Newsletter 57

Dear friends,

Our recent weather-related events give us another reason to pause and respect the force of nature. It also reminds us to be grateful for our health and safety, and for a sunny day. We were very fortunate to be spared from the wrath of a powerful storm.

We are fortunate to live in a beautiful place, however there are risks that come with everything. We take our responsibilities very seriously and appreciate our clients’ trust.

We are accredited members of the National Home Watch Association (NWHA). Our bonded and insured services offer peace of mind to our clients. We take great pride in maintaining and enhancing their homes in paradise. The greatest compliment we can receive is a referral.

Visit our website for more information on our services and how we can help: Suncoast Home Concierge

Here’s some recent Suncoast area news:

BEACHES BATTERED BUT OK: Local beaches battered by Hurricane Hermine largely survived the storm with minimal long-term damage, Sarasota County officials reported. Perhaps hardest hit was Siesta Key, which experienced widespread flooding and significant dune and beach erosion, according to the county’s storm assessment. The county’s environmental staff surveyed about 5 to 10 feet of dune erosion on Siesta Key, some loss to recently planted dune vegetation there and beach erosion around the county’s renourishment project on Turtle Beach completed earlier this year, the report concluded. But despite that damage, other keys and beaches made it through the storm relatively well and some even gained sand, said Howard Berna, the county’s manager for environmental permitting. Please click here for more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Beaches battered during storm

SUMMER 2016 SETS A RECORD FOR HEAT: The summer of 2016 was the hottest on record for the Sarasota-Bradenton area, according to the National Weather Service. The average temperature during June, July and August – the meteorological summer – was 84.5 degrees, the warmest on record, the weather service reported. A total of 82 days saw a high of 90 degrees – 43 days more than normal, including a record high of 99 on August 23 at the weather service recording station at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. That was just two degrees below the all-time high of 101 set in the summer of 1971. Please follow the link to read more: A very hot summer

GROWTH WORRIES RAMPING BACK UP: For the third year in a row, population growth and development unequivocally topped the list of resident concerns facing the county. The economy took second place, having been the top concern in the past. Homeless and traffic issues were next on the list. Residents also now consider traffic congestion to be the greatest threat to the county’s economy. There’s more on this story here: Residents survey

STATE CIRCLING FOR ANSWERS TO BAYFRONT TRAFFIC: State traffic engineers and consultants are beginning a study for possible changes to the intersection of U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue. The changes would be designed to increase pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between downtown and the bayfront while improving traffic flow at the critical and often-overwhelmed gateway to Lido Key. Possible alternatives include a roundabout or improvements to the existing signalized intersection, state director of transportation development Chris Smith said in an email to the city. The study by consultant Kimley-Horn & Associates all be complete by the end of 2017 and will cost $436,000, according to the project’s description. Please click here for more: A roundabout at U.S. 41 & Gulfstream Avenue?

MORE TRAVELERS ARE ON THEIR WAY: Hurricanes, international economic instability and the Zika virus are no match for the Florida tourism industry. Experts at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism were still anticipating another year of growth, even with the surge of negative headlines that the Sunshine State has fielded this year. Florida has broken its annual tourism records for five consecutive years with hand-over-fist percentage increases of 7 and 8 percent. That boom is expected to slow in the next few years with 2-2.5 percent increases, said Chris Pike, director of impact studies at the market analysis firm Tourism Economics. But that’s not necessarily a sign of struggle: Florida would need a dynamic increase in capacity for tourists to see more significant growth. Follow the jump for more: Strong tourism numbers to continue

METERS GET ANOTHER CHANCE: Parking meters are coming back to downtown Sarasota, four years after the city’s last short-lived attempt to institute a paid-parking plan. The first phase of the project will include installation of meters on 468 parking spaces on Main Street, Palm Avenue and part of Ringling Boulevard in the next year. The City Commission endorsed the plan, citing expected improvements to downtown traffic flow, more availability for spaces on those main streets and increased parking revenue as the main reasons for supporting the idea. But, as expected, several downtown business owners and residents are still vehemently against the proposal. About a dozen spoke to the commission and reiterated many of the concerns that killed the program in 2012 – that paid parking will drive shoppers and diners to other places and could exacerbate problems with the chronic homeless downtown. There’s more here: Return of the parking meters

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