Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/138828
FROM WHOLE FOODS TO TARGET Laurel Park's bungalows are practically next-door to some of Sarasota's high-rise condominium complexes. Photo by Norman Schimmel NEW URBANIST PLANNER ANDRES DUANY RETURNS TO THE 'SCENE OF THE CRIME' TO PROVIDE THE CURRENT CITY AND COUNTY COMMISSIONS AN UPDATE ON HIS VISION OF THE COMMUNITY By Stan Zimmerman City Editor It was a vintage Andreas Duany performance: present and the past. "I don't recognize a lot part bluster, part prescience and pure brass. of the things I said 12 years ago," he said, referring to his prior work on a master plan for "The older folks — the Baby Boomers — cannot retire in the suburbs. You can only survive downtown Sarasota. "In my field the present if you can drive. [The suburbs] are the future is almost irrelevant." slums. All those 'McMansions' are on the way THE POWER OF NIMBY down," he told a joint meeting of the Sarasota City and County commissions on June 19. "Not In My Backyard" is a phrase that strikes terror into the hearts of developers, planners Add to the non-driving Boomers the Millennial Generation that grew up in the suburbs. and politicians. The fury of organized and irate "The 'Millenials' don't want to live there, ei- neighbors is a force hard to ignore. "NIMBY is ther. What's hot are the cities; they both want a suspicion of growth," said Duany. "There is cities — the young and the old," said Duany. quite a good chance whatever the change is, "In the next 10 years, get set to thrive on this it will make their lives worse." piece of demographic good luck." "NIMBY is a rational position," he continued. Now one of the most recognized urban plan- "And it needs the kind of respect that allows ners of his era, Duany has problems with the growth to happen."