In the next two weeks, Sarasota neighbors will be meeting, and perhaps you might join them. Whether your taste runs to understanding the foreclosure mess, violation of the Sarasota City Charter or a neighborhood potpourri at the Historical Society, September is the month for you.
The Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations meets Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Waldemere Fire Station, east of Sarasota Memorial Hospital, across U.S. 41. This will be a “Bonds and Barwin” meeting, first introducing City Manager Tom Barwin, who will have been on the job one week.
Then the CCNA will hear a presentation on bonds and insurance pertaining to charter officials. City Auditor and Clerk Pam Nadalini is required by the city charter to hold a bond, but for two years, she has been unable to secure one. As a result, City Attorney Bob Fournier developed a theory of “functional equivalence,” saying insurance gave the city the same protection as a bond. This theory will be examined by a panel of experts, said coalition President Bob Easterle.
On Monday Sept. 10, the Sarasota County Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) will convene to learn more about mortgage foreclosures. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Sarasota Garden Club near the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
CONA has invited two attorneys who have been working in the midst of this vast and complex issue to speak to its members. The guy who coined the phrase “robo-signatures” – Matthew Weidner – will be there, along with April Charney. Her foreclosure defense work has garnered national attention.
On Sept. 13, a “Neighborhood Expo” will be presented by Sarasota Openly Plans for Excellence (SCOPE). A large agenda of presentations and commentary is scheduled at the Historical Society in the restored Crocker Church on 12th Street.
Neighborhood leaders from North Port to Lime Lake (a Sarasota city flashpoint) will speak, and a variety of neighborhoods will be featured. “Local dishes from each neighborhood” is what SCOPE advertises. The event starts at 6 p.m.
The CONA meeting, Foreclosure Mess 101, is open to the public and a special invitation is being extended to the judges and attorneys in the region who hear and argue these cases. This mess continues to wreak havoc on our economy, our home values, and our taxes for local government—and it is not getting better as many more foreclosures remain to be acted upon. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.
April Charney has been holding seminars around the country to teach legal professionals about the problem and the emerging case law on the issues of the peculiar mortgage issues that have arisen from the changes in financial practices that led to this mess. Both of the attorneys who will speak at CONA have been in the forefront of the foreclosure mess that affects us all.