Our View: Publix plan fuels optimism

It was good timing for Publix Super Markets Inc. to unveil its redevelopment plans for the Avenue of the Flowers shopping plaza in the middle of the summer. That will allow plenty of time for Longboaters — especially the “carpers” and “cranks” — to digest it.

The carpers, of course, already have begun their assessments. We’ve heard some:

It could be so much more … It lacks vision … What is Publix going to do to accommodate its loyal customers while its store is shuttered through the summer and fall of 2012? There will be more.

But flip the coin, and keep in mind: Publix doesn’t have to do anything. It could let its existing store and Avenue of the Flowers sit the way they are. It doesn’t have to reinvest millions of its owners’ dollars to redevelop or renovate anything.

If Longboaters want to complain and carp about the designs or block the redevelopment until it suits someone else’s vision, Publix has many choices. One of them is to throw the town the key and walk away.

It’s worth remembering what private property ownership means. As the owner of Avenue of the Flowers, Publix Super Markets has the prerogative to determine how best to use its property for its own self interest.

In that same vein, though, Publix’s self interest is Longboaters’ self interest — to create a center where the buyers find the exchange between them and the seller fair and profitable to both and to create a center that builds value and wealth for its owners and goodwill among its neighbors and customers. Publix gets that. It would not be Florida’s largest supermarket company if it didn’t.

So far as we’ve seen, the Publix proposal looks to be a sensible and Longboat-compatible improvement over what exists. In the spirit of revitalizing Longboat Key, residents, property owners, business owners and taxpayers should feel a sense of optimism and excitement about the future.

+ A disturbing revelation
In a recent conversation about the state of the local economy with Sarasota architect Gary Hoyt, he described current conditions “as 1935.” Said Hoyt: “We have another five years to go.”

And then what — another world war to bring economic growth? he was asked.

To which Hoyt responded: “Think about how much regulation would have to fall by the wayside to deal with another world war.

“Think about how this country responded from, say, 1940 to 1945,” he said. The entire United States marshaled unmatched manufacturing productivity and speed to produce the weaponry and attendant goods to engage in war fought over the entire globe.

The United States officially entered the war in December 1941 and by Aug. 14, 1945, it was over. In three and a half to four years, without the technology and communications that exist today, the U.S. decisively won a worldwide war.

Now here’s the kicker: The Longboat Key Club and Resort has been working for four and a half years to obtain approvals — just the approvals! — for its $400 million expansion project.

What a vivid illustration of how regulation is killing American exceptionalism.

+ 545 irresponsible ‘leaders’
Our hope is the Republican-led U.S. House will not cave and compromise on raising the debt ceiling or on raising taxes (As Margaret Thatcher once said: “There is not an ounce of backbone in compromise.”) That hope, however, is faint. Here’s why:

Retired Orlando Sentinel columnist Charley Reese explained it well in 1985, the first time he wrote: “Looking for someone to blame? Congress is a good place to start” — now a column abbreviated to the title “545 people.” Here’s an excerpt:

“Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

“Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? …

“100 senators, 435 congressmen, 1 president and 9 Supreme Court justices equate to 545 human beings out of the 300 MILLION are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country …

“Congress is the originator of all government problems and is also the only remedy available. That’s why, of course, politicians go to such extraordinary lengths and employ world-class sophistry to make you think they are not responsible …

“Partisans on both sides like to blame presidents for deficits, but all deficits are congressional deficits. The president may, by custom, recommend a budget, but it carries no legal weight. Only Congress is authorized by the Constitution to authorize and appropriate and to levy taxes. That’s what the federal budget consists of: expenditures authorized, funds appropriated and taxes levied.

“Both Democrats and Republicans mislead the public. For 40 years Democrats had majorities and could have at any time balanced the budget if they had chosen to do so. Republicans now have [a majority in the House] and could, if they choose, pass a balanced budget this year …

“We have annual deficits and a huge federal debt because that’s what majorities in Congress and presidents in the White House wanted. We have troops in various Third World rat holes because Congress and the president want them there.

“Don’t be conned. Don’t let them escape responsibility. We simply have to sort through 260 million people until we find 545 who will act responsibly.”