Few people went to these meetings with any real hope of convincing the council or board of anything. Few people when addressing the council for their allotted three or four minutes even expected their elected officials to listen to them. In the middle of an impassioned speech by an ancient resident, members of the council or board would pass notes on the latest Florida State or University of Florida football or baseball scores, hand-carried to them by a Manatee Community College intern.

Most of these meetings were on television for those who chose to watch, which was few. I sometimes tuned in and found myself dozing unless there was a new issue and lots of complaints such as whether to build another high-rise hotel like the Ritz-Carlton to block out more of the sun and the view of the Gulf.

“There’s a commission meeting Friday night,” Reverend Wilkens said, soft and deep, as I pushed away my empty plastic cup and glanced up at a couple of shirtless boys with lean bodies and a desire to be killed by the sun. I heard them order large Oreo-cookie Blizzards.

“A commission meeting,” I repeated.

Reverend Wilkens nodded.

“There’s going to be an open hearing about six items,” he said. “The last one is whether to open Midnight Pass.”

I nodded, not knowing where this was going.

Midnight Pass was a hot issue every few years in Sarasota County. Cars with bumper stickers reading “Open Midnight Pass” had been common when I first came to town. There were fewer now, but the Pass had become an issue again.

“What do you know about the Midnight Pass controversy?” he asked.

I told him what I thought I knew, which wasn’t much and was probably half wrong. There had once been a narrow waterway separating Siesta Key and Casey Key, two of the highpriced islands off the Sarasota coast.