Incumbent Liz Alpert wants to build on the current commission’s momentum; challenger Ron Kashden believes the current commission is headed in the wrong direction
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: September 27, 2024
Host: In what could change the neighborhood-vs-developer balance of the City of Sarasota commission, Mayor Liz Alpert is facing challenger Ron Kashden in the upcoming elections. Ramon Lopez has a close look at both candidates.
Ramon Lopez: Three Sarasota City Commission districts are up for grabs this election cycle, with District 2 covering a large and diverse segment of the city. The incumbent commissioner for District 2 and the sitting mayor is Liz Alpert, running for reelection. The family law attorney and mom of three is often the decisive swing vote.
Liz Alpert
Liz Alpert: I seem like the voice of reason on the commission because I try to look at all sides and try to find the best way forward. And you can’t always make everybody happy. But you have to try and look at the entire picture, not just one small segment of it, and say, “Okay, how’s it going?” It’s going to affect everybody globally.
RL: She first won the District 2 seat in 2015. A second term followed five years later, and she now hopes for a third on the commission. Alpert wants to continue serving.
LA: I’m running for a third term because we’ve made a lot of progress in the city. I feel very proud of my accomplishments moving forward, but we aren’t finished yet. Affordable housing in downtown Sarasota, reimagining our downtown master plan, transportation, multimodal transportation options. So there’s a lot still to get done, and I feel like I’m needed there to get it done.
RL: Alpert faces Ron Kashden, who frequently appears before the city commission, to speak on various issues to improve and protect community assets. Kashden says he is running to “add a voice of reason and give the public a seat at the table.” This is the first time the outspoken civic activist is seeking elected office.
Ron Kashden
Ron Kashden: I’m running because I had seen that there were policy decisions that the commission could make that would help the public in general, that would fulfill some of their aspirations and solve some of their problems that the city commission seemed to be ignoring, in a nutshell. I had never had any political aspirations up until this year, you know, I was happily retired doing civic activism. I’m a certified public accountant, that helps me dig deeply into issues. When you combine that with close to a decade of being civically engaged with a broad set of issues, everything from parks to traffic, to being involved with my neighborhood association, which is Laurel Park, as well as CCNA, which is the Coalition of City Neighborhoods, serving as board member, treasurer, and secretary. When you add those all together, I have the skills to dig deeply into issues and to have the discipline to both read the supporting materials, as well as to understand the implications of what the commission decides
RL: CityPac, the city hall watchdog, has endorsed Kashden saying he “demonstrates a depth of knowledge of city affairs” and “shows the necessary familiarity with the issues, and is able to communicate his perspective on how to address the city’s challenges clearly and effectively”
A hot button issue is affordable/attainable city housing. Alpert defends the sitting commissioners track record on the issue. Kashden says they are taking the wrong tack on the matter.
LA: You know, I think we are doing as much as we can do. I think there were initiatives before that came forward, but they didn’t result in any affordable housing. So, this time, the initiative that we passed that allows for additional density for 15% of the building to be affordable, which is 15% of the bonus units, I think will and has made a difference. There’s not enough being created and it’s not being created fast enough, but you can only create it so fast because how many projects can you put into place at one time.
RK: I think that they missed on two critical aspects for their attainable — not affordable — housing. The first one is who they’re targeting, because they put the income levels so high, the workforce that we meant to have these incentives for, the retail sales people, the restaurant worker, landscaper, doorman, firefighter, registered nurse, the public school teacher, those are all priced out. None of those occupations could afford what our attainable housing income goals are. The second bit — so one, we’re not targeting the right audience who we meant to do — The second one is the incentive that we gave to the developers are absolutely way too high. The fact that we are giving four times the density downtown and three times the density on the corridors, which will be a huge burden on our infrastructure if they’re successful. The amount of attainable housing that we’re getting for that is not in balance with what we’re receiving. So, what we’re giving up far outstrips the benefits that the city gets.
RL: In mid-July, the city commission ordered staff to prepare a lease with the Sarasota Players to use the Payne Park auditorium on revised terms. It will be renovated — but not expanded — for staff offices. Sarasota Players will develop a plan for a city-owned parcel at Laurel and South Washington, just outside the perimeter of Payne Park, to build a new large theatre. Alpert wanted the theatre in Payne Park. Kashden liked how things turned out.
RK: I was very pleased that the City Commission at the end decided that they would not entertain an additional structure being built within Payne Park, because separately from protecting the precious green space that we have along the city — which will be critical as we continue to grow — So protecting the existing downtown green space and the green space throughout the city, absolutely critical that the commission took the recommendation of having the additional structure outside of our park.
RL: Another hot button issue is what to do about the proposal to build a mammoth 327-foot, 18-story Obsidian tower, or 1260 North Palm Avenue Residences, on a tiny quarter-acre lot in downtown Sarasota. Kashden doesn’t go for it, and would vote it down, if elected a city commissioner.
RK: I think the obsidian is a perfect example of an incompatible structure. There is no doubt in my mind that the current plans for the obsidian is incompatible.
RL: We’ll give Liz Alpert the final word on how the Nov. 5th election should go:
LA: Our city has momentum and we are making it better every single day. We’re managing the growth positively. I will be working towards keeping that momentum going in our city. And the reason that’s happening is because of the initiatives and the programs that we’ve been doing.
RL: This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
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