Q&A: Meet John Harshman, Sarasota City Commission Candidate

SARASOTA, FL — Voters in the Nov. 3 general election will decide between John Harshman, Jen Ahearn-Koch and Florence Entler in the race for two at-large Sarasota City Commission seats.

Harshman, Ahearn-Koch and Entler were the top three vote-getters in the Aug. 18 primary, which sent them to the Nov. 3 runoff for the two seats.

Patch sent a questionnaire to all three candidates. Below are Harshman’s unedited responses.

Name: John Harshman

Office sought: Sarasota City Commission, At-Large

Political party affiliation: The City Commission race is nonpartisan.

Age: 71

City or town of residence: Sarasota (Bayview Heights). I've lived in Sarasota for 52 years.

Education: University of South Florida graduate, which I paid for myself by working construction and waiting tables. Honorary alumnus of New College. Graduate of Leadership Sarasota (1993).

Occupation: Retired commercial real estate broker. I founded Harshman & Company, Inc. in 1989.

Family background: I grew up in Oakwood, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. I came to Sarasota at 18 with $20 in my pocket. My wife, Virginia, and I live in Bayview Heights, in the house we designed and built for safety and resilience. We love life with our two rescue dogs, Audrey and Spencer. We enjoy travel, tennis, boating and hiking.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No.

Previous public office, appointive or elective: I have never held elective office. My appointed public service includes:

• Chairman, Sarasota County Public Facilities Finance Advisory Board (2002–2009)
• Chairman, City of Sarasota Community Redevelopment Advisory Board (2012–2013)
• Sarasota County Environmentally Sensitive Lands Oversight Committee
• City of Sarasota Tree Advisory Committee
• President, Downtown Sarasota Alliance
• President, Association of Downtown Commercial Property Owners
• President, Girls Inc. Board of Directors (3-years)
• President Pines, Inc. Board of Directors (3-years)
• Boards of the Sarasota Ballet
• National Estuary Program volunteer

Campaign website and social media: Website, Facebook

Why are you seeking this office? Sarasota has been my home for 52 years, and I want to give back to the city that gave me everything. Before I decided to run, I spent 45 days listening to neighborhood, business, arts, nonprofit and environmental leaders. They kept saying the same things: City Hall isn't listening, the city isn't as clean and safe as it should be, and tax dollars are being spent on the wrong priorities. I'm running to bring back steady, accountable leadership that listens first, gets the basics right and treats every public dollar as a trust.

What sets you apart from the other candidates seeking this post? I have 45 years of hands-on experience running my own business and learning the city’s complicated land use and development codes. The city is struggling with bad overdevelopment that emanates from the commissions lack of real world understanding of the codes and the unintended consequences of the codes they pass. I will stop that and correct the code, so we are not faced with the same bad development in a different location. For four decades, I've chaired nonprofit, city and county advisory boards, so I'm used to building consensus and making tough decisions while managing other people's money. I'm not using this seat as a steppingstone, and no special interest will pull me one way or the other.

What issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

1. Correcting the City Development Codes. Bad development plagues our city and is the result of a zoning code and development codes that do not protect our citizens but rather leaves loopholes that are exploited to the detriment of Sarasota.
2. Leadership that listens. Major decisions should be made in public, with real resident input which means that the commission LISTENS to the citizens. I pledge to listen to citizens and consider all input when making decisions.
3. A clean and safe city. I want to get back to the nuts and bolts: public safety, code enforcement, and well-maintained streets and parks. That should come before pie-in-the-sky projects.
4. Fiscal responsibility. Ad valorem revenue is rising nearly 8% a year, and the city just spends it. I'll push for line-by-line cost-benefit reviews, sunset clauses on new untried ordinances and measurable results before money is committed.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

• I built Harshman & Company into a leading downtown brokerage firm,
• I chaired the County Public Facilities Finance Advisory Board for seven years, advising county commissioners on impact fees.
• I chaired the City's Community Redevelopment Advisory Board and served as president of the Downtown Sarasota Alliance.
• I became president of Girls Inc. during a period of financial difficulty and helped stabilize the organization.
• I received the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce's Chairman's Cup.
• I earned a fifth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and taught hundreds of local students over 25 years and won a national championship in sparring.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you? "Listen more than you talk." Arriving with $20 and working my way through school taught me that you earn people's trust by respecting them and doing what I say I will do. That's why I began this campaign with a listening tour, and it's how I'll serve.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions? I'm not a politician. I'm a neighbor who has spoken at City Hall since 1994 because I care about this city. I'll protect the scale and character of our neighborhoods and St. Armands. I'll insist that commissioners understand what they're voting on, and I'll treat your tax dollars as carefully as my own. My campaign comes down to clean, safe, fiscally responsible government with no drama.