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Longboat Key | Opinion

Developer Manfred Welfonder
    By
  • Columnist .
  • February 27, 2018
Developer offers his own take on Colony plan

Welfonder expresses reservations on Unicorp’s proposal.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Randy Langley
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • February 21, 2018
The Langley dilemma

Town Commission candidate Randy Langley knew his criminal past would be resurrected. But it’s 30 years old. How relevant is it?

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Kat Wingert
  • February 21, 2018
How do we keep our kids safe?

Treating our schools like minimum security prisons is not the answer.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
The Zota Beach Resort on Longboat Key
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • February 14, 2018
Whose 165 units are they?

Take a hard look at the numbers.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Alison Foxall, 29, Libertarian
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • February 8, 2018
Break the political cycle

The usual tactics of the major political parties have turned the District 72 candidates into caricatures and turned off voters. Here’s an opportunity for a new voice.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort has been closed for almost a decade.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 31, 2018
The greater legacy

The Colony represents the future of Longboat Key. We urge the Silent Majority not to squander this opportunity.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Dave Bullock and Juan Florensa
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 31, 2018
They set the standard

Bullock and Florensa raised the bar of public service.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
The Colony has been closed since August 2010.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • January 24, 2018
Colony conversation continues

Too big, too dense, just what the town needs. The opinions on the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort redevelopment are as varied as the neighborhoods on Longboat Key. This week, we publish letters in response to last week’s editorial, ‘Make Longboat Special.'

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 17, 2018
Make Longboat special

They’re back, and doing it again. Longboat Key’s ardent anti-development, anti-traffic forces are stoking their constituents to kill Unicorp National Development’s latest redevelopment proposal for the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort property.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Clockwise from top left: Gil Waters in victory after the opening of the new Ringling Bridge, August 2003. Waters and city engineer Alex Davis-Shaw. Waters and his wife, Elisabeth. “The Old Coots Lunch Bunch.”
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 10, 2018
Tribute to a visionary

For nearly 60 years, Gil Waters was a force in Sarasota. Thanks to his passion, vision and determination, we have the ‘Gil Waters Bridge,’ the Van Wezel and FCCI Insurance.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 3, 2018
THE WORD: 20-GREAT-TEEN!

Despite the World of Trump, Washington and the national media, we can continue to turn the tide with our own decorum and the push for economic freedom and prosperity.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 27, 2017
We’re Main Street; not ‘mainstream’

The national news media have smeared all of journalism, while the media tech giants admit they ‘are destroying how society works.’ Whom can you trust? Some of us still place a high value on credibility, reliability and trustworthiness.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 20, 2017
At the time of Christ’s birth

It's a story that crosses religions and faiths.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Eric Garwood rang the bell at Longboat Key's Publix for the first time this season.
    By
  • Eric Garwood
  • December 16, 2017
Ringing in the holiday spirit

A stint for the Kiwanis Club at the Salvation Army kettle puts a jingle in the season.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 13, 2017
Find a way to say yes

This time, the next step in the Colony saga is for real. As Longboat’s P&Z board weighs Unicorp’s plans, it also should consider the alternative: more of the same.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
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Latest in Longboat Key

1
Sarasota nonprofit Casting For The Kids helps children with cancer and their families breathe a little easier.
  • February 6, 2026
Annual fishing tournament casts for a cause
2
Work by Janet Echelman in “Radical Softness” at Sarasota Art Museum through April 26.
  • February 6, 2026
New creations, global voices, celebrations light up our cultural horizon
3
Chefs Justin Kurtz and Ismael Flores showcase some of Mar Vista’s signature dishes.
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Innovative chef at Mar Vista honors tradition — and keeps reinventing it
4
Longboat Key Police Department Customer Service Specialist Ivan Zunz shakes hands with Police Chief Russ Mager at a Town Commission meeting Monday, Feb. 2. Zunz was recognized for 10 years with LKPD at the meeting.
  • February 5, 2026
Ivan Zunz recognized for a decade with LKPD
5
District 2 Commissioner Penny Gold walks in a parade in 2021.
  • February 5, 2026
Longboat commissioner appointed to National League of Cities committee

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