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To make it possible for a shelter to be built in the City of Sarasota, Patterson said, Marbut's reasoning for advocating that has to be com- municated to residents and business owners. "It needs to be told more," Patterson said. "It has been — six times," responded County Commissioner Joe Barbetta, referring to the number of public presentations Marbut has made about his proposal. Patterson said opponents of the shelter have to be brought into the conversation. "This is a problem of perception," Patterson pointed out. Many people have been proposing the shel- ter be built on "a farm somewhere east of [Interstate] 75 and the homeless raise tomatoes," Patterson added, which is not one of Marbut's suggestions. CLOSE TO SERVICES On Tuesday, Marbut told the county commis- sioners about operations of homeless shelters in Dallas and San Antonio that have led to reductions in the number of homeless people panhandling and living on the streets of those Texas cities. It was not a new message from Marbut, who is based in San Antonio. "Before it opened, there was a major prob- lem downtown," Marbut said of the Dallas facility. "You can go to downtown Dallas and see virtually no homeless; you can just go and see it." An aerial view shows equipment and vehicles at the 1330 N. Osprey Ave. site. Image from Google Maps Sarasota News Leader May 23, 2014 Page 46