Newsletter 69

SIESTA STYLE?: The MTV reality series “Siesta Key” originated about two years ago as Gary Kompothecras watched his son and friends’ life of boating, fishing, going to the beach and partying. Gary paid for a Jacksonville production company to film a pilot. Filming for the full season started in April, shooting at several local businesses including Casey Key Fish House & Tiki Bar, Siesta Key Village and Big Pass Sandbar. The owners of the local businesses featured on the show have expressed support and hope the show will attract more visitors. But numerous residents, many occupying Siesta Key’s numerous mansions and million dollar condos, have voiced concern that it will bring an influx of college-aged vacationers to an already-crowded area, particularly as Siesta Beach was named the #1 beach in the country again this year by Dr. Beach. Please click here for more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Siesta Style

STOP! AT CENTER OF DEBATE ON GROWTH: Less than a year after putting an exclamation point on many neighborhoods’ complaints about Sarasota’s growth boom, the leaders of STOP! now find themselves in the driver’s seat in the city’s ongoing conversation about growth. The ad hoc collection of neighborhood leaders and former city officials has introduced a series of recommendations since its formation last September designed to change several of the necessary reviews and requirements for new development approved within city limits. From wider sidewalks to new traffic studies to public hearings, the groups’ recommendations have become the center of the city’s debate about development projects amid the billion-dollar construction boom currently adding thousands of new hotel rooms and residences downtown. Follow the jump for more on this story: STOP!

ARTS SPENDING DRIVES ECONOMY: Sarasota County’s arts and cultural leaders have long insisted that investing in the arts is one of the best ways to keep the area’s post-recession economy booming. Now they have fresh numbers to back up the argument. According to the “Arts & Economic Prosperity Report V,” a data-intense survey released by the nonprofit Americans for the Arts, Sarasota County’s arts and cultural organizations and audiences pumped $295 million into the economy in 2015, up 64% from $180 million in 2010, the the previous survey was taken. Please click here for more: Arts Drives Economy

SARASOTA JOINS ENERGY INITIATIVE: n a victory for local environmentalists, city commissioners voted unanimously to support two sustainability initiatives in setting a community-wide goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045 and joining a list of municipalities opting to abide by the Paris climate accord. With this vote, Sarasota became the third city in Florida, after St. Petersburg and Orlando, to embrace the Sierra Club’s national “Ready for 100” campaign. Locally, the clean energy effort was spearheaded by the Sarasota Climate Justice Coalition, whose petition received more than 2,000 signatures in favor of the initiative. The resolution set an additional target of transitioning municipal operations to 100% clean energy by 2030. There’s more here: Sarasota Energy Initiative

TECHNOLOGY SEEN AS ONE KEY TO FIGHTING RED TIDE: Technological advances – including the use of drones – are among the keys expected to unlock the continuing mysteries of red tide, a 26-year volunteer at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium said recently. Erin Tom “Tommy” Birch, a Florida native who has lived in Sarasota since 1969, explained that while much is known about how the dinoflagellate that causes red tide affects people’s respiratory & gastrointestinal systems, scientists still are working hard to figure out exactly what sparks its quick multiplication at certain times – and how to stop such events without triggering a different type of environmental havoc. Ozone and a larger type of algae have been shown to inhibit and even kill the red tide algae, she pointed out, but more research is under way. Click here for more: Technology Key To Fighting Red Tide

COUNTY OK’S ITS BRAVES FUNDING: Sarasota County leaders officially approved their end of financing for an Atlanta Braves spring training complex in North Port. The County Commission unanimously endorsed the plan to revise the distribution of the county’s tourist development tax, collected on overnight stays at hotel rooms and short-term rentals, to help pay for a little less than one-third of the planned $75.4 million stadium facilities at the West Villages. To read more on this story, please click here: BRAVES FUNDING APPROVED