Tim Sukits

Category: This Week in Sarasota

  • TWISler Breakdown: Noise and Entertainment Ordinances

    TWISler Breakdown: Noise and Entertainment Ordinances

    Published Dec. 31, 2010 TWISler Breakdown: Noise and Entertainment Ordinances The number one culprit holding this “Creative Paradise” of ours back from becoming the best damn place on Earth to live and work is a medley of Sarasota City and County laws commonly referred to collectively as the “Noise Ordinance.” You’ve probably heard about these nasty little boogers before, but you may not realize exactly how much they affect your nightlife options, especially in the live music department, and therefore how detrimental they are to the health and well-being of Sarasota’s unique contemporary music scene. Basically, the story goes like this: (more…)
  • TWISler Breakdown: Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee

    TWISler Breakdown: Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee

    Published Jan. 4, 2011 TWISler Breakdown: Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee This week your good buddy TWISler breaks down the colossal disaster known as the Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee. When it comes to debacles, this fiasco takes incompetence to a whole new level of blunder. (Oh, snap! Thesauruses can be so cruel!) Basically, the story goes like this: Once upon a time (August 2009) in a land far, far away (Sarasota County) a bunch of members from the art’s community thought real hard and decided that, rather than giving out a bunch of silly grants, they would instead use a one-time lump sum Tourist Development Tax Cultural Tourism allocation (Uh, kinda redundant?) to develop a cultural arts festival meant to coax traveling nomads and vagabonds, called “tourists,” into wanting to spend time in their land. The King (Board of County Commissioners) soon heard their cries (October 2009) and established a grand order of wise men (Festival Steering Committee) to envision a concept for the festival. The wise men were very wise and soon came up with the idea to use magic (Digital Arts Festival) to attract the nomads. The wise men then hired an oracle (Lords Cultural Development) to develop a business plan for their magic festival. But when the wise men returned to the art’s community to reveal their idea, the arts community didn’t like it. They didn’t like the idea one bit, and told the wise men to start all over. The wise men and the oracle were sad, but they wanted to please the arts community, so they tried to think of a better idea. They couldn’t. —The End (more…)
  • TWISler’s Super Tuesday Special Election Breakdown

    TWISler’s Super Tuesday Special Election Breakdown

    Published Jan. 11, 2011 TWISler’s Super Tuesday Special Election Breakdown It’s that time of year again, when we all start getting not-so-overly excited about the people vying to run our city. March 8 will be the City Commission District Elections, which means three of the five City Commission seats are up for grabs. The qualifying period to run ended last Friday, leaving us with nine sultry politicos that will undoubtedly be attempting to charm our pants off over the next two months. Not all too familiar with how Sarasota’s city government works? Basically, the story goes like this: (more…)
  • TWISler Breakdown: We Need a Braveheart

    TWISler Breakdown: We Need a Braveheart

    Published Jan. 18, 2011 TWISler Breakdown: We Need a Braveheart It’s your good buddy TWISler back again this week to carefully dissect one of the most important, make that THE most important entity that currently exists in Sarasota County. That’s because the sole purpose of the Economic Development Corporation is figuring out how to grow and diversify Sarasota’s economy. Make no mistake, all the commissioners, committees, councils and corporations in this town combined do not wield as much power to make or break our city as the EDC. That’s why the job opening left by retiring EDC President Kathy Baylis is one of the most important, make that THE most important decision that will be made in Sarasota this year. The new president will basically be at the helm and set the course for the city’s unforeseeable future. If you’re wondering how such an entity was ever created. Basically the story goes like this: (more…)
  • TWISler Breakdown: DEAL or No DEAL

    TWISler Breakdown: DEAL or No DEAL

    Published Jan. 26, 2011 TWISler Breakdown: DEAL or No DEAL This week the TWISler’s going to play a little game called DEAL or No DEAL. That’s because last week residents of the Suncoast were treated to the unexpected news that all of the economic development entities that currently exist in Sarasota and Manatee Counties will soon be housed under the same roof. That roof will be located in Lakewood Ranch and will sit on top of a 72,000-square-foot, three-story building that goes by the name Design & Economic Acceleration Lab, or “DEAL” for all you acronym junkies. Now, we have plenty of usual gripes about the progress of local developments, but “it happened too fast” is rarely one of them. Alas, with an estimated construction cost of $14.2 million and a proposed grand opening only 18 months away, that may actually be the case when it comes to the DEAL deal. In a town with such a determined lack of urgency to complete things, how did a project of this magnitude manage to advance from idea to implementation in less than eight weeks? Right now we’re chalking it up to some sort of miraculous divine intervention. Of course, we’d never rule out the possibility of a good ol’ fashioned shady backroom DEAL. With this many huge players involved, God only knows what all’s been said. But we can give you a general overview of how the project came about. Basically, the story goes like this: (more…)
  • TWISler Update: The TWISler endorses three lucky candidates

    TWISler Update: The TWISler endorses three lucky candidates

    Published Jan. 31, 2011 TWISler Update: The TWISler endorses three lucky candidates The TWIS-meister has been keepin’ it pretty real lately and all of us here in TWIS land thought that instead of dropping a 1,500-word A-bomb of information on readers each week, it might be wiser to slow things down and make sure everyone is still on the same page. We’d hate for half the class to get behind and then come finals week and nobody shows up for the test — especially since we’ve got some potentially life altering exams down the pipe and only five weeks to prepare. But don’t fret! The TWISler has decided to reserve the sumo-sized horse pills of justice he’s been shoving down your gullet for special occasions, and substitute them for more palatable, jockey-sized mouse pills that can be easily and comfortably ingested throughout the week in frequent doses. You might call them tutoring sessions between lectures, but we’ll be calling them “TWISler Updates.” These Earth-shattering truth-quakes may not rate as high on the realness keepin’ Richter scale as the “TWISler Breakdowns,” but sit through enough of them and you’ll feel just as sick to your stomach. (more…)