Lisa Nisenson has inspired thread upon thread of community discussions about Sarasota and city planning through our SRiQ column. And she’s not even close to finished yet. Join Lisa on an upcoming conversations series on what good planning looks like, and how we make it happen.

We here at SRiQ just can’t get enough of Walmart. Sure, they’re an easy target, but it’s one with hard lessons for Sarasota and how we think about development. There are too many conversations that take place in hushed tones: “Ssshhhh — traffic.” ”What … ssshhh, how many stories?” “Don’t say the ‘D’ word or people will get upset … sshhhhh.” Well, we are gonna take these on, because we can either talk about hard planning issues or get rolled by ‘em. And Walmart just rolled into town. So, let’s start [...]

The uproar over use of Five Points Park was not just a protest. It will prove to be a turning point in our city. So, you are asking, how could just one event like the Harvey Milk Festival become a pivotal point in the city’s history? The answer is not that it took one event, but rather years of pressure and confusion over how cities work. Sarasota (both the city and county) now finds itself in an awkward adolescent stage between a 1980s model of suburbia to a functioning urban [...]