First of the year Sarasota Memorial welcomed its first baby of 2025.
Isaiah Lisinski, a healthy seven-and-a-half-pound boy, was born at 3:36 a.m. Jan. 1 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. The first baby born at SMH in the new year, he followed 17 other babies delivered on New Year’s Eve.
Isaiah arrived more than a week past his Dec. 23 due date, surprising his first-time parents, Natalia Lagunes and Sean Lisinski of Manatee County.
“He was supposed to be our Christmas baby, but ended up being our New Year’s baby,” Natalia said. “We were not expecting it, but are very happy with the outcome – a new year, a new baby. We feel really blessed and grateful to God that everything worked out.”
Isaiah was presented with a New Year’s baby basket and a car seat filled with gifts from SMH’s mother-baby team.
Kith and kin through kilts
When a local high school band was selected to perform internationally, it may be the result of a shared cultural feature.
The Riverview High Kiltie Band wears kilts with the tartan of the Scottish MacDonald clan and includes a bagpipe section, noted Tamara Lewis, the school’s director of bands.
At the London’s New Year’s Day Parade, the band performed songs including “Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay and “The Orange and Blue,” as well as its signature dance atop a drum, during a trip sponsored by Visit Sarasota County.
Lewis described the parade as “wonderful,” with the people on the streets being “so kind and nice.”
“I was just talking to someone and they were talking about needing more trucks. Things like that, we need to be concerning ourselves with. This naked
guy ... I’m cool with putting it on the back burner.”
Sarasota City Commissioner Kyle Battle. Read more on page 6A
Six school zone speed cameras activated
When students attending six Sarasota schools returned following the holidays, they did so more safely. Beginning Jan. 6, the Sarasota Police Department implemented its new School Speed Zone Safety Program when speed detection cameras were activated.
The cameras will operate during school hours, 30 minutes before school begins until 30 minutes after school ends. They will not operate outside of these hours, on weekends or holidays.
The program will include the
following schools:
■ Alta Vista Elementary
■ Southside Elementary
■ Tuttle Elementary
■ Sarasota Military Academy
■ Sarasota High and
■ Cardinal Mooney High.
A five-day study during 2024 found 17,445 vehicles exceeding the school zone speed limit on Fruitville Road at Cardinal Mooney High School.
In all, the study revealed 45,563 violations of 10 mph or faster in school zones around 12 schools in the city, an overall
daily average of 3,797.
The cameras will capture images and license plates of vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit by 10 mph. After review by the SPD, a $100 citation will be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle who will have 30 days to pay the violation, submit an affidavit or request a hearing. Failure to do so will result in a uniform traffic citation.
Rather than fines, warnings will be issued during a 30-day grace period to allow drivers to adjust to the new program.
Chamber leadership event set for Jan. 31
Registration is underway for the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Leadership Sarasota Educational Conference, which will be held 8-11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at Carlisle Inn, 3727 Bahia Vista St. Designed to empower leaders at all stages of their professional careers, this year’s theme is “Reset. Reignite. Revolutionize.” The focus is on cultivating the skills, strategies and mindset needed to excel in the modern workplace.
Featured speakers are Brett Morris, senior management consultant, Momentum Consulting; Robyn Faucy, CEO, Results 1st; and Jason Martinez, senior consultant, Leaders Uplifted.
The event is open to professionals across all industries who wish to enhance their leadership skills, expand their networks and embrace new challenges. To register, visit SarasotaChamber.com.
Wastewater plant wins top award
Sarasota County’s project to expand and convert the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility to advanced wastewater treatment has earned an Envision Gold Award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. The 140-acre facility is being transformed into a state-of-the-art water reclamation plant to increase treatment capacity by 50% while implementing advanced wastewater treatment technologies, including biological nutrient removal basins and Florida’s largest membrane bioreactor system. The upgrades will significantly reduce nitrogen and phosphorus discharges, which contribute to algae growth in waterways.
The project required innovative approaches to engineering design and financing. Sarasota County secured a $105 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act low-interest loan, federal funding that helps utilities deliver infrastructure improvements while minimizing rate impacts on customers. The project is scheduled for completion by end of 2025.
Andrew Warfield
Sarasota Military Academy is one of six school zones where speed detection cameras will operate.
FUN AND TAXES
Losing her husband and her first election in a span of two months, Barbara Ford-Coates looks back at a career of fun and toward ‘the next celebration around the corner.’
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Photos and mementos of a half-century career line the walls and adorn tops of tables and credenzas, lending an air of intimacy to an otherwise spacious corner office of the historic Terrace Building. Yellow adhesive notes identify drawers and boxes whether their contents will remain or be removed.
The space is an exhibit of former Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates’ calling to serve residents in a county that more than doubled in population during her tenure, which ended on Jan. 7. The movers were due to arrive five days earlier to empty the office of all personal effects.
“I said there’s no way I’m going to be able to pack all this stuff up or go through it all, and God knows where I’m going to put it,” Ford-Coates said.
Her November 2024 election loss to former Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran notwithstanding, Ford-Coates, 76, had intended to move out of the office, for she had initially not intended to seek an 11th four-year term. She changed her mind upon learning Moran, who reached his term limit as a county commissioner this past year, had filed to run for her position.
The two had been embroiled in a year-long legal skirmish regarding whether the Tax Collector’s Office was obligated to collect assessments from county clients of Florida PACE, a public entity that provides homeowners with financing options for energy-efficient and hurricaneresistant home improvements of which Moran was executive director. Moran won the election by a 58.2% to 48.7% margin, a difference of 6,792 votes.
A YEAR OF CHANGE
On the morning of the Sept. 5 Tiger Bay Club luncheon and scheduled debate between the tax collector candidates, Ford-Coates’ husband of 51 years, Brian, was rushed to Sara-
sota Memorial Hospital, preventing her from attending.
He died 13 days later in the home he built for his family.
In addition to Barbara, he left behind seven daughters, three they had together, one he brought into the marriage and three others they consider their own. “We took three in at 18 when their parents were not getting along with them, so we count seven,” Ford-Coates said.
All but two of them live elsewhere: one in Riverview, one in North Carolina just north of Greensboro, one in Virginia, one in New York but currently studying in Chicago, and one in Las Vegas.
Following her first and only election loss after winning 10 — some opposed and some not — her children were conciliatory.
“My kids on election night told me retirement is not so bad. I thought that was a good attitude, and so I went out and told the staff I’ll be OK, although I will miss everybody,” she said. “I told them no matter whose name is on the door or how you feel, do the next right thing. Keep doing the right thing because they know how to take care of people. Be the next person who makes a difference.”
Those boxes and other contents from the office have been moved to her home. She doesn’t plan to stay in the home permanently, but for now, it is her staging area as she determines what to do with her lifetime of professional and personal keepsakes, which she said will occupy her time during her early days of retirement.
In addition to her own office, “I have my husband’s office with all his model trains and cameras and binoculars and things that he restored to go through and figure out,” she said.
She doesn’t plan to leave Sarasota, though; her roots here are too deep to sever.
“At one time, we had four genera-
CIVIC ACTIVITIES AND AWARDS
In addition to her official role as Sarasota County Tax Collector, Barbara Ford-Coates’ civic activities have included serving as treasurer of the League of Women Voters, on the board of directors of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and advisor to Girl Scout Troop 254.
During the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts, she was named one of 100 “Girl Scout Greats” in the United States.
In 1998, the now late Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed her to the Florida Constitution Revision Commission, where she was honored with the Chairman’s Award for her public information efforts. In 2000, she served as president of the Florida Tax Collectors Association. After her service as the 2006 president of the National Association of County Collectors, Treasurers & Finance Officers, she served on the board of directors of the National Association of Counties.
In 2008, she was recognized as the Outstanding Tax Collector in the United States, and in 2016, was named by Thomson Reuters as a Public Sector Champion for Excellence in Office Leadership.
tions of Ford-Coates here,” she said.
RAPID CAREER ADVANCEMENT
Prior to becoming the county’s chief tax collector, Ford-Coates had worked in the office for nine years, beginning in 1975, seven of them as assistant tax collector to her predecessor, Rebecca Eger. She joined the tax office as a cashier for tax season because she thought it might be “fun” and may offer an opportunity for advancement.
She found that fun, and rapid advancement, in part by questioning the processes and devising ways to improve them.
“If a person came in without a bill, we had a giant rotary file where we printed all the bills so we could pull the file and pay it. The first thing I did, without being asked, was write a manual because nobody had the processes in writing,” Ford-Coates said. “I didn’t know what my talent was back then, but I discovered it’s creating systems that work. I worked in delinquent taxes, I worked in accounting and I was the one asking, ‘Why are we doing this?’
“Two years later, I was the assistant tax collector.”
Recognizing Ford-Coates’ ability to run the Tax Collector’s Office, Eger recommended her as her replacement, officially appointed by then-Gov. Bob Graham, a fellow Democrat. The political campaign to keep the job, though, began immediately.
“I was sworn in May 1, had my first campaign meeting May 2 and on May 3, I had two Republican opponents,”
Ford-Coates said. “After the primary, the losing Republican endorsed me, and we won. The rest is history.”
Since 1984, Ford-Coates won nine more elections as a Democrat in a red county as she fastidiously employed her penchant for improving systems to make the Tax Collector’s Office operate more efficiently while serving a continuously growing population.
Many of the innovations, she said, came from tax payers’ questions.
“A customer once asked us, ‘Why don’t you email me my bill?’ and we said, “That’s a good question. Would you like to be part of a group where we try that out?’” she said. That customer, among other volunteers, participated in a beta test to transmit tax bills and receive payments electronically.
“I think we were the first county in Florida to do that,” she said.
That pilot program was in 2008. Previously, the office sent paper bills in three parts, the entire system relying on the U.S. Postal Service. “The bill would come back in, we’d validate it, we’d keep one copy and we would mail a receipt back to every person in the county,” she said. “And so we started saying, ‘Please remove the bottom copy and keep it with your canceled check.’”
That change, also requested by a taxpayer, saved the office about $20,000 a year before the eventual transition to electronic delivery.
“Again, that change came because the customer asked a question, and we had the opportunity to create that system that worked much better,” Ford-Coates said.
‘YOU JUST HAVE TO GET THERE’
More than part of her job, designing systems that result in greater efficiency is something of a hobby for Ford-Coates. She said she has dedicated much of her career to creating better ways for residents to interact with what is otherwise generally regarded as a less-than-pleasant experience.
“There’s always a better way, and even if we are doing it better than anybody else, there’s always a better way,” she said. “When some people hear a complaint, they assume the customer is wrong, or they just didn’t understand. That’s no fun. Go back and reread what’s on the website. Maybe we can reword it. Do we need to do better training? Do we need to have a card with hints for the staff so that they know where to send people who come to us by mistake? Yeah, that’s fun. I’m good at that.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 7, the profile page on the Tax Collector’s Office website had already been transitioned from Ford-Coates to Moran. In the short term, Barbara Ford-Coates, a private citizen, said she will focus on sorting through her mementoes, deciding what to do with her late husband’s collectibles and preparing her house for market.
“I’m sure there will come some volunteer opportunity or process, but I need to get my house in order literally and figuratively,” she said. “Something will come along. That’s how life is. There is always a celebration around the corner. You just have to get there.”
Barbara Ford-Coates is leaving the Tax Collector’s Office after a career that spans more than 50 years.
Courtesy images
Barbara Ford-Coates and a staff member are pictured interacting with a customer at the office of the Sarasota County Tax Collector.
Last planned Ringling roundabout opening delayed until spring
Supply chain and storm-related setbacks postpone the planned January opening of the roundabout at Ringling Boulevard and Pine Place.
Citing delays caused by supply chain issues, storm recovery and construction worker evacuations from three hurricanes, the roundabout at Ringling Boulevard and Pine Place is expected to be complete in spring 2025, according to the city of Sarasota. The roundabout was scheduled to be completed in January. Construction on the $4 million roundabout began April 29, 2024. When finished, it will mark the completion of a string of roundabouts along Ringling Boulevard, including Palm Avenue, Pineapple Avenue and Orange Avenue.
The roundabout will replace a signalized, asymmetrical intersection that includes the Sarasota County Administration Center to the south of Ringling Boulevard and the U.S. Post Office to the north. By the end
of 2025, the county will vacate the building as Benderson Development begins plans for a multiuse development on the site.
Features of the new roundabout include:
n Landscaped center island of the roundabout and the four adjacent corners
n Irrigation
n Drainage and utility adjustments
n New and replacement light poles within project limits
n Paver brick crosswalks at the four legs of the roundabout, truck apron and island approaches
n In-road warning lights controlled by automatic activation bollards at the crosswalks
n A new Sarasota County Area Transit bus stop and transit shelter designed to accommodate two busses outside of the travel lane
n Milling and resurfacing
n Striping and markings to match the bicycle and pedestrian enhancements to the Ringling Trail
The project extends along Ringling Boulevard approximately 320 feet to the west and 260 feet to the east of the center of the intersection. Pine Place limits extend approximately 130 feet to the north and 110 feet to the south.
Courtesy image
A roundabout at the Ringling Boulevard/Pine Place intersection is in progress. Ringling Blvd.
Ringling Blvd.
Sarasota finalizes agreement with police union
wage terms initially at an 18% costof-living increase.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
All Sarasota Police Department sworn personnel at the lieutenant rank and below, as well as crime scene investigators, have agreed via International Union of Police Association, Local 6045, AFL-CIO and the city to an amended compensation structure beginning in 2025.
The union and the city agreed on a three-year collective bargaining agreement for the term of Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30, 2025, with
The second year of the contract included a 3.5% general-wage increase along with realigning their steps (years of service) to provide for a 3% increase between each step. Negotiations on amending that agreement that began in April 2024 reached an impasse. Mediation in December resulted in a successful outcome, tentatively agreeing on the pay scale pending ratification of both parties.
The memorandum of understanding includes a general wage increase of 5.25% for officers, 5% for sergeants, and 9% for crime scene investigators in addition to a $1,000 lump sum and increases on their anniversary dates.
The union’s bargaining unit ratified the memorandum of understanding in early December 2024.
Per the newly amended CBA,
newly hired officers begin at Step 1 at $71,760, up from $65,875; newly promoted sergeants $96,678, up from $88,960; and lieutenants $115,169, previously $107,000. Newly hired nonsworn crime scene investigators begin at $58,213, up from $51,600. Under the new scale, officers top out in year 20 at $102,312, sergeants in year 10 at $115,537, lieutenants in year six at $133,513 and crime scene investigators in year 10 at $78,903.
SERGEANTS
Located inside our massive Matter Brothers Furniture showroom on Clark Road in Sarasota.
File photo
Sarasota police officers can expect a more than a 5% pay increase in 2025.
David slays city logo change effort
Citing higher time and spending priorities, the Sarasota City Commission tabled further discussion of a complete rebrand.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF
WRITER
David is going to be hanging around Sarasota City Hall for a while longer. During Monday’s meeting, the Sarasota City Commission tabled indefinitely any changes to the city’s logo, putting off a potentially seven-figure rebranding of the city’s graphic identity for the foreseeable future.
The unanimous decision means the silhouette image of the Michelangelo’s unclad David, a replica of which is regarded as a centerpiece of the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, will continue to emblazon the city’s signage, vehicle fleet, staff uniforms, municipal buildings and more.
The city embarked on updating its branding in May 2021, when commissioners retained the services of design and communications firm DreamLarge to create a new official city seal and, perhaps later, a new logo. After adopting the new seal in November 2022, the city opted to bring the logo effort in-house, employing the graphic expertise of employee Ciera Coleman, who was recently named the new administrator of the public art program. Coleman and Director of Governmental Affairs Jennifer Jorgensen presented initial concepts to the commission in April 2024, leaving with two directives: to make more recognizable the proposed stylized COS (for City of Sarasota) and include David in at least one version; and to survey the public on the final
proposed designs. They returned with five different versions, ranked public preferences backed by the survey results. The second option was to keep the current logo.
Mindful of expressing their admiration of Coleman’s work on the proposed new designs, commissioners were in lockstep that, with some residents still in the throes of storm recovery and the city’s associated costs, now is not the time to undertake a costly rebranding effort.
“I was leaning toward keeping our same logo, but just changing the typeface,” said Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch. “A complete rebrand is a really complicated and expensive thing to do. There are all kinds of invisible costs in rebranding. Typically, when you do a rebrand, you do it all at once and make a statement about it, and there is a cost associated with that. It’s probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Actually, it’s more like $800,000 to $1 million, Jorgensen offered as a rough estimate.
While not in disagreement with Ahearn-Koch’s sentiments, Coleman did point out that, since the logo
was adopted in the 1980s, multiple versions with minor tweaks have emerged, rendering inconsistent, albeit subtle, branding across different departments. If anything, she posited, commissioners may want to consider updating the font, narrowing in on colors and modernizing some of the graphic
elements of the current logo.
“We don’t really have a brand, and we have four different logos, or five, or however many,” Coleman said. “We could even take (the current) one and refine it and create a brand out of it. Maybe there’s a way to keep this one, clean it up slightly, modernize the lines a little bit, and
that might be another option to consider.”
There was some debate among commissioners on the merits of the image of David dominating the logo. Ahearn-Koch called it essential to the city’s identity. Kathy KelleyOhlrich was equally adamant that, if the logo were to be changed, David should step off the pedestal. Then there was the middle ground occupied by Kyle Battie.
“I couldn’t care one way or the other. I’m fine with the logo as is. I don’t see the public outcry to change it,” Battie said. “I don’t see the need for it, especially in light of all that’s happened in recent months. The city logo is the last thing on people’s minds when we really have people out there struggling and suffering.
“We all know what David represents. I don’t have a problem with that, and I don’t have a problem if we got rid of him. A million dollars, that’s a lot of money.”
Battie described a recent conversation with a city employee who told him of the need for more or new equipment, such as trucks.
“Things like that, we need to be concerning ourselves with,” Battie said. “This naked guy running around the city. I’m cool with putting it on the back burner.”
Striking an accord with Battie, Mayor Liz Alpert agreed the city faces higher priorities for both its time and resources, suggesting the logo matter be tabled for possible future discussion. But if she were to select one, Alpert said her preference was Option 2, featuring likenesses of the letter C in blue to represent the Gulf of Mexico, the letter O in orange to represent the sun and the letter S in green to represent natural resources.
In the ranked choice survey voting, that was also the most popular choice among the public.
“I never imagined you that something so beautiful and creative could be created,” Ahearn-Koch said of Coleman’s work. “We’ve got big items ahead of us budget-wise. After our hurricanes, I think we all know what’s in front of us, and I’m not sure this is where we should be putting our dollars is in the complete rebrand of our logo.”
to
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The current city of Sarasota logo.
A Century of Care, A Future of Hope
In 1925, the people of Sarasota County came together to open a new hospital — their only hospital. With just 32 beds, it was named simply Sarasota Hospital.
One hundred years later, we have grown into something extraordinary: a healthcare system with two full-service hospitals, a Level II Trauma Center, a renowned cancer institute, comprehensive rehabilitation services, a dedicated behavioral health pavilion, and a vast network of outpatient and physician services. Today, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System stands as an award-winning symbol of excellence, recognized nationwide and respected worldwide.
While our name and reach have expanded, our mission remains steadfast. The promise endures: to safeguard our community’s health, to be there for our neighbors in times of need, and to carry forward the trust that has defined us for a century.
Because at our core, we are still a community hospital. And some things will never change.
Don’t fret; growth slowing
For those who chafe at the so-called ‘out of control’ growth, take a breath. Florida’s and the local growth rates are slowing for good.
Demography is destiny. That’s a long-debated phrase attributed to French philosopher Auguste Comte, who lived in the first half of the 1800s.
To be sure, there is a lot of truth to it. At the same time, we have a choice on whether we want our demographics to be our destiny.
Either way, you first must know what is about to occur. If you’re a CEO or business owner, for instance, for sure it’s smart to have your eye on the coming trends.
In that vein, at the halfway mark of the 2020s, now is a good time for a snapshot of what is about to occur over the next five to 10 years in Florida’s demographics.
Probably the clearest, most succinct snapshot of what to expect is to invoke the words of a CEO who took over his father’s fast-growing software company 20-plus years ago: “If you don’t like change, this isn’t the place for you.”
That message should have rung like a cathedral bell if you read last week’s editions of the Observers. Our reporters and editors provided readers with details of some of the largest development and road projects that will be starting in 2025 and, in some cases, continue for the next five years.
The story isn’t changing. Florida’s story for the past 100 years is continuing: Population will continue to grow. Here is a big one: In 2024, Florida topped 23 million in population — 23,002,597, according to the Florida Demographic Estimating Conference.
In the past decade, Florida added 3,417,501 people, a 17% increase. That’s 341,750 new people a year — the equivalent of adding a city of Orlando each year.
And here’s a good guess: Most people dislike this growth (present company strongly excluded). You know — the traffic, the development, loss of open space, etc. But there is good news for those in that camp. For one, take solace in that even though Florida topped 23 million population in 2024 and remained the third most populous state, Florida is still a long way away from reaching the populations of No. 2 Texas (31,290,831) and No. 1 California (39,431,263).
What’s more, Florida’s population estimators are forecasting that Florida’s population growth will be slowing. Instead of adding 340,000 people a year (or 936 people a day), the five-year forecast through April 2028 shows Florida’s population growth slowing to adding only 319,109 net new residents per year (or 874 people a day).
Notably, the average annual increase from 2024 to 2028 is expected to drop from 1.62% to 1.2%.
The
IN-MIGRATION FUELS GROWTH
Florida Demographic Estimating Conference
FLORIDA CONTINUES TO AGE
Distribution of growth by age group between April 2020 and April 2030
FLORIDA’S BABY BOOM GENERATION
The first cohort of baby boomers turned 65 in 2011. Fourteen of 19 cohorts have now entered the retirement phase.
Locally, the population change is expected to follow the same pattern — as noted in the adjoining table below. You can see how the growth rates will slow compared to those from 2020 to 2024. So, for those who chafe at the effects of population growth, exhale. The flood of New Yorkers, Chicago-
ans and Michiganders will slow. At the same time, Florida’s over65 population is expected to grow. Florida’s Demographic Estimating Conference is projecting 52% of the growth in population up to 2030 will be those age 60 and older. One other notable factor: Declining birth rates. This has been a long-running trend throughout the
United States and the world. Florida is no different. State forecasters say all of Florida’s population increases will come from net in-migration. For the foreseeable future, deaths will outnumber births.
But watch out what you wish for. Scholars learned even in the 1600s that population growth is essential to the flourishing of prosperity.
Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944
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MATT WALSH
Source:
Our priority: Developers, people?
Former Sarasota County Commissioner Jon Thaxton responds to Matt Walsh’s Dec. 24 column regarding the possible development near Celery Fields.
The recent Sarasota Observer editorial by Matt Walsh entitled
“Our priority: birds, people?” was frustrating, but not surprising. In his column Mr. Walsh suggests “anti-development forces ... ” specifically calling out the Audubon Society, “... want government to intervene and stop property owners from having the rightful benefits and use of what they own.”
Matt is referring to the recent decision by the Sarasota County Planning Commission to deny a rezone petition for the 50-acre Smith property that is adjacent to the Celery Fields, a wildlife sanctuary and flood control facility. Most of the Smith property is in an area designated by FEMA to have a high risk of flooding, and during recent storms, the property can clearly be seen underwater. The contract purchaser of the Smith property, D.R. Horton, will soon be asking the county commission to ignore the planning commission’s correct determination that rezoning the property is not justified and should be denied. D.R. Horton is requesting the county commission to approve rezoning the property from an open-use rural district that would permit about five homes, to a residential single-family district that would permit 170 homes, a 3,400% increase.
The argument offered by both Horton and Matt is that since the county’s Comprehensive Plan has designated the Smith property as Moderate-Density Residential the rezoning should be a perfunctory approval, and to do otherwise would deprive the property owner’s “rightful benefits.” Hogwash!
The Comp Plan provides a roadmap to future planning decisions such as rezoning and each rezoning petition must be evaluated to determine consistency with hundreds of policies within the plan, not just those selected to favor the property owner.
Many of the plan’s policies protect the public’s health, safety and welfare, such as preserving environmental systems, wildlife sanctuaries, and preventing flooding. To approve Horton’s rezoning petition, county commissioners would have to ignore a countless number of these comp plan policies.
To be fair, Matt is not a lone wolf howling this spurious property rights threat refrain. In a recent Sarasota Herald Tribune article, one of the region’s largest developers was quoted saying, “... we operate under a field of laws and rules and regulations and court cases, and Bert J. Harris (a state private property rights law) and the decisions of the elected officials are circumscribed by the laws.” Once again furthering this illegitimate idea of a perfunctory rezoning decision.
Fortunately for us all, the protection of private property rights is enshrined in both the Florida and the U.S. constitutions. This elevates the issue to a parallel with free speech, due process and apple pie. So, it should come as no surprise that elected officials who make growth and land use decisions pledge to protect private
property rights as frequently as any other symbolic pledge.
You would think that Sarasota County is suffering from a private property rights takings epidemic! But if so, where’s the evidence? One would have had to have just moved here last Tuesday or be observationally impaired to conclude that property rights and new development are being threatened in Sarasota County.
The County’s own 2024 citizen survey, by a more than two-toone margin, ranked “Population growth/new development” as the most important issue facing Sarasota County.
In 1972, recognizing the serious threats of development to Florida’s quality of life, natural environment & economy, state leaders approved Saving Paradise: The Florida Environmental Land &
Water Management Act, followed by the 1975 Local Government Comprehensive Planning Act that mandates all local governments to adopt a comprehensive plan, & that all development permits & rezoning be consistent with the plan.
Comp plans are intended to inform and coordinate planning decisions, not to vest property rights. Property rights are vested with zoning district approval. For over the last decade, the state legislature and local governments have been passing development industry-sponsored laws designed to reduce or eliminate environmental protection standards, diminish public participation and all but eliminate the ability to challenge comp plan decisions. As a result, the comp plan planning process itself is
now the most serious threat to Florida’s quality of life, natural environment and economy.
The land use decision process has become rigged with the deck stacked decisively in favor of large developers.
Almost 30 years ago (Sept. 1, 1995, page 12A), coincidently as chairman of the Audubon Society, I published an op-ed entitled “Property Rights: Problem is the ‘giving,’ not he ‘taking.’” It was a reality then as it is now, only now it’s worse. Currently, the cumulative comp plans approved in Sarasota County provide for enough development to effectively double the county’s existing population.
The Smith property can be legally developed today at its current zoning. Eroding those property rights would be a taking, but not giving away additional rights is not. Sarasota County is infamous for giving away property rights worth hundreds of millions of dollars in developer profits and leaving the citizens on the hook for paying the infrastructure bill, repairing environmental damage, and fixing flooding problems.
Evidence that we have a property rights “taking” problem is rare, but where it does exist, it should be eliminated. But evidence that we have a property rights “giving” problem is ubiquitous to anyone caring to make an honest assessment.
A more accurate title for Matt’s column should be “Our priority: birds developers, people?”
The Planning Commission got it right, the Smith property rezone petition should be denied by the county commission, and it has nothing to do with eroding property rights.
Jon Thaxton is a former three-term Sarasota County commissioner, third-generation Sarasota real estate professional and lifelong growth management and conservation activist.
JON THAXTON
Courtesy image
The 50-acre Smith Farm property is nestled southeast of Celery Fields.
One Park developer challenges Hyatt plan
The owner of Blocks 1 and 9 in The Quay claims Kolter Urban’s plan to redevelop the adjacent Hyatt Regency property violates multiple city codes.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF
Citing what it calls illegal encroachment on its property and public right of way, the developer of One Park and One Park West on Blocks 1 and 9 in The Quay have filed an appeal of the Sarasota Planning Board’s approval of access adjustments for the redevelopment of the adjacent Hyatt Regency property. On Dec. 20, attorney Tyler Stall, representing developer Property Markets Group and its Sarasota investment partner MoneyShow — which are backing Quay Blocks 1 and 9 — notified City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs of its appeal. The letter requests the appeal to be placed on an upcoming City Commission agenda as an aggrieved party.
The Planning Board approved by a 4-1 vote, with Daniel Clermont opposed, developer Kolter Urban’s adjustment request to relocate the primary driveway off Boulevard of the Arts to the east. The site plan shows the driveway will serve the motor court for both the condominiums and the hotel.
Quay 1 and 9 is challenging the size of that new access and is disputing Kolter’s plan to build over a shared alley owned half by Kolter and half by Quay 1 and 9 — the dividing line down the center — overhanging the alley beginning at 15 feet. Also challenged is Kolter’s site plan, which shows what Quay 1 and 9 is calling an encroachment on the public right of way on Quay Commons at Boulevard of the Arts.
Kolter Urban is working through city staff for administrative approval of its plan to replace the Hyatt Regency with a mixed-use development. Plans are to build two 18-story towers with 224 condominiums and 166 hotel rooms plus 8,830 square feet of commercial space. Stall argued
unsuccessfully before the Planning Board that the overhang not only abuts its portion of the alley separating the Hyatt Property from Block 1 in The Quay, and that the building of what is platted sidewalk on Quay Commons amounts to a taking.
Stall’s letter also cites an inadequately sized turning template for garbage trucks in the shared alley, which would force them onto Block 1 property. It also alleges the plan is in violation of the city’s Engineering Design Criteria Manual in multiple points, including:
■ At 33 feet in width, the primary driveway is in excess of ECDM requirements that limit commercial driveways to 24 feet.
■ Proposed curb cuts violate provisions of the Comprehensive Plan and the EDCM pertaining to and promoting the existence and maintenance of pedestrian sleeves and bicycle lanes in the Downtown Environs Area.
■ Proposed adjustment interferes with both Quay 1 and 9’s and the public’s pedestrian experience and access to the Multi-Use Recreational Trail and to the Bay, including vistas of the water.
■ Concerns regarding the Kolter’s traffic study and whether its conclusions were justified, complete and persuasive.
To address the latter point, Quay 1 and 9 intends to conduct its own traffic study that will be submitted before the public hearing by the City Commission. “Quay 1 and 9 is confident that its traffic study will prove that the applicant’s proposed adjustment is not sufficiently safe or efficient and requires denial or further modifications,” Stall’s letter reads.
In addition, Stall wrote, “At the Planning Board hearing, representatives of the applicant denied that these provisions of the EDCM existed or had any application. Further,
This alley separates the Hyatt Regency property (right) and The Quay Block 1. Kolter Urban proposes to build above the west half of the alley at 15 feet.
the applicant’s representatives cited to the portion of the EDCM pertaining to buildings outside of the DEA. Although possibly unintentional, these misleading and incorrect statements misled the Planning Board, who relied on these misstatements to their detriment in their analysis of whether to approve the applicant’s proposed adjustment.”
During the Planning Board meeting, Stall argued Kolter building over its side of the alley was detrimental to One Park West, which is slated for Block 9. Although jointly owned by the developers, the city holds the public right of way there.
“Everything 15 feet and above belongs to Kolter,” argued attor-
Urban proposes to raze the parking deck and the Hyatt Regency to erect two 18-story towers with mixed residential and commercial uses.
ney Brenda Patten, who represents Kolter Urban. “They can build their building over that part of the easement because they own the land. It’s not subject to the easement.”
SITE PLAN CHANGES
The appeal by Quay 1 and 9 notwithstanding, the Hyatt redevelopment project had its third submittal before the city’s Development Review Committee, with a handful of changes since its prior appearance. Chief among them, Patten told the DRC, is that Kolter Urban is planning to move the easternmost building out of the easement area. That move had nothing to do with Quay 1 and 9’s
appeal. However, as Patten told the Observer, she was unaware of the action at that time.
In an email, Patten spelled out the reason for the adjustment to its site plan.
“In the staff’s 12/27/24 DRC comment memo, staff said part of the development on the east side of the Hyatt property encroaches into … a 12-foot nonexclusive permanent public pedestrian access easement … abutting Quay Commons,” Patten wrote. “Kolter owns in fee simple the land over which the easement runs. It is not part of the Quay property. The easement grants rights ‘for general public pedestrian, bicycle and nonvehicular ingress, egress and access.’ Kolter will revise its plan to accommodate the public access easement while maintaining its rights as owner of the property.”
Other changes to the plan include an increase in hotel rooms from 166 to 174 and a firm square footage of ballroom space, previously listed as 7,000 square feet, now 6,610 square feet.
Because of the number of unresolved issues, the project will require another resubmittal to the DRC. A date for the City Commission to consider Quay 1 and 9’s appeal has not been announced.
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Kolter
Photos by Andrew Warfield
Residential tower splitting the zones
Saravela is planned for 1.7 acres at North Tamiami Trail between Fourth and Fifth streets, designed to split Downtown Bayfront and Downtown Core heights.
ANDREW
WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
What to do with a construction site that lies in two zoning districts? Conform to both in a single project.
At its Dec. 18 meeting, the city’s Development Review Committee received the initial submittal for administrative site plan approval of Saravela, a mixed-use development proposed for the east side of North Tamiami Trail between Fourth and Fifth streets. The 1.7-acre site consists of nine currently residential and commercial properties, mostly now vacant, that are subject to both the Downtown Bayfront and Downtown Core zoning districts.
Rather than pursue a rezoning, the proposal by developer GSP Sarasota addresses varying height limitations with an 11-story portion of the tower — including one bonus floor for including attainable housing — in the Downtown Core and 18 stories in the Downtown Bayfront.
According to state records, GSP Sarasota lists an address in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Saravela is planned for 271 dwelling units, 30 of them reserved for attainable housing, 11,402 square feet of retail space, a 3,000-squarefoot publicly accessible green space and 14 public parking spaces.
A plan this complex will require exceptions. The Planning Board submitted adjustments, major encroachment applications, and a request to vacate Fourth Way, an alley that splits the property. The site plan also includes parking access, load-
ing access and a loading space off of Fifth Street to protect the integrity of the walkable spaces on both North Tamiami Trail and Fourth Street.
Because Fifth Street is identified as a primary street, those requests will also require Planning Board adjustment approval.
Renderings by SKA Architecture show an outdoor amenity, including a pool atop the 11-story portion of the building. The 18-story portion will also have an amenity rooftop deck. The commercial square footage of the project requires 23 parking spaces plus 256 for the dwelling units, for a total of 279. Saravela will provide 389 total, including the 14 public spaces.
The property is across North Tamiami Trail from the luxury Cordelia by Lennar apartments in The Quay and across Fifth Street from the BLVD condominium tower.
Building a project that encompasses two zoning districts does come with its share of complications.
Development Review Chief Planner Noah Fossick advised planners from Kimley-Horn, which represents the developer, that balconies on all floors above the 11th on the taller portion must be removed because they extend into the air space of the Downtown Core in violation of code.
“The units are in Downtown Bayfront, but those encroachments into the air space are in Downtown Core. Is there a solution to that you can recommend?” asked Kimley-Horn
Planning Analyst Danielle Stewart.
“You’re only allowed to have up to 10 stories and the 11th story with the exception you’re utilizing, so no, I don’t believe you can have anything encroaching above the 11th story into those portions,” Fossick replied.
That, among another of other comments provided by the DRC, will need to be addressed in subsequent submittals, or perhaps additional adjustment requests, prior to DRC sign-off.
HABITAT TOWNHOMES
Receiving partial DRC sign-off was Habitat for Humanity’s Rhodes & Aspinwall Townhomes, requesting site plan, rezoning with site plan and final plat approval for a 17-unit, single-family attached development on a vacant 1.35-acre site at the corner of Rhodes Avenue and Aspinwall Street.
All units are proposed as attainable housing under the Habitat ownership model. Each will be on its own platted lot between 1,775 square feet and 2,755 square feet.
Also, on the opposite end of the multifamily residential spectrum, the DRC announced Pier 550 on Golden Gate Point, which was initially submitted in August 2024, has received full sign-off.
Courtesy image
The SKA Architecture rendering of Saravela shows two towers of varying heights.
Andrew Warfield
Saravela will be partially built on the formerly commercial property at the corner of Fifth Street and North Tamiami Trail.
A collection of original works by Florida playwrights Jan. 9-11 at 7:30 pm • Jan. 11-12 at 2:00 pm FSU Center for the
Season Presenters
MONDAY, DEC. 30
LOTION EMOTION
11:32 a.m., 2100 block of Waldemere Street
Dispute: Recognizing the importance of maintaining smooth, supple skin, a man was chafed over believing his roommate was using his body lotion, which resulted in an alleged physical altercation.
Officers were told the source of the heated exchange was an accusation that the permanent resident of the home, who was allowing an acquaintance to live there temporarily, engaged in unauthorized use of the guest’s body lotion. From there, an argument escalated to the point where the guest pushed the host into the bathroom and held him against the wall and holding him by the neck with both hands, at least according to the alleged victim.
The host told officers he agreed to let the other man live there for three months, ending Feb. 25, 2025, in exchange for him cleaning the house. He said there was a signed agreement between the two that the guest would use no illegal drugs on the premises or have visitors in the home, adding he believed he had violated both terms.
Back to the body lotion, the guest had earlier in the day sent the host a text message that read, “Do not use body lotion.” Although the host denied using it, the owner of the lotion became belligerent, but denied pushing the man into the bathroom and holding him by the neck.
No physical injuries were apparent, nor were there any witnesses or video of the alleged altercation. Chapped by the entire incident, the guest voluntarily agreed to take his body lotion to a friend’s house for the day to avoid any further friction.
THURSDAY, DEC. 26
TELL HER ABOUT IT
2:49 p.m., 1900 block of Golf Street
Suspicious incident: A supervisor of a business sought law enforcement assistance after a woman entered the location and began yelling at several staff members for no reason. The complainant reminded the responding officer that the woman had done the same thing two weeks prior when she thought the business had her golf cart towed.
The officer made contact with another woman inside the establishment who advised that while she was walking there after parking her car, the woman began to yell at her repeating, “You tell her that!” Not knowing what to whom she was being ordered to tell what, she simply walked away.
All parties interviewed advised the subject was seen leaving the area in a white van prior to the officer’s arrival. She had also been observed driving by the location while looking toward the building several times.
FRIDAY, DEC. 27
THEY THREW THE BOOK AT HIM
12:05 p.m., 1300 block of First Street
Disturbance: A man was removing his clothing, throwing items and screaming racial slurs inside a public library. The manager advised an officer the subject was moving his belongings into the library and, when told he could not do that, the man began screaming at him, took off his shirt and began throwing items throughout the room. Contact was made with the subject outside the library, who stated he was going to find a pedophile and wrap a cord around his or her neck in an attempt to kill him or her. The gender of the alleged offender was not given, nor whether the subject was in search of a known or random pedophile. While in transit, the man began screaming, “Hurry the (expletive) up!” and became verbally hostile. After being removed from the patrol vehicle at SMH, he headbutted a wall, sustaining no injury. He was released to SMH custody.
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SPORTS
Fast Break
The Booker High girls’ basketball team won the Chick-fil-A Classic basketball tournament when it defeated Desoto County (11-3) 71-55 on Jan. 4 at Bradenton Christian School. Senior Brianna Behn led the Tornadoes with 29 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, and junior Marayah Stuart piled on 13 points, three rebounds and three assists. Booker will next host Tampa Catholic (10-7) on Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
... The Riverview High girls varsity soccer team improved to 8-2-1 when it defeated Sarasota High (6-3-1) 4-0 on Dec. 20. Seniors Rachel Paule and Laci Young, juniors Olivia Shkorupa and Kate St. Onge and sophomore Emily Simone all scored once. Sophomore goaltender Bronwyn Leggett made five saves in the shutout, her fourth of the season. On the boys’ side, the Rams jumped to 5-4-1 when they beat Sarasota High (65-1) 3-2 on Dec. 19.
... The Cardinal Mooney girls varsity basketball team fell to 7-8 when it lost 82-79 to Atlanta’s Midtown High (12-3) on Jan. 4 in the St. James She Got Game Classic tournament in Atlanta. Senior forward Kali Barrett led the Cougars with 34 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Sophomore forward Madi Mignery also tallied a double-double, scoring 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds and three assists. ... Volleyball star Jordyn Byrd is coming home. On Dec. 22, the 6-foot-4 outside hitter and Cardinal Mooney alum announced her commitment to the University of Florida, transferring from the University of Texas. Byrd, a redshirt freshman this past season who did not appear in a match in her two years with the Longhorns because of injury, won a national championship with Texas in 2023. Byrd was a two-time Gatorade Florida Volleyball Player of the Year (2021-22, 2022-23) at Cardinal Mooney and helped guide the Cougars to the Class 3A state title in 2019.
RAMS LOOK TO FIND IDENTITY.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber speaks at Bird Key Yacht Club
Garber joined his old friend Gene Goldberg on stage as a part of the club’s Seafarer’s Speakers series.
DYLAN CAMPBELL SPORTS REPORTER
Don Garber doesn’t always love having his picture in the newspaper. For most people, seeing their photo in the paper is a source of pride and excitement.
Garber, however, is not like most people. Because, for the commissioner of Major League Soccer, a role he’s held since 1999, having his name and his face in the newspaper is more of a requirement than a desire.
That is, of course, unless it’s a shot of him holding a large snook or tarpon, his smile plastered ear to ear, the trophy of a long day of fishing in Sarasota Bay, typically with his close friend Capt. Warren Girle.
‘OUR HAPPY PLACE’
Sarasota is an area that Garber is quite familiar with. An avid fisherman, Garber has been coming to the area for more than 35 years with his wife, Betsy. In 2008, he bought a property on Longboat Key. He currently owns a place on Lido Key and makes the trip down whenever he has a moment — a rarity, given that time is not exactly in abundance for the face of soccer in the United States.
“I love it here,” said Garber. “Sarasota Bay is one of the best fisheries in the country. The weather is amazing and Sarasota has a great food scene. If I’m not catching a fish, I’m eating one in a restaurant. A couple of days ago, I was at Mar Vista. Last night, I went to Veronica Fish and Oyster, and we spent New Year’s at Euphemia Haye.”
On Jan. 3, Garber made the trip to the Bird Key Yacht Club, where he spoke in front of roughly 140 members as a part of the club’s Seafarer Speakers series, sharing stories about his time as commissioner, his career path and what the future holds for soccer in the United States. It was a night made possible by member Gene Goldberg — an old friend and colleague of Garber’s from the time they spent working at the National Football League in the 1980s and ’90s.
For the members in attendance, it was a chance to see something truly special — the leader of one of the top five professional sports in the country, speaking about the future of MLS at a critical juncture in the league’s existence.
When Garber came to MLS in 1999, after working in the NFL for 16 years, the league was in disarray. Ten teams played in nonsoccer specific stadiums, dotted around the country. The league’s very survival — not to mention its status as one of the top professional leagues in the country — was in question.
Today, MLS is thriving, thanks to a strategy of sustained growth implemented by Garber over his 25-year tenure. In 2024, 29 teams across North America called MLS home — with a 30th, in San Diego, set to be added in 2025.
According to MLS, more than 11.4 million fans attended regular season matches, the most in league history and a 5% increase from 2023. Additionally, the average attendance of a game — 23,234 in 2024, was also the highest in league history, with 10 clubs either matching or setting records for average attendance.
The massive growth of MLS can be attributed to a number of factors, but it started with the idea that teams needed to be playing in their own sport-specific stadiums. When the league was founded, it was meant to act as counter-seasonal programming for NFL owners, who also owned all of the MLS teams.
“They thought that they needed something to do in their stadiums when their stadiums were empty in the spring and summer, and I came in and pretty quickly realized that didn’t make sense,” said Garber. “I’d go to a game in the Meadow lands and there would be 800 or 1,000 or 2,000 people.”
Now, 26 of the league’s 29 teams are playing in their own stadiums. It’s a sign of how far the league has come and how the per-
ception of professional soccer has changed in North America.
The rise in popularity of MLS has also come from its increased ability to attract big-name international talent, which started in 2007 with the recruitment of David Beckham to the LA Galaxy and has extended into 2023, when the league lured superstar Lionel Messi to Inter Miami.
As much as MLS has grown under Garber’s 25-year tenure, he’s confident the league will continue to rise in prominence in the coming years. In 2025, the FIFA Club World Cup, a competition featuring 32 of the world’s best professional teams, including two from MLS, will be played in North America. In 2026, 12 host cities will also host the international soccer championship, the FIFA World Cup.
“It’s going to be like dozens and dozens of Super Bowl matches,” said Garber of the 2026 World Cup. “It already captures the attention of everyone in the world, but now it will capture the attention of everyone in this country. With all of the sports activity happening here in the next three years, between the World Cups and the Olympics in 2028, I hope that we’re able to capture the attention of everybody that is coming here and use that as the rocket fuel to launch us into a new era of MLS.”
After Don Garber’s talk at Bird Key Yacht Club, the chance to go see Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi play in the 2025 season was auctioned off. Member Matt Price won and was excited at the prospect of seeing the Argentine footballer. Here are just a few of Messi’s career accomplishments and why many consider him to be one of the best soccer players of all time. n MLS Most Valuable Player: 2024 n Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner n 2022 FIFA World Cup Champion n Six-time UEFA Champions League top scorer
“Playing goalkeeper is completely different from any other position. I love having control over the field and diving for shots.” — Bronwyn Leggett, sophomore, Riverview High girls varsity soccer.
Dylan Campbell
Booker High senior Brianna Behn helped lead the Tornadoes to a win at the Chick-fil-A Classic basketball tournament on Jan. 4.
Photos by Dylan Campbell
MLS Commissioner Don Garber (right) speaks at the Bird Key Yacht Club with Gene Goldberg. Garber owns a property on Lido Key.
Betsy Lembeck, wife of MLS Commissioner Don Garber, was in attendance when he spoke at the Bird Key Yacht Club on Jan. 3. Don and Betsy are long-time homeowners in the area.
Rams charging ahead with a full combo effort
The Riverview High boys basketball team looks to find its identity under first-year head coach Jeff Harris.
When Jeff Harris and his son, Josh, a junior guard on the Riverview boys’ basketball team, get in the car after a game, they don’t talk about basketball. They might discuss their days off of the court or whatever else fathers and sons typically discuss, but the basketball conversation, unless prompted by Josh, ends at the court.
That’s probably a good thing, considering that so much of their time together is spent on the court. Jeff Harris is in his third year with Riverview, 7-7 as of Jan. 2, and his first as head coach. Josh, a lanky 6-foot-4 combo guard, has also been thrust into a new role with the Rams in 2025. This year, Josh is unquestionably the team’s best player, leading Riverview in scoring with 19.9 points per game, up from 12.7 this past season.
“This is his first year truly being, undoubtedly, the man,” said Jeff Harris. “It’s something that will take a little while for him to grow into, but once he fully gets it, it’s going to be a problem for the other team.”
Harris is hoping his son and the rest of his team will continue that growth in 2025. Last season, under coach Brandon Knecht, the Rams went 17-10 before bowing out to Plant City 58-51 in the Region 3 semifinals of the 2024 FHSAA state tournament. In 2022-23, Riverview went 10-19 and in 2021-22, the Rams posted a 21-8 record. The wins and losses, however, hold less significance than the name of the man leading the team. Following Knecht’s departure, Harris will be Riverview’s third head coach in three years. The new Rams’ leader said he wants to bring some stability to a group sorely in need of it.
While Harris is a familiar face to Riverview’s returning players, his coaching — and the style of basketball he wants the team to play — is less so. The Rams graduated five seniors in 2024, including forwards Jayden Dudash and Jeremiah Dawson, both 6-foot-4.
Together, Dudash and Dawson formed a formidable interior presence, ranking first and second on the team in rebounds per game, with 6.7 and 5.6, respectively.
Dudash and Dawson also contributed offensively, both averaging a tick over 11 points a game.
In the wake of their absence, the Rams have to play a different style of basketball to be successful, one contingent on speed, pace and hustle. It’s why Harris spent a not insignificant portion of a recent practice running a three-second drill, where participating players have three seconds to inbound the ball, cross halfcourt and make a play.
“I think that we always wanted to play fast, but in the previous couple of years that we’ve been here, the personnel definitely slowed the game down some,” said Harris.
“Now we’re at the point where not playing fast isn’t an option. We have to make an emphasis on how we’re going to play and how I want the team to play and holding the players accountable to that.”
The Rams are “height-deficient,”
Harris said. The team’s two tallest players, sophomore Tonga Ouatarra and senior Rhys Gamble, stand around 6-foot-5. In an offense that is more guard-oriented, Riverview has had to find a way to scrap and claw for every last possession. In seasons past, Riverview has had the luxury of having players like Dudash and Dawson to grab
rebounds, extend offensive possessions and shorten defensive stands. This season, the team has had to employ an every-man-counts strategy, said Harris.
The departure of several key seniors, while difficult to deal with, has paved the way for others to take the helm. Gamble, a forward, has stepped into his own this season, leading the team in rebounds per game with 5.0.
At his height, with a long wingspan and the easy athleticism that allows his head to live above the rim, Gamble has the tools to be a handful on both ends of the court. The only trick, said his coach, is figuring out how to unlock it.
“Rhys is like a Swiss army knife,” said Harris. “He can guard any position on the court. He can work it in the post. He can, and oftentimes does, bring the ball up. Once he fully understands his skill set and what he’s capable of, then he’ll be incredibly dangerous. It’s like a superhero coming to terms with their own powers.”
Gamble’s emergence as a legitimate scoring threat will be a key factor in Riverview’s potential success this season, said Harris. Gam-
ble’s skill set compliments Harris’ naturally — Gamble is a rim-running big man, capable of both slashing to the basket from outside the paint as well as finishing lobs and passes below the net. Together, the pair make a natural pick and roll combination — Harris can move off of screens set by Gamble, capitalizing on advantageous matchups around the perimeter, while Gamble clears space down below.
Harris is also hopeful Gamble will alleviate pressure from his son. Harris is averaging 19.9 points per game in 2025, nearly 10 points more than the next highest scorer, senior Cole Coggins. While it’s encouraging to see Harris’ growth as a scorer, it also poses the question: Are the Rams too one-sided? When Harris is double-teamed or having an off night, where can Riverview turn for offensive production?
As for his son, Harris said he looks for Josh to mature into a more complete player. His talent is readily apparent — Josh is a natu-
ral scorer, capable of generating offense from all three levels of the court. Defensively and emotionally, however, is where Josh is working to make the biggest strides this season.
“He plays with his heart on his sleeve, and when we lose a game he’s broken up about it,” said Harris. “We want to be able to understand how to channel that heartache into something positive. He puts in a lot of work and puts a lot on himself, so getting him to understand that there are four other guys on the court with him and not everything has to be on him is big for us moving forward.”
Dylan Campbell is the sports reporter for the Sarasota/ Siesta Key Observer Contact him at DCampbell@ YourObserver.com.
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Photos by Dylan Campbell
Riverview High junior Josh Harris rises up for a three-pointer during practice.
Riverview High basketball head coach
Jeff Harris (left) said senior Rhys Gamble’s impact can be felt in every facet of the game.
Bronwyn Leggett
Bronwyn Leggett is a sophomore goalkeeper for the Riverview High girls varsity soccer team (8-2-1).
Through 11 games, Leggett is averaging 5.3 saves a match and has recorded four shut outs.
When did you start playing soccer and why?
I was around 4 years old when I first started playing soccer. I’d done ballet and swim, but soccer just stuck with me. I’ve always played goalkeeper too.
What’s the appeal?
Playing goalkeeper is completely different from any other position. I love having control over the field and diving for shots.
What’s your best skill on the field?
I’d say that I’m pretty good at playing out of the back, receiving and redirecting passes from my teammates. I play more of a sweeper-keeper style of goalkeeper where I like to go out and prevent shots from even happening in the first place.
What are you working on to improve? Recently I’ve been working on my sidewinder kicks. It’s like a punt, but from the side that makes a low, driven ball that cuts through the wind. I’ve also been working on trying to have cleaner catches on my saves.
What’s your favorite soccer memory?
When I was a lot younger, I played in a tournament with my club team and I didn’t get scored on once. The last game went to penalty shootouts and I didn’t let up a goal then either. I was pretty proud of myself.
What’s going right for your team this season?
We have a lot of new players and we’ve been playing challenging teams for the most part this year. I
If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Dylan Campbell at DCampbell@ YourObserver.com.
think that we’ve done a good job of adapting to our roster and rising to the level of competition.
What’s your favorite food?
Sushi. I like Nori (Sushi and Thai).
What’s your favorite television show or movie?
“The Simpsons” is my favorite show of all time. I like “The Walking Dead” as well.
What’s your favorite school subject?
I’d have to say English or biology. I like writing a lot and with biology, I’m interested in seeing how things work. I love learning about cells.
What are your hobbies? I can play the trumpet. I like to garden and crochet, as well. I also like to paint and draw. When I’m painting, it’s mostly flowers and still lifes. With drawing, I typically sketch people. I’m a photographer as well.
What’s the best advice that you’ve received?
To always get back up when you’ve been knocked down. Because in soccer, when you let up a goal, how you react to it will dictate how your team reacts to it. If you can get back up and dust yourself off, that shows the other team that you’re resilient and that your team will keep fighting.
Finish this sentence.
Bronwyn Leggett is ... Energetic.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
YOUR NEIGHBORS
A shore thing
Scooter of the Beach, Siesta Key’s most celebrated lifeguard, reflects on over 30 years in the lifeguard stand.
IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER
Scot Ruberg feels he was destined for the Florida sands, where he became known as Scooter of the Beach, the lifeguard who has been keeping watch at Siesta Key Beach for more than 30 years.
When he received his first pair of surf shorts in seventh or eighth grade, growing up in Illinois, he required a note from the principal to be allowed to enter class wearing the swim trunks.
“I think I was switched at birth with someone from Illinois, someone that was supposed to end up in Illinois and I was supposed to end up in Florida,” he said.
His passion for lifeguarding is still going strong, while he has gained even more recognition when he started offering his daily “beach reports” on social media a few years ago.
It has all served to make him an easily recognizable face in the community of Siesta Key.
A LIFEGUARD FOR LIFE
Ruberg, 60, started lifeguarding in high school and never stopped.
“I could have retired and pulled my pension 10 years ago. I’ve been lifeguarding for 40 years,” he said.
Having begun at a country club in Illinois, he later headed to Daytona
Beach, serving as a lifeguard in the summers while attending community college, where he swam competitively.
Initially, it was the fun of the role that attracted him, but eventually, he chose it over completing his degree in hotel and motel management, after meeting Volusia County’s older lifeguards.
“From the chief all the way down to the mid-20s guy that had been there for two or three years, they all seemed very happy and had what they needed in life, and I kind of followed their path,” he said.
He said the fact lifeguards are not paid a large salary did not deter him.
“It’s something that you know, going into this, that you know you’re not going to get rich, but you are going to be healthy and you are going to be happy.”
For Ruberg, lifeguarding competitions replaced swimming competitions, eventually bringing him to Siesta Key Beach in about 1989, when he attended the USLA Regional Lifeguard Competition with another lifeguard.
“We pulled into there, and we walked out onto the beach, and I see the white sand, and it was just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
A lifeguard descended the threestory tower formerly located on the beach, welcoming them to Siesta Key. Finding out they had no place
to stay, he invited them to stay at his home.
Ruberg and his friends continued to return each year, bringing more and more people, which grew to include many others who were not lifeguards.
At the time he took up his position at the Key, the county was restructuring the beach patrol and many older lifeguards were moving on. He decided to join an eight-week academy that was being held.
“They were bringing all these new people in, and I wanted to be one of them,” he said.
Ruberg says any day now, he can claim his 30-year lifeguard pin, but he says his longevity in the role isn’t unique.
“Almost every single beach in the nation’s got a Scooter,” he said. “Almost every single one has that guy that just can’t let go, that loves it so much.”
AN EXTENDED FAMILY
Over the years, across the variety of days from sunny to cold, from less crowded to more crowded, he sees the same people coming back—usually to the precise spots they visited before.
“It’s like United Nations,” he said.
“It’s every walk of life. It’s every religion; it’s every race. They all get along when they’re at the beach, and that’s what’s magical about it.”
MORE ABOUT SCOT RUBERG
FAMILY
Ruberg has been married for almost 15 years to his wife, Mandy, and has a 13-year-old son, referred to as “Little Finn” in his videos.
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES
“I love music festivals and I love beaches. Those are basically my two things I do.”
FAVORITE BANDS
“I’ve got this new saying, I say, and it kind of covers my three heavy hitters. It’s Allman Brothers for breakfast, Marshall Tucker for lunch and the Grateful Dead for dinner.”
The relationships he forms often grow to encompass multiple generations within a family.
“I have one German family in particular. They took pictures with me and their daughter for the last 25 years. I’d give it, and now she’s got two kids of her own, and she’s coming here with her husband on their vacation. Now, I’m taking pictures with her kids,” he said.
Even at his home, he says, his passion for lifeguarding is still evident in the form of décor that includes lifeguard signs, pictures of lifeguards and model lifeguard towers, as well as old license plates he collects from people all over the world, who move to Sarasota.
“You think you would outgrow that, that feeling, and I really don’t think you have to,” he said. “Being a lifeguard kind of keeps you young, kind of gives you that excuse not to grow up.”
Six or seven years ago he began posting on social media, and has gained 85,000 followers on Facebook and 4,769 on Instagram for his content, which includes his daily beach reports that bring an informal touch to describing the beach conditions.
Yet, the end of his time in the stand is in sight, with his retirement set for two years from now, something he calls “really kind of scary.”
“Something you’ve been doing for 42 years. By then, you don’t really know what else to do,” he said.
However, he plans to continue on social media, posting the beach reports, as well as traveling the east coast to document every single lifeguard tower. (He’s already covered all the ones in Florida.)
But he doesn’t think it will be necessary to go far.
“People ask me all the time, what are you gonna do when you retire? Where are you going to go? And I say, ‘What do you mean? Where am I going to go? This is paradise. I’m not going anywhere.’ Yeah, I’ll go on vacations, but this is my home base, forever, ever and ever.”
Lori Sax
Troy Roberts and Scott Ruberg show off a new batch of limited-edition “Scooter of the Beach” rum.
Courtesy image
Scot Ruberg stands in the lifeguard tower.
Keeping resolutions active
Local fitness professionals offer advice on retaining your desire to stay fit throughout the year.
IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER
YMCA personal trainer Tom Cahalan said he doesn’t place the importance on the New Year that others might.
“It definitely has impact where people think, ‘OK, let me look at my life and see how I’m doing, and where should I go from here,’” he said. “A lot of times, it has to do with weight. Sometimes, it has to do with doctors’ recommendations. Sometimes, if they’re single, they try and get themselves in better shape so they can find their mate, and they jump in.
“And sometimes they jump in too much.”
The Observer spoke with Cahalan and other fitness professionals on the subject of how to pursue fitness goals and achieve positive results.
SMALL STEPS
Cahalan said when people overstep, some get injured or experience pain, some become disinterested and some find it difficult to balance their workouts with daily life.
“I think the reasons for the failures might be they go at it too aggressively without a really good plan, and sometimes they need to just take it easy at the beginning and work their way in,” he said.
However, he also wants people to look at the long term.
“When you say, OK, I want to lose 25 pounds, that’s a good theory,” he said. “But give me the little inches to get to the end of that ruler. What am I going to do in the short term?”
Gillian da Silva, owner of the fitness community Rise Fitness, expressed a similar sentiment.
“Rather than saying, my goal in the New Year is to lose 20 pounds, which is an outcome, the goal that
IF YOU GO
THE Y: PRIMETIME + 7:30-8:15 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays. Free. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
HYBRID STRENGTH CLUB 6301 Porter Road, Suite 10. Visit HybridStrengthClub.com.
they should set would be, my goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day, whereas that’s an action,” she said.
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
The three professionals the Observer spoke to did not favor the idea of centering exercise goals on weight loss.
Cahalan said fitness is 60% diet and 40% exercise, with “maybe” a percentage devoted to lifestyle change, such as not staying up too late.
“People think they can exercise themselves out of good eating habits or out of bad eating habits,” he said, noting that because of his level of involvement in fitness, he is nonetheless able to do so himself to an extent.
Da Silva called weight loss “prob-
Ian Swaby
Tom Cahalan coaches a session of The Y: Primetime +.
ably at the very bottom of the list” of exercise’s benefits, highlighting nutrition and daily movement.
Mike Davis, owner of Hybrid Strength Club, who is starting a certification program for fitness trainers, said too often, people focus only on burning more calories than they take in, causing muscle atrophy and a failure to reach goals.
Davis favors an inclusion-based diet rather than efforts to restrict calories. He says when paired with fitness training, it eliminates room for and reduces cravings for poor food choices through the protein consumed.
“If you want to increase your metabolism, which you do, if you want to keep a healthy body fat percentage, we want to do things that allow us to keep more muscle, and even better, activate muscle that we do have that’s not currently working,” he said.
Instead of focusing on shortterm goals like losing weight, da Silva encourages people to look for a “deeper reason” to exercise, saying she doesn’t believe in the concept of “motivation.”
“If you’re not capable of picking up a suitcase and putting it in an overhead bin on an airplane or walking through a train station, then travel is going to be challenging as we age,” she said.
FINDING A FIT
Instructors emphasized the importance of finding an environment that
suits a person’s needs.
Da Silva and Davis said people should hire a professional.
Davis said it should be someone that prioritizes the spine, is well versed in breathing techniques and biomechanics and who can teach people about their body.
“Having fun, exploring movements, playing during training, not being so serious about it, but exploring what your body can and can’t do and gently, microprogressively, pushing those boundaries with someone that understands how to do those things, people can sustain it that way,” Davis said.
Cahalan said finding the right fitness opportunities is key, whether it comes down to people, instructors, the type of class and environment or the location.
“I’m just kind of a normal Joe,” Cahalan said. “I don’t look like I’m Mr. Fitness guy, and I think that’s important for people to feel.”
He said with his programs, he hopes to prevent the mindset of excess and said, “Instead, if you make it fun, they go out of here going, ‘Boy, I’m glad I came, and I better not miss that next time.’”
“I would say we don’t necessarily have to even find a level of enjoyment,” da Silva said. “It’s great if we do. But even if someone never, ever reaches that, if they can do it just because they know that it’s right for their body and for their longterm health, then I think that’s good enough.”
Undergraduate:
Medical School:
Dr. Keyur Kurani brings to Intercoastal Medical Group at the Cattleridge office a wealth of knowledge and experience in Internal Medicine. Certification: Residency:
of Family Medicine
Hospital Affiliations: Sarasota Memorial Hospital; Doctors Hospital
Courtesy image
A session of The Y: HIIT Fitness class is held at The Bay.
Ushering in the New Year
hat do a hog, star, onion, orange, skim board, pineapple, anchor, conch, buzzard, stuffed opossum, olive, a red M&M, an apple and a chili pepper have in common?
It’s no joke. These are all items that are dropped on New Year’s Eve from various places around the world beginning at 11:59 p.m. to shoo out the old year and ring in the new.
The 25th annual Downtown Sarasota Pineapple Drop celebration began at 1 p.m., with thousands of people enjoying the closed roads, carnival rides, games and food. Local merchants set up outside service areas with chairs and tables, and there were VIP areas for a guaranteed view — with the exception of fog — of the pineapple drop and the fireworks that go off at midnight from Sarasota Bay. Several bands played in two locations, including BYNGE, Gashouse Gorillas and the Daniel B. Marshall Band.
Although there is no clear history of pineapple production in Sarasota, we do, in fact, have a lighted pineapple that drops from a crane and serves as a beacon for a massive block party.
Pineapples, when placed right side up, are a symbol of welcoming and hospitality. The area around Five Points was originally built with a pineapple theme in mind, and several of the buildings have a stamped pineapple decoration embedded in the framework.
Ron Soto and Darci Jacob, president of Destination Downtown Sarasota, a collection of local businesses, and their team began the physical work of preparations some four days ahead of the event. Together with the Sarasota Police Department, which pro-
vided security, more than 30,000 guests lined the streets to usher in 2025. With the temperature hovering around 67 degrees and heavy dew hanging in the air, the dense fog prevented a great view of the pineapple drop, which is actually a carefully executed lowering to the ground.
Although this event began 26 years ago, 2025 marks the 25th anniversary with one missed event due to the pandemic. — JANET COMBS
Photos by Janet Combs
Isaac Skinner braves the 30-foot-high Super Slide at the downtown New Year’s Eve celebration.
Ron Soto and Darci Jacob, president of Destination Downtown, take a quick minute to size up the pineapple, which began its descent at 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
Susan, Steve and Grayson Latusick with Holly Valdes
Great-Aunt Sherry Boesel, from Sarasota, is with nephew Christian Tillett and his children, Elijah, Aurora and August.
With huge smiles, the well-dressed and behaved pups, Peter Rose and Rupert Ann, with their humans, Jen and Clay Owens.
Rachel Bayless and her mom, Deborah, came from St. Petersburg to celebrate Deborah’s New Year’s Eve birthday.
Branching out into art
hen Peggy Roberts did something as simple as pick up a palm frond from a Sarasota street one day, it was the start of a hobby that would define her life.
The former Sarasota resident saw the chance to repurpose a piece of nature that would otherwise have been left to the landfill.
Her palm frond animals led her to an opportunity to serve as artist in residence at Art Ovation Hotel in an exhibition set for Jan. 14-19.
Roberts, 67, said that as a retiree, she feels lucky to be engaged with something that continues to challenge her mind.
“It’s my medium. I just find it inspires me, and it stimulates my mind to think of new things, and it’s different. I haven’t had formal art training, and I don’t pretend to have had that, but I feel I can manipulate fronds in a way that gets people excited or stimulates them creatively.”
Roberts gathers most of her fronds from roadsides, private yards and tree trimmers.
Yet, in response to her many art shows, she’s also developed a loyal group she calls her “Frond Finders,” who will alert her with a text any time a new frond falls in their yards.
“I think people like being a part of it, and they like knowing what I might make from their fronds,” she said. “Sometimes they’ll say, ‘What are you going to use this one for?’ But it gets people involved, and it just does make people aware that there is an element of recycling to this particular form of art.”
Over time, Roberts has become increasingly proficient at manipulating the fronds.
Combining different pieces, including ones from different trees, she will dry, cut, sand and shape each component of the artwork.
From the medium, she derives materials such as “palm mache,” the sawdust of sanded fronds used to create components like a flamingo head and neck; “fleather,” or thin-
IF YOU GO
IN RESIDENCE
ARTIST
■ Jan. 14-19 at Art Ovation Hotel, 1255 N. Palm Ave.
COCKTAIL RECEPTION
■ Friday, Jan. 17 from 5-7 p.m.
MEET PEGGY ROBERTS
■ Every evening from 4-8 p.m.
■ Visit FrondArtist.com.
ning edges of royal palm fronds used for features like feathers and manes; and frond fringes that serve roles like eyelashes for giraffes and elephants.
As the Florida resident of eight years grew more invested in her frond art, she decided she’d need to move from Sarasota, where she lived for about six years, to a home in Bradenton that afforded more space.
As she works on her creations, they will be spread across about three different tables of the home.
“It’s not everybody’s taste, but I’m amazed at some of the comments I do get,” she said. “They’re the kind of creatures that I get people saying, ‘They make me smile.’”
She said the art has even made its way internationally, with one buyer shipping a lobster piece to Norway.
“I’m very excited by it, and again, I think it’s kind of fun to take chances ... ” she said. “I look froward to meeting a lot of people there, and I will have some new things up that no one has seen, some new things that I have tried, and it’s just a great opportunity.”
Courtesy image Artist Peggy Roberts uses all parts of palm fronds, including small pieces and palm “sawdust,” to create her art.
“You
— IAN SWABY
Photos by Ian Swaby Jennifer Lukowski and Ilene Gilbertson
Megan Howell found flowers that matched the color of her hair.
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PET PICS
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PEEK-A-BOO!: Yoshi going for a walk in Sarasota in style.
The attractions of Amara, diverse and extraordinary, know no equal. This begins with its Golden Gate address — for the Point is one of those rarest of natural wonders — an enclave that looks across the bay and back to the city — once-in-a-lifetime views that are yours every day. Add your name to our early interest list. SOMETIMES, LOOKING BACK IS THE BEST WAY TO LOOK AHEAD.
Bay Island home tops sales at $5 million
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
Ahome in Bay Island topped all transactions in this week’s real estate. Robert and Sarah Stern sold their home at 931 Norsota Way to Billy Pullman, of Sarasota, for $5 million. Built in 1988, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 6,154 square feet of living area. It sold for $2.95 million in 2012.
SARASOTA
INDIAN BEACH
PFI 21 Development LLC sold two properties at 4526 Bay Shore Road to Hugh and Anne Fiore, of Sarasota, for $3.3 million. The first property was built in 2023 and has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,167 square feet of living area. The second property was built in 2023 and has one bedroom, one bath and 442 square feet of living area.
OAK STREET
Jefforie and Judilyn Kvilhaug, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the home at 1680 Oak St. to William John Gamble IV and Liebe Anne Smith, of Sarasota, for $2.6 million. Built in 2022, it has nine bedrooms, four baths and 2,942 square feet of living area.
BAYSO SARASOTA
Sargam LLC sold the Unit 801 condominium at 301 Quay Commons to Kimberly and Michael Laurie, of Longboat Key, for $2.4 million. Built in 2023, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,476 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,588,000 in 2023.
Frank Emmerling, of Pittsburgh, sold his Unit 1203 condominium at 301 Quay Commons to Hector Becil and Allison Kraver, of New York City, for $1,585,000. Built in 2023, it has two bedrooms, three baths and 1,811 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,320,900 in 2023.
PHILLIPPI COVE
Wendy Kurfist and Tifis Flinn, of Sorrento, sold their home at 2500 Jamaica St. to Bruce Brownson, of Mount Vernon, Virginia, for $2.25 million. Built in 2016, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,586 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.15 million in 2023.
MARK SARASOTA
John and Denise Rozendaal, of Miami, sold their Unit 715 condominium at 111 S. Pineapple Ave. to Elena Paul and Joseph McDonald, of Sarasota, for $1,975,000. Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,122 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,338,400 in 2019.
BAY PLAZA
Virginia Fulton, trustee, of McLean, Virginia, sold the Unit 1105 condominium at 1255 N. Gulfstream Ave. to Dilip and Estelle Mathur, of Sarasota, for $1,775,000. Built in 1982, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 1,656 square feet of living area. It sold for $2.3 million in 2022.
AQUALANE ESTATES
Paul Michaud and Caroline Stinson-Michaud, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the home at 1506 Ridgewood Lane to Lawrence Baxter and Elizabeth Mansfield, of Pelham, New York, for $1,525,000. Built in 1969, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,609 square feet of living area.
VALENCIA ROSEMARY PLACE
TOWNHOMES
Mark and Donna Gardinier, of Knoxville, Tennessee, sold their home at 681 Cocoanut Ave. to Melissa Laughlin, of Sarasota, for $1,325,000. Built in 2018, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 1,997 square feet of living area. It sold for $595,600 in 2019.
HARBOR HOUSE SOUTH
Robert Gershen and Debra Kaye, of Sarasota, sold their Unit 33 condominium at 400 Golden Gate Point to Theodore and Margaret Boehm, of Sarasota, for $1,125,000. Built in 1965, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,388 square feet of living area. It sold for $830,000 in 2021.
ALINARI
Alinari 1003 LLC sold the Unit 1003 condominium at 800 N. Tamiami Trail to Susan Payne, of Sarasota, for $995,000. Built in 2007, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,323 square feet of living area. It sold for $483,000 in 2018.
RENAISSANCE
Richard and Pamela Mones, of Sarasota, sold their Unit 719 condominium at 750 N. Tamiami Trail to Douglas Doolittle, of Sarasota, for $980,000. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,460 square feet of living area. It sold for $425,000 in 2007.
PAYNE PARK VILLAGE
Sean and Rachel Gregory, of Tampa, sold their home at 455 Wingfield Drive to Taylor and Tessa Conroy,
of Sarasota, for $900,000. Built in 2021, it has three bedrooms, two-and-two-half baths and 2,108 square feet of living area. It sold for $720,000 in 2021.
PALM PLACE
Lone Pine Properties LLC sold the Unit 404 condominium at 755 S. Palm Ave. to Joseph Scott Messinger and Laurie Troost, of Sarasota, for $885,000. Built in 1983, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,421 square feet of living area. It sold for $485,000 in 2007.
ONLINE
See more transactions at YourObserver.com
Other top sales by area
SARASOTA: $3.4 MILLION
Alan T. Owens
William and Frances Zuk, of Sarasota, sold their home at 925 Alameda Way to Skyloft Florida Inc. for $3.4 million. Built in 1957, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,312 square feet of living area. It sold for $236,300 in 1987.
PALMER RANCH: $1.5 MILLION
Silver Oak
Mary Rosasco, trustee, of Sarasota, sold the home at 8971 Bloomfield Blvd. to James and Janice Chaltas, of Gulfport, for $1.5 million. Built in 2003, it has four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a pool and 4,210 square feet of living area.
OSPREY: $2.4 MILLION
Oaks II
Colin David Temple and Roma Temple, of Osprey, sold their home at 425 E. Mac Ewen Drive to Qi Xin Chen and Ngoc Nguyen, of Osprey, for $2.4 million. Built in 1999, it has five bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths, a pool and 5,153 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.38 million in 2020.
NOKOMIS: $1,475,000
Blackburn Ridge
Rebecca Rettenmaier, trustee, of Castle Rock, Colorado, sold the home at 4973 Topsail Drive to Todd Raymond Capital LLC for $1,475,000. Built in 2014, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a pool and 2,647 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,325,000 in 2022.
Source: Sarasota County, city of Sarasota
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YOUR CALENDAR
SATURDAY, JAN. 11
ASTRONOMY AT THE BAY: MARS OPPOSITION
6:30-8:30 p.m. at Common Ground, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. View the unique phenomenon of Mars being positioned directly opposite the sun, an event that occurs once every two years and offers a fully illuminated view of the planet. Telescopic views will be provided by Suncoast Stargazers, a group that provides opportunities for cosmological educational outreach. The event is part of Stars, Space & Planets Weekend at The Bay, held Jan. 9-12. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
SARASOTA ANIME FEST
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 801 N. Tamiami Trail. General admission $20; one child enters free per one adult ticket. This anime collectors convention is designed to appeal to fandoms of multiple genres. The event includes voice actors Kent Williams of “Dragon Ball Z,” “Fullmetal Alchemist” and “My Hero Academia,” and voice actor Ray Hurd of “Dragon Ball Z” and “One Piece.” Visit SarasotaAnimeFest.com.
SUNDAY, JAN. 12
SIGNATURE ARTISTS AT THE BAY: THE VENICE SYMPHONY
4:30-5:30 p.m. at The Oval, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Enjoy an afternoon of music described as “out-of-this-world” at The Bay as part of part of Stars, Space & Planets Weekend at The Bay, held Jan. 9-12. This concert is performed by The Venice Symphony Orchestra. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
SNOW DAY AT FIRST SARASOTA
BEST BET FRIDAY, JAN. 10 TO SUNDAY, JAN. 12
SARASOTA BAY SEAFOOD & MUSIC FESTIVAL
4:30-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Sarasota Fairgrounds, 3000 Ringling Blvd. Free. This event offers dishes including fresh seafood, meats and vegetarian options, all cooked on-site, with a variety of side dishes and beverages. Attendees can also enjoy live music that spans genres including R&B, jazz, rock and soul. Performers include Kara Nally Band, Kettle of Fish, Twinkle Rock Soul Radio, and many others. Attendees also can browse an arts and crafts marketplace. The event is held by Paragon Festivals and the Downtown Sarasota Enrichment Association. Visit ParagonFestivals.com.
Free; reservations required. Learn what scientists have recently discovered about Sarasota Bay dolphins from the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, an initiative following a community of about 170 dolphins across six generations. The discussion is led by the program’s director, Randall Wells, Ph.D. Call 941-5525325 for reservations.
9:30 a.m. to noon at First Sarasota, 1661 Main St. Free. Geared toward children through fifth grade. Kids are invited to enjoy over 25,000 pounds of snow, made from real ice, at First Sarasota, along with a snow slide, snowball fights and more. Indoor activities will be available for kids, while adults can attend the modern service in the family life center at 9:30 a.m. Visit FirstSarasota.com.
TUESDAY, JAN. 14
DOLPHINS ALL AROUND US
10:30 a.m. at Glenridge Performing Arts Center, 7333 Scotland Way.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15
THE Y: INTRO TO PICKLEBALL
(NEW PLAYERS ONLY)
10 a.m. to noon at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 801 N. Tamiami Trail. Free. This class, intended exclusively for those new to the sport of pickleball or who are very inexperienced, focuses on basic terminology and techniques and how to play the game so you can feel comfortable at other venues. Equipment will be provided. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
What Would the Founding Fathers Think of America Today?
It would be nearly impossible to overestimate the reverence afforded America’s celebrated founding fathers. They were real men whose brilliance launched our country, and they vigorously discussed and debated the important political issues of their time.
By focusing on key writings and speeches of founders such as Washington, Jefferson, Adams and others we can certainly speculate what they’d think about the issues of today. That’s the fascinating and unique idea behind the Observer’s upcoming event in Sarasota on February 6th. It will be presented by renowned Brown University Professor Wendy Schiller, Chair of the Department of Political Science.
Here’s an example. The partisan hostility of our two major parties
has certainly frustrated nearly everyone. It turns out that the “Father of our Country” and our very first President was concerned about that very issue. In George Washington’s words from his famous farewell address in 1796, “There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and keep alive the spirit of liberty. But then he went on to assert “the constant danger of excess” and ended by referring to a political party as “ a fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance topresent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume”
Another subject area that was discussed thoroughly at the start of our country and continues to be a major focus today is the role of religion. While many believe
that the Founders felt that religion should be kept entirely outside political life, that’s really not what most of them felt. James Madison wrote that all men are “equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience”. In actuality the founders were less concerned about religious influences on government than they were with any effort to exclude some religions and favor others. That is what they had experienced as citizens of England and was what they were primarily concerned with. One more example would be concerns about economic and wealth inequality. Many think of this as an area of concern only in recent times, e– launched in large part by the now well known “occupy Wall Street” movement in 2011. In fact, it was a subject ad-
vanced by many founders, and some of their thinking was quite advanced. Thomas Paine wrote of the need to “make some provisions for people become poor and wretched not only at the time they become so. Would it not, even a matter of economy, be far better to devise means to prevent their becoming poor?”
And finally, apparently federal spending has been a hot button
Dive into the past with our exciting speaker series, featuring renowned scholars from top universities. Each lecture brings history to life with fresh insights and captivating stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
issue for as long as our country has been in existence. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote
“That same prudence which in private life would forbid paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public monies” Sounds a lot like something you hear every day on TV!
NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH
SPEAKING by Sam Koperwas & Jeff Chen, edited by Jared Goudsmit
By Luis Campos
Gordon Silver captured this photo of a gator hanging out on the edge of a lake admiring his reflection at Myakka River State Park in Sarasota.
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