76 SCENE | MAY 2017 on the town believe that if you just make five choices they make a difference. And the first choice is what is winning? What is the goal? If you don’t know what the goal is, any direction will do. How did you discover Sarasota? My grandmother used to drive her ‘52 Chevy down from New Hampshire in the late 50’s with her cousin to watch the Boston Red Sox play during spring training at Payne Park. She was a huge Ted Williams fan. That’s when I found out and first became aware of Sarasota from looking at all these pictures. As a youth, I was both a Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds fan from living in all these places. The first time I moved here was in 2004. Tell me about your community involvement and how you plan to help shape Sarasota’s future? One of the things that I truly believe in is that when you choose to live in a community, you should choose to give back to the community that you live and or work in, which we did a lot in Cincinnati. My wife Diana and I are still thinking through on how we are going to get involved and give back to Sarasota. We’re in the process of building our own foundation. I definitely believe in what Warren Buffet, who was our biggest shareholder for a long time, believed, and what Bill Gates also believes and that is if you’re fortunate in life, you give back during your life and at the end of your life. We’ve been dabbling at what we were going to get involved in from various arts organizations to an array of social causes. And that’s how I got involved with the Sarasota 20/20 Bayfront project. They called me and asked me to do the planning board. And I said that I would give it a try. I didn’t know a lot about it. It was nine volunteers, all citizens, not representing any interest or stakeholders. About a two-year assignment working with private and professional planners, and getting the city a master plan for civic space in which the city owns all the land. I had done a major private-public partnership in Cincinnati and had good experience there. It’s now in its 14th year of operation. So I’ve seen it happen and work well. I’m not interested in development. I don’t invest in development or in real estate. I’m not an architect. I’m looking for the greater good of the community and finding that right thing that needs to be there on that land. I read lot of comments from people on the Bayfront 20/20 master plan and it sounds like people want some combination of bay and waterfront activity, park and recreation activity and arts and culture. Mixed use. And they want it to be open to everybody, which makes it a true civic space. What we’ve done in Cincinnati is that it’s open and nothing is ticketed. When there is an event, you pay for parking and your food and drink. And that’s how you get a great mix for the community. Hopefully many years from now, what do you hope people think about when they remember you? This is going to sound simple and clichéd, but I would hope people would say that he made a difference with his wife Diana and with his family; that he made a difference with vocations and avocations; and, that life was just a little bit better for those he touched as result of him being there. If I can accomplish that, then there will be a smile on my face when the end of the world comes. Three generations of Lafleys: Patrick, A.G., Alan & Alex
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