Tim Sukits

Category: TWISler

  • TWISler Update: The real deal with the DEAL

    TWISler Update: The real deal with the DEAL

    Published Feb. 3, 2011 TWISler Update: The real deal with the DEAL Alrighty folks, the TWISler has some good news and some bad news for ya. The bad news is in last week’s Breakdown of the Design and Economic Acceleration Lab, aka the “DEAL,” we didn’t exactly frame the whole concept behind the project with perfect accuracy. The good news is that’s because none of the other local news sources managed to get it right either. But it’s understandable, seeing as how at the January 18 press conference Lars Hafner, president of the State College of Florida, said the DEAL would be a “new educational model housing all the agencies essential to the economic development equation.” Apparently, the plan is not to relocate all the economic development entities in Sarasota and Manatee Counties to Lakewood Ranch, only to provide an arena where all those groups can join forces and tag team businesses that are interested in moving to the area, while having all the resources and information they might need right there at their fingertips. (more…)
  • TWISler Update: Examining the youth vote… or lack thereof

    TWISler Update: Examining the youth vote… or lack thereof

    Published Feb. 8, 2011 TWISler Update: Examining the youth vote… or lack thereof When it comes to local elections, that whole “voting” thing hasn’t always been our strong suit. We seem to have a problem getting our citizenry to exercise their civic duty whenever it comes time to elect the people that vote on the laws that directly effect our daily everyday lives. Go figure! And nobody has proven harder to get off the couch and into the voting booth than the youth of our fair city. Just to give you an idea of the scope of our apathy, we’ll look at the turnout from 2009’s At-Large City Commission election among registered voters age 40 and under. (You might want to check out TWISler’s Breakdown of the City Commission Candidates and Districts to get the full context.) In the case of District 2, the “rich” district comprising St. Armands, Bird Key and most of the Bayfront, there were 3,176 youngsters registered and only 109 of them cast a ballot — a 3.4% showing. As for District 3, the “middle class” district spreading out east and south of downtown, 2,983 youthful voters on the rolls and only 61 showed up for a big 2% turnout. And then there’s District 1, the “poor” district housing Newtown and Rosemary, which out of it’s 3,370 voters under 40 only managed to inspire 26 of them to hit up the polls — a whopping 0.7% of registrants. (more…)
  • The TWISler Breaks Sarasota Down

    The TWISler Breaks Sarasota Down

    Published Feb. 11, 2011 The TWISler Breaks Sarasota Down — As you read this column, there are a half-million Egyptians gathered in Downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a rebellion of peaceful protest — a right our constitution has led most of us to take for granted. Their revolution was primarily organized by young people using social media to rally the nation. They have pledged their lives in their fight for freedom — a luxury most of them have never known. — The TWISler is gonna have some fun with facts today, folks — a little illumination through enumeration. Because we all know stats and demographics are the only true measure of a town. The outcome of those stats may not always deliver the most desirable results, but running the numbers at least helps to make some sense of it all. Hopefully, if we can come to grips with what our little piece of paradise is really made of, we can start to change some of our crazy ways. Now, the new 2010 census numbers don’t come out until March, but we felt it was important to give our fellow SRQites a little insight into who we are, how we live, what we do and why in the Sam Hell we do it. So, like something out of your digit-crunching dreams, the TWISler has scoured the Internet on a quest to hunt down and harvest the most accurate information a string Google searches can bestow. Admittedly, these numbers may not exactly match current levels to the tenth decimal place (Hey, give a TWISler a break!), but they should be close enough for comfort. (more…)
  • TWISler Breakdown: Governor Skeletor’s Epic Fail

    TWISler Breakdown: Governor Skeletor’s Epic Fail

    Published Feb. 17, 2011 TWISler Breakdown: Governor Skeletor’s Epic Fail For today’s lesson, the TWISler had planned to regale you with the pathetic extent of Sarasota’s piss-poor voter turnout numbers in past local elections. But in light of our newly elected Governor Skeletor’s most recent epic fail, we thought it might be more motivational to show you what can result, and is currently resulting, from the act of a few voters having better things to do on election day. While the TWIS always tries to keep it local, we simply could not pass up this golden opportunity to drill into your thick skulls just how monumentally critical it is to get off your ass and rock the vote. First of all, let’s provide a little overview of who this reptilian creature we’ve just handed our state’s veto pen to really is, and a bit about the hellish brimstone of a rock from whence he hath crawled. Richard Lynn Scott made his first foray into the business world with the purchase of two Kansas City donut shops in college. Obviously concerned about the health and wellbeing of his fellow Americans, he teamed up with two former executives of Republic Health Corporation while still a partner at the largest law firm in Dallas, and with the help of a $5 billion loan from Citicorp, attempted to buy the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) in 1987. The HCA passed, and Scott was very sad that he wasn’t able to take control of the 100-plus hospitals HCA operated so he could, you know, help people. (more…)
  • TWISler Update: Vote Early and Often

    TWISler Update: Vote Early and Often

    Published Feb. 22, 2011 TWISler Update: Vote Early and Often The responses from TWISler’s little rant on the governor says we’ll be sticking to local happenings from here on out. And it’s for the better. The complex and craterous black hole that is Florida politics is a bit too deep and dark of a pool to wade in safely. Obviously, the TWIS ain’t a fan — but hey, whatever floats your boat. If we do touch on broader issues, it will be through the perspective of how our local representatives are handling, or not handling, the problem at hand. Speaking of, let’s move along to our own hometown politicians — the real public servants that actually make real things happen for all us real citizens really concerned about really real problems, because they can actually be real with us — without having to hold a really unreal press conference. Yes, my dear Sarasotans, let’s talk of the cream of our crop, our local heroes for which we root and cheer with colorful street signs in the hopes of subconsciously storing a cheesy campaign slogan in our neighbors’ memory banks as they pass by on their way to work everyday. The most accomplished and elite of Suncoasters, still so sweet and innocent, and mostly untainted by the bright lights of ballot name recognition. (more…)
  • TWISler Update: Join the party, y’all!

    TWISler Update: Join the party, y’all!

    Published Feb. 24, 2011 TWISler Update: Join the party, y’all! As of yesterday, the number of Sarasotans that had put in so much of an effort as to register to vote stood at 267,136. Out of those of us that got that far, 86,487 (32%) claimed to be on the blue team, and 118, 246 (44%) have pledged allegiance to team red. But what to make of those 62,403 renegades — that 24% of us who are so brazenly resistant to commitment toward either of our country’s two ironclad ideals that they can only be classified as “Other” — or as we call them, “The Others”? They think they’re soooo cool with their highfalutin rebel mentalities and their fancy “independent” thinking caps that they probably wear ’em backwards as they ride around on their Harleys all day scaring kids. (more…)