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Opinion

    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 27, 2017
$30 million adds up

No one absconded with $30 million from the city’s pension plans. It was a series of shoddy accounting work. But given the city’s pension burdens, every error can cut into city services.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 27, 2017
Nonpartisan charade

Change the commission elections to coincide with general elections and declare them partisan.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
A simulated roundabout at the southern entrance to the Longboat Key Club and Resort
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 26, 2017
What’s the plan?

A cool simulation video on Gulf of Mexico Drive triggers important questions. What are the town’s priorities?

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Some residents wants to preserve the 1930s-era Whitney cottage on the property of the Longboat Key Center for the Arts.Â
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 26, 2017
The cost of preserving LBK history

As with most things, it’s all about the money.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 20, 2017
Give this bill an ‘F’

Florida lawmakers can’t help themselves. They love to meddle (too much) in public education. The latest idea — ‘Schools of Hope’ — doesn’t offer much hope. It’s bureaucracy at its worst.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 20, 2017
MYTH OF SARASOTA: THAT IT IS A BOOM TOWN, HOT BED OF GROWTH

The numbers don't lie.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • David Conway
  • April 20, 2017
Letters to the Editor: Sarasota 4.20.17

STOP steering committee member Kate Lowman explains why the group wants more public hearings for new developments.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • April 17, 2017
Sarasota's review process is working

There is a sad naiveté to STOP!’s purpose.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
These are just three of the thinly veiled environmental messages on the city’s sea level-rising sign at Lido Key Beach.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 12, 2017
Streets, trash and safety

Sarasota City Manager Tom Barwin has good intentions, educating the public about climate change. But the city shouldn’t be telling you to drive instead of fly or to eat less red meat.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Randy Clair
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • April 12, 2017
Succession planning

It should be a goal in the community.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Bird Key Yacht Club Commodore Charlie Wilson and Mote President and CEO Michael Crosby
    By
  • Katie Johns
  • April 12, 2017
Bird Key revitalizes Sarasota Bay Cup with charitable partnership

The Mote Regatta will be held on April 21 and 22.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
    By
  • Kristine Nickel
  • April 11, 2017
Schedule some 'me' time

It took a a humiliating encounter in the doctor’s office to get motivated.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Gabriel Hament writes that STOP' s positions on growth don' t stand up to scrutiny.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • April 10, 2017
Gabriel Hament: City elections akin to a House of Cards

The hypocrisy of public input abounds.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
One proposal calls for reducing Fruitville to a two-lane road between Lemon and Cocoanut avenues, with roundabouts at those two intersections as well as at Central Avenue.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • April 6, 2017
Try a Fruitville overpass

Sarasota city officials are stuck on narrowing Fruitville Road, seemingly ignoring the road is a major east-west artery. Surely there are creative alternatives. How about a charrette?

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
We recommend Hagen Brody and Martin Hyde for Sarasota City Council.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • April 6, 2017
A case for Brody and Hyde

It’s all about their vision. One candidate’s is a negative: STOP!, exactly what it says. The other two look forward.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
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