I am not self-appointed. On the contrary, I was appointed by the Longboat Key commission in 2003 to serve on a committee to study the need for a community center. At that time, the commission took this action because they had been presented with a petition, which contained 850 signatures from citizens wanting a community center. After over a year of research and study, the committee found that there was indeed a desire by many Longboat citizens to have a new facility. I’m sure you are very comfortable with your cosey (sic) life and have no needs but there is still a desire by many to have a place to gather and take part in activities that enrich our lives while meeting our neighbors in a social way. The community center will not be used by everyone.

Updated Jan. 20, 2012. I’d like to respond to Tom Burgum’s column (“Hatin’ on Tebow and other things hard to understand,” Jan. 13, 2012) on his wondering why there are so many people who dislike Tim Tebow’s religious fervor on the football field. I can only reply for myself in this regard…

Updated Dec. 31, 2011. Suburban DAS antenna placement is affected by several variables. Alcatel-Lucent states that between eight and 12 LightRadio cubes will be required to provide the equivalent cellular coverage of a tall cell tower, depending on terrain and foliage. As has been described in several design documents provided to the town by Next-G, ExtaNet and Public Wireless, distributed antennas are usually located on utility poles in the right-of-way. Where there are no existing utility poles, appropriate lighting poles are installed where needed. LightRadio is a next generation DAS implementation. Newer technologies have enabled Alcatel-Lucent to introduce cost savings into their DAS design that make LightRadio less expensive for the carriers to install and operate than traditional tall cell towers.

Updated Nov. 26, 2011. There are some misunderstandings about the cause of inadequate signal strength for reliable cell phone reception in some cases. I believe this results from an assumption that all cell phones are more or less equivalent in capability. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Updated Oct. 28, 2011. After reading the story in both the Longboat Observer and the Longboat Key News, I must conclude that Chief Hogle did absolutely the right thing in immediately suspending Ms. Simpson until the HR people could decide in consultation an appropriate next step. The Chief used a professional member of the police staff who is trained to handle investigations and get to the truth, and then he made an immediate decision based on his extensive management experience rather than pass the problem onto the new-coming town manager. It is an internal town management problem that (overpaid) St. Denis should have handled years ago.

Updated Oct. 3, 2011. It does feel as if this had been planned by some of the commissioners. How could someone leave his job in such a short time? Why would he? Of course, since we don’t know him, we don’t know if he is the best for the job, but someone rushed this through believing he is. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

Updated Aug. 26, 2011. I would like to suggest that the topic of how we might be able to integrate some Code Enforcement responsibilities into the day-to-day activities of the Longboat Key Police Department be made an agenda item for an upcoming commission workshop. As you know several months ago you and I discussed this concept as a cost-cutting measure. Recently, this topic was raised again in an email from John D. Wild…

Updated July 29, 2011. My family and I and our dog spend the month of February on Longboat Key every year. It has always been very difficult to find a place to exercise her because dogs are not allowed on the beach. Longboat Key is the only place we travel to that has this prohibition. We would greatly appreciate…

As you requested, the town attorney’s office researched the current state laws governing the issue surrounding the town’s regulations on the definition of “family” and how the town can control the number of unrelated people who can live in one place of residence. The research indicates that the town is within the legal boundaries if it chooses to reduce the number from no more than four unrelated individuals to no more than three unrelated individuals…

Updated May 27, 2011. I’m having a hard time figuring the logic here and maybe you can help. The town is facing a potential pension liability of millions of dollars and a beach nourishment liability of some $40 to $50 million, and now you are contemplating a community center for some $5 to $7 million?