- Named Best Florida Newspaper In Its Class -
VOL 22 No. 32
May 18, 2022
Moon over Manatee CINDY LANE | SUN
JONATHAN SABIN | SUBMITTED
The moon, seen from Anna Maria Island, was nearly full the day before the total lunar eclipse. The celestial event on Sunday, May 15 (inset) was photographed by Jonathan Sabin, the president of the Local Group of Deep Sky Observers, with a Celestron CPC1100 11” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
City receives one bid for Reimagining Pine Avenue project The city commission may consider issuing separate RFPs for the new crosswalks, sidewalks and streetlights to be installed on and along Pine Avenue. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
ANNA MARIA – Sarasota-based CSquared CGC Inc. is the only construction firm that submitted a bid proposal in response to the request for proposals (RFP) issued for the Reimagining Pine Avenue project. The city’s recently-issued RFP sought bid proposals from construction firms interested in installing new sidewalks, crosswalks and streetlights along
INSIDE NEWS EDITORIAL CARTOON OUTDOORS REAL ESTATE SPORTS CROSSWORD CLASSIFIEDS
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Pine Avenue. City officials believe the improvements will make Anna Maria’s main commercial corridor safer for pedestrians, motorists and other users. On May 12, Mayor Dan Murphy provided the Anna Maria City Commission with an update on the RFP process. Murphy said the city received many inquiries from potential bidders but CSquared was the only firm that actually submitted a bid proposal. The C-Squared bid is for approximately $2 million and roughly 50% of those estimated costs pertain to streetlights, he said, adding that the CSquared bid was received the previous week and he had not yet had time to thoroughly analyze the proposal. Murphy said that he, the city staff SEE PINE AVE, PAGE 23
New illegal beach parking trend grows For the second consecutive weekend, an illegal new parking pattern has emerged in the beach parking area along Gulf Drive South. BY JASON SCHAFFER SUN CORRESPONDENT | jschaffer@amisun.com
BRADENTON BEACH - A new parking trend at Cortez Beach is not only making it difficult for legally parked vehicles to maneuver, but is leaving Bradenton Beach police no choice but to write tickets until their hands cramp. On Mother’s Day, May 8, drivers parked their vehicles along Cortez Beach on Gulf Drive from north to south behind cars that were legally
parked in east-west spaces. Bradenton Beach police say they aren’t sure why this is happening now, after the height of tourist season in March, but on May 14, what they hoped was an isolated problem due to a busy Sunday repeated itself, resulting in plenty of tickets. “We wrote over 100 tickets on Mother’s Day, and wrote at least 60 today,” said Officer Charles Marose of the Bradenton Beach Police Department, speaking of the May 14 repeat of the Mother’s Day parking pattern. Both Marose and Lt. Lenard Diaz said it probably started with a couple of people, then when others saw the new lane of cars, they just followed the pattern, resulting in a snowball effect. SEE PARKING, PAGE 23
AUSTRALIAN PINES and a picnic
GET ABOARD National Safe
area to be replaced by boat launches. 14
FRESH TOWEL SCAM targets
Anna Maria Island, Florida
Boating Week, May 21-27. 3 vacationers. 4
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