Commentary 2014: The Year in Review

Many pivotal issues played out in Manatee County throughout 2014 and TBT was there to bring you coverage on all of them. Let's take a look at the local year in review.

2014 got off to a promising start when the Town of Longboat Key settled a permit challenge filed by our very own TBT publisher and 22-year Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash (later joined by Sierra Club Manatee/Sarasota), preventing the construction of a massive, concrete terminal groin at the northwestern most tip of Greer Island, which is home to a recreational area known to locals as Beer Can Island. The settlement effectively saved the popular local hangout, preserving it to be enjoyed by future generations of Florida boating and beach enthusiasts.

Local environmentalists joined the Manatee County farming community to keep a proposed deep well injection site at Piney Point at bay through 2014. Though the issue is far from settled, a broad array of citizens have made it clear that they are opposed to the controversial project and will stand up to prevent its implementation.

Despite overwhelming opposition to a proposed sales tax to fund the status quo on indigent health care in 2013, when a ballot referendum failed nearly 2-1, the county did little to address its dwindling funding sources. Efforts by some interests to fund an expensive and arguably self-serving study were shot down, as were efforts to put it back on the ballot this past November. Eventually, the board kicked it down the road with some short term funding, meaning we're sure to see it again in 2015.

Manatee County Commission Chair Larry Bustle continued to show his disdain for public input in 2014, attempting first to reduce time limits on public comment, before actually threatening to ban some members of the public from speaking at all. Of course the ridiculous notions went nowhere, but did serve to remind some activists how little some of their public representatives think of input from the very public that they ostensibly represent.

The Manatee County School District finally emerged from its enormous fiscal disasters. The district's sex scandal also finally played out with one administrator found guilty of a failure to report charge, while another entered a pre-trial diversion program and the employee at the center of it, former Manatee High Assistant Football Coach Rod Frazier, pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts of battery and three counts of interfering with school attendance in a deal he cut with prosecutors which would allow him to avoid serving jail time (the former Florida Gator and Pittsburgh Steelers running back got six months house arrest and three years probation).

The Manatee County Commission said goodbye to Michael Gallen who lost one of the closest elections in county history this August, and welcomed his successor, former Palmetto City Commissioner Charles Smith. Meanwhile, despite helping to bring fiscal credibility to the district, school board chair Julie Aranibar also lost her re-election effort and the board welcomed new member Mary Cantrell, the former director of MTI.

Coastal waters were back in local news, when a group of environmentalists took action against the City of Bradenton for allowing an administrative change to circumvent public input on what amounts to major density changes and wetland destruction. The city then found itself back in hot water with good government watchdogs when it failed to use a public process for a major development on its Riverwalk, which includes the relocation of a city park.

Though Manatee County citizens had celebrated at least a partial victory when approval of some of the applicant's request for the controversial Long Bar Pointe development on Manatee's coast of Sarasota Bay was said to have been dropped in an agreement between developers Carlos Beruff and Larry Lieberman and the county, the text amendment, which would have helped to allow for a marina and hotel on the environmentally-sensitive site, is now the subject of a lawsuit the developers have filed against the county.

There was lots of hand-wringing, political platitudes and an expensive report offered up in response to the Manatee County Animal Services scandal, though aside from some promises and superficial shuffling of administrators, animal activists saw little discernible change and remained vocally dissatisfied with the county's failed efforts to implement a successful no-kill policy or properly prevent future events like the one at Napier's Animal Sanctuary last year.

2015 is sure to bring more on these and other stories, so stay tuned into TBT to get the scoop on local issues. If you haven't already, sign up for our free bi-weekly email products or even daily summaries of our news stories. There's no better way to make sure you're getting the full story on important local matters – before it's too late to do something about them – than visiting our site often. Thanks for supporting us in 2014 and we look forward to serving you in the year to come.

Dennis Maley

Editor in Chief

The Bradenton Times