Matt Walsh

Sarasota

Editor and CEO, Observer Media Group at Business Observer

Editor and CEO, Observer Media Group at Sarasota Observer

Editor/CEO, Observer Media Group Inc., Sarasota, Fla.

Articles

Manatee does it again | Your Observer

2 days ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

On May 6, the Manatee County Commission voted 6-0 to begin steps to determine whether it can terminate a contract with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch to co-pay for a roundabout at University Parkway and Legacy Boulevard. The next day, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch CEO Rex Jensen learned of the commission’s surprise vote.
There’s no need for search | Your Observer

1 week ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

You can say this about the five Sarasota city commissioners: To their credit, they are as earnest and dedicated as can be and want to do what is right and best for the city’s residents and taxpayers. But God love them, sometimes when you watch their meetings, that old joke comes to mind: They couldn’t organize a one-car parade. Ouch. Too harsh? Yes. But that’s not intended to be mean.
LBK survey: What about $? | Your Observer

1 week ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

Of course it’s good news — and frankly, of little surprise — that the results of the town of Longboat Key’s annual citizens survey were decisively positive. You hear it often — Longboat residents commenting how Longboat Key is their paradise. Yes, there is much to love and like — number one: the people; the physical appearance, Gulf of America/Mexico, Sarasota Bay, public and private amenities, worship institutions, Publix, restaurants, town services (especially public safety).
Tyranny of Trump's tariffs | Your Observer

2 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

Before the November 2024 presidential election, we offered this cynical (but true) assessment: After the votes are counted, all we really do when we replace a Democrat with a Republican in the White House, or vice versa, is trade one autocrat for another. One president’s and political party’s versions of interfering in our lives and taking away liberty versus the other president’s and party’s versions. They both stink.
Noted economists past and present on tariffs and free trade | Your Observer

2 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

In any discussion to understand free trade, protectionism and tariffs, there is no debate among credible economists: Free trade: good; protectionism and tariffs: bad. Likewise on these subjects, there are a few names that would (and should) top any list of free trade Hall of Famers — economists who have seen, studied and can explain how tariffs never end well.
A legacy for us to carry on | Your Observer

3 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

Most of us don’t ever really know how much of a difference we make in our lifetimes. For sure, we don’t get to see how many people turn out for our funeral or a celebration of life, a measure of our effects. Charles “Charlie” Stottlemyer — the modest, most-likable giant of Sarasota — likely would have blushed and perhaps over-whelmed April 11 at First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota. He made a huge difference.
Which is greater: Christ’s birth, resurrection? | Your Observer

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

Which is the greater: Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, or Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? For Christians in the United States, the likely answer in Man-on-the-Street interviews with the secular press would be Christmas. Not because of Christ’s birth, mind you, but because of how we have morphed the gift-giving story of St. Nicholas in 280 A.D. into Santa Claus and ultimately into the biggest, commercial retail extravaganza of the year for the American economy.
Officials OK controversial roads proposal for large east Sarasota County project

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Eric Garwood |Matt Walsh

Sarasota County Commissioners on Wednesday agreed in a split vote to terms of a proposed agreement that would allow developer Hi Hat Ranch access through county-owned land to Bee Ridge Road in return for about $15 million in road improvements and more than $3 million in right-of-way elsewhere along Fruitville Road. The County Commission approved the agreement 3-2 in a workshop at the Sarasota County Administration Center, with commissioners Tom Knight and Joe Nuender dissenting.
New College-USF: Hey, someone make the case | Your Observer

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

Ah, yes, the never-ending debate: What to do about New College of Florida and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. And now we have two more components — the Ringling Museum of Art and its boss, Florida State University. But don’t ask anyone inside these institutions what’s going on. They won’t tell you a thing. (We’ve asked.) Don’t ask anyone here in Sarasota and Manatee outside of the institutions — like, say, people who would be affected. They don’t know anything.
Round and about on LBK | Your Observer

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Matt Walsh

The late Guy Paschal, the Longboat Key civic leader who most led the effort for the town to incorporate in 1955, is probably turning in his grave. This is not the Longboat Key he promised when he was lobbying town residents to incorporate. At that time, many Longboat Key citizens were quite agitated with the way Sarasota County government was treating the island.