Most of us, including myself, have an innate fear of the new. We look to the past as if life were better “then”. People were nicer, the grass was greener and there was a certainty of right which we see as missing in the present. How it was is usually seen through the prism of nostalgia without the facts and basis of reality. As R. A. Salvatore wrote in one of his books, “How many people long ‘for that past, simpler, and better world’, I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?”

Fearing the new, while natural, is limiting if we allow that fear to stop us from obtaining our rightful and true future. Time does not stop. The future will become the present in a second and then the past a second later. By inclination and training, I believe in the study of history. To quote Shakespeare, “What is past is prologue.” We should be cognizant of our past but not dwell within it. Life is not static; it is dynamic. Good or bad, our future depends on seeing clearly and acting in the present so as not to be consigned to a doubtful and unsustainable future. The continuation of Stuart as a city is not pre-ordained. To have a future, Stuart must work and plan to achieve it.

Martin County and Stuart are at a crossroad. Some would take us headlong into a future that looks like 1960’s American sprawl with one story shopping centers and dwelling upon dwelling on one acre plots, without care or thought to the roads and other infrastructure needed. This type of development leads to a devastation of our environment and a banality of our souls. The United States no longer looks like the Brady Bunch family and never really did.

Another faction would bury us in a past that was adequate for a city and county of 30, 40 or 50 years ago. This was a supposed idyllic time, where everyone was content and and the kids all played baseball in our parks. There were 60 distinct businesses in East Stuart and downtown had a Rexall and department store. But in truth, those businesses in East Stuart were products of segregation and shopping downtown with limited choices was more a chore than a pleasure.

Both those visions of the future are shaded by a past that was not idyllic. We cannot build a future on a history that never was. We have to learn from the factual past. Residents must recognize the social, fiscal and technological realities of today in order to take us to our rightful tomorrow.  That tomorrow should be sustainable and affordable for our county, city and …. our children.

We can remember our past and build upon it but not to the exclusion of the steps necessary to have a future. Martin County cannot afford to have no growth. The growth can occur within the Urban Service Boundary by doing infill development and repurposing old one story commercial and residential structures. Stuart needs to increase population and become geographically larger. The number of current residents cannot afford to sustain the operations of the city. We need growth, and we can do so without sacrificing our Florida charm or heritage.

Our county, and especially Stuart, will not look the same in coming decades. As a community and government, we can either have a modicum of control or abdicate our responsibilities for a viable future. I believe in a Stuart and Martin County where people will be able and want to visit and live. A place where there are jobs and opportunity. Those things cannot be accomplished by wishing for a past that we think we remember. We cannot afford to base our future on nostalgia or unrealistic economic dreams.