Newsletter 106

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST

GOING TO MARKET? STAY IN YOUR LANE

Grocery stores in Sarasota-Manatee, some of the few remaining “essential” retail stores still allowed to operate statewide, are continuing to adapt to the COVID-19 shopping environment as consumers take more precautions in fear of contracting the virus. At Publix stores, aisles are now one-way to encourage social distancing and reduce the chances that shoppers will come into contact with one another (although I’ve observed that it seems to be difficult for people to follow). Six-foot increments have also been marked off at checkout, and managers can limit the number of people in the store at once. Late last month, the supermarket chain began offering exclusive shopping hours for the elderly. Extended shopping hours for first responders and hospital staff began this week. Detweiler’s Farm Market is offering drive-thru grocery shopping at several of their stores. Roughly 130 items are available and order forms are posted on the company’s Facebook page and website the night before. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Grocery Stores Adapt

EXPERTS ADVICE ON FRESH PRODUCE

Many people are avoiding buying nutritionally dense fresh fruit and vegetables due to fear or lack of information on how they could be contaminated with COVID-19, so the Food and Drug Administration attempted to quash unease by issuing a statement recently. “Currently there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with transmission of COVID-19.” Max Teplitski, Ph.D., the Produce Marketing Association’s Washington, D.C.-based chief science officer, agrees with FDA’s determination. He said that instead of avoiding fresh fruits and vegetables, consumers should be loading up on them. When selecting, purchasing and taking home fresh produce, shoppers should adhere to the same pre-COVID-19 common sense principles. For example: wiping down handles of grocery carts immediately upon entering a store, shopping first for fresh produce, washing hands immediately after shopping, laundering reusable produce and/or shopping bags, washing produce under running water, towel-dry after washing. For more on this story, please click here: Fresh Produce Is Safe

6 SPRING CLEANING TASKS YOU MAY HAVE OVERLOOKED

Every year for the past 25 years or so, Elizabeth Mayhew has written articles and done television segments in which she gives advice and instructions on how to spring-clean, but this year is different. In the age of coronavirus, you don’t need her to tell you to wipe down and disinfect your refrigerator handle, light switches and door knobs; you’re probably already doing those tasks and more. With time at home, most of us are looking around wondering what else we can scour and scrub. I would hazard to guess that this will be the cleanest spring on record, but there’s one thing that’s important to stress: You need to clean and disinfect. There is a difference between the two. Cleaning removes germs and dirt from surfaces, but it does not kill germs, it just lowers their numbers and the risk of spreading infection. Disinfecting kills the germs, but it does not clean dirty surfaces or remove germs. So, what you do is clean first, disinfect second. Now is a good time to tackle some other areas of our homes that are often overlooked. Please follow the jump for more on this story: 6 Spring Cleaning Tasks

SARASOTA HOMES TAKEN OFF MARKET

COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented number of homes for sale being withdrawn, canceled or temporarily taken off the market in Sarasota County, but the prices on the homes that are being sold have held steady, according to an analysis from a Sarasota real estate firm. Robert S. Goldman, an agent with Michael Saunders & Co. in Venice, analyzed how the Sarasota County housing market looked from March 1-14 vs April 1-14 as a snapshot of the market before and during the COVID-19 era. He found that the number of houses available for sale fell by 18.2% between the two periods, from 4,152 to 3,393. New listings fell 53.2% from 731 to 314 and the number of houses sold was down by 24.8% from 504 to 379. Still, pricing held relatively steady between the two time periods. The average square-foot-sold price stayed at $236. There’s more on this story here: Homes Taken Off Market

VIRTUAL ART

Visual art brings people together. For thousands of years, it’s been a human thing, a social thing, not a solitary pleasure. That suddenly changed when the global pandemic forced most public art spaces to shut their doors. Now that visual visits are the only option, museums and galleries around the planet have beefed up their on-line presence. The new wave of digital art includes YouTube videos, virtual reality tours, slideshows and instructional content. The wealth of online material is amazing – although it’s not all user-friendly. Most of these digital art spaces are still under construction – but it’s the state-of-the-art now. The Ringling has uploaded the bulk of its art to its online EMuseum. (emuseum/ringling/org/emuseum/collections). The pieces are arranged by collection and relatively easy to navigate. The museum is also expanding its online content for parents. Please click here for more on-line art offerings: Cutting-Edge Art Spaces

FPL TO CUT BILLS FOR SARASOTA IN MAY

Florida Power & Light, bolstered by lower-than-expected natural gas costs, announced plans recently to cut electric bills in May as customers tighten their belts during the coronavirus pandemic. The state’s largest electric utility provider – with about 585,000 customers in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties – said an average residential customer will see a one-time decrease of about 25% on their bill. FPL and other utilities are required to pass along savings to customers when power-plant fuel costs drop, but these savings usually appear on bills over a period of several months. FPL said it wanted to accelerate the savings during the crisis by lumping together fuel savings this year into a one-time bill reduction. Click here for more: FPL To Cut Bills

SARASOTA-BRADENTON AIRPORT GETS FUNDS

As air travel across the U.S. comes to a screeching halt because of COVID-19, the federal government is offering $10 billion in relief for the nation’s airports, and Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is one of the recipients. The local airport will receive more than $23 million in funding though the CARES act, which can be used to continue operations, replace lost revenue and pay for capital expenditures, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The airport’s operating budget for this fiscal year was $20 million, which doesn’t include capital projects, many of which are continuing. The airport is losing about $1.5 million per month through the COVID-19 crisis. There’s more here: SRQ Gets Funds

PHOTO FINISH FOR SAVE OUR Y

Save Our Y has received yet another name change. The “Save” has been dropped. Our Y. The former Sarasota Family YMCA has been saved. Save Our Y announced recently the completion of a $4.4 million real-estate transaction that gives the organization ownership of both the Euclid Avenue and Potter Park properties. The deal was made possible in large part by two generous gifts of $500,000 from members Jon & Libby Soderberg and an anonymous donor. Those donations, plus others from nearly 1,000 Y and non-Y members, were sufficient for Servisfirst Bank to underwrite the $3.4 million mortgage. In consideration of the below-market purchase price, Safe Children Coalition (SCC) will operate its adolescent and youth services on the property at no charge for three years. The official name change to Our Y came along with the transaction. Click on the link for more: Our Y!

FOUR SMA STUDENTS WIN FILM CONTEST

A team of four Sarasota Military Academy students have won the Coral Restoration Foundation’s Natural Coral to Action student film festival contest with their submission bearing the eponymous title “Coral to Action”. With an ominous soundtrack, quick cuts between video of both living and dead coral, the foursome of Timothy Baldwin, Haley Coady, Kelly Fletes and Dominique Storr, all 11th graders who studied coral as part of a unit taught in marine science class by Capt. Jeanette Marks, created a sense of urgency about the future of coral reefs that have been heavily impacted by climate change and pollution. Please click here for more on this story: Students Win Film Contest

SARASOTA FILM FESTIVAL TO BE VIRTUAL

The 22nd annual Sarasota Film Festival was set to take place over ten days starting March 27 before being postponed. Now, organizers have announced they will present the event on-line, with feature-length films, documentaries, short films, student films, conversations, Q&A’s, and other virtual activities. The dates for the first-ever virtual Sarasota Film Festival are April 27 through May 3. A full detailed lineup of the festival, along with costs, will be announced shortly. If you’d like to learn more, then click here: Virtual Film Festival

SARASOTA’S KEY CHORALE RECEIVES HONOR

Sarasota’s Key Chorale is being honored for its commitment to education and community outreach with an award from Chorus America. The national organization, founded in 1977, represents more than 6,000 choruses throughout North America. The 2020 Education & Community Engagement Award recognizes the best collaborative effort, and Key Chorale was a unanimous choice in the category for a variety of reasons. Te award includes a $2,500 grant. There’s more on this story here: Key Chorale Honor