The election is over and attempts for a strong mayor and/or strong manager still languish. Still alive though, is a desire for leadership qualities now regarded as in short supply: accountability, a cohesive story, and vision. But here’s the thing: Cities with vision typically don’t do so because there is one, and only one, person with vision. Strong, visionary leaders need citizens and community leaders who are willing to be part of creating this vision together with others. So SRiQ thought we’d look at how a vision gets done, strong [...]

Sunshine laws are again in the news — this time related to an arts committee. Sunshine laws establish access rules for most meetings of boards, commissions and other state and local governing bodies, and cover things such as advance notice and rules for open (i.e., not secret) meetings. Each year, Florida updates the “Sunshine Manual,” which comes in at a whopping 352 pages. For the adult-onset ADD crowd, the City of Sarasota has a manual that covers things in two pages. Even with all the reams of stuff on sunshine policy, [...]

This post is dedicated to readers who didn’t pay attention in biology class except for the parts on human reproduction and tropical parasites. Actually, this post got started with all the beach closings we had this year. You know the drill: You go to the beach only to find a sign that says “No Swimming” because of something in Latin this or that. As it turns out, the “this or that” is bacteria found in feces, and the Health Department frowns upon people swimming in their own filth. But it’s [...]

In the tech world, project managers have a post-project meeting called a post mortem to step back and see what the hell happened. So that’s what SRiQ is going to do with the story we did about the intersection of Fruitville and Beneva Roads. To recap, the city of Sarasota received two bids for a piece of publicly-owned property at the corner of Beneva and Fruitville Road: one for $1.4 million-ish and another for $3 million. So naturally the city commission, working on behalf of the public and its land [...]

So we found a new site we LOVE and it’s called Chart Porn. It’s not porn, technically speaking, but seductive in a brainy-XXX kind of way. Indeed, Chart Porn is about information and data and graphs and charts and posters. Since we are in the era of “big data,” there are really only two ways to go about it: bore people to death with spreadsheets or make it into cartoons. Creative nerds stepped up, and cartoon it is. The explosion in art+data is mind-blowing. There are a couple of terms [...]

Yet another public debate is taking place where a degree in Early Childhood Education would be more useful than a Masters in Public Administration. The strong mayor-or-manager question is incredibly important, but one that is already mired in antics rather than substance. So SRiQ is taking a different approach. Clearly, each form of local government has its merits and drawbacks. So we decided to step back and look at what’s happening. What’s the Difference? – Small towns and really big cities usually have mayors, while middle-sized cities and counties have a [...]