After all the hoopla leading up to it, Election Night turned out to be a rapid-fire affair in terms of learning who won and who lost. Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent and her staff released the early voting and absentee numbers at 7 p.m. on May 14 and posted the final results 15 minutes later in what Dent described as “record time” for a city election.

With less than a week remaining in the hotly-contested campaign for the two at-large Sarasota City Commission seats, the debate between candidate supporters is running at a fever pitch, with emails flying, online debates raging and allegations of campaign improprieties contributing to the last-minute political maneuvering leading up to the May 14 election.

After months of campaign events, media interaction, verbal exchanges and additional input from political and financial supporters, city residents will soon learn which of the three remaining Sarasota City Commission candidates will claim the two coveted at-large city commission seats. The one-week early voting period begins Saturday, May 3.

The city’s new anti-panhandling ordinance has generated a lot of commentary and criticism in the local community and may face legal challenges from the local chapter of the ACLU. In an effort to better understand the intent and ramifications of the ordinance, Joe Hendricks contacted Sarasota City Attorney Bob Fournier via email to get his thoughts.

“Find a need and fill it.” That is the entrepreneurial motto of WhereWillWeGoTonight.com founder Don McKeon, who in 2009 turned his love of local music into a website designed to answer the age-old question of “where should we go” that arises when folks contemplate a night on the town.

Once upon a time, back in the mid-2000s, Joe Hendricks wrote a series of columns for The Sanford Herald. Flash forward to April 2013. With the Sarasota Film Fest, the city commission run-off and arts and cultural experiences to be had around every corner, we thought it would be a good time to bring back “Joe on the Go.”