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Page 14 Friday, August 6, 2010 Longboat Key News Cortez Bait & Seafood Fresher than Fresh! Local Florida Seafood Oysters • Shrimp • Clams Fish Spread • Smoked Mullet Tues-Sat: 10 AM to 6 PM • Sun-Mon: 11AM to 6 PM Located 2 blocks south of Cortez Road 941.794.1547 CortezSeafoodMarket.com 4528 119th St. West, Cortez KitchensByKerrie.net 996 Laguna Dr. Suite B Venice, FL 34285 (941) 993-7455 941.993.7455 www.KitchensByKerrie.net A woman who knows her way around a kitchen! Remodel • Design Captain Wayne Genthner 941-720-4418 WOLFMOUTH CHARTERS Longboat’s favorite charter boat! Family friendly fishing, wildlife touring, sunset cruising. www.wolfmouthcharters.com FREE Design Consultation and Estimate Trademark Pavers 552-9890 Specializing in: Custom Driveways • Patios • Pool Decks Gardens & Retaining Walls Walkways • And Other Hardscapes 4141 S. Tamiami Trail (in Chili’s Plaza) • Sarasota Licensed • Insured Commercial • Residential Catch all the latest news at lbknews.com Bring this ad in and receive a 10% discount on your puchase! Remember the silliness over the ‘Case of the Amputated Shamrock Sign?’ Do you remember how the stern fist of the law came crashing down on Lynches Landing and saved us all from the dangers posed by a sign that happened to hang over the property line by a couple of inches? Remember how the enforcers rescued us from the danger of being attacked and maybe eaten by that wayward restaurant sign? First, thank heaven a piece of the sign was removed, causing widespread and embarrassing publicity for the town. Then the business left town altogether, leaving us behind with one less amenity and another loss to our tax base. But the law was upheld to the letter and our community had been saved from its peril. How grand it was! “The minute you read something that you can’t understand, you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer.” Will Rogers “…the law is a ass—a idiot…” Charles Dickens, “Oliver Twist” Let us then be grateful to our current crop of commissioners. If I have mocked these politicians in the past, I must also salute them now.They have almost unani- mously voted to overcome an undesir- able reputation and sweep much of the nonsense away. They have sent a signal to the world: Yes, our town really can be progressive and concerned, wise and aware after all. It can be forward-looking and willing to do what is necessary to keep us from being known for obstinacy and decay—to consider what can be ben- eficial to the community at large. The commissioners have been willing to stick their own necks out and untie us from unfortunate precedents that were hung like an anvil around the neck of a drowning man. Despite the protests of some resident and/or nonresident dino- saurs, they have proved that elected officials don’t need to be forever handi- capped by the unwitting errors of their predecessors. The commissioners really do know how to correct old mistakes and move forward. Acting with all due deliberation and in less haste than some of us might have preferred, our perceptive legislators have wisely tossed away some outdated notions. They have understood that yes- terday often has a short shelf life and that tomorrow must be reckoned with before the future turns into a day too late. They have issued an invitation to progressive people who may want to come to our town, improve it and call it home. Alas, not everyone seems to understand the importance of that signal. Some still go around demanding to “Keep Longboat Longboat!” Who knows what they think they are saying? But hey, folks, if you are a member of that group, here’s some news for you: Longboat ain’t Longboat any more. Not by a long shot. And it’s becom- ing less so every day. What is needed now is action to turn Longboat back into Longboat—back into the pretty but vibrant place that it used to be. A place with more good shops, more fine restaurants, more evening entertain- ments than we see now. A place with amenities that attracted so many of us to town. A town that we fell in love with— where we bought properties and put down roots. Not Miami Beach, but also not a moribund community where the sidewalks were rolled up at sundown (at least, where there were sidewalks) and people sat around waiting to die for lack of anything better to do. So much is gone, and so much more is going. Our commissioners have finally acted to save us from that. If the Key Club project succeeds, it could be a great start. But no. Instead, let’s go to court. “The trouble with law is lawyers.” Clarence Darrow “I don’t think you can make a lawyer honest by an act of legislature. You’ve got to work on his conscience. And his lack of conscience is what makes him a lawyer.” Will Rogers Some people are taking us all to court for a fight that will undoubtedly cost us all some money while delaying—if not destroying—that very thing that needs to be done. Many of the opponents of progress and restoration, though Longboat prop- erty owners, are actually not residents; many of them spend no more than two or three months in their condos on the island and spend most of their time and money elsewhere. So what is their complaint? That they may lose another two minutes in some traffic that they imagine will be generat- ed on a few occasions during the winter (most of them are not here in the sum- mer)? They will be delayed a bit as they wait to drive out of the town and spend money to support businesses in the next community instead of supporting the town that supports them and protects their property? Their lawyers contend that they have a special right to take those fears to court, because they own condos closer than others to the Key Club project. Why are there no special rights for the people who own homes or condos closer to the commercial properties and businesses that are suffering and will continue to suffer because of opposition to an enter- prise that would benefit the greater com- munity, opponents included? I hope that the judge will ask their lawyers that one. “The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.” Jeremy Bentham “It is an honorable calling that you have chosen. Some of you will soon be defending poor, helpless insurance com- panies who are constantly being sued by greedy, vicious widows and orphans trying to collect on their policies. Others will work tirelessly to protect frightened, beleaguered oil companies from being attacked by depraved consumer groups.” Art Buchwald, commencement address, Tulane University School of Law And where is our democracy if the Key Club wins the support of the people and then loses on technicalities in a court- room? I was taught that true democrats (not the kind of Democrat officials who will pour castor oil down the throats of the people whether the people want it or not, but real lowercase “d” democrats) listened to the needs and desires of the public and looked for wise and effective ways to turn them into realities. Democracy was invented by the Greeks. Its name comes from two Greek words meaning that the people rule. Yes, we need courts, judges and lawyers. We need them to protect the rights of the people. We need government to protect the rights of the people. But we need them to listen to the people too. In creating law and enforcing law, the legislators, lawyers and judges must apply wisdom and consider realities as well as technicalities. We all remember the local government that seized homes by right of eminent domain—with the blessings of the U.S. Supreme Court—and turned them over to a corporation to build a high-tax project…that never got built. The homeowners were dispossessed, the project sent kaput and the land remained vacant. The law said it could be done. And it was done. Where was the wisdom then? We hope that there will be more wis- dom than that in the courthouse when we next go there to argue the Key Club project all over again. “In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.” John Adams “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” William Shakespeare, “King Henry VI, Part 2” Longboat ain’t Longboat any more Estrin, from page 8
