CONA presses candidates for Sarasota 2050 stances

The Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Association candidate forum for County Commission Districts 2 and 4 focused heavily on rooting out the candidates’ opinions on Sarasota 2050.

Alexandra Coe, Steve McAllister and Pete Theisen, running for District 2, and John Minder and Ray Porter, running for District 4, appeared at the forum Monday night. Primary winners Paul Caragiulo, Republican candidate for District 2, and Al Maio, Republican candidate for District 4, did not attend.

From asking how the candidates felt about changing the comprehensive plan before the year 2050 to questioning the candidates on how much they thought developers should be paying in impact fees, the proposed changes to 2050 were at the forefront of CONA members’ minds.

“Most of us live in unincorporated Sarasota County,” said Ann Kaplan, secretary of the CONA board and its former president. “It (2050) affects all of us.”

Four of the candidates opposed the changes to 2050. But their opinions varied on their perspectives — Coe, with her focus on anthropology and agriculture; McAllister, who places an importance on alternative living and community mindedness; Theisen with his call for taking money out of politics; and Porter, who cites his journalism background in his push for common sense.

Almost all the candidates expressed their distain for the diverging diamond traffic controller at University Parkway and I-75; support for the county to continue to keep conservation and preservation land; and a preference for redevelopment instead of new development.

Their answers were what CONA members were looking for — responses were often followed by applause from the audience and the occasional laugh at Theisen’s tongue-in-cheek humor.

The only real differing opinion came from Minder, who repeated his platform mantra that Sarasota 2050 had caused an economic disaster for the county and it should be scrapped completely.

Neighborhood Focus
Moderator Bill Zoller read a quote from Timothy Jackson, a smart growth proponent, who said: “Neighborhoods are sacred.” Zoller asked the candidates to express what that statement meant to them.

Coe: “Neighborhoods embody the quality of life of the area. You have property rights, but you also have rights of place, and that needs to be protected.”

McAllister: “We have a society afraid of one another, and so the neighborhood is not always sacred. But any neighborhood can be if you get neighbors together to realize their value.”

Minder: “I agree. I grew up in a village in Illinois. I had a happy and great childhood. The village concept in 2050 was supposed to be a compromise.”

Porter: “Everyone has a different idea of what a good neighborhood is. The eastern villages plan seems like it would create great neighborhoods. However, developers are telling farming people to sell their land; we need to follow CONA’s advice on this issue.”

Theisen: “It depends on if the neighbors hold themselves as sacred. If they have no self respect — if they are always drunk, on drugs or stealing — it depends more on the neighbors than the neighborhood.”