Newsletter 91

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST

ANOTHER LUCRATIVE YEAR FOR LOCAL AGENTS

The real estate business is a very profitable business. Not everywhere in the country, but certainly in the Sarasota-Manatee market. Last year, agents and brokers completed $12.35 billion in transactions on around 17,000 contracts. The Multiple Listing Service’s 2018 Agent Awards Report also shows sales detail on 4,586 agents working in the two-county region. Some of the figures on the 18-page list are quite striking. The first nine agents exceeded $50 million in total sales volume, and 14 more surpassed $30 million. The rest of the top 60 eclipsed $20 million. To read more on this story, please click here: Lucrative Real Estate

RED TIDE LOSSES IN MILLIONS

The economic damage red tide caused may be hard to calculate – a single, definitive source is lacking – but informal local and state studies show the environmental disaster caused by the harmful algae inflicted millions of dollars in damages to Sarasota and Manatee businesses, and took a toll on Florida’s tourism. According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, 107 businesses in Sarasota and Manatee County voluntarily submitted surveys to the site FloridaDisaster.org, detailing losses suffered by their business. Just those restaurants, vacation rentals, marine-based businesses and other establishments reported about $9 million in losses from May to October. They had $14.2 million is estimated damages from red tide. Click here if you want to read more: Red Tide Informal Study

IF YOU MARKET IT, THEY WILL COME

Once it gets the green-light from its statewide counterpart, Visit Sarasota County is ready to start its post-red tide marketing program, a plan that the tourism group hopes will bring visitors to the area following months of losses caused by red tide. Visit Sarasota County, the community’s tourism marketing arm, expects to receive more than $100,000 in red tide relief funds from Visit Florida, including a total of $75,000 for a digital marketing program and $25,000 for elements associated with a Google Maps program that is designed to help Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties. Please follow the jump for more on this story: VSC Marketing Post-Red Tide

DEVELOPERS GIVE UP ON LIDO PLAN

A group of citizens who forcefully opposed a major facelift to the aging Lido Beach Pool and Pavilion celebrated a victory this week after the developers behind the proposed renovations requested to pull out of the project because of the overwhelming backlash from the community. A lawyer representing the party planning to renovate the deteriorating pool and pavilion alerted City Attorney Rob Fournier of their wishes to abandon the project, terminate its lease with the city and seek reimbursement for planning costs, Fournier said at a meeting this week that drew hundreds of opponents donning red attire in a show of solidarity. There’s more on this story here: Lido Renovation

BEACH PARKING FOR A FEE?

A date for the Sarasota County Commission to discuss imposing paid parking at Siesta Beach has been set. The commission will hold a special workshop on February 27 to discuss implementing paid parking at Siesta Key beaches, county officials said. The workshop will be a community forum for people to come out and share their thoughts and concerns about Siesta Key traffic and parking," said Nicole Rissler, the county’s director of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources. "For those that can’t attend the workshop, we’ll have some additional information coming out on how they can share their comments, concerns and questions with us on a variety of our online platforms." Click here for more: Paid Parking at Siesta

ANNA MARIA ISLAND’S ALLURE

Recognized for its abundance of activities, cuisine, creative repurposing of space and almost complete aversion to chain restaurants and hotels, Anna Maria Island was named one of 11 under-the-radar Florida beach towns to visit this winter by Fodor’s Travel. The list, written by Florida-based travel writer Terry Ward, highlighted 11 beach towns in Florida that are not household names and how that’s a good thing. If you’d like to learn more, click here: Anna Maria’s Allure

LOCAL UF EXPERTS HELP WITH CHANGE

The Sarasota you love is changing. Residents arriving. Concern about red tide and water quality rising. Green space shrinking. A heavier lift for the low-income to make it in the new Sarasota. You’re at a quality-of-life crossroads. The science of sustainability can’t choose your path for you, but it can help you make sense of your options. The University of Florida’s mission as your land-grant university is to deliver that science to your community. There’s more here: Coping With Change

THE PAST AWASH

More than 13,000 identified archaeological sites in the southeast United States would be wiped out by a one-meter rise in sea level, and more than 32,000 with a two-meter rise. Uzi Baram, a professor of anthropology and director of the New College Public Archaeology Lab, talked about the threat recently not as "doom and gloom" but to illustrate the dilemma scholars confront in light of climate change. "We’re facing a whole new world," Baram said. "It isn’t ending but it’s drastically changing." Baram started talking to groups about the impact of rising sea levels after Hurricane Irma hit Florida in September 2017. He pointed out that the terminology people use when discussing sea level rise tends to be off base. Click on the link for more: Sea Level Rise