I was asked yesterday why I was running for Stuart City Commission. The simple answer is I believe that the city is at a tipping point. If we are not careful, we will cease to be a successful municipality. Our downtown has made impressive improvement in the past 25 years in attracting shops and restaurants. But a downtown needs to be more than a block or two of business establishments or it becomes just another outdoor mall.

To be vibrant and sustainable, a downtown needs to attract residents and the infrastructure to support that population. We are at that point today. Too often, city governments believe that a few boutique stores or restaurants alone are enough to be self-sustaining. If the patrons, owners and employees of the mercantile live elsewhere, then it is a Potemkin village and not a true living city. You need the vitality that is only possible by a concentration of residents being there 24 hours a day.

The key to this organic development is not the “one off” of the proposed Northpoint hotel. It is the un-glamorous building of needed housing throughout the CRA for the patrons, owners and employees of the city’s businesses. The housing stock has to be for all population segments which include both rentals and condos. Incorporated with that residential development is the need for retail so that businesses catering to the increasing population can shop for everyday necessities. While not to be ignored, the need for new office space will be less and less as more and more of us work from home.

Without increased population, the city cannot maintain enough of a tax base to continue to provide services even to its current residents. However, it is important that while seeking new residents, jobs and businesses, we do not lose sight of our “Old Florida” charm and livability. There is absolutely no need to go above the current 4-story height limit or have buildings with architectural styles more suited to Boca than here. The only people who believe that new development is an either/or choice are those that lack imagination. Stuart has a well-established reputation and life style that I will fight to keep while allowing for growth.

We should not look for the “single project or developer” concept so ingrained in many of us. Anything that will be sustainable and successful will require more than any one person or project can accomplish. That is why I pledge, if elected, to work with my fellow commissioners and all stakeholders to not only have growth but to do so in a manner in which we will not lose all that is special and unique to us.