Tim Sukits

Category: Politics

  • Videos from Vern Buchanan’s health care town hall/Obama bashing in Bradenton

    Aug. 21, 2009

    I got a little backstage pass to Rep. Vern Buchanan’s August 20″town hall meeting” in Bradenton, which was supposed to involve some sort of a discussion or debate on health care reform. It turned out to be less of a question and answer session and more of a comment and opinion forum. The crowd was a sea of white skin, white hair and red faces, all in a huff and a puff about “ObamaCare.”So many people showed up that they filled the Braden River High School cafeteria with over 700 attendees (pictured at right) who watched the action from the auditorium on a pull-down screen, clapping or booing according to their views. Buchanan responded to some intense applause and some heated encouragement as the microphone was handed to fan after fan. I counted three questioners in support of health care reform over the course of the two-hour event. Nearly every other person who was chosen spent their time ranting about the government takeover of the health care system and how Obama was plotting to kill their grandma. This left Buchanan having to answer few questions and basically cheerleading the crowd. No matter how outrageous the claim, he never corrected it, at least not with any emphasis. Buchanan’s beloved 13th district has the highest percentage of people over 62 in the country, and it was clear every one of them thinks Obama is trying to pull the plug on them. Click through the break to see the vids:

    This first video starts out with Leon Harris, head of the Manatee-Sarasota Democratic Black Caucus, who was the only black person chosen to speak. He asks why Buchanan doesn’t support Obama’s four main reform criteria, even though most conservatives’ concerns, such as funding for abortions, reducing seniors’ benefits and the high costs of reform, have been debunked. One lady yells at him to “shut up” twice as he asks his question, and as he finishes the crowd boos in unison. Buchanan answers by saying, “we do need to have major health care reform, but i don’t think we need to go to a single payer system,” which is not one of Obama’s four criteria, and definitely not the same as a public health insurance option. He continues with a string of Republican talking points, then later says “this isn’t about Democrat and Republican, it’s about doing what’s right for America.” Check it out:

    In the second video, Buchanan tells his majority elderly crowd that 50 percent of all health care comes in the last six months of one’s life, and then says “the way most of these programs, as I understand, in industrialized nations work is they ration what they’re going to do and not do for the senior citizens in their country. I’m against that.” The crowd erupts in applause. The next speaker reads lines from a “bill” that state “the govenrment will have direct access to our bank accounts” and access to “all America’s finances and personal records.” He doesn’t mention which proposed bill this comes from and Buchanan doesn’t even attempt to question the legitimacy of those claims. After a self-described “legal immigrant” talks about his journey to America in search of freedom, Buchanan mentions, to roaring applause, how he was the original cosponsor for making English the official language. The video ends with a woman afraid for her life that after the reforms she will be “discarded.” Buchanan, who has already received $66,150 from health professionals and $24,750 from insurance companies for his 2010 reelection campaign, responds by saying, “Not with me, you’re not.” Check it out:

     

  • A few Facebook comments about downtown SRQ parking meters

    Aug. 19, 2009

    Mr. “Talk of the Suncoast” himself, Cliff Roles, put up a link on Facebook yesterday directing the community to the Herald-Tribune’s article on the City Commission’s 4-1 vote to reintroduce parking meters to downtown Sarasota after 40 years, and during the worst economy in that time span. Here are a few of the comments that some of our fellow Sarasotans expressed, including a last minute entry from Phil Chmieleski, Board Chairman of the Downtown Partnership of Sarasota, defending the decision:

     

  • Wanna open a bar in Sarasota? Get ready to fill out some paperwork

    Aug. 7, 2009

    Alex Amaro (pictured above) decided to roll the dice and lease the empty space at 1413 Main Street in April 2008. He wanted to open a lounge — a simple 3,800-square-foot venue for young professionals and out-of-towners looking for something clean, contemporary and a bit upscale. The space had been sitting empty for over a year, so he figured the city would be thrilled about a new revenue source in the heart of downtown. But the Planning Board saw it differently, and rejected his application.

    “I wanted downtown and I was waiting to get the right spot for it,” says Amaro. “Then when I had all the obstacles from the city, I said, ‘I need to put a team together.’” That meant hiring a planning consultant, an architecture firm and a law firm. “We had to do battle,” he says, “I told [my attorney]: ‘Get ready to fight. We got to get ready to sue the city, because I’m not going to let it go quietly.’ Why does it have to reach that point just to try and open a business?”

    One reason is the lounge’s 4COP license, which indicates the bar doesn’t sell food. “That was when the trouble started,” says Amaro, who shut down the tapas restaurant he owned, Sangria, to focus on the new project, which would eventually become Ivory Lounge. “If I wanted to serve food I would have been open in two months. Look around. There’s a restaurant on every corner, because it’s the only way you can serve alcohol. We’ve got enough restaurants; we need to open more bars.”

    “All places downtown have a bar, but nobody makes you eat,” says Pamela Truitt, Amaro’s planning consultant. That’s because opening a bar downtown involves a lot more red tape. Horsefeathers recently fought and won a costly battle to amend a law that says bars can’t be within 500 feet of each other, but the law that says bars can’t be within 500 feet of a church still stands. “I actually couldn’t find when these rules went into law,” says Pruitt. “It was back in the 1950s when ‘bar’ was still a four-letter word. These zoning laws … just don’t apply anymore.”

    Gretchen Schneider, general manager of planning and development for the city’s Neighborhood and Development Services Department, says her staff recommended the zoning code be amended to eliminate the church rule, but the Planning Board felt they should continue to review applications on a case-by-case basis. “I guess they feel it’s still potentially an issue for churches to be next to bars,” she says.

    When researching Amaro’s case, Pruitt first worked with some of the downtown churches’ land-use attorneys to discuss amending the code. But that fight would have taken substantial time, effort and money, so she chose to focus on only the venue in question. Her research convinced the Planning Board that the lounge wouldn’t disturb the church, and First United on Pineapple Avenue wrote a letter stating it didn’t object. “Anywhere downtown you will be running into this rule,” says Pruitt. “I think a code amendment is still needed.” For Amaro at least, the church problem was resolved.

    The next hurdle was the complaints. A number of tenants living in the Plaza at Five Points, the condo above the lounge, voiced their concerns about noise during a Sept. 10, 2008 Planning Board meeting to review the bar. “Some of those people were really up in arms about it,” says Pruitt. “The folks that came to the meeting showed up with pitchforks and some people that didn’t come to the meeting wrote nasty letters to the city.”

    Pruitt was able to convince the board that the sound would stay at a reasonable level and would not be able to travel through five floors of parking and five floors of commercial space to disturb the condos 10 stories above. “I don’t understand the things people complain about sometimes,” she says. Obstacle number two was cleared.

    So, after six months of research, legal battles and bitching tenants, Amaro’s Ivory Lounge was officially allowed to exist, but still wasn’t permitted to open.

    Downtown business owners know about permits. They must obtain separate permits for almost everything imaginable. The paperwork can be heavy and the waits can be long. “The applications they send you are just stupid — pages and pages and pages,” says Amaro. “On top of that, it takes three months to get the damn thing after you file it.”

    Fellow Main Street business owner Rachel Withers agrees. Her new coffee shop, art gallery and music venue, The Box Social, opened the same night Ivory did, last Friday. Licensed as a “food-serving coffee shop,” she has managed to navigate the process fairly quickly. “It’s a really big deal how long it takes for a small business owner to get started,” she says. “When they say it takes six months to get a place open, they’re not joking. I’m on my fourth and I’m just now allowed to serve food.”

    Schneider was shocked to hear these claims: “We have inspections go out twice a day. You call in the morning, the inspector’s out that afternoon. So, I can tell you that is not true. You’re never waiting for an inspector in the city. And if someone’s telling you that, their contractor has lied to them, which has happened.”

    According to Schneider, Amaro applied for a building permit on Jan. 6. The zoning department approved his plans and the building department faxed its comments back on Jan. 7. They needed more information about an exhaust hood. The revised plan, with the required information, was resubmitted Jan. 28, and the building permit was issued on Feb. 2.

    Schneider says delays depend on who you’re working with. “For some people, it’s whoever their architect is and the level of work they’re doing in the building. But zoning turns around probably in a day, and then the building folks, you could get a permit back in less than a week. If you submitted something that had a lot of problems with it and you didn’t address things the way you should, there can be some back and forth. But typically, it’s one to two weeks and you’re getting it.”

    When Ivory Lounge went before the City Commission for its final confirmation, Amaro thought everything was in order: “Pamela had talked to everybody and they were all supposed to be OK with it.” Then Mayor Dick Clapp decided to raise concerns. “It scared the shit out of me. If he would have made an issue, Pamela said it would have taken another two or three months.” Fortunately, Amaro had rolled lucky dice, and survived Sarasota’s business start-up gauntlet.

    After 15 months and $80,000 in legal fees, consultants, attorneys, analysts, licenses, permits, inspections and rent on unused space, Ivory Lounge received its Certificate of Occupancy on July 6, and was officially allowed to bring in its first dime as a downtown bar. “It’s worth the fight,” says Amaro. “I just want to make sure things are better here for people coming downtown.”

     

  • Fair fight: Fair Districts Florida fights for sensible districting rules

    Jul. 17, 2009

    Fair Districts Florida is a nonpartisan state committee that is working to reform how legislative and Congressional district lines can be redrawn during redistricting, a process that takes place every 10 years — the organization is spearheading a petition drive to get two Florida constitutional amendments placed on the November 2010 ballot. Currently, the law only requires districts to be roughly equal in population and contiguous, meaning all parts must touch. The proposed amendments will require that districts make use of city, county and geographic boundaries whenever feasible.

    Not surprisingly, politicians have stretched the current rules. Literally. One of the most glaring examples is U.S. Congressional District 11, which begins in north Tampa, scrapes along the east edge of Tampa Bay, jaggedly cuts through downtown Bradenton and continues over the Skyway Bridge to encompass a large portion of downtown St. Pete, excluding the waterfront areas. (You can see an image of the district after the jump, below.) This is Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor’s district — the four districts surrounding it are all represented by Republicans.

    This voter cherry-picking, known as gerrymandering, is seen statewide. Two thirds of the state legislature and 60 percent of the Congressional delegation is currently under Republican control, although Florida voter registration measures 36 percent Republican, 42 percent Democratic and 22 percent other. This is because after the 2001 redistricting the Republican-controlled legislature handily passed their dream districts, giving themselves virtually guaranteed seats in the majority party, and less obligation to their constituents. Whichever party has control in 2011 will wield the same power — unless Florida voters change the rules.

    Last week, I spoke with Fair Districts Florida campaign chair Ellen Freidin:

    What is the problem with the current redistricting system?

    “The biggest problem is under our present system there is no law to keep the legislators from choosing their voters. The legislature would do an analysis and figure out what kind of voter will vote for them and then try to get as many of those voters in their district as they can. It’s always been a problem in Florida, but it really has only become a meaningful problem in the last 20 years. Now, with the advent of computers it has become a bigger problem because of the capacity they have to find the voters they want. It can be house to house, and often is. The majority party tries to pack as many opposition voters in as few districts as possible. There’s a committee and the majority party members have more input into it, the minority has far less input. Whoever is leading the legislature is going to have control of how the lines are drawn. It’s a totally rigged system, and it’s unfair to the voters.”

    Do you expect legislators to put up a fight?

    “They’re going to try, but we’ve done the best we can. Voters are going to have to be vigilant if they see districts being proposed that aren’t compliant to the rules. And the courts can always enforce the rules. Redistricting always lies on the courts. There’s always litigation over redistricting; it’s actually required. Before, what was happening was that the courts didn’t have any rules to go by.”

    What have you done to stop this gerrymandering?

    “Actually, the Constitution Revision Commission took on this issue in 1998 but they never got anything on the ballot. Our language has already been approved by the Florida Supreme Court. We have two constitutional amendments, one for Congressional and one for legislature. These amendments would establish rules that they have to follow when drawing the lines. I’m confident it will get on the ballot. You have to collect 676,811 valid signatures for each amendment. You have to collect 25 percent more because some might be invalid. We have definitely over a million, and we have until the end of the year. I think it’s going to make a big change in Florida because now voters are really going to have a chance to choose their representatives instead of their representatives rigging the elections.”

    Freiden will be speaking about more her efforts with State Rep. Keith Fitzgerald and former Sarasota Herald-Tribuneeditorial page editor Waldo Proffitt at a Forum Truth event at 7 p.m. Thurs., July 29. Basic tickets are $25, and the event takes place at Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail. Visit forumtruth.org for more information.

    In the interests of full disclosure: Creative Loafing Editor Cooper Levey-Baker sits on the Forum Truth board.

     

  • Spin doctors: The Vinyl Music Festival will get you dancing, but the real goal is to bring young professionals to the area (Corrected)

    Jul. 10, 2009

    Relaxing on a comfy brown couch at the Hub Incubator, a launching pad for tech and creative businesses set up in the Rosemary District, it’s hard to fathom all the activity that’s taken place within the space in the past month. What started as, “Let’s have a DJ at Barrel 87,” and then became, “Let’s have a few here at the Hub,” has now morphed into the Vinyl Music Festival: 30 DJs, some the world’s biggest, playing every style of electronic music at a dozen Sarasota venues over the course of four days.

    The funny thing is, for Hub founders Matt Orr and Rich Swier, most of that activity involved just that — sitting on the couch, with their laptops of course.

    It began when Swier mentioned the idea to his friend DJ Drager, an internationally known electro-house DJ. Drager then talked to DJ Diamond, electro funky house blonde bombshell, and Paul Mendez, tribal-house-progressive superstar and world-class producer. Mendez in turn contacted Master Jay, founder of Global DJs and undisputed top dog of the house music movement in the Middle East., who then called the Hub to book the fest.Master Jay’s agent emailed the agent of DeeJay Barry, the world-class Hypeman for DJ Skribble (of MTV fame), who then also called to sign on.Both agreed to come play the Vinyl Music Festival with Drager, who then called Swier at the Hub to book the artists. Drager’s next step was to contact DeeJay Barry, the world-class hypeman for DJ Skribble (of MTV fame), who then also agreed to sign on. [Ed. note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly detailed the process by which two artists agreed to perform at the Vinyl Music Festival.]

    Through emails, phone calls, Facebook and Twitter, word continued to spread.


    And in a matter of weeks the Hub had created, through little more than social media and mutual relationships, one of the most star-studded DJ festivals in the world, right here in Sarasota. It could have been twice the size had they not run out of time and resources. “We had to turn down big headliners … at least 20 DJs,” says Swier. “We had no more venues. We ran out of speakers and turntables. It just happened so fast.”

    It’s no surprise – many of these artists regularly sell out stadiums all over the globe. “You could have put Paul Mendez at Robarts,” says Swier, “but the whole point is to make it intimate. You get to see these DJs up close instead of in a concert setting. … You go to Miami for a club. You come here for DJs on the beach and on rooftops and at intimate venues. You’ll know you’re in Sarasota.”

    Because the proceeds go to benefit Autism Speaks, many of the artists are performing for little more than room and board. And over 70 local businesses and organizations have contributed to the event in one form or another. G-Wizis holding a special program with DJ Sinna-G to teach kids the science of sound on Saturday, and the Sarasota Convention & Visitor’s Bureau is paying for Logo, MTV’s gay and lesbian channel, to come down and film a series about Vinyl Music, which the network will air before next year’s festival. “People call every day wanting to participate,” says Orr. “They understand the impact the exposure will bring to the city.”

    And that’s really what this whole thing is about.

    One of the Hub’s missions is to attract young professionals to the area. Vinyl Music Festival is Swier and Orr’s first attempt to show the community that if Sarasota wants to bring in the sustainable businesses of the future they need to think outside the box. “Music always attracts people,” says Swier. “We want to build on the assets we have. People don’t use music as much as they should in our area. It’s shocking because it’s such a culture-heavy city. Maybe it’s the noise ordinance or politics. Everybody agrees we need to diversify the economy, but they have to bend a little bit. Nobody wants to live in a town where you don’t have the social activities that you want to have.”

    The Hub is trying to show that just a handful of young tech entrepreneurs coming to Sarasota to start businesses would bring a ton of capital and growth to the community. “We are setup and primed for this industry,” says Orr. “We have the right make-up: natural amenities, year-round good weather, a downtown that is conducive to a coffee-culture executive. We have a little creative factory up at Ringling that is creating students that people all over the world will want to use because they will help their economy wherever they go. And we’re watching those kids leave every year. [This] is probably the most successful young professional out there right now, and this person enjoys a certain lifestyle. This person works from a laptop. It’s not like we choose a job that dictates where we live. We’re a culture that chooses where we want to live.”

    An example is 24-year-old Noah Everett, creator of the website TwitPic.com, which he built as an easy application to upload pictures to Twitter. It started to become popular because of the easy-to-remember name. So when Janis Krums, a young Sarasota entrepreneur on a trip to New York, snapped the first picture of US Airways flight 1549 with his cell phone after it had crashed into the Hudson River, he used TwitPic to upload it. Within an hour, the server hosting TwitPic crashed, Everett hit the jackpot, and for the first time in history the mainstream media realized that citizen reporters could relay information faster than the news.

    Why is this relevant? Because after Krums’ picture made Everett’s site famous, the two became friends, and Krums invited Everett to the Vinyl Music Festival to check out Sarasota as a possible location for his new TwitPic biz headquarters. Hey, Google started with two young tech entrepreneurs. Now the company employs over 20,000 people.

    Swier feels that if the city understands what the prize is and how obtainable it is, they will realize that providing an attractive nightlife far outweighs the complaints of a few. “If we take it out of the context of ‘Esca wants to play loud music’ and put it in that context of ‘Retain the talent we have and be an outreach to young professionals,’ then people will understand the benefits and hopefully lighten up. I want to maintain the city, but we need to recognize that small positive changes will not hurt, but help.”

    “It’s an age thing,” adds Orr. “Young people like to go out at night, weather it’s to Pastry Art for coffee or throwing down at a bar. If you’ve got a choice between Ashville, where you have 15 coffee shops within five blocks offering live music and desserts at 10 o’clock on a Wednesday night, versus Sarasota that might have one, maybe, you start weighting out lifestyle choices. It’s kind of like Footloose: Just let us dance.”

    For one weekend at least, Sarasota will do just that.

    The Vinyl Music Festival runs July 16-19. Full festival passes are $20; VIP passes cost $50; individual event tickets are $10. You can read the full event schedule at vinylfestival.com or here.

     

  • Independent Suncoast retailers and restaurants are dropping like flies

    Published in Creative Loafing Sarasota, May 26, 2009

     

    Driving around Sarasota-Manatee, the bright yellow “For Lease” signs are impossible to miss; the placards dot empty windows north and south, east and west. A Main Street storefront empties almost every week. Freaky Tiki, Wonderland, The Fitting Room… the list keeps growing. St. Armand’s just lost Maus Hoffman and Optional Art — two longtime locals. Fast Track, An Exceptional Florist and Thomas Vernon Brown Antiques: Burns Court shops no more. The South Trail has full strip malls completely void of life, and the North Trail heading into Bradenton isn’t much better.

    The Bradenton Herald reported recently that delinquency rates and defaults on office and retail buildings have more than doubled in the past six months, and that, combined, Sarasota and Manatee counties currently possess over 1.7 million square feet of empty retail space. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that Sarasota County saw a 9 percent drop in the total number of businesses in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Florida’s import/export businesses saw their sales decrease 62 percent in 2008 and overall business investment in the Sarasota-Manatee market fell by 13.1 percent.

    And those desparing figures aren’t just numbers.

    Ofer Levy, owner of Phasion with Pashion, had to break his lease at 1540 Main Street and feels that some building owners are out of touch. “Landlords don’t expect to get hurt,” he says. “It’s not my fault; the economy kicked me out. For two and a half years I paid in full and on time. You don’t have to be mean about it.”

    Jurgen Wochnik, owner of O’Malley’s Pub, shut his doors last week. The German native opened his pub at 1359 Main Street just over two years ago and lasted longer than any previous tenant in the upstairs location. Dealing with the city was a headache from the start. “Because of the city I couldn’t open until April 4, so I missed the whole busy month of March and St. Paddy’s Day,” says Wochnik. “I waited around six weeks and then the guy came to sign the permit and it took about two minutes. I said, ‘Are you kidding?’”

    The city told Wochnik he couldn’t put his logo on the elevator door that grants access to his pub because it was considered a wall. He was also fined for putting up banners. The only exposure he was allowed? A small wooden hanging sign. “I was like, ‘Come on, how do you expect us to survive here?’ It goes on and on what the city makes you do to jump through hoops, but they have the power, you know. If the rules don’t change, the economy is going to ruin downtown.”

    Barry Seidel, a commercial real estate specialist with American Property Group, was Wochnik’s landlord and felt sad to see him go. Nevertheless, Seidel remains optimistic about the local marketplace. “Every time a door closes another one opens,” he says. “There is no question that this is a reset. In a lot of ways it’s exciting. There’s no development going on, but that’s going to change. This is a blip. We’re running with more vacancies than we normally do, but there is more interest in those properties. We’re busier now going into summer and there’s no question that we will be busy coming out of summer.”

    Seidel’s optimism doesn’t extend to the city commissioners, who he feels need to start listening to business owners. He is a huge proponent of a conference center downtown and is befuddled that commissioners can’t see the benefits. “A conference center that will bring professionals … might resolve a lot of our open storefronts,” he says. “Everybody downtown will get help from it. The North Trail will get fixed up, the airport will get a boost, and projects like The Proscenium will get built. Sometimes commissioners need to stop and think. We have good commissioners but they need to listen to the business community — they know how to make money. At this point in this reset, if we don’t offer something different we will just be another small town.”

    Denise Kowal owns the Herald Square building in Burns Court and believes the current problems are far worse than just a seasonal downturn. “I’ve owned my building for 24 years and it’s one of the hardest times I’ve ever had to fill the building,” she says. “I’m at the point where if I could just get good business in I’d be happy. It’s definitely not a seasonal thing; we have experienced a big drop downtown.”

    Kowal also sees big problems with the city commissioners’ handling of development issues. “We don’t have a commission right now that supports growth and business. The commission voted against buying Michael Saunders’ lot on the corner of Laurel and Orange to build parking. That’s what people think about when they’re moving in: ‘Is there parking for people?’ The roundabout on Ringling and Pineapple is huge because it makes the walk nice from downtown. But instead they’re doing the Palm Avenue roundabout first, which I can’t comprehend because it’s already nice.”

    She believes the commissioners need to educate themselves on urban planning and business development before they cast their votes. “They don’t look at the big picture because they’re not educated or trained. You shouldn’t be designing by feeling. I get all the time from the community that I’m some big developer. I know what my values are, and I’m about saving the environment and creating a vibrant downtown. I do things. These people are complaining, but they never do anything.”

    Vicki Vega, vice president for small business development and innovation at the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, sees businesses coming back strong after the summer. “I’m a Sarasota native for 20 years,” says Vega. “It’s a boom town. When October comes hope springs eternal.” Vega is one of many councilors at the Small Business Development Center helping local business owners stay alive. “Just because you see a councilor doesn’t mean you’re in trouble,” she says. “It means you could be trying to build your business.”

    Any business can contact the SBDC at 408-1412 to schedule a free counseling session. The first tip Vega gives entreprenuers: “Any business that doesn’t have a strong Internet component better get one soon. The ones that are going to be successful are the ones that capitalize on new technology.” Vega believes the current economic climate is the perfect incubator for new businesses. “Now’s the time if you’ve got a good idea and you’ve got time on your hands. We can make something happen.”

    Good news — if you’ve still got money to invest, that is. But for those small business owners cleaning out their formerly bustling shops, and posting those bright yellow “For Lease” signs, Vega’s words probably don’t provide much comfort.