Remember the saying about a journey beginning with a single footstep down a path? Well, consider the City of Sarasota’s two-year journey encompassing 65 paths.
The Sarasota city commissioners have established 65 priorities to meet by the end of 2012. Although ranked numerically, the items on the list don’t have particular to-do-by dates.
"We do not have a set order for these priorities," Mayor Richard Clapp has said. "They all are equally important and they’re all interconnected. The administration will work to carry them all out."
The list includes economic development and recovery; transportation and mobility; budget and finance; environmental sustainability; and quality of life.
The highlights pretty much mimic today’s newspaper headlines. The Palm Avenue garage/retail mixed-use facility is mentioned, as is the spring training facility for the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium.
The completion of the Robert L. Taylor Community Center in Newtown is another city goal.
Actually, Newtown and the North Trail are hot-button items for the city. The planned Booker High School renovation, with a change in the use of Orange Avenue, is mentioned as well, as are such North Trail improvements as better streetscape features to be put in place during the current fiscal year.
And then there are roundabouts at U.S. 41 at both 10th and 14th streets. One city goal is to develop and implement "a financially feasible 3- to 5-year plan to build [them]."
Another headline item involves the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. An objective in the next two years for the city-run facility reads that the city shall "determine the most effective organization structure for the Van Wezel. All forms of organizational structure will be evaluated, including a separate [not-for-profit], merging with the Van Wezel foundation, a countywide entertainment authority, private/public partnership, private management or status quo."
The Ad Hoc Police Advisory Panel is on the list, with implementation of that group’s recommendations slated for this summer. Expect more attention to community policing in the upcoming years.
There are checks and balances involved in all efforts. New policies include "spot citizen surveys," which could consist of "quick surveys that provide the commission and administration with accurate measures of the community’s attitudes on key policy issues."
There is also a policy to "benchmark our city against other Florida cities and report results to commission."
Going back again to recent headlines prompts some additional headline possibilities. Sarasota was ranked as one of the most unfriendly cities in the nation regarding homeless citizens. A policy within the two-year plan includes reviewing the concept of creating a fund or supporting "an established ‘Day Facility’ for homeless adults" in conjunction with a plan to "increase penalties for repeat offenders and [the consideration of the] adoption of a work program for same."
Love your neighbors? You may have them up close and personal if you’re on the water, if the goal of increasing public access to the waterfront is achieved. "Develop an inventory of public rights of way and city-owned lands which terminate at the water’s edge," the policy states, "and review opportunities for creating public access points to the water."
All 65 items listed by the Sarasota City Commission as priorities and objectives for the next two years are available online at sarasotagov.com.