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.

The Wizard of PIC

Everyone who has been on Longboat Key for any length of time knows about the Public Interest Committee of Longboat Key or PIC. I moved to this island in 1985, the first full year of PIC's existence. The late 80's were contentious times on Longboat and PIC became the voice of the island residents in the struggle between ARVIDA and everyone else. PIC quickly acquired quite a few members. Because of this public support, PIC was able to become a formidable force in island politics.

After the developer wars had ended and Longboat created its current Comprehensive Plan that reduced density on Longboat from the original 75 thousand to 25 thousand, PIC still was an active and strong voice in island government. PIC was created as a voice for the residents. If you were a real estate sales person you were ineligible for PIC membership.

The late 80's and 90's became the golden age on Longboat. Residential real estate values increased pleasingly. Longboat Key became one of "the" new places to have a second home or retirement home. Little by little PIC became less and less relevant. There was an almost perfect balance between tightly regulated development and residential paradise. The American economy was booming and new wealth fueled a booming real estate market on Longboat that continued unabated until the end of 2007, when the meanies on Wall Street ruined everything for everyone.

2008 saw the resurrection of PIC as a voice in Longboat politics. Prior to 2008, PIC's main function was to anoint a PIC member to fill any vacancies on the town commission. I recall they took a position on the wrong side of the ill-fated reclaimed water project. I believe PIC also took the wrong stance on the airport noise struggle.

Anyway, in the hard times that started in 2008, a few residents, along with the Chamber of Commerce and the Key Club were able to reconstitute PIC, not as a resident advocacy group, but rather as a pro- development organization.

At this time PIC has 116 members that include the manager of the Key Club, one of the attorneys for the Key Club, the Chamber of Commerce LLC, a member of the board of the Chamber, one active and one retired real estate sales agent, one commissioner and one member of the Planning and Zoning board. 13 PIC members list off-island addresses. Of the 14 members contributing more than the basic $40 membership amount are the Key Club, the Key Club lawyer and a board member of the Chamber of Commerce.

The PIC board has 10 members. Talking to a long time PIC member, the PIC board does not poll members about political positions supported by the PIC organization. It appears that PIC, as a political activist organization, is controlled by as few as 6 members. To me this is less than a representative body to be advertising itself as an independent group that "communicates an independent citizen-oriented point of view." As  far as I know PIC has never advocated community surveys including the one recommended by the original Vision Plan director. I do not believe that the 90 members of PIC, who are not part of the board, or who do not have special interests, have much input into what PIC supports.

PIC has traditionally backed certain candidates in town elections and has traditionally backed PIC members over non-members most, if not all, of the time. This past election was no different except that the Key Club expansion application was at that time before the commission. At least one candidate, who appeared before the PIC nominating committee, was surprised to find the Key Club manager and at least one commissioner part of the interviewing group. The candidate also met a Key Club attorney leaving the Longboat Chapel sanctuary as he was entering for his interview. I leave it up to your judgment to decide if PIC is really representative of the residential community as they profess. And if so why was the Key Club present during the candidate interview?

I recently became a condominium representative to the Longboat Condominium Federation which represents perhaps 50% of the taxpayers on this island. If there is a truly representative organization, the Condo Fed would be the winner hands down. Yet the Condo Fed is a-political and I do not believe takes positions on any civic or political issues. Yet we have an organization of fewer than 100 members, if we subtract those members with special interests such as the Key Club and the Chamber of Commerce, that asks for special recognition by the town and wraps itself in the mantle of a populist citizen's organization.

There are those who will say I have a less than positive assessment of PIC because they did not anoint me as their pick when I ran for commissioner against Bob Seikman. I would not have won against a strong incumbent commissioner even with PIC's endorsement. Likewise, I defeated PIC's incumbent candidate the following election by a strong margin. There may be residents who rely on PIC to tell them who to vote for, as there are some who ask for marked-up ballots in national elections. I feel that any citizen who votes from a place of ignorance is lazy and doing a disservice to the community they live in.

In and around 2002 there were no fewer than 5 PIC board members on the town Planning and Zoning board. As PIC board members, a majority vote on the Planning Board met privately on a regular basis. To me this is too close for comfort. I prefer to see an unentangled town government. Unfortunately PIC has had a close relationship with our commission and major boards for too long. Remember PIC has a small membership and an even smaller controlling board. If Longboat Key was booming like the Villages and other Florida communities with robust real estate markets, one might not pay too much attention to the presence PIC has in our own government.

I believe that PIC supports some really worthwhile causes. While on the commission, I strongly supported the efforts of Landau and Younger to fix the broken town budget process. Hopefully my efforts furthered those efforts. I also feel that at times PIC represents the interests of a few, and that  detracts from their stature in our community. I also believe that PIC can serve as a cover for a small clique of residents with their private agenda. Wouldn't it be better to see a truly representative organization such as the Condo Fed weigh-in on community issues, after polling their members and reaching a broad based consensus.

Street legal on Longboat Key

I have mixed feelings about leaving the public sector and returning to a normal life where I no longer feel the responsibility of taking care to do no harm to the community I have loved for over twenty-six years.

I learned a great deal. I have gained a better understanding of the immense effort required to be a town commissioner.


I am sure I made the correct decision for me. From the dozens of phone calls I have received I am not sure that they agree.


I found that being a commissioner came with many constraints. I came to understand that unlike the business sector that I was unable to advance my goals without having to first educate and then convince many people that something might be beneficial for the community.


I discovered that large scale objectives were almost beyond doing. And that was a major consideration as I gradually came to the conclusion that I simply was not happy being a commissioner.


The other part or the calculus in my decision to resign from the commission was the toxic political atmosphere that has become a controlling factor in town government.


Now that I not constrained by being in government, I am free to say that I believe the current polarized political status on the island does not benefit our community.