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Sarasota
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* Sarasota County allocates $600,000 to help local homeowners in foreclosure save their home. The homes have to be under $300K. A homeowner would receive up to $5,000 each.
Bradenton now connects with Sarasota via their bus service.
"Mr. Van Wezel", Curt Haug died Wednesday at age 91. He ran the hall with
a presence like no other. 11-08
City of Sarasota approves plans for $1.25 billion Waldorf Astoria
project. Which will include an 800 seat theatre, 180K sq. feet of
shopping, and condos.
Paul Mercier a Sarasota County Commissioner for eight years will step down
this month. Paul was a strong component of the Commission who offered
unique solutions and had the taxpayers best interests at heart. 11-08
The new Sarasota Technical H.S. opened this school year with it's
first graduating class of 150 students. The school will take in around 150
new students each year until it grows to 600 students. It is one of only 4
high tech high schools in the state.
* Sarasota County to get over 7 million dollars while Manatee County gets over 5 million dollars in Federal funds to purchase foreclosed and abandoned homes and make them available to low and moderate income families.
Gulf Gate Golf course owner had a deal fall through to sell the
property. Now they want to give the clubhouse to Gulf Gate Association
owners in exchange for them not objecting to the land being developed. The
property purchased for around one million was being resold for 14 million.
Sarasota County passes red light camera law to the tune of $125 per ticket. New cameras will be installed early next year.
* SHT newspaper lays of 33 staff as it cuts down on number of editions due to reduced revenue.
Unacceptable levels of Coliform bacteria found in Sarasota County
drinking water. Some residents get notices others don't. Notices
were sent with the following months water bill about a month or more after
the incident. The County says
the problem is cleared up now.
Robert Kennedy, 18 year old Sarasota senior dies needlessly from fight and drinking at friends party.
Casey Key Fish House Tiki bar gets green light from Sarasota County
Commissioners after being closed for 3 years. Bravo!
Florida announced a $1.75 billion tentative deal to buy nearly 300 square miles of land from U.S. Sugar Corp. for Everglades restoration. U.S. Sugar would then shut down its business and the Everglades would be on a path of restoration.
The SHT newspaper reported that a Sheriff's Deputy daughter was not listed online for DUI as all other people are posted who have been arrested. The law only states that you can't publish law enforcement personnel photos or addresses. The SCSO said they have talked about pulling the list down off the internet completely.....now that's public disclosure:)
Cheney
wants to suck Florida dry of oil. In the same speech he mis-claims that China is drilling oil 60
miles off Florida. Not.
.
It's a good thing, Sarasota County banning fertilizing lawns over the summer rainy season. The ban hopefully will make for less runoff pollution into creeks and the Gulf of Mexico.
A new Publix at the old SHT newspaper site, in Sarasota at Wood Street and U.S. 41.....what? What a traffic jam that would be. A developer has the plans before the City of Sarasota.
I-75 temporary fix completed Sunday evening, eliminating need to detour off I-75 at Ellenton. Southbound traffic will be a slow go as speed limits will be lowered to 45 MPH in this area.
* Sarasota tax base down 17% ($10 billion) in past year according to property appraiser. Some of the loss is from state mandated tax reduction. Don't expect your real estate taxes to go down that much.
Pamela Lerose was ledfrom Peaches restaurant where she worked Saturday and shot by boyfriend outside. Owner of restaurant says she wasn't dragged out or customers and staff would have stopped the man.
* Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) announced plans today to open a Macy’s store at the new University Town Center development in Sarasota
* The Sarasota Bayside project (Quay) will be on hold until at least 2012.
It's like sewer run off
that has been plaguing Marina Jack's for the past two weekends. Diners
have reported this unsightly event while they dine outside. A
Sarasota County health inspector went out to validate the runoff Monday.
Supposedly the manager will call a plumber to fix the problem. 5-6-08
* Yes, bring on the Boston Red Sox to Sarasota, they would be a much bigger draw for the area. Talks are in the process.
It was a sad day this week when we learned of the death of Kevin Brown who
led the Suncoast Boat races for the past eight years. Kevin also worked on
the race event from its origin. He was only 55. 4-08
The AMC theatre at Sarasota Square Mall
remains vacant years after AMC shut it down to build a new theatre inside
the mall.
* OMG Jennings and Buchanan are going to go head to head again in 2008?
Sometimes you just have to wait and wait and wait
for AAA to rescue you. This woman in her 80's had been waiting over an
hour, in a Publix parking lot, and still no sign of AAA to help her unlock
her car. We have waited almost two hours for AAA to show up to get a jump
start. We dropped them. 4-11-0
Gov. Charlie Crist tells reporters Allstate Insurance agents should work for a more ethical company. The state claims Allstate won't release 100's of documents to prove their requested rate increases. 4-11-08
* As upwards of 40% of our nations bee colonies have disappeared, Florida beekeepers head to California to help pollinate the state.
Former Sarasota local attorney and founder of one of the largest
youth rowing clubs died last week. Peter de Manio was a controversial
figure and was finally ousted as head of the rowing club he founded the
Sarasota Scullers Youth Rowing. He probably coached over 1,000 youths
and had 28 varsity titles credited to his rowing program. Many rowers had
a love hate relationship with him. They loved him for changing their lives
and making them a better person but hated the acidic methods that he was
known for. One former rower reported that near his death he apologized for
how he treated her.
Sarasota County Clerk, Karen Rushing, looking into a so
called expired county ordinance that allowed the Sarasota Airport to
charge a fee for parking
violations. Jim Ley county
administrator says the ordinance expired last year. OurTown50.com exclusive.
The old Quay building has disappeared and a new hotel and retail
may not finally arise for another five years.
Dolphin, named Winter, that is getting the
first full prosthetic tail in the world made a temporary stay at Mote
Marine as the Clearwater Aquarium remodeled their tanks.
Sarasota School Superintendent
sends a letter, about him seeking another position, to teachers and
staff. He sites making great strides focusing on 'rigor'. Note how
Dictionary.com defines 'rigor'. Rigor: strictness, severity, or
harshness, as in dealing with people.
"made great strides in addressing the needs of the new generation of digital learners by focusing on rigor, relevance and relationships in the classroom."
* Sarasota Charter Board to review putting appointed Sheriff position on ballot. The Sarasota County Sheriff budget is around $90 million a year.
The number of retirees and pre-retirees will jump by
30 million over the next decade. SW Florida will get its
share:)
Sarasota County repairs a street
drain pipe that is almost 40 years old. The county also
took over most private water/sewer companies years ago and
will have to replace millions of dollars of piping in
the county.
Sarasota County looks into
recycling discarded recycling bins after OT50 conducts inquiry why they haven't done
so thus far.
Can Sarasota handle 14 new
hotels planned? Current hotels think probably not.
Sarasota Square Mall continues
to struggle with more parking spaces then customers to
fill them.
The docks at Coasters restaurant are being repaired
after being closed for 5 years for disrepair.
* Manatee County Schools to invest over $16 million in TV studio and building. Are they in the education field or a TV broadcaster? Why don't they contract out TV services to a local TV station? We hate to know how much Sarasota County and their schools spends on TV production.
Florida Insurance Commissioner decides you 'are not in
good hands' with Allstate. They banned the company from
selling any new insurance in Florida after the company
refused to release information. A day later a Judge
ruled to allow Allstate to sell insurance in Florida
pending a hearing.
In Sarasota County Waste Management won't recycle the
broken recycle bins. Is that ironic or what:)
Killing of American Bald Eagle in Manatee County raises
reward ante to $12,000 by individuals and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife agency
to offer a combined $2,000 reward to find the shooter.
Photo: Tony Brown
* Airport director initiates study to replace air-traffic control tower at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
New Venice Waterside Hotel gets the
go ahead to begin the 255 room hotel along the
intra-coastal.
* 80% of homeowner's insurance
rates have not been lowered as promised by Florida
regulators.
* UF may cut summer school to help make up for recent budget cut of $16 million.
* Sarasota man, Daniel Prewett, and his staff may be in deep trouble. The IRS says they defrauded the government out of $130 million in income taxes by claiming false write offs for their local tax clients. The company Hewitt Jackson/ JS Accounting had over 7,500 local clients. One dentist wrote off his $800K yacht. Mr. Prewett escaped to Italy and is in custody there. Mr. Prewett was not an Investment Advisor as defined in Florida and erroneously reported in other publications.
Residents and tourists will not be happy with
traffic delays beginning in February caused by
work on the Anna Maria bridge.
This empty lot at the corner of U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road remains vacant. It was to be turned into a hotel, condos and retail. What a traffic nightmare at that location it would appear.
Sarasota High School, built in 1926, is turned over to Ringling College of
Art who will renovate it to accommodate the new Sarasota Museum of Art.
* FPL says they may lower electric rates by 2% next year to reflect lower oil prices, huh, oil has come down 50%. Then in 2010 they want to raise rates by 9%.
* 12th Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth will require local lenders and borrowers in foreclosure cases to meet with each other to try and work out a solution before a foreclosure is filed. Bravo
A home in Sarasota that was foreclosed and re-sold gets a new tile
roof. The home sits on a golf course.
Homeless figures jump by 8.4% in Sarasota and Manatee County's.
* Crime lowers slightly in Manatee County, a tad higher statewide. Violent crimes are down, burglary and theft are up. Sarasota County holds about even in overall number of crimes compared to 2007 and has about a 24% criminal capture rate.
As of April of this year FPL must buy back solar or other types of
electricity that homeowners generate at the current retail rate. Now you
can start getting a check from FPL. Watch as OurTown50 evaluates solar
grids for their
Sarasota Green House Project.
* Sarasota County to get over 7 million dollars while Manatee County gets over 5 million dollars in Federal funds to purchase foreclosed and abandoned homes and make them available to low and moderate income families.
* Sarasota teachers to get at least a 1% raise and an additional 1% if the state does not reduce funds to the district by year end. The average teacher salary is around $54,000.
Work continues on the 7 month County project to make downtown Siesta Key
more beauuuutiiiiifullll. The County will spend over $5 million dollars
on fancy sidewalks, and signs to attract more tourist dollars to the
area.
Ringling Bridge to retain its name but have a plague honoring local Gil Waters. Problem solved:)
* Effective July 1, 2008, no chiropractor may be employed by a health care clinic unless the clinic has a medical director that is an MD or DO.
City of Sarasota approves massive condo/hotel project despite traffic
concerns on U.S. 41. A Waldof Astoria hotel and 200 condos are planned for
the site.
* Economic impact of Boston Red Sox to Sarasota is estimated at between $25 to $47 million if they were located here. Lee County officials beg off from hosting them again.
Sam Seltzer's files for bankruptcy. They have 10 Florida locations including Sarasota and Bradenton. The places are packed why would they have to file? Photo of staff from their Sarasota restaurant from an OT50 dining review.
Sarasota Bradenton area home sales up 11% from same time last year. Many
of the sales are short sales of foreclosed homes. The home above on a golf
course was foreclosed and is now for sale.
Local governments realize that the value of
bringing the Boston Red Socks to Sarasota is far greater then
keeping Cincinnati. Above a sketch of the planned new ball park.
200 gallons of diesel
fuel spills into the channel just outside the entrance to Mattison's
Riverside restaurant. A 1952 Chris Craft boat had sunk leaking fuel into
the water.
Beginning Sept. 3, Continental Airlines will end service for the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport.
Local officials look at taking the Sarasota Fair Grounds and turning it into a 1st class baseball facility for the Boston Red Sox. The Fair Grounds would then move out to Twin Lakes on Clark Road.
Sarasota Heliport complains about Sarasota County Sheriff's Office helicopter, saying they blinded another pilot with a bright spotlight and on another occasion almost caused another accident.
Gwen MacKenzie turns Sarasota Memorial Hospital from $30 million loss to almost $20 million profit. Bravo!
Local governments realize that the value of
bringing the Boston Red Socks to Sarasota is far greater then
keeping Cincinnati. Above a sketch of the planned new ball park.
Residents rejoice that Commissioners rescind plan to charge to park at local beaches.
* Wow, former Sarasota Ford finance manager sues Buchanan for making false statements to customers.....wow, that doesn't sound good. The dealer said they fired him for poor performance but he worked for them for almost 3 year.
* Sarasota County Administrator, Jim Ley, says he won't take a pay raise this year and he asks other managers who earn $60K or more to do the same.
Sarasota County says 80% of beach goers in season are tourists and 60% in the summer. Thus they want to put in paid parking meters to generate revenue.
* Sarasota Reading Festival canceled. The non-profit group refused to give the SHT newspaper exclusive naming rights. The SHT then pulled out of the event and the Friends of the Library were forced to cancel the event. Now that's a shame. Thousands enjoyed the celebration of books.
"Winter" the famous
dolphin located in Clearwater is being pet by a trainer. The dolphin is
being fitted with the world's first full tail prosthetic by a Sarasota
resident and a team of experts. 4-08
Things look optimistic for opening Midnight Pass as Sarasota County
Commissioners listen to how the state would like the remediation process
to go. 4/08
Longboat Key Club to get $500 million dress up. With a Ritz-Carlton in the area and a Waldorf planned the club needs to play catch up.
Denise Lee's husband comes forward to say he holds Charlotte County
Sheriff's Department responsible for his wife's murder. Story makes
national news on CBS. 4-11-08
* SHT newspaper nominated for the 1st time for a Pultizer prize. Kudos!
Myakka River is only one of two Florida rivers with the designation "The
Wild & Scenic " While the river's head waters are in Manatee County
the river runs for 34 miles in Sarasota County.
![[OB-BE695_10pt_existinghome.gif]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-BE695_10pt_e_20080324103712.gif)
The
National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales rose 2.9% in
February compared to January. Regionally, existing-home sales in February
rose 2.5% in the Midwest, 11.3% in the Northeast, and 2.1% in the South.
Demand fell 1.1% in the West.
* Charlotte County stuck with $100 million loan after developer backs out of deal to buy land.
* Sarasota Bradenton Airport traffic up over 12% in February from the previous year.
A wise owl once said, 'quit cutting down
our environment'. We caught this owl sitting in a tree this week on a
Sarasota County preserve. The county has taken a pro-active stance in
helping to preserve our trees and land.
* Sarasota County cuts almost $6 million from current budget. 3-08
Affordable homes? Neal Communities breaks ground on homes starting at
$135,000. 3-08
How does U.S. 41 get gridlocked? One of the reasons is slow moving
trucks in the left lane. Another is slow passenger vehicles in the left
lane. OK, so heavy traffic is also a factor:)
Chip Shore Clerk of Court
At least two Manatee elected officials, the elections supervisor and clerk of the courts collect retirement benefits while also getting to get paid full time salaries. The State needs to correct a loophole that allows for this double dipping costing the State over $300 million last year alone.
Here comes the new Waldorf-Astoria to downtown Sarasota. It is expected to be finished in about 2 years.
Pool cage builders used to have a six month waiting
listing just to get you an estimate. Now their trucks sit
idle and they have laid off most of their work force. The
same pool cage estimate was $15,000 in 2004. Today the
same pool cage will cost you $6,000.
* The Florida Building Commission today recommended to the Legislature that new buildings along Florida’s coast that will be insured by the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation be built to stronger standards than current building codes require.
* 52% of voters cast a ballot in Sarasota County in the primary, a record setting number.
* Sarasota Memorial breaks ground for a medical center in a lucrative Manatee development Heritage Harbor. Manatee Hospital isn't happy with them moving in their turf.
* From 2004 to 2005 Manatee County school budget increased 25% by over $200 million. Then in 2006 it went up $50 million. In 2007 it went down $130 million. Now they are screaming about more possible cuts. Gov. Crist though has proposed another $138 million statewide.
Tourists stroll St. Armands Circle
Tuesday with balmy temps in the low 80's. Tourists still
seem to be visiting our area:)
* Sarasota County Commissioners turn down mail in ballot system. And talk about debating making Sheriff's position an appointed one rather then elected. In other action they approved a payment for damages to the tune of $65K to a developer. Commissioner Mercier says Fruitville Rd. will have traffic problems.
* For the past umpteen years the Sarasota metro area only had one TV service provider. Now we have two, Comcast and Verizon. Verizon was just named the Consumers Report Best Bet for their Verizon FiOS service which gives you TV, phone and Internet. Thank you Verizon and the Sarasota County Commissioners for opening up the market and giving us a choice.
Mel's
Diner closes one restaurant in Bradenton and two
in Sarasota . Morton's Market in Lakewood Ranch will close
the end of February.
* Sarasota Realtor Bill Furst said
he became so frustrated with the increasing assessments
throughout Sarasota County that he announced this week
he has decided to run against Property Appraiser Jim
Todora in the upcoming Republican primary in August.
* Tampa developer offering new
homes for $120,000.
* New report shows Florida 38th in education. Now
that's a record to not be proud of.
* Sarasota County says it
will keep at least some camping at $6 million dollar
beach property it bought two years ago.
* Over 20,000 Manatee and
Sarasota residents request absentee ballots for
January 29th primary elections and voter amendment to
lower taxes.
* Local prominent builder plans to
give up to $100K rebate on homes bought over a 10
year period. Benderson is offering the deals on homes in a
1000 unit sub-division in Port Charlotte. 
31 year old pilot and his parents
perish in St. Pete plane crash just short of the SP
airport late Saturday.
AP Photo
* New study shows cell
phone drivers slow traffic down and help create
gridlock. We knew that you can see it up and down
U.S. 41.
* Sarasota County pursues
opening Midnight Pass at meeting with state next month.
* Sarasota County looks at $14 million loss of revenue if voters approve statewide tax measure this month.