I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: In business and in life, you’re either growing or you’re dying. I’ve seen the validity of that statement proven over and over again. When a business stops investing in innovation, or allows bureaucratic red tape to bind its growth and level its trajectory, it is doomed to the kind of mediocrity that leads to failure. Ensuring that Sarasota avoids the mire of…
Read MoreJesse Biter: Balancing of competing interests requires mayor’s leadership
A vibrant downtown with no noise … No vagrants without a place for them to go … More jobs without workforce housing… No sprawl and no increased density… Direction and vision without leadership… No, Sarasota, we can’t eat our cake and have it, too. I saw the recent comments by some city officials and city residents who want a revised sound ordinance to stop amplified music after 11 p.m. That…
Read MoreCONA debates 2050 plan
Downtown developer Jesse Biter said Monday that downtown zoning codes, which keep urban living out of the financial grasp of young professionals, will pose a bigger threat to downtown Sarasota’s economic future than the proposed changes to Sarasota’s 2050 plan. The Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations held a Monday-night panel discussion titled “Urban Services, Urban Realities,” featuring Biter, Downtown Improvement District board member Eileen Hampshire, Downtown Sarasota Alliance board…
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Jesse Biter becoming a political force
If there were any remaining doubters that Jesse Biter is fast becoming a big deal in Florida politics, it likely ended in South America last week. The 36-year-old Sarasota entrepreneur already has become a key player and campaign donor in local races, played host to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio twice, and headquartered Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign in Florida. Now, Biter is becoming a regular on international trade missions with Florida…
Read MorePlans for downtown Sarasota, and means to bring them to life
It is 6:54 a.m. when the sun wakes Jesse Biter as it peeks through the windows of his four-bedroom penthouse. Within minutes, his two girls, ages 10 and 11, scamper through the $3.85 million Marina Tower condominium downtown. Biter cooks them breakfast; it reminds him of his own childhood. Driving the girls to the Bay Haven School of Basics Plus will likely be the only time Biter will use his…
Read MoreJesse Biter: Bring on the people, and votes, for a livelier city
By JESSE BITER, Guest Columnist Downtown Sarasota is nice, but it could be so much better. Downtown needs a new vision for a new generation. The old vision may have worked for an era, but it has run its course. I didn’t notice this 12 years ago when I drove from South Carolina to Miami with plans to go on to Texas. When I found Sarasota, I knew I had…
Read MoreGod, Politics and Business
At age 34, Jesse Biter could have moved anywhere, done anything. It was December 2010, and AutoTrader, the online car sale behemoth, paid tens of millions to acquire the online inventory software company he had built up over the previous 14 years. Biter could have spent his time flying around in his single-prop Cirrus SR22, spear-fishing with buddies, floating on a yacht. Instead, he stayed in Sarasota and went back…
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