The neighborhood organizer and city activist seeks one of two at-large seats.
By Noah Bookstein
Original Air Date: June 10, 2026
Host: Flo Entler has a history as a neighborhood organizer and in city activism. Now, she wants to join the city commission to strengthen the neighborhood faction on the dais. Noah Bookstein brings you this profile.
Noah Bookstein: Flo Entler has lived in Sarasota for 37 years. She’s a fitness instructor, marathon runner and, for the last decade, a fixture at city hall.
Flo Entler
Flo Entler: I’ve been showing up at city hall for over a decade speaking at commission meetings, planning board meetings, parks and rec meetings, historic preservation and public arts committee, to name a few. Going to bat on local issues such as flooding, traffic, noise, safety, affordability and parks—the everyday issues that affect our quality of life.
NB: Now, Entler is running for City Commission.
FE: I feel like residents’ voices have been stifled over the last few years, so I’m running to give the residents back a voice in city hall.
NB: On development and density bonuses, Sarasota had been letting developers build at dramatically higher densities. Flo said the city gave away too much and got too little back.
FE: We’re building too much and too fast in Sarasota. Part of that, I think, was the corridor zoning that we did. Everywhere else gave double density to the developers for 25% affordable housing, and we ended up giving four times the density and getting basically 11% of affordable housing. That’s one of the things I’d like to roll back with a simple zoning text amendment. We can make those changes. There was too much of a giveaway to the developers at the detriment of adjacent neighbourhoods.
NB: She said there are also flaws with the administrative-only review process for developments downtown.
FE: Administrative approval only works if our zoning codes are perfect, and they’re not because developers find loopholes all the time. Look at the Obsidian. I would like to work with staff to tighten up any loopholes, and I would like to put the residents’ voice back in the process.
NB: On downtown parking, Entler recognized there’s a history of going back and forth with parking meters, but she’s tired of the runaround.
FE: We put meters on Main Street. It was 1942. We put 160 meters. A few months later, they were taken away because the merchants were unhappy. We’ve been doing this dance for over 70 years because parking is an enterprise fund, and it’s supposed to pay for itself, and it does not. I know metered parking is good because the people that park are paying for parking. Free parking, we all pay for. But I know the merchants are not happy with the paid parking because they don’t get the turnover, and they’re also in competition with Lakewood Ranch, UTC, Waterside that have free parking. What I see happening is the departments are working unilaterally. They’re not working together because one department’s trying to get fully funded and then another department’s taking away how they’re getting their funding. It’s never going to pay for itself. Let’s get this right once and for all.
NB: On housing, even when affordable units do get built, Flo said the city is aiming at the wrong target.
FE: We gave away density for affordable housing, and the formula we’re using is not working, because 120% AMI—annual median income—100% annual median income and 80% AMI—that’s what we target: a third in each of those buckets. Someone making 120% AMI—we’re targeting somebody making six figures, and I don’t think that we should be supplementing somebody making six figures. Somebody making $50,000 a year falls into the 60% AMI bracket. We are not fixing the problem. We need to rework the map, we need to talk to the right developers—because there are developers that do build affordable housing—and we need to fix this problem because we haven’t fixed it.
NB: Entler chaired the CCNA Protect Our Parks Committee and supports both rezoning parks and redistricting parks so that they can have their own funding source.
FE: I care deeply about parks, green space and trees, and it’s sad to see what’s happening at the bay front—losing 30 mature grand oak trees for the replacement of seawalls. Let’s protect our parks, let’s protect our green spaces, and let’s protect our trees.
I recently saved a 230-year-old grand oak tree from a developer’s axe in my neighborhood. We had a bunch of neighbors working, city staff. Commissioner Jen was on that journey with us. I met with the developer. I met with some environmental people. With a little bit of guilt, we were able to save that beautiful tree. And it is a magnificent tree.
NB: Entler said she wants to be on the commission to continue fighting for livability in Sarasota.
FE: As an athlete and a marathoner, my campaign is based on running a lap: livability, accountability and public good. Livability, meaning asking every single time, “Does this make our neighbourhood safer, greener, more walkable, more affordable?”
NB: For WSLR News, Noah Bookstein.
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