From the mid-rise Klauber ran the operation like a benevolent dictator with his Sperry Topsiders, snug white shorts and shirts that even a Fauvist on LSD could not envision.

We are right now the land of two divine spectacles: The Town Commission election and the approval of the St. Regis Hotel and Residences. This past week was especially exciting since at long last a new vision was approved to replace the morbid and moribund Colony Beach & Tennis Resort.

We never seem to replace the little Commission nametags in Town Hall — we just store them in a closet, dust them off and bring them out every couple years.

Why should residents today want to approve a Charter change that effectively votes the voter out of future decisions, especially when those decisions will lead to indebtedness?

Without an epidural and with numerous suitors claiming ownership rights to the offspring, Unicorp President Chuck Whittall, his attorneys and the members of the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board came together this past week and consummated the first signs of new life at the decrepit 17.6-acre site.

Politicians are a lot like babies: they must be changed often and for the same reason.

I find it hard to get on bandwagons. I do not wave flags for developers, but at the same time I see the rallying cry of Preserve Longboat Key as short sighted. Both are right and wrong.

The Town Commission has failed to create a zoning and redevelopment process to shape the future redevelopment of the Colony and other parcels in need of redevelopment.

There is often something daunting about holidays which is conveyed in the fearful rhetoric we employ — “Did you get through the holidays?” “Did you pull off Thanksgiving?”