Kelly Franklin and Ron Kashden are recognized for their preservation efforts.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: March 25, 2026
Host: When it comes to City of Sarasota development and politics, Kelly Franklin and Ron Kashden are a force. The partners in life and in politics got some recognition this weekend. Gretchen Cochran reports.
Gretchen Cochran: Kelly Franklin spoke for her husband Ron Kashden March 21, accepting their Control Growth Now “Citizens of the Year” award. To a filled to capacity crowd at Mattison’s 41 in Sarasota, she quoted her trapeze teacher:
Ron Kashden, Dan Lobeck, and Kelly Franklin. Photo by Elaine Allen Emrich
“Having fun is what values the journey,” she said.
Kashden ran—unsuccessfully—for the Sarasota City Commission in 2024 against incumbent Liz Alpert. He is a CPA and a data guy, and Franklin is a former publishing executive, so they know numbers are important but can be mind-numbing. They created for the audience a series of graphics depicting the many causes they’ve championed: from preserving downtown Sarasota’s Payne Park and the heritage oak trees in Selby Gardens to the preservation of the park in St. Armand’s Circle and the historic Van Wezel performance hall.
Kashden has also taken the lead in trying to replace or shut down a controversial concrete crushing plant near downtown Sarasota.
Control Growth Now—led by condo association lawyer Dan Lobeck—has lobbied for 37 years for development around the environment, not paving over it, mobility of all forms and other sustainable mechanisms of land use planning.
Attending the event were Sarasota City Commission candidates John Harshman, Flo Entler and incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch; Venice Commission candidate Rachel Frank, North Port city commission candidate Ludmilla Dunkirk, as well as county commission incumbent Joe Neunder and Florida Senate candidate Vic Rohe.
For WSLR News, this is Gretchen Cochran.
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