A sampler of Civics 101 voices

Please see the first post below for a brief introduction. Over the 10 weeks in Fall 2010 our group heard from many specialists across the spectrum of Sarasota County services and facilities. Part of the fun was picking up odd facts and useful tips from those best in a position to offer them. Here are a few:

Liz Klaber, Deputy Tax Collector: An early Florida flag offered the welcoming motto: "Let Us Alone."

Karen Rushing, Clerk of the Court: The County Court handles almost 12,000 cases a year - "the largest percentage used to be divorce -- now it's foreclosures."

Bill Furst, Property Appraiser: "Look at your home's square footage - you could be overassessed."

Tezra Felix, Web services: "A Sarasota County FaceBook site is in development."

Scott Montgomery, Emergency Rescue: 206 neighborhoods have completed the Neighborhood Homeowners Disaster Plan.

911 Center: The first 911 line in the U.S. went live in 1968 - in Alabama. Sarasota's first 911 service started in 1985.

Sarah Blanchard, transportation: The per-passenger cost of a SCAT trip in 2009 was $4.76.

John McCarthy, Parks & Rec: Parks can be a  key driver of economic development.

Theresa Connor, Environmental Services: 

• There are 106,000 acres of contiguous protected lands from the Gulf to the Peace River in Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte counties.

• The Harvard Business Review says sustainability will drive us out of the recession.

• Bio-mimicry: studying natural systems then imitating them. E.g., learning from butterflies how wings can be self-cleaning.

Tom Franklin, Environmental services: 

• The first known law about garbage is traced to ancient Athens, around 500 BC - garbage could not be disposed of within one mile of the city.

• 190,000 tons of garbage were buried in 2009 in Sarasota County -- down from the peak of the economy, which saw and buried 270,000 tons. 

• 18% of garbage is food waste.

Jack Merriam, Environmental Manager: 38% of US fresh water is used in power plants; 39% is used in agriculture.

That's a small sampling of the range of topics, interests, and concerns raised in the first five sessions.

Repeatedly a number of the speakers offered to speak to homeowners' associations, and to work with them on projects. One exceptional form of help is the Sarasota Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team, or NEST. They'll work with neighborhoods who wish to remove invasive plants, mark stormwater drains, do plant surveys, monitor bodies of fresh or salt water.

To reach any department or agency in the county, call 861-5000.

(Note: These are from notes taken on the fly - if there are factual errors, they are almost certainly the inadvertent result of this blogger's error, rather than of the speakers.)