Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/96141
Sarasota News Leader November 30, 2012 Barwin even offered a recent example of how counterproductive it is to besmirch a litigant. City Commissioner Terry Turner "shot the messenger" in a public records lawsuit, costing the city an extra $5,000 before the issue was settled. Clearly, Barwin did not learn from the experience. Page 22 "I rocked the boats and some big boats rocked back." Services for the homeless and vagrants in the City and County of Sarasota are woeful in comparison to those in Manatee and Pinellas counties to the north. When Martin took his Ten-Year Plan before the city and county commissions, they applauded his efforts and turned him down flat for any funding. Meanwhile, in Manatee County, on 17th Avenue West near McKechnie Field, the "One Stop Center" is staffed by volunteers to Early in Barwin's tenure, which began in Sep- help the homeless with food, clothing, edutember, he and Barfield tried to find common cation, training, health care and other needs. ground to defend the constitutional rights of homeless people while enhancing the safety And the center helps people on the verge of and security of residents downtown. The ne- homelessness to keep their housing if they face foreclosure or eviction. A major part of gotiations obviously went nowhere. the organization's budget assists people in paying their monthly rent. AND GETTING WORSE In what could be a long-running Barwin-Barfield battle, Barfield came back to City Hall later and asked for a bevy of the new city manager's emails under Florida's Public Records Law. While the legal and bureaucratic bum-fight- "People come here to eat because it saves the money they need to pay ing continues, the plight the rent," said Adell Erozof Sarasota's homeless er, the center's director. will worsen. Their only publicly visible chamSarasota's needs are pion was former Mayor just as great, but the asRichard Martin. He was sistance is fragmentthe director of the Suned. Without Martin, and coast Coalition to End without any plan to move Homelessness and the forward, it looks like architect of the recently only more bum-fighting approved Ten-Year Plan lies ahead. Yet, a pair of to End Homelessness. studies in 2010 identified Note the past tense. Mar1,829 homeless children City Manager Tom Barwin addresstin had to leave the job. "I in Manatee County and es the board during his first City was asked to step down," 1,425 homeless children Commission meeting in September. he told the News Leader. Photo by Norman Schimmel in Sarasota County. %