Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The Oriole Bird makes a special delivery to the Florida High School Athletic Association offices to help Sarasota submit a bid for the state Baseball Finals.
When you can't find a carrier pigeon, the Baltimore Oriole Bird is the next best thing. It's as if the Bird got the call in the bullpen to deliver in the bottom of the ninth, to make a pitch for Sarasota bidding for the Florida High School Athletic Association Baseball Finals— the same tournament Ed Smith Stadium hosted before construction caused the tournament to fly the coup. Sure enough, the Bird traveled to Gainesville with Trevor Markham, manager of ticketing operations for Baltimore Orioles Spring Training, to turn in the bid in person where he "started whistling and everyone started coming out from their offices," said Laura Williams, Orioles director of Florida Operations. "They never had a bid presentation presented by a bird, and…
Friday, May 11, 2012
Sarasota Mayor Suzanne Atwell said in her state of the city speech that Sarasota is a good place to live, work and play, but has budget challenges that need resolved.
Sarasota's mayor says the city has a bright future, but real challenges to solve to keep that light burning. "The state of the city is good," Mayor Suzanne Atwell said. "We have much to be proud of." During her nearly 30-minute state of the city speech at City Hall Friday afternoon, Atwell rattled off numerous successes over the past year, while addressing some of the challenges the city has and will face. "The city has financial responsibilities that we must address now," Atwell said. Some of the budget issues Atwell highlighted: • Now that parking is free, Palm Avenue Parking Garage costs city taxpayers $20,000 a month to keep open due to insurance, maintenance and more • Consider raising operating millage rate • Unfunded pension plans…
Mayor Suzanne Atwell was voted by the city commission to serve another year as mayor and Willie Shaw is the new Vice Mayor.
Mayor Suzanne Atwell will serve another year as Sarasota's mayor after the city commission approved her appointment 3-2 at Friday's statutory commission meeting. "I really, realy love this job, being an ambassador to the city and sometimes it takes some time getting confidence," Atwell said. Commissioners Paul Caragiulo, Shannon Snyder and Atwell voted for Atwell's appointment while Willie Shaw and Terry Turner voted against her appontment. Caragiulo said Atwell's "guarded sense of optimism" is just what the city needs and not act like the city's having a fire sale. Shaw had nominated Turner to be the mayor. Shaw will be the new vice mayor, replacing Turner. "I am confident that we will survive the crises that stand before us," Shaw said…
27.33726
-82.53953
City Hall
1565 1st St, Sarasota, FL
/articles/atwell-to-serve-another-year-as-mayor
1640439
/locations/6993897
The organic produce distributor will move from just north of the airport in Manatee County to McIntosh Road.
A wholesale organic produce distributor will expand and relocate its operations to Sarasota County after receiving a performance-based incentive from Sarasota County Government Wednesday. Global Organic Specialty Source Inc., announced Thursday that it will combine its Miami and Manatee County operations in a larger warehouse to accommodate the company’s growth. The company’s Manatee County location is at 7345 16th St. E, Sarasota, just north of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. The expansion is expected to result in 62 new full-time jobs over the next five years, according to Mark Huey, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County (EDC). The business is required to add those jobs as part of the …
27.26078
-82.48108
6284 McIntosh Rd, Sarasota, FL
Global Organics New Location
/articles/global-organic-to-relocate-operations-to-sarasota-county
/locations/6984656
27.409906
-82.54527
Global Organics
7345 16th St E, Sarasota, FL
/articles/global-organic-to-relocate-operations-to-sarasota-county
1636113
/locations/6984655
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Florida Supreme Court issued its opinion today that voters have the right to implement term limits on county commissioners.
Sarasota and other counties have a right to institute term limits on county commissioners, the Florida Supreme Court ruled today. This could have implications on Commissioner Jon Thaxton’s bid for re-election, who told Patch in December that he would run “until my candidacy is declared invalid.” Today, Thaxton is going to “sleep on it,” he told The Herald-Tribune: “I'm not going to look for technicalities. “I have the utmost respect for the Constitution and the Supreme Court's interpretation. Right now that's all I'm going to say. I want to sleep on it.” Thaxton said he is exploring all of his options for the future, including the possibility of running for the state Legislature or going back into his original field of real estate. “I …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
County Commission approves Cattleman Road site for new Emergency Operations Center.
Sarasota County's Emergency Operations Center will soon move out of the basement of the County Administration Building and to Cattleman Road. The County Commissioners approved the selection of 1301 Cattleman Road on county-owned property for the new operations center at the commission's Tuesday meeting. This was important to the commission because they didn't want to risk having a hurricane destroy a makeshift emergency operations center, WWSB reports: "With the 2012 hurricane season starting in 3 weeks, Sarasota County Commissioner Christine Robinson says she's holding her breath and hoping we don't get a big one. “The EOC is extremely important for the safety of our community. We've been able to witness, with Charlotte County …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Commissioner Shannon Snyder wants to make sure the Westfield Southgate Mall doesn’t become barren or cheapened after a planned Saks Fifth Avenue departure.
Commissioner Shannon Snyder wants to make sure the Westfield Southgate Mall doesn’t become barren or cheapened after a planned Saks Fifth Avenue departure. Snyder proposed to the commission Monday that the commission ought to discuss the mall at some point to help it transition. “I don’t have an answer. I would just like to bring it to the commission’s attention so that we can focus on it before it deteriorates into a tournament of glow-in-the-dark goofy golf like they have down in Sarasota Square Mall for a while,” Snyder said, referencing Westfield’s other property where it has Lunar Mini Golf where Steve and Berry’s once was and also has a miniature synthetic ice rink in another wing of the mall. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I …
27.3027
-82.53036
Saks 5th Avenue
3501 S Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, FL
/articles/commissioner-wants-city-to-help-southgate-mall
1799939
/locations/6957896
Sarasota Gator Youth Football Club President Eddie Austin apologizes to the city for last year's attack on a referee and is asking the city for grant money to pay off jerseys and equipment from last season.
The president of the Sarasota Gator Youth Football Club is apologizing to the City Commission after last year's coach-on-referee attack that went viral, and hopes to regain a lost grant. "No one should have acted the way they did," club president and head coach Eddie Austin told the commissioners Monday night at City Hall. "It was an unfortunate situation for everyone involved," he added later. The August 2011 attack had resulted in felony battery charges to coaches Dexter Austin, Timothy Howard, Antonio Bradley and a 14-year-old for attacking referee Jayme Ream of St. Petersburg. The video of the fight had went viral across the nation. Austin was before the commission during citizens' comments to request that the $25,000 Newtown …
Monday, May 7, 2012
Cyber security experts Sylint Group is recommending the city take corrective actions to prevent a massive hack into its data and email systems.
Cyber security firm Sylint Group is turning its focus on the City of Sarasota's vulnerable network to protect it from a large hack attack that the Lake County Sheriff's Office recently suffered. That incident happened during an anti-security hacking movement called Anti Sec that has ties to hackers Anonymous, Sylint CEO John Jorgensen told the City Commission Monday afternoon. The group that claimed responsibility for the attack is Lulzknights, he said. Sylint is also working that investigation. "Any city that is deemed to be an enemy of Anonymous and the people in questions have been under attack by Anonymous and has suffered losses as far as information is concerned," Jorgensen said. Monday's update from Sylint is to the work involved in…
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Gov. Rick Scott signs a bill into law that is aimed to lower insurance rates in Florida to avoid high claims of Personal Injury Protection.
Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation Friday to reform auto accident fraud in Florida, this year’s number one consumer protection issue. But consumer groups say it could have been better. The Governor's Office says this is meaningful legislation that will lower the cost of auto insurance premiums for Florida drivers by limiting fraud in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance. Accident fraud would have cost average Floridians over $1 billion this year if PIP reform was not passed. The changes will go into law in July and consumers should start seeing changes after Jan. 1, 2013. “Growing up in a family without a lot of money, I truly understand the value of the hard-earned dollar for Florida families,” Scott said in a statement. “By helping…
Richard M. Swier
7:48 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
Another waste of taxpayers money to fund a company that would have moved here anyway. Why does government think it can invest in companies and create jobs? Also, supporting "green jobs" is foolish on the surface. A job is a job is a job. Government is just picking this winner over the hundreds if not thousands of businesses in Sarasota County. If the County Commission wants to help businesses … more ›