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Opinion

Phill Younger
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • April 6, 2017
Taxpayers' watchdog

Younger is off the Town Commission, but he's still involved.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is called a “centrist,” which by D.C. media standards means he doesn’t just vote party line; on occasion he will vote for what is best for the country.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • April 6, 2017
Nelson’s Gorsuch vote reveals who comes first: Himself

He said he will vote in favor of a filibuster to stop Gorsuch’s nomination.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
More than 100 Palm Coast residents opposed to HB 425 filled the Hammock Community Center on a Saturday night for a Town Hall meeting.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • March 30, 2017
THE STATE VS. HOME RULE

The question of who has authority to regulate short-term vacation rentals is intensifying all over Florida. Our own senator is championing property rights. But one size does not fit all.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 30, 2017
Letters to the editor

Some thanks, a missing element, and 'taking'

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
The vacant lot at center is the site Mote wants to sell. Voters nixed a development plan.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 23, 2017
At what point is it taking?

Development rejection by Longboat voters is just another part of an ominous trend.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
The vacant property at the center is the property owned by the Mote Scientific Foundation, a not-for-profit that would have benefited from the sale of the site to Brista Homes.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 23, 2017
At what point is it a taking?

Longboat’s density restrictions have created what looks like an unreasonable burden.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 23, 2017
How the Bert Harris Act works

Ronald Weaver updated the Bert Harris Act in 2007.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 23, 2017
Letters to the editor

Readers sound off on Sarasota issues

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Kelly Carson
  • March 23, 2017
Letters to the editor

Tolls, election, growth and the arts

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Kristine Nickel
  • March 16, 2017
Now let us praise ... fiction

In these times of instant messaging, texting, screen time overload, isn’t it worth the attempt to carve out some fiction time?

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 16, 2017
Letters to the editor

Rebuttal, bicycles and voting fun

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Richard Corcoran
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 16, 2017
A different kind of speaker?

Excerpted from Florida Speaker Richard Corcoran’s speech before the House on the opening day of the Legislature.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Chuck Whittall faces some hurdles now that Longboat Key voters said no to his Colony redevelopment plans.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 16, 2017
Whittall's Longboat lesson

It’s the paradox of Longboat Key: While residents mostly embrace liberty, capitalism, low taxes and less government, the collective controls your property. You don’t really own it.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Longboaters know what it takes to prosper. You grow, or you die. You adapt and change, or you die.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • March 9, 2017
Context matters in election

The Colony density vote has fueled anti-growth sentiments on Longboat, spilling over into the Town Commission race. Beware of fake news and vague news crafted to mislead.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
The biggest concern most city governments have about permitting dispensaries is crime. But even so, there is a lot of evidence that dispensaries are not magnets for crime.
    By
  • Adrian Moore
  • March 9, 2017
City rules for medical marijuana dispensaries

Legal dispensaries move millions of dollars of local, black-market marijuana sales to people with severe medical conditions into legal, taxpaying, job-creating businesses.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
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