Sarasota County government needs to be more supportive to local business

Ian Black

My last blog, April 19, 2010, waxed lryically about my perceived paradigm shift in the attitude of our bureaucracy towards bringing good businesses into the region. This has raised some comment from those who feel that these very same government entities are not making a similar effort to support existing businesses in our community during “The Great Recession”.  The finest example and probably the “poster child” for how the officials are not supporting local businesses is the case of Charlie McCleod and his travails.

There have been other rumblings of dissatisfaction from some of those within the Sarasota business community who feel that the typical bureaucratic stuff is still alive and well. This is frustrating business owners and is hampering the efforts of our Economic Development Corporation to help existing businesses in our area  survive these difficult times.

We need to continue our efforts to encourage our government officials/public servants to create a business friendly environment for new and established organizations in our community.  The recent reports of our County employees’ apparent bending of rules ,vis-a-vis, awarding of contracts, is also cause for concern.

Hopefully, one day we can all be dealing from the same deck.