A Need for Pluralism in Government

The 2000 census had 65% of our population over 65 and a median age of 67. The median age of homes in Longboat Key was 22 years, with 4% of them rented. 60% or more of the homes on Longboat are not occupied most of the year. An unknown percentage of our homes are homesteaded by residents who summer off-island, which adds to our seasonal fluctuation in population. 75% of our residents are retired.

The 2010 census may show that we and our homes are 10 years older now. The median age may be considerably older. The average home age will most likely exceed 30 years. We already know that Longboat lost more than 2,400 residents between 2005 and 2010. It will be interesting to see if the percentage of non-resident ownership has increased. This will be a good indicator of the direction our community is headed in the next few years. We may want to find some way of reversing these trends.

I grew up in Larchmont NY. I recently returned to my childhood community and found a vibrant prospering community where the average house is perhaps 60 to 80 years old. The homes are well maintained and worth a fortune relative to their size and age. I mention Larchmont to counter certain politicians who tell us our community is aging and we need hotels and more stores to being us back to life. By comparison Larchmont is a fossil compared to the age of our homes.

I believe that certain business interests along with a clique of pro-developer, pro-business expansion minded residents have formed an informal political entity on this island that discourages anyone, who is not of their ilk, from running for public office or town boards.

I have talked to dozens of residents over the past three years, urging them to run for commission. Alas, not a single resident wanted to confront the political colossus that has emerged within our community. Several residents have said that they did not want to put out the effort only to end up as an ineffectual member of the commission or a board, who is ignored or treated rudely by those who are currently in power. The result is that the voice of those residents who do not want to see our residential community commercialized has, for the present, been effectively silenced.

If the current pro-developer, pro-business majority on the commission and the planning and zoning board want to thwart a robust and healthy political process on this island, one need only look at this year's non-election to see that is exactly what is occurring.

My questions to you are threefold. One, do you believe that having elections where no one runs are beneficial to our community? Two, do you believe that having a "politically correct" commission and planning board promotes new innovations? Three, do you feel that increasing commercial development will have a beneficial impact on the value of your home?

We are currently creating a political vacuum on this island as a result of the ascendancy to power of a cohesive pro-commercialization political group. This group of people have effectively choked-off any political opposition to the degree that no one is willing to challenge incumbents. Favored candidates can count on the support of several community organizations and groups.

Positions on the commission and the various community boards look like a game of musical chairs. Commissioners reach term-limits and return to positions on boards they had previously occupied. We have ex-commissioners returning to office a second time. It is difficult to find a new face in the crowd.

For perhaps the last five years an island clique has been forming a miniature Rolodex of political players who all think along similar lines. Our community has reached a point where no one, who is not in the group, wants to occupy positions on the commission or the various boards.

Anyone who is considering running for office is confronted by a unified group that now controls our community's politics. If you do not agree with the group then you will be confronted by a daunting opposition that has proven to be quite effective if one looks at recent elections and board appointments.

Is having in effect a single political party good for Longboat? If people with intelligent new ideas are discouraged from participating in local government, then how will beneficial change come about? Are we better off having a small group of like-minded people control who is allowed to serve in local government? Does it trouble you that no one offers to run for office, election after election? Last year was different. The Key Club played a major role in our election process. The results demonstrated that commercial interests have finally managed to gain control of town government.

The next mayor of Longboat Key should be, by tradition, Bob Seikman. However, Comm. Seikman does not appear to be part of "the group" and more than one columnist has written about who the next mayor may be. If commissioner Seikman is denied being mayor then all I have written in this piece will be in a sense prophetic.

I feel I need to repeat that I believe the town government needs to focus on the issues that confront our residents such as public amenities and activities, better utilization of public spaces, improving our community image and better community marketing instead of the interests of a few business owners. Certainly businesses on our island need as much help as we can give them. If the commission wanted to immediately help our local business owners, they would not force them to pay taxes for beach dredging as if they were located in the "A" beach tax district, when all but a few are located east of GMD in the "B" tax district. If I owned a business on Longboat I would feel singled out.

Where is our commission when it comes to our taxpaying residents? I see most of the commission's efforts directed towards the Key Club and expanding commercial interests on Longboat, while the rest of our community is left to languish in economic despair.

Too Far Horizons

This past week three individuals either emailed or called me after reading my column in the LBK News advocating immediate rejuvenation of our user-friendly community quotient. In the column I said that the village was a wonderful place to live with lots of social activities and welcoming neighbors.

Dennis from Ohio is 71 and stays at the Far Horizons a month every winter. He is now ready to retire and is looking for a place to live. After reading my column Dennis called me to ask about houses for sale in the village at the north end of Longboat. During our conversation he expressed agreement with my statements that when he visits Longboat he feels isolated and lonely as there are no apparent ways to meet people outside the small group of fellow tourists staying at the resort. Dennis wishes there were things to do on Longboat that would enable him to enjoy the company of others. At the end of our conversation Dennis said that he is now actively looking for a home in the village expressly because of the sense of community that exists within the village.

Bill and Anne emailed from Rye New York. They also read my blog which turned up on a Google search about retirement communities in Florida. Bill and Anne subsequently called after I returned their email. Bill and Anne found exactly what they were looking for in my description of the rich social interaction that thrives in the village. They inquired about specific social activities in the community and about being dog-friendly. I told them about dog-thirty which occurs at 5:30 each afternoon where all the dogs bring their humans to play and socialize. Since then I have received two more phones calls asking about specific houses in the village that are for sale. I have referred them to a real estate agent familiar with the village.

All three of these people are ready to move here now and they want to live where there are things to do with others. This is far different than the model being advanced in the new vision plan where tourism is touted as the essential element in the financial wellbeing of Longboat Key. Where in fact the very model being advanced in the new vision plan would drive away the three people I have been talking about. They do not want to live in a motel. They want to find a welcoming community where people do things together. Tourist do not do things with residents.

Dennis and Bill and Anne are ready to buy homes today and become residents of Longboat Key today. The plan being put forth in the vision plan targets affluent tourists in their 40s and 50s as future home buyers. Unless they can find high paying jobs in the area, it will be decades before they get here. Dennis, Anne and Bill are here today with their checkbooks in hand.

I agree that we need to be looking ahead and cultivating future residents in all our marketing. But the vision plan is a Too Far Horizon for today and our community’s immediate and short-range plans and needs. When real estate agents market our island to perspective home buyers today, they should be able to brag about all the wonderful things to do on Longboat, and all the friendly neighbors they will get to know.

The vision plan looks too far into the future to be of any real use in today’s economics and community aspirations. Ask yourself how many years you think it will be before some brave developer builds a motel or hotel on Longboat Key. Ask yourself if you would relocate into a community with markedly more tourism and tourism related businesses. Ask yourself if you would like to see significantly more people on the beach, on the road and in our restaurants. Ask yourself if you would prefer to see people moving to Longboat in the very near future, or wait until the tourist based vision plan finds investors willing to build new motels or open new stores to the extent that Longboat is a tourist attraction, and then wait another twenty years for the tourist's kids to leave home.

I believe the proposed vision plan relies too heavily on horizons too far distant into an unpredictable financial future. I feel we need to find ways to attract residents to our community right now. To me the best way to do that is to show Dennis, Anne and Bill that Longboat is a friendly community with many community oriented activities that promote friendship and meeting new people. Dennis, Anne and Bill already think that Eldorado is to be found in the village at the north end of Longboat Key. We welcome them.