Newsletter 97

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST

FLESH EATING ILLNESS NOTHING NEW

The flesh eating bacteria that has alarmed Florida beachgoers has been around since ancient times. Scattered in the annals of medical history, necrotizing fasciitis – coined in 1952 – is described as a tissue-killing disease that was first mentioned by Hippocrates in the fifth century B.C. The Center for Disease Control says necrotizing fasciitis is a rare bacterial infection that spreads quickly in the body and can cause death. It is believed to be a secondary symptom of several bacteria that are common in our environment, according to the Florida Department of Health. G. Stuart Huard, spokesman for the FDOH in Sarasota County, said people can protect themselves through situational awareness. They should not be scared to go to the beach. "If you are a normally healthy person, and don’t have cuts and bruises on your body, there is really no reason not to go to the beach. If you are someone who is immune compromised and have health issues, whatever they may be, and you have cuts and bruises on you, it’s a good time to stay out of the water," Huard says. Warmer weather and low salinity promotes bacteria growth. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald Tribune, please click here: Flesh Illness Nothing New

ANOTHER LOOK AT BOBBY JONES

Faced with unforgiving projections of a negative return on a proposed $17 million investment in revitalizing the Bobby Jones Golf Complex, Sarasota city commissioners recently opened the door to rethinking their plan to plunge forward with a sweeping redesign of all 45 holes of the historic public course. The commission voted unanimously to invite the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast to make a presentation on the possibilities of pursuing a conservation easement arrangement that could help defray the costs of maintenance and preserve the city-owned property as an environmental asset. Click here if you want to read more: Bobby Jones

LOCAL HOME SALES SURGE

Home Sales surged in May in Southwest Florida as buyers finalized deals at the end of the peak selling season. Buyers closed on 1,685 existing single-family homes during May in the Sarasota-Manatee region, up 15.3% over the year and the highest number of sales for a single month so far in 2019, according to data recently released by the Florida Realtors trade group. Even condo sales, which have sagged all year, rose 3.0% in the two-county area to a total of 752. Local home sales are now 3.4% ahead of last year’s pace after lagging 2018 though April. But after putting up record volume in 2018, the condo market is still nearly 9% behind last year. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Home Sales Surge

INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES, AT A COST

A $298.5 million Utilities Master Plan drafted by Sarasota officials to replace aging pipes and other infrastructure may raise the rates on residents’ utility bills by around 50%. The plan consists of 135 proposed projects, most of which include replacing and renewing water pipes and structures that are 30 to 100 years old. The projects would take place over 11 years at around $27 million a year. There are two proposed payment options: pay as you go, and finance. The first option would mean a 53% increase in monthly water and sewer bills for the average customer over 11 years. The finance option would be a 46% increase. In the pay-as-you-go option, average rates would rise from the current $80.50 to $122.66 in fiscal year 2030. If the city were to borrow to finance the work, rates would go up to $116.87. There’s more on this story here: Infrastructure Upgrades

COUNTING THE COST OF RISING SEA LEVELS

Rising sea levels will create the need for more that $3 billion in new sea walls in Sarasota and Manatee counties by 2040, according to a new report that highlights the fiscal threat climate change poses to Southwest Florida. The data compiled by the Center for Climate Integrity, an environmental activist group, raises questions about how communities will afford the enormous costs of climate change. As a low-lying peninsula, Florida is especially susceptible to the effects of rising seas. Florida has more coastline that any other state other than Alaska, and armoring much of it to protect against sea level rise will be hugely expensive, costing roughly $76 billion statewide by 2040, according to the report. Please click here for more: Sea Level Rise

LEGACY TRAIL PICKS UP SPEED

Construction on the first section of the Legacy Trail Extension should begin and end in 2020, planners said recently, with cyclists riding from Proctor Road to Bahia Vista Street by the end of the year. Sarasota County officials called it "The Race to Completion" during a kick-off celebration at Payne Park. "That’s fast," said Gary Nadeau, senior project manager for Kimley-Horn, design consultants in Sarasota. "They want to see activity. They don’t care if it’s piecemeal. They want to get segments done." Patrick Lui, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for Sarasota County, is certain the Legacy Trail Extension will exercise legs and open eyes as people pedal north and south through the city. Click here for more: Legacy Trail Extension

DOWNTOWN PARKING METERS (AGAIN)

City employees began testing new parking meters recently to make sure they were electronically and mechanically sound, ensuring that the meters were displaying the right fare, installing signs telling drivers where to pay, and putting up stickers that tell drivers which zone they are in. With the "pay here" signs near the meters, activation was planned after July 8th. The city of Sarasota last experimented with downtown parking meters in 2012. Downtown merchants have mixed feelings about paid parking. There’s more here: Downtown Parking Meters

EAST SARASOTA COUNTY PROJECTS GETS OK

A protracted and sometimes bitter battle over a proposed residential development near one of Sarasota County’s most beloved canopy roads ended with a cliffhanger vote by county commissioners recently. They opted, 3-2, to allow the landowner to proceed with a plan for 37 homes clustered on a little more than 12 acres east of Sarasota and Interstate 75 – offset by a buffer of green space and wetlands. The subdivision, known as Arbor Lake Reserve, has significant symbolic value. Its progress through the approval system has been watched closely by both sides of the debate over what it means to preserve the rural heritage of a region that, up to now, has been lightly populated and characterized by five-acre residential spreads. Click on the link for more: Arbor Lake Reserve

SARASOTA ART MUSEUM TWEAKS ITS NAME

The proposition for a new art museum in Sarasota now includes a change in preposition. What has been called the Sarasota Museum of Art will open in December as the Sarasota Art Museum. Anne-Marie Russell, executive director of the museum, joked that SAM will be a better acronym than SMoA. The full name of the institution will actually be the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringing College. A $27 million renovation project has transformed the historic Sarasota High School building on the Tamiami Trail into a museum campus that includes Ringling’s School of Continuing Studies and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Please click here for more on this story: Sarasota Art Museum