Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Drivers at a Sarasota grocery distribution facility have joined the local Teamsters chapter. Unanimously, workers employed by United Natural Foods voted to be represented through the Teamsters Local 79 in Tampa.
“With one voice, we now go to the bargaining table to begin improving our standard of living,” Rob Kroupa, a seven-year driver at UNFI, says in a statement.
Drivers who joined the Teamsters Local 79 work at 6272 McIntosh Road, the Sarasota wholesale warehousing and grocery distribution facility for Delaware-based UNFI, whose largest customer nationally is Whole Foods.
Opinion: I've been warning potential buyers here for years to avoid buying in a golf course community, due to financial exposure...especially if they were not an avid golfer.
The article below describes just 1 scenario that can arise. The avid golfer's spending $45,000,000 to maintain/improve the golf facility, & all the rest having to pay the same, whether they golf, or not...this often leads to animosity between the 2 groups.
Again, if you are not an avid golfer, and/or willing to pay a lot for the amenity, avoid golf communities.
Pools, tennis courts, & pickleball courts, cost a small fraction to maintain, as compared to a golf country club.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wondermint2
Bond issue returns in University Park
Some University Park residents express concerns over the debt issued to enhance the country club's amenities.
Five years after issuing bonds worth $24 million to purchase the University Park Country Club and its amenities, the University Park Recreation District has issued a second series of bonds totaling $21 million to upgrade the amenities.
Some residents are questioning the legality of the bonds and the impacts they could have on residents.
“The UPRD board looks at the ability to issue bonds as a piggy bank,” resident Dean Matt said. “They are loading debt on the homeowners, and half the homeowners don’t even realize it.”
The board has a different view of the situation.
“The largest asset that we have is our country club,” Chairperson Sally Dickson said. “If we don’t keep up with it and we don’t make necessary improvements to continue to meet the needs and the desires of our membership, as well as the people from the public who come in and enjoy aspects of what we offer, including golf and dining facilities, then that’s going to have an impact on our homes.”
According to Matt, homeowners are still paying down debt from the original bonds and will now be saddled with more. The bonds each carry 30-year terms and are added to homeowners’ property tax bills as non ad valorem assessments.
PFM Group Consulting, which supplies district management and financial advisory services to the board, estimated in November 2023 that the annual assessments per homeowner would range from about $900 to $3,000 over the next 30 years to pay for the 2024 bonds. In its methodology report, it provided an estimated assessment for each of the 1,202 homes in the district.
Matt said the number PFM provided doesn’t show the total cost of the 30-year payments, which is why he says homeowners didn’t have all the information before voting.
“The board always speaks in terms of the minimum amount,” he said. “They’ve never acknowledged what the 30-year payment is. Used salesmen have to do that.”
-----------------------------------------
*What will the bonds pay for?
- Golf course irrigation
- Golf course lake banks and bulkheads
- Kitchen renovation and modernization
- Fitness center renovation and modernization
- Activity space
- Administrative workspace
- 70 additional parking spaces and resurfacing
It's another weekend, and you know what that means. If you guessed another great lineup of local, talented musicians in Manatee, Sarasota, and surrounding counties, you would be correct. Check out The Bradenton Times Weekend Sounds to see what bands you can catch at your favorite venues.
A section in the new North Port land code may make it harder for some fearful residents to chop down trees on their property.
The drafted section of chapter 6 in the new Unified Land Development Code may worry those who have “tree fear,” as well as those who believe in strong property rights, the City Commission was told in a workshop Monday.
During Hurricane Ian, many trees fell throughout the community, brought down by several hours of 140-plus-mile-per-hour winds and drenching rain.
Even though most trees were still standing after the storm, some people are concerned about their homes if another big storm strikes.
POTENTIAL CHANGES
Many trees were torn down post-Ian due to “tree fear.”
White said traumatized people will not stop cutting down them down, either.
Such fear defies logic, White said, but it’s the reality of the situation.
City staff presented proposed on-property tree cutting requirements to the City Commission in the Monday workshop.
First, a “site plan” is required to be submitted with a requests for tree removal approval.
The site plan must:
Show the location of the primary structure, access points, parking areas, etc.Show all trees on the property, including species and “diameter at breast height.”
Other thresholds about on-property trees apply as well. And if those thresholds are met, then a tree can be cut down.
They include scenarios where:
The tree is a hazard.It is in poor health.It is within 15-feet of an “occupied structure, but not on an adjacent property under separate ownership.”
Tree appeals can, however, be made from one who lives on the property.
Going through such a process may actually make people think twice about cutting trees, in effect protecting them, White said.
PROPERTY RIGHTS
Commissioner Debbie McDowell thinks the section of the chapter, itself, is illogical.
She questioned why trees on an empty lot can be cut down, while those on a lived-on one need approval.
Vice Mayor Phil Stokes believes people will ignore the rules.
“People are going to do what the heck they want to do with their own property,” he said.
Stokes believes educating, planting more trees and incentivizing people to plant more trees are the true keys.
To that idea, Commissioner Barbara Langdon suggested property tax rebates as an incentive.
The entirety of Chapter 6 was discussed as well.
The Natural Resources chapter also included the following sections:
I. In GeneralII. Archeological and Historic preservationIII. Conservation Restricted overlay zone; which applies to Myakkahatchee creekIV. Endangered and threatened species protection regulationsV. Flood damage prevention regulationsVI. Myakka River protection zone regulationsVII. Tree protection regulationsVIII. Wetland protection regulations
But now there is a new casualty to the Florida insurance industry -- the state's historic live oaks. Insurance companies are now looking at some of Florida's oldest and most iconic trees, and seeing risk.
The president of a Sarasota homeowners' association is calling foul on a church's youth baseball field where he says lights were installed without proper permits and county officials refuse to enforce regulations.
After investigating the alleged violations, County officials dispute that they ignored zoning and building codes.
However, professionals hired by the homeowners' association cite what they say are flaws in the county officials' reading of the zoning and building codes, claiming that the standards homeowners rely on for the enjoyment of their properties were sidestepped in this situation, leaving the property owners without additional recourse besides the specter of a lawsuit, which they are hesitant to file.
County officials "mischaracterized part of the code and completely ignored other parts that apply to this situation," said Dan Lobeck, the lawyer for the Country Creek residents.
Gus Georgiou, president of Country Creek's homeowners' association, said the dispute began about four years ago when Central Church of Christ allowed a youth travel team to erect four light poles on the back half of the property at 6221 Proctor Road that sent "glaring light" onto the neighboring properties.
Before the lights were installed, Georgiou said the field was rarely used by the church, but now the sounds of aluminum bats smacking baseballs can be heard from houses in the 71-home development five days a week for several hours.
"When they get 15 kids out there it's nonstop pinging," Georgiou said.
The church, which includes County Commissioner Ron Cutsinger as an elder, has maintained it did nothing wrong by allowing the field to be used by a youth baseball team and that it did everything the county required regarding the field's improvements.
I am deeply concerned about the skyscraper that is proposed for 1260 N. Palm Ave.
At about 327 feet, the Obsidian will be the tallest building in Sarasota, taller than the Statue of Liberty, on a tiny .28-acre lot. It will eliminate almost all of the small retail businesses on the block, completely changing the character of Palm Avenue.
The project ignores the Sarasota Master Plan, which calls for a walkable downtown lined with shops and restaurants.
Although it is not required in the downtown corridor, I am asking for a public workshop about this massive structure. I am not alone.
We have submitted a petition to the city with more than 3,000 signatures expressing our opposition to a building that violates numerous codes – and also creates potential safety issues for our neighborhood.
Will this building open the door to other skyscrapers and change the nature of our cultural mecca into another overbuilt downtown like Miami? Will Main Street be next?
Progress is inevitable, but this is the wrong building in the wrong place. If we can have a public workshop, at least we can receive answers to our specific questions – and our voices will be heard.
While downtown Sarasota is already home to many of the region's best restaurants, it's always exciting to see a new dining spot open in the neighborhood brimming with condos, shops, and eateries.
I'm particularly excited about a couple of restaurants with a proven track record that are doing something a bit different in downtown Sarasota — opening in second-floor spaces. In February, we reported that Warren Sarasota, a high-end restaurant and whiskey bar, plans to open at 1400 Main St., above the popular footwear retailer Fit2Run, in late summer 2025.
The restaurant's owner, Damn Good Hospitality, already operates two other Warren locations in Delray and Naples. Our sister publication, the Naples Daily News, reported that the Naples location opened late last year.
Now, just around the corner in downtown Sarasota, another restaurant and bar has announced it will open on Friday. This one is the second location by Florida businessmen who originally found success with the same concept in Tampa.
New downtown Sarasota restaurant Fat Rabbit to open this weekend
The restaurant and bar will occupy one of my favorite locations — a second-floor spot overlooking bustling lower Main Street. Unfortunately, that space has seen turnover with numerous restaurants in recent years.
However, the owners of Fat Rabbit are optimistic that what they describe as an "upscale neighborhood pub" will be just as popular in downtown Sarasota as their original Fat Rabbit restaurant and bar, which opened about seven years ago in Tampa. Situated at 1359 Main St., Fat Rabbit is located above OfKors Bakery and Main Street Creamery, with a sign hanging above the sidewalk between the two businesses, allowing guests to enter via stairs or elevator.
Following the popularity of their Fat Rabbit, located in a Tampa Palms shopping plaza anchored by a Publix, owners John Kuemmel and Shawn Diehl are bringing their brand to downtown Sarasota. The restaurant spans 4,400 square feet with 123 seats, supplemented by an additional 20 at the bar. Fat Rabbit aims to offer guests an elevated pub experience marked by higher-end food and cocktails.
Kuemmel and Diehl stated during an April phone interview that the expected opening date for Fat Rabbit was mid-May. Fat Rabbit's grand opening is now scheduled for Friday, May 10, according to a social media post, which Kuemmel confirmed via text message on Thursday, May 9. The restaurant will begin serving lunch at 11 a.m. Friday.
Soon after Becky Ayech and her husband moved to Sarasota in 1978, she visited the Supervisor of Elections’ office to register to vote. As she started to check the box for party affiliation, the woman giving assistance stopped her.
“Don’t put down Democrat,” she counseled. “You’ll never get to vote for anything. If you want to vote, you need to be a Republican.”
“And sure enough,” says Ayech, a resident of Old Miakka, “she was right.”
Why? Because regardless of what (if any) party a Sarasota voter may align with, history has shown it is Republican primaries that have determined the outcome of most Sarasota County’s partisan elections since 1968.
For example, the last non-Republican candidate elected to the Sarasota County Commission was in 1966, almost 58 years ago. (William P. Carey’s triumph was short-lived; he served just one four-year term.) Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates, a Democrat seeking her 11th term this fall, has been a longtime lone ranger in a county that has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Ayech, who has spent the past several decades fighting to keep her rural neighborhood in the east county from being developed, has changed her party affiliation several times – from Republican to Independent to Democrat and back again – all in an effort to have her vote count more toward the changes she hopes to see.
“I know it’s an old adage, but you vote for the person not the party,” she says. “So I’ve been everything.”
This year, Ayech is not alone. As concern among county residents has risen over escalating growth, development and traffic – as well as the direction of the county’s nonprofit hospital board – more and more non-Republicans are contemplating temporarily changing their party affiliation to be able to vote in August primaries that would otherwise be closed to them. (There are currently no non-Republican primaries in August, though everyone can and should vote in non-partisan races, such as for the school board.)
Those primaries will determine which Republicans will move on to the November general election or, in cases where there is no non-Republican opponent, may serve as the final selection. Several primaries have multiple Republican candidates who hold very different views – meaning who emerges from the primary could have a dramatically different impact on the office.
For example, in the hospital board race, nine Republican candidates are running for four open seats on the nine-member board; three of those seats are closed primaries and require Republican party affiliation to vote. Unless a Democrat or a non-party affiliated candidate enters the race for the fourth seat before the June deadline, it will be a “universal” primary, meaning anyone can vote, and it will become the final selection. Several hospital board incumbents are facing challenges from fellow Republican candidates running on a “medical freedom” slate that advocates significant changes to the board’s previous policies and oversight.
According to surveys, residents have identified “population growth and new development” as the most important issue facing Sarasota County every year but one since 2014. In three district races for Sarasota County Commission seats, some candidates financially backed by development and construction interests are pitted against other Republicans who propose more strategic and conservative growth. (With the institution of single member districts, residents can only vote for the seat within their district.)
Currently only Republican incumbent Ron Cutsinger has filed in District 5, but in District 3 there are two Republicans (incumbent Neil Rainford and former County Sheriff Tom Knight) in a closed primary and in District 1, Republican Theresa Mast (backed by the construction industry and developers), faces Republican Alexandra Coe in a primary that will decide the winner and will be open to all (since there are no other candidates).
“Who gets elected will really make a big difference,” says Susan Schoettle, a former county assistant attorney who has changed her party affiliation multiple times and this year is urging her friends to do the same.
Manatee County’s commitment to preserving and protecting natural areas was highlighted on Thursday with the rededication of the Johnson Preserve at Braden River.
Through a creative public-private partnership, Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast worked with Manatee County, Friends of Keep Woods, and numerous residents throughout the area community to conserve this land, now known as the Floyd C. Johnson & Flo Singer Johnson Preserve at Braden River.
The preserve consists of almost 44 acres of natural landscapes and is home to such fixtures of wild Florida as the longleaf pine and the gopher tortoise.
Manatee County Commissioner Mike Rahn says over 30 acres of the land were up for development. But the county, the community members, and foundations, helped stop that and conserve the land.
“It’s walking trails, there’s a kayak launch that runs right to the Braden River, there’s all kinds of animals, we’ve heard that there’s deer out here too,” said Commissioner Rahn. “It’s in the middle of a community which makes it even better because right next to this we have River Club, Braden woods, and Lakewood Ranch,” said Rahn.
Country artists Lou Ridley and Brady Riley will visit from Nashville to headline Project Pride SRQ’s Grand Carnival In Bloom on June 1 at Sailor Circus Arena (2075 Bahia Vista St.) in Sarasota.
The Grand Carnival takes place from 8-11 p.m. and tickets include an open bar, food, dancing, and entertainment. Major sponsors include CAN Community Health, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, McCarver & Moser, SRQ Beats, and the Herald-Tribune/LocaliQ. Proceeds from the event will support Project Pride’s programs and events.
--------------------------------------------
*For more about Project Pride, Pride Month events, and tickets, visit:
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
