robert taylor this week earlier where we dealt with some issues of the community concerns but one of the things that took place there that i have to bring sure why it was an amazing evening it was a two and a half hour meeting between the community and the s p d and of course all of our elected officials were there to listen as was i but early on in the meeting probably in the first twenty minutes an individual appeared to have a serious medical incident perhaps a heart attack and he appeared not to be breathing in the room of course fell silent we had ministers pastors there and the chief in from the facility into the into the room and the technology and training that our officers had literally brought this gentleman back to life it appeared he was brought back to life and by the time they put him in an ambulance about ten fifteen minutes after this attack he regained some slight consciousness and earlier this week we have been told that he is recovering he is rick so it was really just an amazing ironic a vet that in forum we were gathered to talk about community police relations and things maybe that haven't gone so right over over the decades or  more recently that our police were called into action actually save a citizen and it was a really meaningful moment and i think those gathered we're very impressed with the performance of the police department and i think i expressed that to very collected and kind of work together half of the room where the individual was you know being administered those folks cleared out to make way for the you know bass and everybody continued to pray from throughout from throughout  this sort of deal and it was it was quite a quite a start to an intense evening most intense which is where i'd like to say way into that the intensity of the demeanor and the way she chaired the meeting through the night we both know that everything is not someone's utopia right and the word was used a couple of times and i made the trip i can i think it was last june our white house to the white house where we were introduced to the presidents twenty first century policing strategies and built quite a relationship now as three and a half years our crime rate has gone down we have a twenty seven percent to twenty three percent i think it's well over twenty five percent of the serious crime rate is been is perceived by the attorney general to be in the community category nothing's perfect you know you hope every day that he's not going to have an unfortunate incident but so far from everything i have here we've made tremendous progress over the past three four five six years and considerable considerable reform and in the city in a part of monday night was educating some folks who maybe you know are as up on the reforms as they might want to be many folks m i didn't realize we had a citizens complaint review committee many folks didn't realize we have an independent police advisory committee so some of the things that have been suggested by the white house for twenty first century policing have already been implemented here here in our city and the number of police complaints and excessive force cases has gone down considerably as well over that period of time since i believe you started the high point initiative and since i was asked to come here and advance community policing and sense chief to piano was hired in her contract she has been asked to advance community policing into this phase we call partnership policing but monday was powerful we learned a lot listening some of it was difficult to listen to i think cases of injustice or excessive force things that happen to people over their lifetime whether it was here or somewhere else our harbor you know for a long time but the good part is that people were felt comfortable to come out and speak and it was a very open and transparent meeting and i think the police professionals were yours and learned a lot i know i did things that the average citizen years ago police officers didn't think about you know were brought up what how do i deal with autistic child who maybe we can't overlook that one very powerful you know message that we all have to think about in a related note you know if a police officer asked some of the put their hands up what if the individual stats and you say yes it's dark or there's some distance and the police perceive that individual not to be reacting there are who are cooperating so you know  expect perfection from our police we're trying to train them up to be perfect but it is a difficult role it's often challenging things happen quickly but i'm proud and pleased to say that the s p d is working very hard and is fully engaged in partnering with our community so that was very i think helpful in advancing that mission but in terms of where we go from here i think we need to keep that moving in the right direction keep those meetings these training sessions make people aware of the meetings the different avenues for them to follow through if and when there are complaints but you know there are bigger issues that need to be addressed as well you know earlier this week in progress in momentum that we have under way now the upgrade of the remodeled booker high school the tremendous success of the robert out taylor community center and now face three of genies gardens actually completed  over two hundred new modern energy efficient housing in this replace some seriously blighted house there myself now the railing sound stages you know within six months of completion sarasota memorial hospital has come to agreement with the city to build a clinic on m l k and we're about to at some point in their future markets those thirteen acres of marion enters anderson so we've had significant investment in progress in the area and now the focus is  jobs and private sector investment and i think mayor this is what you know i know you and i have spent a lot of time talking about what we really have to dance to the job training the future at occasional opportunities training opportunities related to the jobs that this region is going to have we just we just went to the topping off ceremony at the at the westin hotel today four hundred individuals working there who's going to maintain these h v a c systems who's going to maintain the electronics and the plumbing you know we should have local folks being trained up to do that so i hope a big part of the next phase of what we do is to you know bring our community up  of to the i think the thing that partnership policing really brings to the community is the partnerships aren't just between the police officers and the individual citizens we've asked our police departments across america to do so much so much has been defaulted to them you know but they do have a basic role of forcing our laws but our partnerships are extended to communicating with policymakers like you and i and we need to communicate to others and one of the things we've learned in partnership policing is that there is some frustration in the economy people who have made an error early in their life or a misjudgment perhaps get arrested at a young age for some of a crime and i'm glad to say i think as a result of keeping our ear to the ground in your leadership the city has eliminated that from the application of our partnerships need to extend and we need to make sure other employers in our region our city understand this and try to you know work with us and i think similar policies to provide hope in job training experience and real good jobs our residents when we mention that i know that and i'm going to regress just from men digress rather to just the observation of the four hundred plus individuals on the job site in my inquisitive area just a challenge those that have been compare all and one of them was baltimore if i'm not mistaken the plains of failing grades incident the economic opportunities to the area in which the routing to place after his death we found not to have been addressed  how do we open that dialogue to get others to understand that something as simple as removing the box changes the behavioral patterns of  vouchers that were provided many of the same persons that were in that first set of apartments moved into these newly  where there were air conditioners where the floors and conditions change the behavior changed at the same time there were examples as a matter of fact young as are one of the individuals who came out and will be going to missouri for an internship how just something so small in such a small area change be change and transform that portion of the community how do we get that to a broader conversation i think we have to stay i think we have to taint i mean this this information to me is like panning for gold these are golden nuggets they are and i think we have to create the forums and follow through and follow up and to extend that partnership to explain to all of our potential partners here in partnership governance you know what in a partnership economy what what what can be done we have city commission liaison's to the chamber of commerce city commission liaison's to the county economic development corporation we continue to interact with our county commissioners merchants our hospital or growth in this region is probably going to continue our has and economically you know we do have some that's going to be an anchor employer for years to come our schools you know fortunately in sarasota county are rated pretty highly don't have the charter schools i mean children obviously great educations for for these jobs have a terrific county fire department i mean buildings have to be protected you know best services have to be delivered and these are the things that we should really strive to partner with everybody and have local folks take you know the the lion's share of those jobs and if we can show a position of that we have to recruit yes yes but you know these these are golden opportunities it's it really is associated with smart growth smart economics you know keep your own community healthy work near home if you can shop near home if you can recycle those local dollars whenever you can hire up your local folks you know whether it's the arts or cultural community there's and they're not going anywhere hopefully by thousands of jobs that will require our persons from the area heading back and forth now and and then you know others that  think the future we need to address it proactively obviously in the commission is talked about it since the sides sides of funding to begin doing it we've begun sabrina conversations but you know some folks still consider sarasota kind of a sleepy old fishing village maybe that's grown a little bit into a small town but when you look a little bit beyond our borders our county is moving toward four hundred thousand population the county north of us manatee will be there and that too long as well if you take that as a population base of eight hundred thousand people a little bit of fringe around there you know we're in a metropolitan region of about a million people you know you talk in you know population the size and magnitude of a boston or portland or even you know in some ways a san francisco with some of the greatest natural amenities you know in our golf and our beaches anywhere in the country  transit transportation has to be looked at how to move people more there will be jobs associated with that planning it designing it building it running it you know federal funds help pay for these things some of those  intensive industrial manufacturing base you know what's going to fill the void and if we look at what's happening in our country our american infrastructure is rated as a d plus by the civil engineers of america d plus florida's in a little better shape with secrets but we should be striving for eighty's and be in and many people believe the way to solve some of the challenges in our economy is to rebuild the american infrastructure begin to do things related to the environment they're going to clean it up and do things with transit transportation to move people around put people to work with good jobs helping our own neighborhoods our own cities our communit think that we have crossed the threshold and that being ready requires that infrastructure upgrades it requires that been you know in chicago metro detroit area and and i haven't really seen or experienced anything like this community it is vibrant it is you know abuzz with activity and ideas and and i think the community future has to realize that you know they need to be leaders to help and we build them here that's right that's right we can do anything that we set our minds and i think you know the ideas that come out of sarasota ought to be entertained and listened to and respected whether it's eliminating the blocks of the box from an applications you know whether it's transit you know economic development cultural enrichment i mean the folks here that are in the grassroots they have so much experience of dealing with the twenty four seven three sixty five and i hope our partnerships can can be advanced in the years and the months ahe listening we have we have boots to the ground are i i'm personally and impressed with what we're doing and the way that we are time he says and i've been coming here for five years off and on he says i want to tell you there's been a dramatic difference in ribbons and water tower park when i first started coming here for five years and and those improvement