- October 25, 2024
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We gather this time of year on driveways, alongside condo pools, in the frozen-food aisle and scores of other places with a familiar conversation.
How are the kids? Like that new set of irons? Get through the hurricane OK?
Winter residents expect it on their return to Sarasota and its neighboring islands Friends and neighbors have missed you during the hot, humid months. We want to catch up and get back to our paradise-like weather, planning for the holidays and complaining about traffic.
In the interests of bringing up to speed the folks who summer in places such as Grosse Point, Tonawanda, Westport or Naperville, we bring you our annual look back at some of the big news you might have missed and a few of our favorite happy happenings that crossed our paths while you were away.
Welcome back.
The City Commission could either look a little different or a lot different in the next few weeks, based on decisions made months ago. It all started in February when at-large Commissioner Hagen Brody decided to run for the Democratic nomination for the District 2 County Commission seat instead of re-election to the city dais.
That seat, in the county’s only real Democratic-leaning County Commission district, looked attractive with incumbent (and Republican) Christian Ziegler bowing out. Recall, that county voters twice affirmed their commitment to single-member voting, which meant a Democrat actually had a chance.
But not only did Brody jump in, so did Mike Cosentino and former Sarasota Mayor Fredd Atkins.
When the primary dust settled, Atkins was the nominee, not Brody.
So when you cast your at-large City Commission ballot next week (maybe you’ve already done so), you’re picking among one incumbent in Jen Ahearn-Koch and two newcomers, Dan Lobeck and Debbie Trice for two seats.
The commission could end up with two new faces. And, once seated, the group will pick a new mayor for the coming year as well.
Stay tuned.
In a ceremony packed with friends, family, co-workers and more police brass than a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Chicago, the city named its first Hispanic police chief in late April.
City Manager Marlon Brown said he interviewed no one else but the then-acting police chief for the role but gathered a wealth of information on what stakeholders said they would value in the city’s 13th top cop.
“My philosophy is to always promote from within if we have that talent, if we have that expertise, and Chief Troche just check all the boxes that the community saw they wanted in a chief,'’ Brown said.
Troche said for his part, serving the role as interim chief simply made even clearer that the path toward the formal position was the right direction for him.
"I felt I was the right person for this job, I felt that I had enough experience, I had enough life experience I had enough training to step into this role,'' he said. "For me, there was no hesitation and I felt just the confidence that the city manager exuded when we had our conversations and the belief that he had in me, there was never a day where I felt, 'wow, I'm not sure I should make this decision because I don't have the support of the city manager.''
Troche has been Sarasota Police since 2002, serving in each of the departments divisions and rising through the ranks after starting his law enforcement career in Largo in 1997.
Have you ever arrived at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and been annoyed by those people who simply must stand up and get their overhead bags and stand in the aisle literally the moment the jet comes to a complete stop?
Well, that’s another story, but if you’ve been frustrated by those same people as your plane stopped and waited for a gate to open up for one reason or another, then SRQ’s plans for the future will make you smile.
With an eye toward growth and the need to better serve current customers, the airport has embarked on a $72 million project to add a ground-based boarding facility capable of serving upwards of 2.5 million passengers a year through five new gates. Combined with the current 13 gates, SRQ’s capacity will be about 5 million annual travelers.
If that number sounds outlandish, consider the airport in 2021 had more than 3.1 million passengers, 1.2 million more than in 2019.
“We're growing so fast we need more gates, and the fastest way to do that is ground-based because you don't have to build air bridges and you don't have to go two stories,” said SRQ President and CEO Rick Piccolo. “It's also not as expensive. We're looking for fast and cost-effective, while at the same time making sure that we have something that looks as nice as the rest of the airport.”
There were a few months there when all indications were that we’d be teeing up Titleists at the city’s restored Bobby Jones Golf Course this fall. Or in other words, right about now.
Well, that’s not happening but work on the project to reset the forlorn 36-hole layout to Donald Ross’ original 18-hole layout, with such modern-day improvements as, oh, drainage. Also in the offing, a nature park that will one day occupy the remainder of the acreage and serve as a filtering agent for storm water runoff from miles around.
Work is progressing, but that first tee shot will likely come in the spring of 2023.
Who knows, you might still be in town. If so, see you there.
Though experts say it’s difficult to find a smoking gun, if you will, when it comes to higher-than-acceptable levels of bacteria at bathing beaches, one thing they can agree on is what to do about it.
They post no-swim advisories to be safe.
That’s exactly what health authorities had to do several times this summer when concentrations of enterococcus bacteria climbed.
The stakes are high when no-swim advisories are posted, and they are not posted lightly, health officials say, adding the out-of-bounds levels of the bacteria can be indicative of several conditions ranging from routine to serious. Health officials also stress that concentrations of enterococcus bacteria are not related to red-tide outbreaks.
Still, the microscopic organisms can lead to health problems.
“When these bacteria are found at high levels in recreational waters, there is a risk that some people may become ill,” Sarasota County Health and Human Services spokesperson Steve Huard said.
While the high levels of bacteria can originate from a number of sources, the true source of the bacteria is hard to determine as that level of testing is extensive and costly, Executive Director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Dave Tomasko said.
“The source does matter,” he said. “It’s so expensive to do the source assessment that they rightfully use the bacteria as an indicator.”
What initially looked like a bewildering collections of arrows, striped, traffic cones, traffic islands, traffic signs and emblems painted on the pavement along Ringling Boulevard has matured of late into the first segment of the city’s complete streets program.
Workers got started over the summer in converting the eastern segment of the thoroughfare from a four-lane road with conventional parking and no accommodation for bikes or scooters. Now, it’s a two-lane road with designated space for two wheelers, along with plenty of buffering between them and the traffic lanes. Work now is progressing west of U.S. 301 with the goal of safely linking Legacy Trail with the bayfront. The $2.76 million project is scheduled for completion soon.
Project Manager Camden Mills said Ringling Boulevard is a suitable route for the project, because the road, which runs parallel to Main Street, it is not a thoroughfare or designated evacuation route.
Because traffic declined from an average of 14,000 vehicle trips per day in 2002 to 7,900 trips in 2019, losing one travel lane in each direction would have minimal impact on traffic.
City leaders over the summer also listened to citizens to help formulate similar complete streets plans for Shade Avenue. Soon, results will be shared and three proposals rolled out for additional review.
One doesn’t have to look far to find county and city plans to keep building on the rails-to-trails success of the Legacy Trail. Both governments are keen to add connecting points, spurs and access to other areas. Even as far away as Lakewood Ranch.
One notion that doesn’t seem to be working is a proposal to keep the original concept of replacing rails north to the Manatee County line.
City officials found officials with Seminole Gulf Railroad uninterested in co-locating a trail alongside the tracks as they head north out of the city, leading toward a second proposal to perhaps develop a series of neighborhood access points.
Pivoting in a new direction, City Engineer Nik Patel said, has presented new opportunities for Legacy Trail, though.
Rather than a single artery to University Parkway along the railroad, planners are exploring more of a capillary system to connect multiple points both east and west to an urban trail network through neighborhoods such as Newtown that completes the trail northward.
The city in September joined the ranks of counties and municipalities around Florida banning smoking on beaches and in parks, empowered by a state law that sunsetted a state ban on local governments making such rules.
The town of Longboat Key did the same, while Sarasota County officials are still looking at the possibility. Discussion of topic was tabled recently.
City Commissioners left open the possibility of setting aside a place to puff in parking lots or other designated sites as a means to accommodate those who still want to fire up while along the shore.
In mid-July, the Sarasota County Commission unanimously voted to convey the site near Interstate 75 to Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium for $100. There, the nonprofit marine research organization plans to build a new 110,000-square-foot aquarium, a project years in the making. Days later, Mote closed on the property.
Construction is underway on the 11.76 acre site, once owned by Sarasota County.
Branded Mote Science Education Aquarium (Mote SEA), Mote reached a $90 million fund-raising milestone in October 2021.
Michael Moore, special advisor to the office of the president who has led the fundraising campaign for the Mote SEA, said donations have picked up pace since the land was conveyed, adding an announcement about the next milestone will come this fall.
"The community's response to the project is accelerating with prospective donors as they see the project is starting to materialize," Moore said. "Definitely when it comes out of the ground in a few months we know that's going to help us toward the goal."
Arrivederci, Serenissima, there’s a new highest sale price for a residential property in the Sarasota-Manatee-Charlotte county region after the sales-closing of a home in Sarasota’s Harbor Acres.
The 12,000-square-foot home, which sits on almost 2 acres at 1423 and 1435 Hillview Drive, sold for $17.5 million, $1 million more than the 2020 sale of a Longboat Key home, named ‘most serene’ in Italian and the 2021 sale of a Gulf-front home on Casey Key.
“This is not only a record-breaking sale but truly one of the finest properties offered in Sarasota,” said Linda Driggs, of Michael Saunders & Co., who worked with the company’s Kim Ogilvie to represent the sellers. “The owners created a park-like waterfront setting and curated every detail imaginable inside and out.”
Driggs sold the same home at 1423 Hillview Drive in 2007, which then set a record at $7.287 million.
The property offers nearly 250 feet of bayfront, two docks, downtown views and plenty of outdoor space for recreation and large-scale entertaining.
The Sarasota Orchestra announced the death of incoming music director Bramwell Tovey on July 12. Tovey, 69, had accepted the position of music director in 2021, but his previous obligations did not allow him to take full control in Sarasota until the upcoming season.
Tovey, a Grammy award winner, previously served as music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (from 2000 to 2019) and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (from 2002 to 2006). He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London, and he served as principal conductor of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet early in his career.
Tovey first conducted as part of his new role in Sarasota in October 2021, and he returned to lead the orchestra in the finale to the Masterworks season in April. Tovey made an immediate impression in April by explaining some of the musical gags in “Til Eugenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” and the musicians were looking forward to getting to work with him on a regular basis.
“There was immediate chemistry between Maestro Tovey and our orchestra,” said Joseph McKenna, the president and CEO of Sarasota Orchestra, as part of an official statement. “We shared with him an expectation of a long partnership. Like so many, all of us at Sarasota Orchestra feel the tremendous loss of a great friend and sincere collaborator.
In a heartfelt letter to merchants, former board members and other friends of the Circle, Diana Corrigan announced her resignation as emeritus executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association, relinquishing her duties to successor Rachel Burns after an 18-month transition.
She wrote that she was looking forward to spending time in retirement with her husband, Richard, albeit 22 years later than planned.
It was in the late 1990s when the couple closed their business in upstate New York, sold their homes and intended to move to Virginia. In the interim, both of their children moved to Florida, altering their destination southward. They arrived in Sarasota to stay with one of their children when they happened upon St. Armands Circle.
“We got there a little early, so we drove over the Ringling Bridge and as soon as we got to St. Armands we looked at each other and said: ‘This is the place. This is where this is where we need to move,’” Corrigan said.
The Rev. Fausto Stampiglia recently retired after 31 years of service with St. Martha Catholic Church.
"Being a priest is living a life of joy," Stampiglia said.
One of Stampiglia’s greatest and enduring accomplishments has been the support and near-resurrection of St. Martha Catholic School, which teaches kids from pre-K through eighth grade.
The school was losing students, enough to the point that then-Bishop of the Diocese of Venice John Nevins suggested Stampiglia sell the school to help pay off debt.
“I’m a product of Catholic school. I’m not an undertaker,” Stampiglia said. “I said ‘God, no,’ … and by 1995 we were looking to enlarge the school.
Nevins granted Stampiglia permission to construct a new school on 20 acres on Fruitville Road, which sported a domed structure design that was popular in Italy.
