Lyons: Biter case for mayor weak

Following an exchange on Facebook where Biter said that “‘This death by committee is killing our city,” Sarasota Herald Tribune columnist, Tom Lyons, argues that Biter was attracted to Sarasota for the very reasons he is now pushing against:

I’d suggest the reason he liked Sarasota so much was, in no small part, because rules had kept it from becoming the congested, ugly mess many developers would have happily created if allowed.

Lyons also criticizes Biter’s push to replace the current five city commissioners with a single, elected, mayor:

Since Biter has not been able to get his way with the commission on some things, he naturally wishes that, when he wants to change some density rule or other city code, he shouldn’t have to convince three out of five commissioners. He’d rather just have to persuade one mayor. And Biter already tried putting money behind a commission candidate he thought might tip the commission votes his way, but his candidate didn’t win.