Candidates get groomed for race

Ray Rajewski compares Longboat Key to The Fonz in an iconic “Happy Days” scene. Comb in hand, he takes a look in the men’s room mirror — then walks away, hair untouched. Fonz is the coolest of the cool.

“You can’t improve on near perfection,” says Rajewski, who is running for the District 3 Longboat Key Town Commission seat. “Longboat Key, by my estimation, is almost as perfect as you can be.”

But Vice Mayor David Brenner, who is seeking re-election to the District 3 seat, disagrees with the assessment.

“Longboat Key is a great place,” Brenner said. “But it is not perfection, unfortunately, and is not as close to perfect as it would have been 10 years ago.”

The District 3 seat is the only contested race in this year’s general municipal election scheduled for March 20, and both candidates are gearing up to share their visions of what Longboat Key should be.

Rajewski has gotten an early start on campaigning, raising a total of $3,976 in December and January, according to campaign reports, compared to Brenner’s $1,815 for the same period.

In his platform, Rajewski describes himself as “the residents’ representative” and writes that he supports “re-development that is compatible with our community character and laws, not over-development” (“re-” and “over-” are underlined for emphasis). Rajewski said that he considers the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s proposed $400 million project an example of “overdevelopment.” He also lists as goals: fiscal responsibility with better alternatives for pension administration and beach management, alternatives to tall cellular towers and “to protect and preserve the unique character of Longboat Key as a premier second home, vacation and residential community.”

Brenner hasn’t finalized his campaign platform but said that it will lay down a framework for the future of the island, one that includes a mix of residential, commercial and tourism development. He said that visitors are key to maintaining services on the island. He also stressed the importance of commercial development but said it’s also vital to encourage owners of those properties to refurbish them.

“I would say if there’s one word that we’d like to see Longboat Key look like, it’s ‘balanced,’” he said.
The voter registration deadline for the election is Feb. 21.

Campaign Treasurer’s Report Summary
The following individuals contributed to District 3 candidate campaigns between Jan. 1 and Jan. 27, according to campaign reports:

David Brenner
Mar Vista Pub Inc. $500
Terry Gans $250
John Blume $200
Jeremy Whatmough $200
Ed Brickman $100
Louis Levy $100
Cheryl Loeffler $100
Christopher Lombardi $100
Frank Quiriconi $100
David Teitelman $100
Gerald Broski $50
Herbert Moss $15

Ray Rajewski
Tom Cornell $250
Sy Kagan $250
Tom Baron $200
Don Bernstein $200
Robert Blumberg $200
Larry Merriman $200
Norman Muse $200
Victoria Rajewski $200
Martin Rich $200
Robert White $200
Jean Zahovec $200
Terrie DuCray $161.23
Patrice Greene $161.23
Michael Ryan $150
Randy Smith $101
Gene Jaleski $100
Blair McCracken $100
Peter O’Connor $100
Victoria Rajewski $100
Brad Saivetz $100
Ray Stewart $100
Stu Tauber $100
Peter Wolf $100
Robert Krosney $50
John Dixon $25