I am very excited about the future of Stuart.
Today’s world is entering a phase where cities are once again becoming the prime economic and cultural centers they had historically been.
But I must tell you
I have always been a city person.
I was born and raised in New York. I went to school at both Fordham and NYU. Which are quintessential big city universities.
My career as an owner, broker and manager of commercial real estate was primarily in New York and other cities. I still am a partner in businesses New York.
When I go on vacations I usually gravitate toward seeing cities.
I love cities.
Cities are alive… They breathe… … They have a soul.
Jaime Lerner the ex-Governor of the Brazilian state of Parana, a noted city planner and architect wrote that:
“ A city grows like an organism. It is a structure for living and working together..it is a mix of functions.”
Stuart celebrated its hundredth anniversary in 2014. I was honored to be Chairman of the city’s Centennial Committee.
From Stuart’s very inception it was the economic center of the area. Stuart continued to thrive through and after the 2nd World War.
Then as most cities in America… there was a decline in Stuart’s fortune. But the city survived the doldrums of the mid to late 20th century. This was when American downtowns were hollowed out to make way for malls and strip centers.
Small, medium and large cities were left to wither while America fell in love with the car and the suburb. We were fortunate that the bulldozers never made it to Flagler and Osceola Streets. Stuart still had bones if not much meat on its body.
Urban pioneers such as Peter and Joan Jefferson began to re-imagine a downtown where people lived, worked and shopped. The citizens finally realized that to quote Lerner once more “Cities are not problems. They are solutions.”
Today the City of Stuart is the soul and the center of our county. It is the downtown for 250,000 people on the Treasure Coast.
What would I like to see moving forward… is to encourage more development such as what is going to occur on the Triangle property.
A three story building will arise there with 49 new 1, 2 and 3 bedroom rentals. It will be self-parked with a pool, rec center and public areas. This is the first new residential building in downtown in the past 12 years.
Those new residents will be able to walk to shopping and dining.
This development will spark a resurgence of that entire corridor along Dixie Highway.
It will encourage the establishment of new businesses and jobs to serve our new residents.
If we are ever to stop being a Potemkin Downtown a critical mass of residents must call the area home.
By having more residents our micro-transit system can really develop into more than a novelty.
It can actually move people to work and play first within the downtown area but ultimately encompassing the city.
Imagine an opportunity that a resident or guest will have to leave their car behind and enjoy another glass of wine at dinner before returning home.
Seniors would be able to visit their doctors, eat lunch and shop without worrying about driving. More would be able to age in place in the condos of East Ocean and Palm City Road.
Teenagers will have a way to move around the city from school to a job or a friend’s house without a parent playing chauffer.
I want to encourage a place where our grown children can raise their families and not feel they need to move to do so.
Where jobs and businesses want to be located. .
Government in order to attract businesses can keep its taxes low, provide good infrastructure and schools and stream line the approval process.
Stuart is never going to attract a company with hundreds of jobs. We don’t have the physical space to accommodate that.
Further the economy’s growth especially for cities our size is in the formation of new businesses.
We have a good quality of life in Martin County and Stuart. This should attract the very people who will look to open businesses
Entrepreneurship is where we should be looking to grow those jobs and opportunity.
To quote another Republican, …Governor John Kasich, …“You know where Entrepreneurship in my opinion has to go? Into the cities”.
I concur.
I would like to see our community center on 10th street become a better place for recreation for the entire city but also as an economic driver with new fields and infrastructure added specifically to encouraging travel leagues, Babe Ruth and Little League somewhere to play and hold their tournaments there.
We could then use this as one more reason for people to visit Stuart and Martin County.
Once we have accomplished 10th street, The nine acres at Sailfish should be looked at for private redevelopment.
Stuart can create a new neighborhood for increased residents and businesses. Millions in new taxes will become available to Stuart, Martin County and Florida.
The city is built out. Only through infill and through annexation can we grow our population, provide better services for all and enlarge our economy.
We are an ideal location to attract young families and seniors by making our city walkable and through the smart use of mass transit.
But a city of our size needs to have an integration of work, residency and culture to be successful.
In my opinion the biggest mistake of city planners for the past 100 years has been the bifurcation of those three things.
They form a three legged stool that supply the balance necessary to have a successful modern 21st century municipality.
I am adamant that we can accomplish all of this without losing our “ Old Florida Feel” or our height restrictions. This is what makes Stuart…Stuart.
But we cannot live in the past and pretend that change will not occur. For if there is one constant it is change.
Our City government and citizens will have to guide that change and use it to shape our future in a way we want instead of outside forces.
Stuart can be all of this if we can get out of our own way.
For far too long staff, the commission and to some extent residents felt that they could dictate to the market. That is why the NorthPoint property has been a failure for ten years and counting.
I am hoping going forward that we finally first qualify the developer and then speak about the project they propose instead of the other way around. This is what we did at the Triangle and it worked.
Government needs to stop trying to tell a private developer what should be built…even if we own the land.
For some time we have insisted that a hotel needs to be built in downtown. We have drawn plans… We have continued to wish and dream and cajole…all to no avail.
The free market should decide and if the market ever decides to build a hotel in our downtown….guess what…it will be built.
I want to leave you with two quotes from a couple of Greeks:
First: “A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one”. That was said by Aristotle
Second: The City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.” Plato
Thank you.