Housing for the working class

It’s encouraging to see Sarasota city officials trying to do something to help bring about more affordable housing for the working class.

Last week, the city held the first of two Town Hall meetings to gauge the public’s reaction to an idea to may find it of value to watch last week’s public hearing. It is illustrative of the conversations occurring throughout the state on this subject.

There was no specific evidence comparing the public’s use of county government websites versus newspaper websites. Commissioners in Sarasota and Manatee intuitively made the conclusion that publishing public notices on their websites will be less expensive and more efficient.

Manatee Commissioner George Kruse asked citizens before the vote on the issue: “How many people have a copy of the newspaper in their hands? (None) … How

Or, as Sarasota County Commission Chair Ron Cutsinger said: “I’m a fiscal conservative. It just seems to me if we can do it efficiently and if we can save dollars, I’m all for it.”

It didn’t and doesn’t matter what arguments are presented. Nothing will convince commissioners otherwise.

Even so, you be the judge. Imagine you were a county commissioner presented with this subject and imagine being in their shoes at the Sarasota County Commission hearing last week. How would you have voted?

Send your thoughts on the hearing and public notice advertising — MWalsh@YourObserver.com.

ARE THE SAVINGS FOR REAL?

One of the provisions of the legislation permitting local governments to publish their public notices on a county website is they must prove they can do so at less cost than newspapers. Asked for computations show- ing that to be the case, Sarasota County officials have not produced figures showing how they calculate cost.

Taxpayers apparently must take them at their word.

HOW COSTLY ARE NEWSPAPER NOTICES?

For most people, $300,000 is still a lot of money and tax dollars. Nonetheless, here is some perspective on how much it costs to publish public notices in newspapers and their websites: Manatee County Budget: $923,388,305

Public notice advertising: $300,000 (estimated) Percent of total: 0.03% have been providing taxpayer money to keep newspapers alive.

That’s what Commissioner Detert meant when she said last week “It’s all about the money” — revenue that newspapers are trying to protect.

For the hedge funds and big, New York-based companies that own newspaper chains, that is likely so. But for those of us Pollyannas who believe the Fourth Estate is essential to democracy, it’s not about the money. We believe news media have an obligation to protect taxpayers from tyranny and that when independent, private enterprise publishes public notices, it helps ensure government transparency and honesty.

Online Audiences

When newspaper representatives made their case before the Sarasota County Commission last Wednesday, commissioners fixated on what they repeatedly called the “dying breed” of print newspapers. They totally ignored newspapers’ online audiences and the effectiveness of newspaper companies’ total reach — in print, on their websites and on FloridaPublicNotices.com.

Consider the contrast:

When a public notice advertisement appears in a print newspaper, the newspaper, by law, must upload the public notice to its website (free to the public) and to FloridaPublicNotices.com (also free). FloridaPublicNotices.com in turn houses every public notice published in newspapers throughout the state. Altogether, the public has three

Sarasota County Budget: $1,257,065,021

Public notice advertising: $300,000 Percent of total: 0.02% opportunities to see the notice. Print reaches Florida’s elder demographics (21% of the population); and online notices are free for all.

Worth noting: County governments recover thousands of dollars of that amount via fees they charge development applicants seeking zoning changes.

In contrast, when a public notice is published on, say, MyManatee. org, or any government website for that matter, while that notice can be viewed for free, it will be seen only on that website.

Clearly, less visible. Less effective.

At this point, there is little likelihood of lawmakers turning back. When Manatee commissioners voted in favor of publishing notices on the county website, Chair Kevin van Ostenbridge sounded giddy about the savings for taxpayers — say, $100,000 to $200,000 a year (albeit not proven yet). It’s the money.

But Manatee and Sarasota commissioners also said they are willing to compromise or change if this new approach doesn’t work. Or to put it another way, if this new approach is not effective.

Of course, that makes sense. But in their haste and giddiness to pull out of newspapers and rush to expanding government, commissioners in Sarasota and Manatee missed an approach that makes sense: Put the job out to the private sector for bid. Give the private sector the opportunity to compete — to show whether it can deliver the most effective public notices at the best price and best service.

Isn’t that what real Republicans would do?

Matt Walsh can be reached at mwalsh@YourObserver.com

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Office and Accounting Coordinator / Donna Condon, DCondon @YourObserver.com amend the city’s codes to allow increased density in exchange for the construction of more affordable units. The second hearing will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. March 1 at City Hall.

This is the never-ending issue. And we all know the city’s downtown core has become out of reach for most working people. Everything going up has the word “luxury” in its promo materials — and prices. And that’s not going to change.

So what can be done to increase the supply of affordable housing surrounding the city’s central downtown?

Increased densities with a stipulation that a percentage of units must be affordably priced is one way. But that’s a slow-drip process.

Instead of that, perhaps this discussion might start with this question: What obstacles can the government remove that would make it less costly to build?

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