Change Begins with Me

Unpleasant reading - American students rank 15th in math and 25th in science testing globally. There are 3 million jobs available in America, right now, that cannot be filled because no one wants or qualifies for the positions. Perhaps the time has come for each American to stop blaming this or that political party or a disliked social pressure group for all our societal problems. If we, as a nation, do not change course we will become a 3rd world country in our lifetime. We can assume that all the other countries are striving to better themselves. I am not sure what we are doing. Whatever it is, it is not working.

I know most Longboat property owners have little to worry about since the great majority of our residences are 2nd homes. However, the relative wealth of Longboat property owners isn't enough to sustain a failing economy and educationally declining population. One commentator has remarked that Americans are becoming increasingly illiterate as a result of being predominately exposed to a TV based vocabulary that is geared to a 5th grade reading level. I had one reader chastise me for using too many big words. I thought I was merely saying exactly what I wanted to say and that requires using language somewhat above the 5th grade level. I wonder how Longboat property values will fare if our economy takes another precipitous decline in the next year or two. I wonder how our grandchildren will manage to find a better life if America is considered to a complacent, relatively under-educated society where everyone is plugged into some sort of electronic distraction.

The average American child spends 1154 hours a year watching TV while spending fewer that 900 hours in school.

Only 1 in 12 American families make their children do homework before watching TV.

By the age of 18 the average American child sees over 200,000 violent acts on TV.

Last year, at the science oriented graduate schools of New York University (NYU), not a single American-born student was registered.

A Harvard study found that current college students spend only half as much time studying as they did in 1960.

We are rapidly becoming a nation intellectually asleep-at-the-wheel and declining quickly if one looks at the grim statistics and reports.

The blame-game is not working. Each of us is responsible for being part of our democratic process, and that requires vigilance, critical thinking and encouraging our grandchildren to be readers and scholars and engineers.

My recommendation is to become as informed as is humanly possible by listening to all the conversations taking place in our society. Receiving your information exclusively from Fox or MSN will only expose you to their profit-driven propaganda. It will not increase your comprehension of the complex issues confronting our nation. Most of all try to mentor young people and try to lead them to a place where the process of learning becomes as important to them as what they learn.

Change Begins with Me.



A Risk-free Community Center Proposal

Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles

Our current commissioners are now discussing constructing a community center complex at Bayfront Park. Voters have rejected similar proposals twice by large pluralities. The only thing that has changed is that there are now fewer year-round residents and they are a decade or two older.

It may not be true that if we build it, they will come. Longboat was designed and marketed as a condominium-centric affluent seasonal retirement community. A majority of the condominium complexes are located on the west side of GMD. Most all have social amenities including a swimming pool, tennis courts, meeting areas for social activities and of course a very expensive beach at the front door. The island also has several areas of residential homes mostly inhabited seasonally. As always, the problem with proposing any changes to the current state of affairs on Longboat, whether it be a community center or a hotel or an expanded retail presence, is the lack or people 8 or 9 months of the year. In the case of a new community center it will be difficult to justify the annual 1/2 million dollar operating budget, much less the many millions required to build a new community center, if the center is under-utilized most of the year.

That is where my proposal comes into play. If the town were to lease the Mediterranean Plaza, located on Bay Isles near Avenue of the Flowers shopping center (Publix) for five years, at a favorable rate, and re-purpose the 25,000 square foot, two story structure as a community center, then we, as a community, would have the opportunity to see if there truly is the needed community support for a centralized community center on Longboat, before risking millions on something that falls flat on its face and becomes yet another empty edifice on our island.

Mediterranean Plaza is an almost perfect opportunity to enhance our community's social amenities, with little or no financial risk, while utilizing what may soon become the next commercial property tragedy in our community. The church on General Harris will soon be completed and Mediterranean Plaza will soon lose its last remaining large client.  

Making use of the Mediterranean Plaza offers a few advantages to locating a new recreation building at Bayfront Park. Mediterranean Plaza has ample parking, with more available at Avenue of the Flowers for large events. If the 25,000 feet at the Plaza is inadequate then the community center can be readily expanded to include Madison's structure across the street. That building is also in economic peril.

It seems to me that we can accomplish two objectives with minimal risk and cost. The first is to create a large centrally located community center. The second is to reduce the blight of abandoned commercial property in our community. Government has an opportunity to become a partner with local business to revitalize unoccupied commercial properties by re-purposing the structures for community use. All of this while lowering financial risk to the taxpayers, and facilitating the creation of a community center far more quickly than a new community center.

Looking back at my previous columns, where I have expressed a need to have a community center, I now realize that there may be a flaw in my thinking. Our aging population, living in condominiums with social amenities close at hand, may not want to expend the energy to drive to a large recreation center that offers little more than what is already available to them. On the other hand, I believe that we need to offer more community social activities if we are to attract a new generation of residents on Longboat. The Mediterranean Plaza may offer an opportunity for our town to have its cake and eat it too. Perhaps we do not need to endure a lengthy fund-raising process before we have our community center. At the same time we can quickly begin to develop community awareness and compelling community social programs using existing facilities and reducing empty property blight.

Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles would make an inexpensive large attractive community center.

Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles





Where Angels Fear to Tread

Juliani Kenney Investment Capital, LLC is in the process of purchasing the old bank building owned by PFG Asset Managenent and occupied by Montgomery Asset Management. Additionally Juliani Kenney are aManagementlso trying to purchase all the land bounded by GMD, Broadway Street, Cedar Street and Palm Court. These purchases constitute a significant increase in investments for Juliani Kenney on the north end of Longboat.

Prior to their latest acquisitions, JKIC purchased Whitney plaza for $3.7 million in December, 2010 and have so far been unable to attract any retail businesses to the plaza. At a recent Village Association gathering Brian Kenney described the challenges of persuading anchor retailers, such as Walgreen Drug or Panara Bread, to locate at Whitney Plaza. Brian spoke of drive-by counts and other metrics employed by retail chains to evaluate future store locations. Given the 2010 census figures listed below, it is little wonder that Juliani Kenney are finding it difficult to rent space in the now dilapidated shopping mall.

"The percentage of residents ages 65 and up rose to 67.3%, from 58.3% in 2000. The percentage of residents ages 85 and up rose by 46%, with 8.2% of residents age 85 or older in April 2010, compared to 5.1% in April 2000. The island, which experienced a 9.4% decline in population over the past decade according to the census, lost residents in every age group from ages 15 through 74. " The number of people who call themselves "residents" decreased 41%.

In the face of daunting demographics and lack of success, over the past few months, in attracting retailers to Whitney Plaza, Juliani Kenney choose to double-down their bets, so to speak, by investing in still more commercial real estate at the north end.

I try to put myself in the shoes of Juliani Kenney in light of their most recent acquisitions. I keep stumbling on the fact that the new parcel and Whitney Plaza are separated my Cedar Street. In addition, the northern parcel is narrow, by commercial standards, and thus difficult to develop without adding to the property depth. That can only be accomplished by acquiring Palm Court which bounds the property on the east.

To my way of thinking to invest millions in two commercial real estate parcels that are separated by a well-trafficked street is going where angels fear to tread. Prior to Juliani Kenney all of this land appeared to be commercially inviable. Andrew Vaac was not able to resell the bank building just as Andrew Hlywa was unable to make a go-of-it at Whitney Plaza. In fact a succession of owners over the past 20 years have all failed to operate Whitney Plaza at a profit.

Personally I would be worried about acquiring two separate and previously financially unsuccessful commercial properties without almost absolute assurance that I would be able to join the two parcels and widen the northern parcel. That would of course require that the town commission deed the streets over to Juliani Kenney. That could be a problem if the residents at the north end do not want to abandon the well used thoroughfares. At present many village residents use both Palm Court and Cedar street as a "safe" access route to get onto GMD headed south.

In several newspaper articles about recent Juliani Kenney land purchases, a few different threads emerge about how best to utilize the newly purchased land parcels. Brian Kinney appears to believe there may be a need for a hotel on the property. Certainly this is a far more ambitious project than the one previously put forth by Juliani Kenney of revitalizing the retail space at Whitney Plaza. It is doubtful that anything now will be done to the crumbling Plaza if a new "grand design" is put forth. That could mean many years of empty building blight at the north end while the economy recovers to a point where investors might be willing to spend tens of millions to launch a large scale redevelopment of Whitney Plaza. I can envisage an exclusive low-rise tasteful boutique hotel, beautifully landscaped and blending-in with the existing ambiance of the north-end as being an enhancement to the community.

There still remains the problems for retail and tourism created by an increasingly affluent community that spends only a few months a year on Longboat. Because there are relatively few people living on our island most of the year, it is almost impossible to make a living here if you run a retail business or tourist facility. Each new hotel/motel room, each new store that is built/opened on the island dilutes the already inadequate pool of paying customers. As Longboat became more and more popular as a winter retirement retreat, more and more real estate was converted from tourism to condominium usage. Even with many fewer tourism units the occupancy rates are still dismal. Many people who come to Longboat in off season say it looks like a ghost town. As on drives up GMD at night all the condominium windows are dark. This may present a challenge to anyone looking to open a tourist attraction on the island and attract year-round clients.

Perhaps the best and easiest solution to the dilemma the commission thinks exits on Longboat is to relax and get comfortable with what we have become - a seasonal retirement retreat for the well-to-do. This is a good thing to be if you are one of the 18,000 or so fortunate residents of our island. There is really nothing that needs doing. We are all doing just fine. Housing sales are coming back. We have finally achieved a stable retail/tourism presence after the build-out of the island. Let's just settle in and enjoy our beautiful community just as it is.

Ex-mayor Spoll recently cautioned the town and the commission about community reaction to inappropriate development on the north end. I agree with his assertions that the north end ambiance is uniquely "old Florida" and should be preserved as a major asset to out entire community. To his credit Brian Kenney stated "It’s definitely not our desire to build a monstrosity that upsets the town and nearby residents.” It remains to be seem if his definition of monstrosity is similar to that of north end residents.

Let's hope our development-fixated commission and planning board heed George Spoll's advice.

Newspeak and the town commission

Size of Whitney Plaza expansion proposed by our commissioners

Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In it, it refers to the deliberately impoverished language promoted by government.



Today I met a Longboat resident who had recently met a Longboat commissioner at a social function. The resident related to me that he had asked the commissioner about his pro-development reputation. The commissioner replied to the resident that he, and the commission, were not pro-development. The commissioner told the resident they were instead only trying to restore what had previously existed on Longboat Key in terms of retail businesses and tourist accommodations. I am told the commissioner used the term "Keeping Longboat Longboat" to describe the massive revisions the commission is making to our zoning codes and comprehensive plan. To me this is Longboat Newspeak.

I want to examine changes to Longboat's building codes, density limits, building height limits and  sweeping alterations to the comprehensive plan being proposed by the current commission and town attorneys in light of their assertion of being preservationists and not developer-friendly government officials.

If the commissioners are really only trying to "restore" retail business and tourism to what previously existed, then logically the codes already exist for doing that, since the current rules and codes already allow what the commission contends are their only objectives.

The increases in height, building mass and population density to Whitney Plaza being proposed by the current commission can be viewed as little else but opening the developer flood gates on the north end of the island. Why increase the height from 5 stories to 6 stories? Why increase the density if only businesses are to be allowed at that location? Surely there must be logical explanations for such detailed increases to the bulk and density of the current 1 story shopping center. A retail center that has been only partially occupied for over 2 decades. Obviously there has been little to no demand for commercial space on the north end of the island for quite some time. And no wonder since there is 3 times more commercial real estate on Longboat than is required to support our decreasing population. One wonders what the commissioners have in mind.

And where will all the tourists stay? The commissioners assure us we need many more tourists in order to eventually sell units at the Key Club. If you were going to recommend accommodations for visiting friends, where would you direct them? Now imagine where additional tourist motels and hotels can be built on this island. Would you recommend a new hotel at Whitney Plaza, where the public beach is a long hot walk across a busy highway, or a toes-in-the-sand waterfront lodging? Which would offer the better "island experience"?

Why is the commission working so hard to vastly increase the building bulk at Whitney Plaza? What do they think will be built there that requires exactly 1 extra story and a much larger footprint? I doubt any hotel located off the beach could compete with existing waterfront lodging on Longboat or adjacent islands.

I am worried that for all their supposed good intentions for all of us, that the commission makes our exclusive community vulnerable to profit-driven developers by destroying the well-crafted codes and comprehensive plan that have made Longboat one of the premier residential retirement communities in this country.

You might ask a commissioner why they want to expand Whitney Plaza far beyond what is fitting for the ambiance of the north end. The commissioners have never asked the residents of this island if they are happy with the way things are in terms of retail, and if they are willing to have more tourists and traffic congestion to have more stores that will have to cater to tourists to survive. Tourism stores are not the same stores that are frequented by residents. Maybe the commissioners should ask themselves why in the past it made sense for so many motel / hotel owners to sell to condominium developers?

Current Whitney Plaza

Longboat Key does need to change with the times. We need to open up our social structure. We need to find ways to provide better access to our beaches so that new home buyers will be attracted to neighborhoods east of GMD. We need to have the town actively participate in rejuvenating our community activities and make better use of our parks and recreation areas. We do not need inappropriate development where none is needed. Most of all, we need to start acting like a community instead of snowbird heaven. People need to wake up and see that beautiful Longboat may be under siege by developers and that our current commission is the best thing that ever happened for them. We do not want to become a poster child for the now defeated Amendment #4 - Home Town Democracy.

Even though the above mentioned commissioner calls himself, as well as his fellow commissioners, preservationists, I do not believe that dumbing-down the conversation to the point where "keeping Longboat Longboat" includes large scale high-rise development on the north end is anything less than Longboat Newspeak.

Does the Scalpel Trump the Sledgehammer?



The town is confronted by the specter of three underfunded pension plans. As of yet, no one seems to know the gravity of the problem and no one appears to be particularly exercised about the enormity of the problem. But that is not the focus of this column. Instead, I want to discuss one of my favorite complaints about our form of government, and that is an unpaid town commission that relies on the town manager to formulate the commission agenda, all the way up to the actual alternatives and options that the town commission uses as the basis for its decisions. So far, the discussion of what to do about the pension plans has focused on either continuing the existing defined benefits plans or changing over to defined contribution plans. Those are the only two alternatives that have been presented so far, in a very lengthy commission discussion that has reverberated around town hall for perhaps a decade, with no resolution in sight. Perhaps the $25 million to $35 million pension buyout elephant sitting in the commission chamber may be one reason the commissioners are hesitant to really deal with the issue once and for all.

There may be several alternatives available to the town and perhaps a surgical repair of our pension system may be better for all concerned than using a sledgehammer approach to pound our existing defined benefits plan into a total defined contribution pension plan, that may adversely impact the futures of our employees. Perhaps there are alternatives to a total defined contribution plan that will serve both the taxpayers and our employees. Let's look at a few.

The material from here on out is necessarily technical. My apologies in advance but this stuff needs to be said. Much of what appears below is excerpted from information found on the internet and in not my own work.

Target-Benefit Plan - A benefit plan that is similar to a defined benefit plan since contributions are based on projected retirement benefits. However, unlike a defined benefit plan, the benefits provided to participants at retirement are based on the performance of the investments, and are therefore not guaranteed. The target benefit plan also bears some similarity to a money purchase plan as contributions are mandatory. Generally speaking, a target benefit plan is a cross between a money purchase pension plan and a defined benefit plan.

Cash Balance Plan - A cash balance plan is a defined benefit retirement plan that maintains hypothetical individual employee accounts like a defined contribution plan. The hypothetical nature of the individual accounts is crucial in the early adoption of such plans because it enables conversion of traditional plans without declaring a plan termination.

The employees' accounts earn a fixed rate of return that can change over a period of time from year to year. Although it works much like a defined contribution plan, it is actually a defined benefit plan for legal purposes. In 2003, over 20% of US workers with defined benefit plans were in cash balance plans, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Most of these plans resulted from conversions from traditional defined benefit plans.

The Conversion Controversy - Cash balance conversions have been controversial and have raised the ire of workers and their advocates. In 2005 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report analyzing the effects of cash balance conversions on worker benefits. They found that in a typical conversion the cash balance plan would provide lower benefits for most workers than if the defined benefit plan had remained unchanged and the worker had stayed in their job until retirement age. This decline in benefits tends to be largest for older workers. This is because in a traditional plan, where benefits are based on final average pay, the "value" of the benefits accrues much faster for older workers than for younger workers. In contrast, in a DC or cash balance plan, all workers contribute at the same rate, and a dollar contributed by a younger worker is actually more valuable because it has more time to compound before retirement.

Integrated Pension Plan - A pension plan that is tied to an individual's Social Security payments to determine the total benefit that the plan participant should receive. The actual amount sent to the recipient in a defined benefit integrated pension may be reduced by a dollar amount equal to all or a percentage of the person's annual Social Security payment. Some integrated plans have a specified total benefit in mind, and look for Social Security and pension funds to combine toward meeting that goal. In most cases, the pension amount can only be cut a maximum of 50%.

I have sited a few of many ways the town can approach our current projected pension shortfall. I suggest that the commissioners hire an expert who is not working directly for the town manager. I believe that a surgical approach to our pension plan problems is better than bludgeoning our employees into a retirement situation where some employees may not be able to retire with dignity.

We have all heard the expression that you should be careful what you wish for because you might get it. From a personnel management total compensation standpoint, an equally relevant expression in the benefits area is that you should be careful what you pay for because you might get it.

I am not proposing that any of the above variations and hybrids of pension plans are appropriate for our situation. I am trying to open the process to include an intelligent and informed decision-making process.

Collateral Damage

(Key Club Project Model)

Bank of America recently sold the Grand Mariner to investors at about one third the original construction loan and after the project sat idle for several years. The original investors, in their zeal to optimize their investment, proposed a project that sailed too close to what was allowed by the town's codes and ordinances and a suit ensued. Eventually, the Grand Mariner developer declared bankruptcy. There is no blame here, only financial loss and missed opportunities. Perhaps if the planning and zoning board had applied the town codes more strictly things might have turned out better for the developer.

Land use suites have been lodged against the town by several developers and residents. My experience only goes back to the mid 80s when the Klauber suit cost taxpayers more than $6.5 million dollars. That loss actually shows up in your utility bill today since the utility fund was used to pay the plaintiff.  There was collateral damage stemming from the Klauber suit in the form of about 70 upscale resort/spa suites, with overflow from the spa into surrounding hotels and motels, that were never built. Instead we gained a few more condominiums that are occupied perhaps a month or two a year. Klauber's resort/spa might have become another island hallmark similar to the Colony. We will never know. But we do know that if the project had been completed there would now be around 70 more tourist units to support local businesses.

The collateral damages from the failure of Klauber's resort/spa, and other projects such as the Grand Mariner, the Poseidon and even the proposed house on Longboat Drive North are twofold. First, the vitally needed redevelopment of older properties is impeded. Second, and perhaps a more important consequence of land use suites, is that the the suites may discourage future developers from venturing onto our island. Each time a developer or a resident files a suit against the town for perceived grievances, our stature as a stable, developed community with well founded codes and ordinances may be diminished. Additionally, perspective home buyers may begin to shy away from purchasing property in a community where developers are able to compromise existing property values with the help of a developer-friendly town government.

I am not questioning that the suites I am referencing were necessary or that the outcomes were not just. I am simply saying that if a different course of events had occurred we might now have more tourist units and new luxury condominiums in our community. The suites I am referring to involve actions by the town in land use applications. The town has an unfortunate record in court for those town government actions that displeased developers or residents enough to go to court.

I see the Key Club expansion project as perhaps the best example of how things might have been different. Many people in our community believed that if the Key Club and IPOC could have reached an amicable arrangement, we would not now be witnessing a protracted litigation that will certainly delay the proposed project. Instead our town attorneys and commission decided that it was more to their liking to accept the Key Club proposal in toto, even if it plunged the project into a succession of lawsuits and government interventions. It may come to pass that the Loeb Partners reach a decision to withdraw the project just because of the specter of more and more legal costs and lengthy delays. The current commission and the town attorney appear intent in fashioning some sort of revisionist version of what existed when the Key Club began its tortuous journey through quasi-judicial proceedings. Only the courts will decide if what the commission is currently doing can be substituted for what existed when the commission passed the Key Club expansion plan.

For the commission and the town attorney it seems all to possible for them to legislate their dreams. But they may find that at the end of all the court proceedings, it might have been easier to change the past.

Just as when an 80s commission asked Ms. Stroud about the Klauber suite, and if they had the right to revoke Klauber's building permit, Ms. Stroud has assured the current commission that they have the right and the power to take things into their own hands, this time to rewrite the codes and the comprehensive plan to suite the developer. We will have to wait to see if the courts agree with Ms. Stroud this time.

As for the Key Club proposal, I do not recall any other time in my life when I have witnessed a public entity being paid by a developer for its services on behalf of the developer. I am personally very uncomfortable with the financial arrangements in what to me looks just like a pay-to-play government deal. Let's hope there is not too much collateral damage this time.

Walking on Rainbows



I sold my business in Lake Tahoe in 1984 and complained about the cold and the snow for another year before I decided to move to the village on Longboat Key. Twenty-six years later I still feel I made a really good decision to move from an alpine paradise to a tropical island paradise. I appreciate beautiful places and friendly people. At first I leased one of the Whitney cottages on Longboat Drive South. I met some wonderful young neighbors who advised me to buy Rainbow flip-flops. They told me they were the best. I still agree and I have spent the past two and a half decades mostly in tee-shirts shorts and walking on Rainbows. You can buy Rainbows at the surf shop adjacent to Manatee Beach.



In 1985 there were around 5,000 residences on Longboat and the median income was around $40K. Rents were reasonable as were home prices and taxes. There were a number of young people living on the north end. Many of today's condominiums did not yet exist and living was easy. Whitney Plaza was full of fun and interesting shops along with a huge drugstore and a Foodway market. There was an art supply shop frequented by a very busy art center clientèle, along with a high-end kitchen store and cute clothing shops. The village was a sort of Bohemian community filled with artists and other interesting people. It was easy to fall in love with the miles of sunny sugar-sand beaches and the relaxed tempo of island living. Even then the local paper was filled with articles and letters about political turmoil surrounding the developer wars. PIC became active the year I moved here. PIC would soon have 1,100 members. (PIC now has fewer than 115 members including the Key Club, their lawyer and two Chamber board members.) Things were intense for a couple of years. In the end the people prevailed, the developers were reined-in and the density of Longboat was reduced from a proposed seventy-five thousand to twenty-five thousand.

By 1990 there were almost 6,000 residents and the median income had risen to $85K. People with money were pouring onto the island. It was the hay-day of the new American prosperity and Longboat was paradise for sale. What had been a relatively undeveloped beach town with lots of motels was rapidly being transformed into an exclusive seasonal residential retirement oasis.

Whitney Plaza was the center of commercial activity on the island after Paul Neal opened the shopping center in 1971. However, when Publix open their market at Bay Isles in the mid-80's, the two gentlemen who owned the Foodway market at Whitney Plaza put the business up for sale. Within a few years the new shopping center at Bay Isles had a profound negative impact on Whitney Plaza businesses. The Pan Handler and the wonderful art shop closed. The market was obviously in trouble. The new owners could not afford to restock the shelves and soon shopping there became what one might imagine it would be like to go shopping in Siberia. Bay Isles and the Center Shops slowly sucked the life out of Whitney Plaza at a time when tourism, real estate and population were peaking on Longboat. We had lots of tourists, yet Whitney Plaza struggled and slowly deteriorated. Since the businesses that replaced the Plaza's initial array of interesting shops were less prosperous, needed repairs and improvements were never made.

By 2000, the resident population of Longboat had grown to 7,600 and the median income was over $100K. Longboat was one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country. Still Whitney Plaza was languishing and the types of businesses coming into the shopping center catered more and more to tourists. Real estate prices shot up as demand increased. Rents increased along with home values and most of the young renters had to leave paradise. Longboat was at the pinnacle of its development cycle, yet Whitney Plaza was sinking. Why? The Holiday Inn and most of the other hotels/motels were still open. My guess is that Longboat was morphing from being a residential beach community into a town of exclusive, seasonal second homes. Inversely, as the affluence of the property owners increased, the vitality of the community decreased. We became a gathering of gated and very private enclaves for America's wealthy. Nothing wrong with that. However, one consequence of becoming a private community is that all the young people left along with a lot of what made it fun for tourists. Let's be honest young people are more lively and active than what Longboat was becoming.

During the period between 1970 and 1990 Longboat was a relatively undeveloped island. The Old Florida atmosphere and numerous mom-and-pop motels and resorts attracted tourists all winter long. The Key Club was emerging as a major attraction for the more affluent home buyers looking to invest in a second home. Little by little the condominiums replaced the 50s-style seaside resorts and tourists had to find somewhere else to vacation.

Our current commissioners are trying to convince us that only lots of new, and probably tall tourist resorts will bring back Whitney Plaza, and that we need to expand commercial activities to attract tourists to fill the new tall resorts. Of course, along with all of this, there will need to be a considerable increase in density, especially on the Manatee end of the island.

Meanwhile, 13 properties sold on Longboat during March, 2011, the peak real estate sales month on our island. Thirteen. During 2010, 2,225 properties sold in The Villages in central Florida. Our commission would do well to stop pushing on a string and start pulling our community towards home sales liquidity.

From 1980 to 2010, Longboat Key was transformed from a sleepy, relatively undeveloped tourist destination into an upscale residential community. The tourist community no longer exists. Instead, we have become perhaps the most beautifully developed community on the West coast of Florida. Let's not destroy our ambiance with tourist shops and too many people. We already are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.