Two commission races set for March

L’Ambiance resident Irwin Pastor qualified Nov. 15 for the at-large seat that Terry Gans is vacating and will run against Armando Linde for that seat.

Gans is no longer running for his at-large seat against  Linde. Instead, Gans qualified for the District 3 seat being vacated by Vice Mayor David Brenner. Gans will now run against District 3 challenger Ray Rajewski.

Gans said “no one and no thing” influenced his decision to run for the District 3 seat, “other than Ray.”
On Nov. 13, Gans said he was preparing to be a candidate for re-election for his at-large seat when he read the online e-edition of the Nov. 14 Longboat Observer.

In a Nov. 14 story titled “ULI study: worth $133,816.35?” Rajewski said there were two ways to answer the above question.

“It was worth it, because we now understand we have almost a perfect island,” Rajewski said. “The recommendations they came up with for the most part are so farfetched I don’t know how you implement anything. We already have a town center. It’s called St. Armands Circle. That’s where you go to walk around, see residents and get a cup of coffee. The other way to answer is, it’s a waste of money. If that’s all they can come up with, it tells me we have a pretty nice place with not a lot to improve upon.”

When Gans read those comments, he said he knew he wanted to run against Rajewski instead of Linde.

“In that edition, the comments attributed to Rajewski about the ULI study and Longboat Key served as a wake-up call to me, as his reported views are basically a negation of the work the commission has been doing for the past four years, and what I see as the spirit and desire of our community,” Gans said. “I live in District 3, Mr. Rajewski had been an unopposed candidate for District 3, and I strongly believe these positions can not go unchallenged.”

Rajewski said Gans sent him a note earlier this week letting him know of his decision.

“I’m committed to run and that’s what I’m going to do,” Rajewski said. “I’ll run my campaign and Gans will run his and we will let the voters decide where the chips will fall.”

District 1 Commissioner Lynn Larson is unopposed for her seat this year.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].