Painting ‘en plein.’ 13
Voter deadline. 8
Dad’s dine at school. 14 OCT. 4, 2017 FREE
VOLUME 25, NO. 49
The Best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992 AsTheWorldTerns leave city pier behind. 6 Anna Maria city pier repair plans. 2 Center income under budget, spending up. 3 HB-Gloria Dei debate continues. 4
Op-Ed
Opinions. 6
10-20 YEARS AGO
Looking back. 7
HB commissioner back on election ballot. 8
Popcorn & Politics set for Oct. 14. 8
Meetings
On the government calendar. 8 Save a date. 10
Happenings
www.islander.org
Out-of-work AM pier employees forced to face reality
By Bianca Benedí Islander Reporter They only have Hurricane Irma to blame. Anna Maria City Pier employees, out of work since the city of Anna Maria declared the pier “destroyed,” are faced with a harsh reality. General manager David Sork is now among the casualties. He announced Sept. 29 on Facebook that after 18 years on the job, he is without work. He wrote, “No pier, no job. Irma has been unkind.” Sork had been guiding the closure, storing equipment and helping find resources for his employees when he learned he, too, is unemployed. Some of the 35 full- and part-time employees who kept the City Pier Restaurant running are finding jobs at other restaurants, while others are finding new ways to make ends meet. For two other pier employees, a startup business, cleaning homes and offices is in the making. Louise Jones and Nadine Kollar banded together to stay busy and earn a living. Their new cleaning business — Pierly Made to Clean Services — is their attempt to make ends meet after their former income at the pier washed away with the storm. They also don’t have a pricing sheet,
David Sork at the closed gate to the pier Sept. 22 now must reflect on his own job loss. Islander Photo: Bianca Benedí Kollar said. They’re trying to play it by ear, so price will vary by deep or light cleaning and how much work is to be done. Kollar said she’s worked at the city pier for five years. Jones has worked there 14 years. It was the primary income for both women, Kollar said. Just over a month ago, Hurricane Harvey
Community announcements, activities. 11-13 HB accepts beautification awards. 12
Obituaries. 14 Island map. 16-17
Streetlife. 18
Irma, FEMA plans. 20-21 Right place, right tree. 23 Sports: Youth soccer underway. 24
ISL BIZ 26-27 Classifieds. 28
Long haul for little loggerhead
A hatchling discovered Sept. 26 during a nest excavation in Holmes Beach crawls to the Gulf of Mexico, but appeared sluggish to observers. Anna Maria Island Turtle watch section 6 coordinator Annie Camp noticed the hatchling was still attached to its yolk sack and retrieved the tiny loggerhead for rehab. As of Oct. 1, nearly 25,000 hatchlings had made it to the Gulf of Mexico and 19 nests remained to hatch on Anna Maria Island. See more on sea turtles, page 22. Islander Photo: ChrisAnn Silver Esformes
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hit Texas, causing widespread devastation. Florida was almost entirely missed, but a few outer bands did cause some local flash flooding. And that put Kollar’s car in the shop. Two weeks later, Irma came. In Bradenton, Jones and Kollar were out of power for seven and 10 days respectively. The pair of them bounced around in friends’ houses until power was restored to their own residences. But on Anna Maria Island, there was an even more devastating outcome for the women: although the majority of the island was spared damage, the pier was determined by the city to be totally destroyed, leaving the restaurant inoperable. Kollar said it took her over a month to get her car back and now she’s left to pay her bills without her primary income. Because she had auto coverage and no house damage, Kollar said, FEMA couldn’t help her. Jones received some money from the disaster agency for a tree that fell on her house, but neither qualifies for ongoing aid from the agency. Kollar said she applied and was approved for unemployment benefits, but they won’t PLEASE SEE PIER PAGE 2
HB-Westbay canopy dispute end in sight
By Terry O’Connor Islander Reporter The shadow cast by two rescue boat canopies for some Westbay Point & Moorings condominium residents could soon fade. Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said he and Mayor Bob Johnson are working out a plan to relocate the police and fire boats, lifts and canopies, and end the impasse. “It’s not something that will happen overnight,” Tokajer said Sept. 29. “Once I work out the logistics with the mayor and have a new location to put the docks in, and move the canopies and lifts, we’ll figure out a reasonable timeline.” “I’m hoping to have that within a matter of days,” he said. Tokajer said the move and associated expenses will require commission approval. A day earlier on Sept. 28, nearly two dozen Westbay Point & Moorings condoPLEASE SEE WESTBAY PAGE 3
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