Jamie Miller wears a lot of hats around Sarasota, but on this episode he mostly talks land and water. As a board member of the Bay Park Conservancy, he walks the hosts through the transformation of the old Van Wezel parking lot, known locally as the Purple Cow, into what he calls a shining example of public-private partnership. More than 130 community organizations backed the original plan, he says, and the project's guiding principles were set before anyone drew a single sketch of the park itself. Phase one, roughly eight to ten acres of the eventual 50-plus, already hosted a Strong Roofing-sponsored Friday Fest, and Miller previews the seawall repairs, new boat docks, and food truck area coming to the P Street boat ramp area within the next 18 months.
The funding mechanism is where Miller gets into the weeds, and it is worth the detour. A tax increment financing district captures the growth in property tax value around Bay Park, not new taxes on residents, and redirects that increment toward maintaining the park in perpetuity. He walks through the math patiently, fielding pushback from the hosts about who benefits and who pays, and lands on a comparison to Central Park in New York: if a view over a conservancy raises your property value, it makes sense that the tax on that added value helps maintain the thing creating it.
Miller is just as animated discussing Midnight Pass, the natural inlet between Siesta Key and Casey Key that was controversially closed in 1982. He explains how closing the pass reversed the natural flow of Phillippi Creek and disrupted circulation in Little Sarasota Bay, which now takes 10 to 12 days to fully flush compared to roughly three days in Tampa Bay. Citing a marine scientist's blunt line that little fish cannot become big fish without a tidal connection, Miller lays out a four-to-five-year process involving the county, the Army Corps of Engineers, and a little-known agency called the West Coast Inland Navigation District before any culvert or jetty gets built.
Between the policy talk, Miller traces his own path from a seventh-grade civics class inspired by the 1980 Reagan campaign to running field operations during the chaotic 2000 presidential recount in Florida, a role that put Sarasota at the center of national headlines for 37 days. He and his wife also co-lead SertomaSRQ, which funds speech and language therapy for local kids. On roundabouts, Miller is unequivocal: they work 100 percent of the time during hurricanes, he jokes, and reduce fatal T-bone collisions even if they generate a few more fender benders along the way.
What you'll take away
- Bay Park is being funded through a tax increment financing district that captures rising property values around the park rather than raising anyone's tax rate.
- Restoring Midnight Pass would reconnect the Gulf of Mexico to Little Sarasota Bay, addressing a 10-to-12-day water flush time that scientists say harms fish spawning.
- The county must first apply for permits before the exact method of restoring the pass, whether a culvert, hardened channel, or short jetty, is finalized.
- Jamie Miller was director of field operations during the 2000 presidential recount in Florida, one of the closest and most contested elections in U.S. history.
- His nonprofit SertomaSRQ has grown from about 60 to 77 members and funds speech and language therapy for children in Sarasota County.
“Little fish cannot become big fish, that's the expert's quote, not mine.”
“I like to say roundabouts work 100 percent of the time during hurricanes.”
Places mentioned: Bay Park, Van Wezel, Marina Jack, Midnight Pass, Siesta Key, Little Sarasota Bay