Candidate Profile 2024: Ron Kashden For Sarasota City Commission

SARASOTA, FL — Ron Kashden, a retired accountant, is running for the Sarasota City Commission District 2 seat.

He faces one opponent, incumbent Liz Alpert, in the race.

Find Kashden’s responses below:

Name:

Ron Kashden

Age:

60

Occupation:

Retired Certified Public Accountant and former Chief Financial Officer of a multinational investment firm.

Why are you running for office?

1. Give the public a seat at the table

Sarasota is a city of neighborhoods, and each should be valued for their unique character and identity. Protecting neighborhoods and residential quality of life should be the most important role of a city commissioner. Elected representatives must encourage & listen to public input.

2. Support local businesses

Sarasota's civic identity and future depend on the city's unique mix of home-grown enterprises. We need to nurture and build locally-owned businesses. A rich mix of walkable shopping and dining benefits residents and visitors alike. We need to protect Sarasota's retailers and shop local.

3. Preserve Sarasota's charm

Change is inevitable. Development will continue, but we should work hard to protect Sarasota’s intrinsic value as a unique coastal community. Let’s not rush to become another Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, or Miami. We need to protect the unique architecture that makes our city special.

4. Promote law & order

Whether it’s noise, speeding, vagrancy, rental and development abuses (e.g., hotel houses or interstitial space), or encroachment on public space, let’s value the rule of law and keep our city safe, healthy, livable, and welcoming. We should enforce existing public safety ordinances.

5. Ensure fiscal balance

The primary fiduciary requirement for a municipality is that it provide essential services like water, sanitation, and police. Creating a clean and hospitable environment for today's residents and tomorrow's should guide spending. Investments should be based on data & public benefit.

What do you think are the top three issues the city is currently facing?

1. Turning down the volume, both in terms of noise and rhetoric. We need to enact an effective noise ordinance based upon the “plainly audible” standard. We also need to stop the current “us” versus “them” mentality in city hall. he incumbents view the residents as adversaries rather than their constituents.

2. Improve bread and butter livability issues. More focus on pedestrian safety and comfort (you shouldn’t have to dash across the street), properly lit streets (to allow safely strolling at night), and road repair.

3. Enforce our existing ordinances and zoning code. Too often the commission approves one-off changes for influential developers rather than protecting the rights of the existing property owners.

Learn more about Kashden at his campaign website.