Election Q&A: Ray Rajewski

Ray Rajewski calls himself “the residents’ representative.”

He doesn’t mean he’s anti-business. He points to Harry’s Continental Kitchens and Lazy Lobster Longboat Key as examples of businesses that have managed to be successful by providing value.

He doesn’t mean he’s anti-redevelopment. He thinks the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort should have redeveloped years ago. He points to the Longboat Key Club and Resort as an example of a property that has redeveloped to the point that it’s a Four Diamond resort.

Rajewski, 68, thinks he’s typical of many residents who want the island to retain the character it had when they bought their properties.

“I think we all moved to Longboat Key because we could,” he said. “I’ve lived all over the country, in places where I’ve had to live because of a job … People moved here for what it could be. They want it to stay that way.”

For two decades, Longboat Key was Rajewski’s favorite escape from his hectic career as a TV executive. A U.S. Army veteran, he earned a business degree from Burdett College, in Boston, where he got his start at a local TV station. He worked in executive positions in San Francisco, Buffalo, N.Y., and Cincinnati, before taking a job with Paramount as chief operating officer of its TV stations. The company later merged with CBS, and he became executive vice president and chief operating officer of CBS and Paramount TV stations based in Los Angeles.

But in the midst of his career, in 1983, his friend bought a Harbourside condominium sight unseen. Rajewski visited for a guys’ week and loved it so much that he returned year after year. Finally in 2004, after he took early retirement, he found himself wondering what he was still doing in Los Angeles when he wanted to be on Longboat Key. So, he packed up his dog, Birdie, bought his home in the Bayou, and moved there full time.

Rajewski has been critical of what he sees as changes to the town code to accommodate the Key Club’s proposed Islandside redevelopment. His platform also includes fiscal responsibility, including control of pension-plan and beach-management costs through considering alternatives and preserving Longboat Key as an “upscale second-home, vacation and residential community.”

Rajewski has served as president of the Bayou Association and is a member of the Citizens’ Oversight Tax Committee. But the commission race is his first real foray into politics. He waited until the last week to turn in his candidate papers to the Supervisor of Elections Office because he wanted to see if anyone else would step up — and when no one did, his choice was made.

“I wouldn’t be running if everything was going the way I thought it should be,” he said.

If elected, what will be your top three priorities?
Beach renourishment and how we finance that. Pension plans. The third thing would be Whitney Beach Plaza and what we do about that.

What role should the Town Commission play in cellular service on Longboat Key?
Cell service has become a necessity to a lot of people. I think the town has done something correct by having its communications engineer in place. If you put a tower there … when new technologies come forward, that tower is going to stay there. There’s got to be technology coming forward, either with Verizon’s fiber-optic cables or receptor antennae placed on phones.

What’s your position on placing a 150-foot cell tower on the Longboat Island Chapel property? If the town consultants recommended it, would you vote for it?
I don’t think so. You’ve seen towers around town and they’re ugly. I think it would negatively affect property values of the people who live around there, and that’s wrong.

Would you vote for or against extending a continuance of the town’s tourism abandonment requirement at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort if you don’t see progress by the Dec. 31 deadline?
I would (vote for a continuance), but I would put a deadline on it.

What should the town do to fix erosion at the north end?
The groins that they’ve put in at the Islander Club seem to work just fine, although to the south of the Islander, there is more erosion on the beach than is normal.

What is your view of the town’s historical practices of conducting major beach renourishment projects every seven to eight years and its current practice of addressing hot spots?
I think you have to do it, although I’d like to hear more of what people have to say about it, especially people who live on the Gulf side.

What is your position on mixed-use development for the Whitney Beach area?
I think mixed-use would be fine. You could have something like the Rosemary District with restaurants on the first floor as long as it wouldn’t go very high. I wouldn’t have a problem if it’s something that could be done tastefully for the people of the Village.

What steps should the town take to address its $26 million to $27 million unfunded pension liability? What would you recommend to eliminate that?
It’s only an unfunded liability when you have to start paying it out. But, before you handle that, you have to handle it going forward by preserving the obligations you made to people and with new hires and new contracts, going forward with defined contributory plans, like 401ks.

The town will soon begin a review of its zoning code and Comprehensive Plan. Do you support this? If so, what are some specific changes that need to be made?
No. In 2007, the Town Commission and town attorney made revisions to the Comp Plan. It seems to me that we can’t keep revising the Comp Plan every three, five, six years. It’s served us well for the past 20 years or so, so why are we addressing it now?

What is your position on a new community center?
We’ve got pension liabilities, beach renourishment and property values that aren’t going anywhere. Most condominiums have community centers. We would be spending $7 million and we don’t know what the costs of maintenance would be.

What letter grade would you give to the new town manager based on his first three-and-a-half months in the position?
For me to give someone like that a grade isn’t fair. There really haven’t been any results. There have been a lot of ideas. I’m not crazy about him coming in and telling us to do the Comp Plan, but I like what he’s doing with cell service. Certainly not a C and certainly not an A.

Where do you stand on whether to continue searching for a permanent town manager or offering the position to the interim town manager?
I thought the idea was that we would do a search. We may have the best person there is, but we should be hiring a search firm.

Property values will likely drop one more time, requiring more permanent budget cuts. How, specifically, would you expect the town manager to address the situation?
Longboat Key people can afford more than in many areas and expect a certain level of service. We need to come to an agreement of how much money is needed. The millage rate is the only flexible part of the equation. If property values go down and the millage rate goes up proportionally, the amount of taxes stays the same. But (Longboat Key) is only 12% of the equation. We should be in their banging on the supervisor’s door in Sarasota County about that other 88%.

Given the likelihood of budget cuts, where do you stand on pay raises for town employees?
I find it hard not to give the employees the COLA. Money’s not always the greatest motivator but it’s the greatest de-motivator.

Would you sign a pledge to oppose and vote against any tax increases?
I would sign it. Absolutely.

Why do you want to be a commissioner, and why are you better for the Town Commission than your opponent?
If I thought everything was hunky-dory, I wouldn’t be running. I think Mr. Brenner is more inclined to the more commercial, tourist development than I am. I think I put more emphasis on the residents. Commercial enterprises on Longboat Key are there to support the residents. If everything were going the way I thought it should, I wouldn’t be running.

Bio
Ray Rajewski
Age: 68
Hometown: Boston
Residence: The Bayou
Education: Degree in business from Burdett College in Boston
Career: Former executive vice president and chief operating officer of Paramount and CBS television stations based in Los Angeles
Interesting fact: Rajewski’s first visit to Longboat Key was on a guys’ long weekend in 1983. Since then they’ve made it an annual tradition and recently held their 28th long weekend.