Siesta Key, and Longboat Key
Local Issues 05
* Manatee schools want another $10 million a year and Sarasota another $19 million a year in new school taxes. They plan to ask the legislature to raise the millage rate from 2 to 2.5.
* Florida insurance industry pushing to drop hurricane coverage if the state legislature will allow them in this session.
| April 1st :) * Jim Ley, Sarasota County Administrator has proposed a plan to make Sarasota County truly public. He wants to sell stock in the county and pay dividends. * For one day only the lights on Tamiami Trail will be timed to green at 45 MPH. That one day will be St. Patricks Day. * Sarasota County has signed an agreement with the National Hurricane Center to allow any hurricanes to bypass Sarasota County in 2005. * Manatee County has bought all of the cultural facilities in Sarasota and will move them to Bradenton. * A local inventor has come up with a pill that will stop tourists from feeding the seagulls. * Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee County's have signed an agreement that will allow them to charge a $100,000 impact fee to new residents. * The Saint Petersburg Times has announced that they will publish a real newspaper in our area next month. * A new company has begun bottling red tide and selling it to tourists in an effort to rid the area of red tide. * Sarasota Memorial Hospital will bring in FEMA hurricane trailers during peak season to make more beds. **** This is April Fool's Day take the above headlines with a grain of laughter. *****
|
Empty boat racks at the Dockside Marina were triggered by the new owner almost doubling the boat storage prices and giving the boat owners only two weeks notice to leave or pay up.
The consultant for opening Midnight Pass had been successful in other projects but had her plan turned down by 4 Federal agencies. The pass closed in 1982 by an act of county favoritism to two landowners. The new plan to open it was grandiose with a 500' opening across natural habitat. Who in their right mind would think that the Feds would allow destroying that much natural habitat?
This is what Midnight Pass looked like when it was open in 1982.
The intra-coastal waters were clean and pristine. Some describe the old
Midnight Pass as our own little Tahiti.
* 22 years of talking and City of Sarasota still has no convention
center. New plans from a chamber committee may hold new light for
bringing it to reality. 
For the plan to work financially it should be in close approximation to
area hotels.
John Ringling, the circus magnate, didn't spew clown statues all
over his estate. Many wonder why the City of Sarasota wants to place
clowns all around town.
Booms, cranes and new buildings are a staple of life around
Sarasota and Bradenton these days. With 15,000 new residents moving to
our area each year they all need a roof over their head.
* Van Wezel considers building new concert hall after it had competed a $22 million renovation that had construction problems.
It was left over garbage all over Sarasota as residents
apparently didn't get the word that garbage pick up was delayed one day
due to Hurricane Wilma.
Local residents line up for gas before Wilma approaches, at area
gas stations Wednesday. Some stations had 20 cars in line waiting
or more
Do you call it prudent planning when the Van Wezel owned by the City of Sarasota wants to build a new concert hall after it completes a $22 million renovation? Or do you call wise decision making when the City of Sarasota spends $5 million on fighting the new now completed Ringling Bridge?
We were glad to hear that local governments are planning on a mile wide reservoir off the Peace River to help collect water. We proposed the ancient old method years ago to Sarasota County. Perhaps the County needs to look at building our own reservoirs to collect rainwater.
It's a gorgeous dock on the water but no one can use it with a
section missing and the remainder of questionable reliability at the
Boatyard shopping complex on Stickney Point Rd..
Traffic backs up a mile during evening rush hour on U.S. 41
before Sarasota Square Mall.
* With gas prices nearing $3 a gallon Bike Day proposed by
OurTown50.com.
Publisher Michael Penn has proposed to Sarasota County and other local
governments that they declare
a monthly Bike Day where motorists are asked to ride their
bicycle instead of driving.
* Some projections have Florida population growing by 30% over the next 15 years. That would only be a 2% or less growth factor. Given 70 million baby boomers we feel that number could be much greater.
New residents move into their home over the weekend.
* The median price for a home may be $336K for the Sarasota Bradenton area in June 2005. But the median price for sold homes in Sarasota proper was $379K. The later figure excludes condo sales. There were 78 homes and condos that sold for over $1 million in June 2005 in Sarasota County.
OT50
10 sexual predators live in Sarasota zip code 34231. Two of them
live in this condo near Siesta Key on Stickney Point Road. In comparison
there are 12 sexual predators living in downtown Sarasota in zip code
34236.
Since when
is a half acre of land for a parking lot worth $4.4 million dollars in
downtown Sarasota. Sarasota City Manager thought so even though he
didn't gat an appraisal and the land was next to his girlfriends.
Energy hogs
Florida residents are using 28% more electricity per household then they
did 20 years ago. Consider that heat pumps are more efficient than older
systems and are more widely used now. Thus we should be using less
electricity now. Go figure:)
* Sarasota Film Fest changing venue dates to early April so it doesn't conflict with the Oscars, Emmy's and many other Hollywood events. After many years they finally caught on that they couldn't compete with Hollywood.
* Sarasota and Manatee County combine resources to fight area homelessness. Sarasota alone allocated around $1.5 million in federal grants and contributions to the homeless. There are an estimated 10,000 or more homeless in the area.
OT50
The K-Mart parking lot on the south trail in Sarasota looks more like a long term truck stop then a car parking lot. This truck has been there for over a week.
* Medical students to begin rotations in Sarasota.
OT50
Trees in Sarasota uprooted from heavy rains
and wet ground line a county preserve.
* Ft Myers lands Southwest Airlines. Sarasota Bradenton airport still goes begging for airlines with direct flights with less expensive fares. Maybe the SW planes could stop here after Ft. Meyers and pick up our passengers thus having full planes and giving us direct flights at lower fares? :)
OT50
* Over 240,000 cars a day, on U.S. 41 in Sarasota, stop at six stop lights along S. Tamiami Trail at side street intersections when there are maybe one or two cars waiting to exit the neighborhood onto U.S. 41. Other towns such as Bradenton have not placed stop lights indiscriminately along U.S. 41.
Few flights
Very few direct flights out of Sarasota to the NE has travelers using
Tampa airport. We had more direct flights 25 years ago.
Prime land to be lost
It was bound to happen prime land vacant for 1,000's of years will soon
give way to commercial development. The eagles, bobcats, birds will all
have to find a new home somewhere.
* Sarasota Gulf Gate Woods home sets record and goes on the
market for $499,000. The homes in the area were
Two ducks sun themselves along a lake and preserver in
Gulf Gate Woods. Sea otter, owls, ibises, egrets and other birds can
often be spotted in the neighborhood.
built in the 1970's and are close to Siesta Key Beach, shopping, with a
A hawk takes flight in Gulf Gate Woods
library and golf course in the neighborhood along with lakes and open preserves.
Demographics and growth
Manatee County demographers say that the county will grow by 5,000 to
15,000 people per year over the next 20 years. Manatee County takes in
7,500 new residents a year now. With 80 million people headed to
retirement how can think their predictions are accurate.
* SHT newspaper says circulation has grown. And so has the population. They claim 49% of the households, not people get a daily newspaper. While more than 75% of our market area gets their information from the internet.
An endless row of free and paid newspapers
line a Sarasota parking lot. Sarasota regulations restrict newspaper
racks to a total of around 8 racks at one location. This one obviously
exceeds that.
In comparison local residents spend 20 hours reading on the net per
week. Which means they spend more time on the net than on newspapers, TV
or radio. Source:AOL
It looks like Dockside Marine will be spared by condos for the time
being. A new owner is reportedly buying the marina this week and will
keep it a marina. Sarasota County turned down a request from an Nokomis
developer because they wanted to convert public docks into private docks
and condos.
* Sarasota Bradenton Airport worried that toxic spills in ground water may devalue their property from the former American Beryllium plant.
Perhaps one of top ten bloopers in Sarasota traffic design is on
Stickney Point Road, by Carrabba's, where traffic has to
crisscross to
make turns across Stickney.
* Tallahassee has field day spreading $4 BILLION extra tax dollars around the state. The extra revenue was due to high real estate sales and retail sales taxes.
* Chief Judge Robert B. Bennett Jr along with district attorney's and other community members look to raise $2mln for expanded drug treatment program.
* Venice says they may hire a company to evaluate the Police Department.
* Bradenton riverfront home that couldn't sell in 1998 sells for $5.5 million.
* The Gulf Coast Swords says construction delays on the new ice arena in Lakewood Ranch will cause they to cancel their 2005 hockey season.
* Sarasota Memorial buys land to build 88 bed hospital on Laural Road east of I-75. * Sarasota Memorial Hospital full over the weekend. And so were the beaches as spring break month heightens.
* Sarasota City Manager comes under question for wanting to conduct own investigation of sewerage spill.
State laggary
It takes: 5 seconds to send an email or make a cell phone call; 5
minutes to launch a rocket into space. But it takes 30 days for the
state of Florida to notify you that you have pollutants on your
property? What is wrong with this picture?
Word on the street is that this gas station at the corner of
Stickney and 41 had gas tank leaks and was closed by the State of
Florida.
This GE microwave oven contains Consumer Protection reports on GE
microwave ovens that have caught fire or had other problems. It took
over two months for OurTown50 to obtain them. We have asked
Congresswoman Katherine Harris to look into the problem.
No more fun
Sarasota County along with help from wealthy Casey Key residents
have shut down the last beach front locations to have a drink,
laugh, smile and listen to music. It wouldn't seem like such a big
deal if there were dozens of places to go to relax and have fun
along the waterfront.
Between developers shutting down waterfront locations to the public
and the county's hard line position there will be no place to relax
with friends along the waterfront in Sarasota County.
Out of control
Red tide has progressively taken over SW Florida. Each year for the
past 10 years red tide has grown more intense and more frequent. An
inventor in Nokomis has come up with a plan to eradicate red tide.
We have written U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris and asked her to help
expedite the approval of his red tide treatment with the U.S. Patent
Office.
* Scalper in town. A man is reportedly going door to door and asking people if they want to sell their house for $150,000 in a Sarasota neighborhood where the homes sell for $250K to $400K.
* 18% of City of Sarasota voters turn out to vote for city
commission seats. Vote leaves no clear winners and a run off in April.
* Longboat Key 2nd in nation in sales dollar growth of real estate sold in 2004.
Catch up
Sarasota property values went up 32% last year. Don't get all
excited we are just playing catch up for 20 years of relatively flat
home appreciation rates.
* Sarasota County pushes on for red light running cameras. Some state legislatures will oppose them.
* Sarasota County Teachers of the Year named: Carol Williams, Sarasota County Technical Institute; Peter Boucher, at Venice Middle School; and Ginny White, at Englewood Elementary.
* Man who went to school at Incarnation Catholic School has filed a suit of abuse against a priest who used to work there.
* Manatee Commissioners buy vegetable farm and say they will keep it that way.
* Over 6,000 new homes planned for Manatee County.
* Area county commissioners say I-75 needs to be expanded from four to six lanes in Venice area.
* Florida lawmakers likely to kill red light camera bill to help catch red light runners. Over 100 people were killed and 13,000 injured from red light runners in Florida.
* Sarasota County Commissioner's agree to let Wal-Mart have new hearing on proposed store on Fruitville Rd. The land is owned by the SHT newspaper chain.
A mother driving her sports car along Beneva Rd. packs in her two
children. The girl in the center wasn't buckled up.
Government $$$ dumping
FEMA government waste is being questioned with 10's of
millions of dollars that were given to Miami area residents. The
storms barely brushed the area.
You can't buy performance
A new study indicates
that Florida schools that spent more dollars per student don't
necessarily mean a better educated student. A similar study in
Manhattan showed that a parochial school had higher performing
students with less dollars per capita.
* Longboat Key residents drop water
usage by 14% after city raises water rates.
* Sarasota County approves 14 two million dollar condos at the Flying Bridge restaurant along the intra-coastal.
* Once known for its Moccasin snakes by I-75 the area will house 2,600 new homes. There go the snakes.
* Lakewood Ranch developer Rex Jensen asks legislators to create one Community Development District for the Lakewood Ranch area. The legislators tended to agree and said they would sponsor a bill.
* The City of Sarasota suffers major sewerage pump break down dumping 600,000 or more gallons of raw sewerage into the Hudson Bayou. The City notified the press at 4:34PM yesterday. The pumps went down at 11AM Wednesday morning. Consequently the public wasn't made aware of the spill for five hours.
* Heard on the street: Jack Nicklaus quips back at Michael Saunders 'I don't dig dirt, I direct it' when told to shovel dirt by her at a new golf course dedication in Bradenton:)
* Commissioner Jon Thaxton shares his views on affordable housing in Sarasota. "I want to see housing built in the $110,000 to $150,000 range for a density bonus rather than $190,000 to $200,000."
* Sarasota County has ordered five new Ford Escape hybrid
sport utility vehicles. 
The county is the first in the area and among
the first in the country to use the hybrid Escape, which is identical in
appearance to its non-hybrid namesake but boasts an EPA rating of
31 miles per gallon in the city and 36 on the highway.
Residents covered their plants last night with whatever they
could find.
What will the City do?
Sarasota put the brakes on zoning and building requirements throwing
projects in the works into a tizzy. With almost 2 billion dollars in
development projects in the works some developers don't know
if their investments will be devalued by the city's actions. We hope
for all involved that the city will treat developers fairly.
What travels five blocks and takes eight days to arrive?
Sometimes it is your mail. The letter below was postmarked on the 11th
of January and arrived 5 blocks away 8 days later.
Some businesses have placed shrubs and attractive landscaping in
front of their business along U.S. 41. Our Town 50.com will be awarding
"Our Town Beautification Awards" to those who help enhance the esthetics
of our ar
* EPA getting ready to allow local government to dump sewerage into the Gulf when it rains. See commentary.
* Manatee County Schools say there aren't enough days to offer 500 hours of Pre-Kindergarten classes over the summer.
* Do you get it? Three Longboat Key residents ran for the three City commission seats with no opponents. It begins with an A and ends in Y. It's called apathy.
This sailboat bit the water just south of the Blackburn Point
bridge in Nokomis.
* SHT newspaper doesn't disclose in an article (about Verizon challenging Comcast with cable service) that they (SHT) partner with Comcast to monopolize the area with TV and newspaper. Bring on the competition.
* We asked the Sarasota County
Commissioners what their three wishes are for Sarasota County for 2005.
Chairman Paul Mercier:
1.Tolerance
2. Positive thoughts
3. A group hug for living in such a wonderful area. We are blessed to
have each other.
David Mills
1. Get construction of the trail system started on the railroad
corridor between Sarasota and Venice;
2. Fast track transportation improvements for the county;
3. Get final approval and start construction on an arena/hurricane
shelter at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds.
Jon Thaxton
1. Respect each other, regardless of disagreements.
2. Sustainable growth planning becomes a reality.
3. More time off to go fishing.
1. Several new employers paying above average wages.
Shannon Staub
* Jimmy Dean, no not the sausage
guy, the publisher of Sarasota Magazine was fired for making a
Jewish slur on TV.
Will the booms all over Sarasota
dry up as land prices drive developers to pick less expensive land with
higher profit margins?
A Sarasota woman holds a "Death for Smith" sign in front of the
Sarasota Court House as Smith's sentence is deliberated.
Venice uses pigs on the street, Sarasota wants to use clowns. Some think its a pigish idea while others say to stop clowning around :)
The State of Florida uses the term "impaired" to describe polluted waters. Recently the state made Sarasota use more data that would put Sarasota waters on the "impaired" list.
If your citrus trees
begin to look like this it may have citrus greening disease.
With a hot real estate market over the past five years some
homeowners think they can sell their house on their own. Some have
commented that houses are staying on the market longer.
Residents are happy that one more airline has returned to Sarasota-Bradenton airport. In November you will be able to fly non-stop to St. Louis. Photo above was taken at about 30,000 feet.
City of Sarasota Receives Results of Citizen Satisfaction Survey.
Quality of life issues, which citizens rated as good or above, are highlighted below:
- 82% of citizens thought Sarasota was either an excellent or good place to live;
- 77% of citizens thought Sarasota was either an excellent or good place to retire;
- 80% of citizens thought the overall quality of life in Sarasota was either good or excellent;
- 81% of citizens thought the overall appearance of Sarasota was either good or excellent;
- 78% of citizens thought the opportunities to attend cultural activities were either good or excellent;
- 80% of citizens thought the shopping opportunities in Sarasota were either good or excellent; and
- 80% of citizens thought the overall image/reputation of Sarasota were either good or excellent.
Areas where citizens thought the City provided less than "fair" services were:
- Access to quality affordable housing;
- Traffic signal timing;
- Amount of public parking;
- Storm drainage;
- Land use, planning and zoning; and
- Services to low-income people.
Residents were asked to respond to most questions with either "excellent, " "good," "fair," "poor" or "don’t know." The National Survey Center converts all results to a 100-point scale. The worst possible score is 0 (if all residents rated a service as poor) and the best 100 (if all residents rated a service as excellent.) A score of 67 is considered a "good" rating, while a score of 33 would be "fair."
In all, six reports were produced by the National Research Center: For more complete information about the survey or the reports you can call 941-954-4102
The lights along Beneva only allow around 10 cars to make it thru
a green light while another 20 cars are backed up and take a few more
light changes to make it thru the light. This light is at Fruitville
Road.
* Florida tourism up 7% over last year. Build it and they will come:)
Local gridlock
Gridlock occurs when more cars are arriving at a point then are leaving
it.
OT5
Locally gridlock in season and out of season is compounded by stop lights that impede over 240,000 cars at at least six intersections along U.S. 41 in Sarasota. Have you ever stopped at a light along 41 and no one was at the intersection to go thru the green light? Who benefits? The people that live down Field Rd., Constitution Ave, retail at Phillippi Creek, and other other side streets. Sometimes less is more.
Housing bubble?
Home prices in our area have not always been so equitable. Prior to the
past five year run up in prices I did a replacement cost analysis vs. a
market value on my home. The replacement value was $260,000 while the
market value was $140,000. In comparison my Mom's home on Long Island is
around 1,000 sq. ft with no garage and no swimming pool with a resale
value of $450,000; my house here would sell for about the same and is
2400 sq. ft and has a garage and swimming pool. Inflated prices here? I
think not.
* Foreign home buyers fuel SW Florida market housing frenzy. Florida realtors report that 15% of the buyers are from overseas. The number one area they buy in are Miami, Sarasota falls to 5th place with 10% of those buyers purchasing here.
* SHT newspaper does study that shows Florida officials only release public information requests 57% of the time. OurTown50 wrote Gov. Bush and he responded personally.
* Sarasota looks to sign agreement that would give them 60% of new Peace River water supply. A 5 million gallon a day shortage is predicted before the plan is implemented.
* States spend quarter billion dollars with remedial reading and writing. How much does Florida and Sarasota/Manatee County's spend. Read USA Today article from link below. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-04-employees-lack-skills_x.htm?csp=34
* Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice moved ahead to close on a $16.1 million land deal that will build 500 homes for the working class on Laural Road.
Sarasota County offers to foot entire $86 million dollar bill for Peace River water expansion for all three counties if an agreement can't be reached.
OT50
If you didn't get to the Summerhouse for your last dinner there
this year you missed out. It is being converted to condominiums.
* Sarasota Airport buys airport manager a house so he will be close by in the event of a hurricane. One taxpayer asks wouldn't it be less expensive to pay for a hotel room?.
OT50
Garbage garbage everywhere. Residents thought their garbage would be picked up on the normal pickup day in Sarasota.. Not:)
OT50
Water retention ponds in Sarasota County
can't keep up with 4" of rain over 4 days. Why? Maybe they weren't
designed to hold that amount of rain.
* Vern Buchanan announces he will run for Katherine Harris's seat in Congress. He is the owner of Sarasota Ford and many other car dealerships.
OT50
Commercial trucks continue to park in deed restricted neighborhoods. This Terminex truck is located in GG Woods in Sarasota.
Housing bubble?
Home prices in our area have not always been so equitable. Prior to the
past five year run up in prices I did a replacement cost analysis vs. a
market value on my home. The replacement value was $260,000 while the
market value was $140,000. In comparison my Mom's home on Long Island is
around 1,000 sq. ft with no garage and no swimming pool with a resale
value of $450,000; my house here would sell for about the same and is
2400 sq. ft and has a garage and swimming pool. Inflated prices here? I
think not.
Watch out big brother now
has a bigger arm to seize your home or
business. The Supreme Court in an unprecedented move approved government's to take your home for the betterment of the private sector. We hope this ruling will be challenged and reversed. Meanwhile maybe a new criteria for elected officials to get elected should be that they will not take your home.
Keeping a sexual distance
Jessica was
killed, this year, by a sexual offender in Tampa who lived in the same
mobile home park.
A city in Florida, Miami Beach, has enacted a law that requires
sexual offenders to live 2,500 feet from any schools or day care
centers. Since Miami Beach is an island the effect of the law makes it
virtually impossible for sexual offenders to live in Miami Beach. Our
Town 50.com has proposed to Sarasota County and Manatee County
Commissioners that they pass a law requiring sexual offenders to live 30
miles from any schools or day care centers. 2,500 feet doesn't really
cut the cake in our area. Our Town 50 has proposed to local officials
that they make it illegal for a sex offender to live within 10 miles of
a school, day care center or facility with children.
* FCAT student scores increase in Sarasota Manatee and and Charlotte Counties.
* Median price of an existing home for the Bradenton-Sarasota area hit $305,000 in March. That means half of the homes are less and and half are more.
Sarasota County wants to take this drainage area and turn it into
a park playground for children. The area is subject to snakes,
alligators, flooding, and an unprotected area.
12 year old missing Bradenton girl, Margarita Aguilar-Lopez,
found alive and in good shape in South Carolina last evening. Paulino-Perez
on the right was arrested.
* City of Venice pays almost a million dollars in legal fees to negotiate a plea deal with EPA, stating they were guilty.
* Most Wanted TV star to lobby in Florida today for more tabs on sexual offenders.
* Sarasota Bradenton Airport passenger traffic increases by 20% over last March figures. Most of the traffic increase was attributed to the new airline, Air Trans and Delta.
* Gov. Bush asks for $15 million to help plan for state growth.
* 70 year old bank robber arrested in Charlotte County. Before you know it they will be arresting 90 year olds on drug charges or prostitution:)
* Florida man starts first Florida coffee plantation and expects his first harvest in 8 months.
* New Florida study shows that $900 in aide to spur economic activity falls short. JP Morgan who received almost $100 million laid off 1,900 employees.
* Sarasota realtors accuse Bradenton realtors of trying to keep them from selling Bradenton properties.
* Florida fares better and worse
than other states in health matters.
- Low weight new born's: worse
- Colon screening: better
- Mammogram screening: better
- Blood cholesterol checked: better
- Infant mortality: worse
Looking to get rich quick area people have bought rental homes
only to see them remain vacant due to the over supply of rentals. Some
have estimated that 25% of the properties in the Sarasota area are
rental/investment property.
* Parents should watch their children at the County Fair and make sure they don't come in contact with the animals. A girl has died from E. coli after contracting it at the Pasco Fair.
* Casey Key residents help shut down popular Tiki Bar. They complained about noise and parking.
* Scientists study Florida waters as arctic fish show up and Atlantic cool water phenomena occurs.
* Rep. Donna Clarke, R-Sarasota has a bill rolling that will make the orange the state fruit. Students at Southside Elementary pointed out that the state had no state fruit:)
* Sarasota Health Dept removes health warning for Roberts Bay following a 35k gallon sewerage spill.
A man feeds dozens of
seagulls at the beach creating a nuisance for beach goers and those that
try and eat at the beach.
Architecture not
They call it Sarasota architecture. Square boxes with some windows.
I won't even pretend to be an art critic or architect like George on
Sienfeld. But these square box buildings that commercial enterprises
are putting up are just plain ugly and unappealing. Why not add
something historical or esthetically appealing?
* Five of seven southeastern states outspend Florida on
public education , yet Florida’s students outperform the students in
these states.
Florida’s student achievement levels surpass Rhode Island’s performance
levels even though Rhode
Island spends $3251 more per student than does Florida.
For 2000-2001, Florida’s per student expenditure was $6143—only 81.6% of the U.S. average of $7532.
It could be a jail, a bunker, but not a work of art. It's a boxy
looking new office building going up in downtown Sarasota.
* Developers to unveil plans for Summerhouse condos at the Summerhouse Restaurant this Tuesday evening at 7PM.
* John McCain says Jeb Bush number one choice for President in 08. Jeb says not.
* Sarasota County would need almost all of the Peace River water to meet demands. But, it must share it with 3 other SW Florida districts.
* Builders say more land and cheaper land needed if you want to hold down home prices in the area.
Sarasota County reports 300,000 gallon sewerage spill off of Bee Ridge Road.
If you were out of the stock market for the past two years you would
have missed a 54% gain. Source: Big Charts.com
One and a half million for an airport director.....with no planes. That is how much the Sarasota Bradenton Airport Authority is going to pay Fred Piccolo for the next five years. The airport is practically vacant and has been running downhill under his reign. Their reasoning....they wanted to keep him. Piccolo is a smart man to convince the board they shouldn't lose him. It could only happen in Sarasota which has one of the most apathetic voice in the nation. (Elected positions go un-contested). The retired folk are too lazy to get involved and the younger population is too busy keeping their heads above water with the high cost of living. Laurel what do you think of that? I think we should vote in a new airport board and fire Piccolo.
U.S. 41 on Friday afternoon when school got out by Phillippi
School. Traffic has to slow down to 15 MPH when school starts and lets
out. You can see downtown Sarasota in the background.
Bring
back the low flow
Sarasota County implemented a
$100 rebate to residential customers who changed from a high flow (
5 gallon usage) to a low flow bowl ( 1.6 gallon usage). The
program ended before many homeowners had a chance to take advantage
of the program. The county would save millions of gallons a day of
water with low flow bowls.
Silly seat belt law
It is deadly silly that police can't stop someone for not wearing a
seat belt. Thus 90% of the seat law breakers get away with it until
they die at the wheel. We support the state legislature in passing a
law allowing police to stop and ticket people for not wearing a seat
belt.
They want to ruin the
Gulf of Mexico...
If you want to swim or fish in sewerage sit back and say nothing. If
you want to
A boy swimming on a raft watching the dolphins off of
Longboat Key.
eat fish that swim in sewerage water sit back and do nothing. The
EPA is readying rules that will allow local governments to dump raw
sewerage that is mixed with treated sewerage into the Gulf of Mexico
when there are heavy rains. This could occur for six months of our
rainy season. Imagine swimming at Siesta, Lido, Anna Maria or
Venice Beach in lovely sewerage. This proposal lowers our
water standards set in 1970 under the Clean Water Act. The change
would effect all water bodies in the United States Talk about
losing 35 years of clean water efforts. Florida will be effected the
most given our heavy rainfall amounts. You can email:
president@whitehouse.gov and let him know what you think
about the EPA's proposal. Read a Washington Post article on the pros
and cons.
http://www.washingtonpost.
com/wp-dyn/articles/A49443-2004Dec8.html
* Katherine Harris's office informed Our Town 50 that she is
going to sign onto a letter opposing the dumping of sewerage into the
Gulf of Mexico and other waterways. Our Town 50 pre
viously had
polled area politicians including Katherine Harris on what their
position was on the EPA proposal. In response to Our Town 50's query
Commissioners Paul Mercier and Jon Thaxton said they opposed the EPA
proposal.
* Two developers to ask Manatee County to change orange grove into 900 homes.
* 22,000 Manatee residents commute to Sarasota each day while only 10,000 Sarasota residents commute to Manatee County.
Those of you that missed the stock market since November have lost out
on an 800 point gain. Those who missed out on the market for the past
two years missed a 3,000 point gain. Total gain over the past two years
40%.
* The Florida Beach Patrol Chiefs Association voted Sarasota County Lifeguard Operations the 2004 “Beach Patrol of the Year.” Lifeguard Operations will receive the honor at the Beach Patrol Chiefs annual banquet on Friday, Feb. 25, in Delray Beach.
* SHT newspaper doesn't disclose in an article (about Verizon challenging Comcast with cable service) that they (SHT) partner with Comcast to monopolize the area with TV and newspaper. Bring on the competition.
* Local Sarasota Police to use new Tazer stun guns soon with 140 on order. Manatee County Deputies will have them also.
*
* State Sen. Mike Bennett told Manatee County fire chiefs to keep their budgets down and to consolidate services to save money.
* Town of Osprey looking at new $6.5 million library to be built by Sarasota County.
They want to ruin the
Gulf of Mexico...
If you want to swim or fish in sewerage sit back and say nothing. If
you want to
A boy swimming on a raft watching the dolphins off of
Longboat Key.
eat fish that swim in sewerage water sit back and do nothing. The
EPA is readying rules that will allow local governments to dump raw
sewerage that is mixed with treated sewerage into the Gulf of Mexico
when there are heavy rains. This could occur for six months of our
rainy season. Imagine swimming at Siesta, Lido, Anna Maria or
Venice Beach in lovely sewerage. This proposal lowers our
water standards set in 1970 under the Clean Water Act. The change
would effect all water bodies in the United States Talk about
losing 35 years of clean water efforts. Florida will be effected the
most given our heavy rainfall amounts. You can email:
president@whitehouse.gov and let him know what you think
about the EPA's proposal. Read a Washington Post article on the pros
and cons.
http://www.washingtonpost.
com/wp-dyn/articles/A49443-2004Dec8.html
* Sarasota County to build $16 million sidewalk system over the next 3 years.
* Fishkind, an economic expert, predicted area housing prices will normalize in the second half of this year as interest rates rise.
* Do you get it? Three Longboat Key residents ran for the three City commission seats with no opponents. It begins with an A and ends in Y. It's called apathy.
Insert a list item.
Insert a list item.
Insert a list item.
Insert a list item.