Hackett on park story foul-up: "I talked with Pam Johnson"
Ahhhhh..... that explains it..... no reporter in their right mind would actually use the city's press officer as a viable source..... what were you thinking?
-- John Patten, 01/19/07
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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RELATED:
Broken promises, fictional history, and outside intervention -- the odd history of Tramonto Vista Park
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 01/18/07

Sax on the beach
City hall's email server has been buzzing ever since the publication of Kim Hackett's story of woeful mom Michelle Ross-Litzler and Litzler's quest to give her brood something meaningful to do in a town that would rather push children off of the pier for shark bait than push them on a swing set.

Forgetting for a moment that pre-adolescents are arguably the most effective shark bait around, Litzler does bring up a valid point: how can she entertain her brats before selling them off to the likes of Gary Anderson and his Island Anglers as chum?

The answer to her prayers: sax on the beach. A bandshell pavilion needs to be built on beach park property:

The absence of a permanent pavilion "defeats the whole purpose," [Ross-Litzler] said. "If a couple of kids want to play the saxophone, they could go there. Music is not evil."
-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 01/17/08

So we're supposed to build a bandshell far, far away from Litzler's house so that she and her neighbors don't have to listen to her kids band rehearsals? That actually makes a bit of sense.

News writer Kim Hackett apparently doesn't want to have to listen to bad sax either. She lives just a couple of houses away from Litzler in Venice Acres, a development just west of Auburn Road and more than just a few feet outside of city limits. Hackett's piece on her neighbor instantly elevated the harried Litzler (and her apparently noisy offspring) from utter and complete unknown outsider to the city's county's best mom with one single article. If the bandshell on the beach gets built, Hackett won't have to hear the nearby sounds of bad notes saxing out across the neighborhood coming from lips too young to have ever uttered the name Boots Randolph, and that will give the two women more time for neighborly coffee chats.

Of course, the fact that both women actually live outside of the city and thus will avoid having to actually pay for any of this is irrelevant. Won't somebody think of the children?

In spite of the fact that many of the park add-ons are still on the discussion table pending funding (which isn't likely to come in the near future -- see every other story on local governments in the newspapers this month), Litzler and Hackett have taken the sword to the front of the battle to fight for promises made to the families of Venice... Or the families that live just outside of Venice... Or future  professional sax players... Or... but hey, look at this pic of Litzler and her woeful children, little bitty beggars with their great big eyes -- how can you possibly turn them away in their dire hour of need?

What's Gary Anderson's phone number, again? Isn't he living in North Port, now?

Enter Pam Johnson
And so, in an actual effort to get the story right this time, Hackett actually made contact with a bona-fide elected official to ask what the story was. Hackett wrote to Mayor Ed Martin, claiming that she strives for accuracy and that the source of much of her material was Pam Johnson, the city's public liaison goof. Johnson's long track record of inaccuracies, especially regarding bond issue amenities (of which this bandshell would be), includes repeated public denials that the community center was ever intended for use as a hurricane shelter.

Johnson disappeared from public view for quite a while after that debacle. Weeks later, news reporters would find Johnson bound and gagged in her office with a "do not disturb" sign hanging around her neck, initialed by City Manager Marty Black and Gondo publisher Bob Vedder.

Hackett knew none of this. The sign on Johnson's door reads "Public Liaison Officer." She works for the city. She's got a city name badge and everything. So Johnson must be a credible source, right?

Ummmmm..... oooooops......

From: Kim Hackett, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
To: Mayor Ed Martin
Date: 01/18/08 11:31 AM
Subject: Re: more amenities at Tramonto Vista Park

Mayor,
     I strive for accuracy and if there is something that needs to be corrected or clarified, we'll be glad to run something in the paper. In reporting this story, I found confusion at City Hall on the direction Council gave to staff on Tramonto Vista at the last meeting. I talked to Pam Johnson and we both had the understanding that the playground was out, so was the permanent music pavilion. I tried to make clear nothing was voted on but that the council gave staff a direction for what it would like to see and that was a scaled down version of what some people in the community envisioned.
     In fact-checking this article, I was told that no Tramonto plans have been approved. Because of that, everyone in the community has a different idea of what was promised and what was intended.
     On the pavilion issue, I was indeed wrong; I interpreted three pavilions to mean music pavilions rather than picnic pavilions. If there is more that needs to be clarified/corrected, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Kim Hackett

-------------

From: Mayor Ed Martin
To: Kim Hackett, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Date: 01/18/08, 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: more amenities at Tramonto Vista Park

Dear Kim,
     Thank you for your note. Here is my understanding of what actions about the park council has taken. I had spoken with Marty about this several days ago, before the article and emails, and I spoke today with Rick Tacy and we all seem to have the same idea.
     Marty presented council with information that he was going to get bids on the various components of the park. The previous council had previously approved various facilities and left several open for alternative approaches, one was roofing on the larger (65) feet or so pavilions. Another was the form that a performance space would take.
     The bottom line is only one item was modified and that was the proposal for a 3400 square foot concrete performance space. An alternative was agreed by a 6-1 vote, an area with electricity which would be available for musical groups, for example to plug in amps, etc. That area would also be used by a portable "Showmobile" for larger performance needs. (Rick was the 1, so his recollection being the same as mine is significant).
     Council asked for cost estimates on several forms of roofing as the earlier council had mentioned, metal, chickee hut, natural wood, etc. A discussion was also held around a paved path necessary to assist people with disabilities and small service vehicles. That was to be included, with the size of the path to be recommended. Similarly, council expressed interest in whether the surface of the parking lot could be as environmentally friendly as possible, e.g. permeable. There was also a suggestion we get recommendations about additional landscaping, sea grasses, trees if feasible, etc. Finally staff had recommended removing a fence around the recycled water lake, but council was concerned about safety issues, including reported alligators, and asked that various forms of fencing be considered rather than removing the fencing now there.
     Rick and I agree that no items were removed other than the bandstand. Marty had said something the other day about answering a question saying eleven of twelve (or some similar number) of items were approved, as previously, for getting the bids which will be considered in an open meeting before council approves the various expenditures. (He is not here today to double-check. Pam told me she did not have the record available of the meeting to be sure herself).
     I am not sure where the mis-information came from about changes, etc. but this is the correct version as I understand it.
     I appreciate your trying to get the story straight. Until council approves the items, subject to availability of funds, nothing is complete, but the meeting we held was to discuss the process of getting bids and other than the pavilion substitution no earlier aspects were removed.
     At Tuesday's meeting, it has been recommended by staff that I provide the public with this information as part of my Mayor's report. I would not expect it to be more than saying only the concrete pavilion planned was removed. It may be that citizens will bring up this issue and so some more discussion might be necessary.

Best wishes,

Ed

 

* Tip of the hat to Terry Taylor of Daniel Amos for the theft of one of his phrases as used in the above article

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.