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the Planning Board in 2007 when it approved Garner's plans 4-0 (with one member absent). If Snyder and two other city commissioners say "Yes" on Monday night, the project will set an endurance record from inception to approval. NEW BUSINESS, WHOLESALE Several touchy items appear at the end of the agenda under "New Business." One is a "crys- tal ball analysis" of business futures in four retail areas: downtown, St. Armands Circle, the Rosemary District, and the commercial strip along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Robert Gibbs, a national expert on retail, will present boilerplate recommendations for all four areas, saying they need to recruit new businesses, improve facades and window dis- plays (perhaps through a revolving loan fund), use new signage and adopt a "sunset" provi- sion requiring existing businesses to adopt the storefront, signage and awning "design standards" within five years of the new code's implementation. Gibbs' study contains a wealth of informa- tion about local housing profiles, household incomes, vacancy rates, rent per square foot and real estate sales of office and commercial properties. His most morbid observation concerns tour- ism in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Way corridor. "Creating an effective strat- egy for attracting tourism through historical significance or alternative experiences in comparison to existing commercial areas has the potential to appeal to a number of the county's annual visitors," he wrote on Page 237 of his report. A pair of British tourists was killed during their visit to the Newtown area in 2012. That tragedy could have been on the mind of Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino's when she added a new item to the agenda. She will propose limiting business hours and overnight parking along the MLK Way busi- ness corridor. "Businesses located in the Newtown business district should have set prohibited hours of operation from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m." DiPino says in a memo to City Manager Barwin. "Additionally we request parking restric- tions along Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to coincide with the proposed prohibited hours of operation." An audit and a news story are also on the New Business agenda. Commissioner Snyder wants to talk about the Sarasota Police Department's voluntary de-certification, fol- lowing discovery of procedural lapses in 2012 (before DiPino's arrival). Last month, the police chief notified Barwin that she was ask- ing that the department be de-listed, adding that she would pursue recertification. Unfortunately, neither Barwin nor DiPino notified the City Commission or the city's Independent Police Policy Panel. In a short interview, Barwin told The Sarasota News Leader he personally apologizes to both groups for failure to keep them informed. The police panel met July 11; three days, later the story broke in the daily newspaper. Finally, an unflattering audit of the city's Information Technology Department was made available, dated June 15. Vice Mayor Susan Chapman asked that it be put under New Business on the July 21 agenda. (See the related story in this issue). % Sarasota News Leader July 18, 2014 Page 34