I’m sick of hearing about it.” Juliani said the reason he never fixed
the sinking hole in the post office building was because it didn’t make sense to do so and he was waiting for the talks of the overlay district for the area to subside. “I would tell Longboaters I apologize for the plaza’s appearance, but I wasn’t going to drop any money into the plaza until discussions were over,” Juliani said. “Now that they are, I can say we are renovating the entire site, from roofs to sidewalks to pillars to landscaping.” Juliani said he has interest for future tenants that include realty offices, coffee shops and restaurants. Juliani, who still owns the plaza’s liquor license, said the plaza would also include a liquor store. “Commercial-real estate for a plaza of this size doesn’t happen overnight in this economy,” Juliani said. “But interest is rising, and residents will see improvements to this plaza soon.”
seek parking leniency
St. Armands merchants and business owners told the Parking Advisory Committee that parking enforcement has become excessive. Not all of city government is experiencing shortfalls in revenue. In September, the city of Sarasota’s parking department generated $45,000 in revenue — a 30% increase from the same month in 2011. Mark Lyons, the city’s parking manager, cited the data during the Wednesday, Oct. 24 meeting of the newly formed Parking Advisory Committee. The numbers probably didn’t come as a surprise to the St. Armands merchants and residents who attended the meeting, many of whom have been complaining about a spike in parking citations since March, when the Sarasota City Commission voted to bag downtown parking meters and make parking restrictions uniform throughout the city. Kingston Arms resident Jim Mauritzen spoke at Wednesday’s meeting about how restrictions have impacted residents of the 49-unit condominium at 500 S. Washington Drive. Each unit has one assigned parking space, meaning that visitors have to park in city streets that have a three-hour limit 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. six days a week. “Our concern is family and friends,” Mauritzen said. “It really is a burden to have to move cars every three hours.” St. Armands Circle Association Executive Director Diana Corrigan said that 67% of people who visit St. Armands Circle are tourists. Corrigan has argued that efforts to educate the public about parking might not be as effective on St. Armands as they are in other parts of the city, because visitors aren’t in town long enough to modify their behavior. Business owners have reported that they’ve dealt with irate customers, some of whom have returned merchandise they bought from the Circle after getting a ticket. “This is not exactly the image we want of Sarasota, and it’s not the image we want for St. Armands Circle,” Corrigan said. Restrictions are also problematic for Circle employees, who park on residential streets to avoid tickets, according to Corrigan. Tammy Halsted, marketing director for Touch of Africa, said that parking enforcement has gone “from very reasonable to impossible.” She described her frustrations from the perspective of both a merchant and a resident. She said that customers frequently have to leave private events at Touch of Africa to avoid a parking ticket. Because she lives in an apartment above the Circle, she has to move her car every three hours, even on Saturday, her day off. St. Armands merchants and residents weren’t on the agenda for the committee’s meeting but attended to speak during the public comments portion. Lyons told the committee that the city increased the number of warnings it issued during the summer. Additionally, it installed warning signage throughout the Circle warning motorists to park in designated spaces. The City Commission voted to form the Parking Advisory Committee to help parking management to develop a strategic parking plan and to provide for more stakeholder input in developing future parking policy. The committee’s next meeting will take place at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, at Sarasota City Hall, 1565 First St., Sarasota, and is open to the public.