President Barack Obama got himself elected on the most ambiguous terms. What is Hope and Change? Peggy Joseph, a Sarasota resident who took her daughter out of school to see Obama when he spoke here, saw this as not having to worry about gas for her car or having to worry about paying her mortgage.

Her words were so thoroughly reported that Obama certainly heard of them, and he did nothing to disabuse her, or anyone else, of her assumption. Obama let it be believed that he would take care of us!

OK, then, Hope and Change is for Sarasota, and now we hold him to it. So if you ask me how to pay for the things Sarasota needs I say it is time, past time, for the federal government to step up to the plate. Our rich folks have already sent in the money in the form of taxes that they have already paid.

Inflation? Sure, but there will be inflation whether we get our share of the goodies or not so we had better go with the flow on this. No one can swim against the tide anyway.

What should we get with federal money? To begin with, how about 1000 federally funded local jobs? Then an Urban Rail System including four big Park and Ride structures and twenty four boarding platforms; a twenty six times six (156) vehicle neighborhood low-speed electric shuttle system; an offshore wind farm; improvements to our water plant; more sewer capacity; and let's not forget that new stadium which I hope will include a music shell so we don't have to tear it down when the fickle sports teams get tired of it.

Can our developers build these kind of buildings? I should hope so. Don't anyone tell me that their talents are limited to single residence, office and condo buildings - of which we have a two year market backlog.