Letters to the Editor

+ The Hedgehog Strategy debate
Dear Editor:
“The Hedgehog Strategy” editorial advocates putting any notion of a Longboat Key town center on the back burner’s “low percolate” setting in favor of finishing Bayfront Park, completing new condos, sprucing up Gulf of Mexico Drive and waiting for the redeveloped Hilton to open.  This approach sounds very rational. 

However, I’m grateful John Ringling wasn’t similarly as judicious about his vision for St. Armands Circle. 
Shovels went into the ground of this innovative shopping area with greenspace in the middle surrounded by residential lots long before any infrastructure existed to support it.  

In fact, a bridge to St. Armands hadn’t even been built. One can presume there were more than a few naysayers who believed the circus magnate’s decades ahead of its time New Urbanist design would come to be regarded as Ringling’s folly.  

But Ringling’s understanding of social value and community asset captured Sarasota’s imagination and beyond. Visitors flocked from near and far to savor St.

Armands’ charms. Businesses, real estate agents and government tax coffers continue to be beneficiaries of Ringling’s foresight.

The legendary American architect, Daniel Burnham, famously asserted: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood ... Make big plans; aim high...” Though only a sketch, the Urban Land Institute’s town center rendering points to a potentially exciting new chapter in the Longboat Key story. 

Why place an extended hold on an idea generating so much  interest? Why still momentum for something many feel has already been too long in coming? Exploring the possibility of a town center more fully provides an opportunity to try to articulate Longboat’s Key’s civic character and identity with greater clarity. Why not seek to meet this animating challenge rather than simply letting it languish on the far reaches of Longboat’s stovetop? At this point, is money the real issue, or fear?      

Rabbi Jonathan Katz
Temple Beth Israel
Longboat Key