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NO. 18
FEB. 24, 2021 Free
The best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992 Astheworldterns. 6 Hit-and-run defendant pleads not guilty. 2
islander.org
ribbon of ribbons — a coVid-19 memorial
bb explores razing, selling city hall, library. 3
Meetings. 4 Opinions. 6
10-20 Years ago
Looking back. 7
Lighted signs in Hb? 8 bb discusses shuttle. 9
Save a date. 10
Happenings
People take their place feb. 16 along an 850-foot memorial made of ribbons tied on twine along the windswept beach in Anna Maria. each ribbon represents one of the 29,000 floridians who died from CoVID-19. Many people took a moment to write the name of a friend or loved one represented by a ribbon. See the story on page 4. Islander Photo: Amy V.T. Moriarty
controversy erupts over ViP vaccine grab by ChrisAnn Allen Islander Reporter
It’s starting to look like some people claimed privilege for a COVID-19 vaccine. “I take full responsibility for it all,” Scalped pelicans turn up Manatee County Commission Chair Vanat Skyway pier. 12 essa Baugh said Feb. 18 after establishing a pop-up clinic for 3,000 COVID-19 vaccinaGathering 14 tions in her district. GoodDeeds. 14 The vaccines were reserved for people in two ZIP codes in affluent Lakewood Ranch Obituaries. 15-17 during the same week the county postponed vaccinations for other seniors registered in Manatee County Commission Chair Vanessa baugh addresses a “VIP list” for its vaccine pool. Sweet times at AMe. 18 After coronavirus vaccines began arriv- vaccinations at the feb. 18 county board ing in Manatee County, a lottery system was meeting. Islander Screenshot Mask up on trolley. 19 established for eligible people to register, joining a pool awaiting random selection as Campus in Lakewood Ranch provided vacStreetlife. 20 doses become available. cinations, but didn’t use the county’s random The pop-up clinic at Premier Sports lottery system. WMfR honors employAnnouncements. 11
ees. 21
Sunshine defendant challenges city. 21
anna Maria reels Mote up to pier by Amy V.T. Moriarty Islander Reporter
Mote Marine Laboratory’s proposed education center suits the Anna Maria City Peace on the beach. 23 Pier to a T — the T-end. RoadWatch. 23 Voting 4-1 Feb. 17, Anna Maria commissioners directed Mayor Dan Murphy to Q&a 022421 23 “proceed with haste to contact Mote Marine and get the final proposal from them” for use Action at center field. 24 of a vacant 1,800 square-foot building on the T-end of the pier at 100 N. Bay Blvd., Anna Windy? Cold? find the Maria. right spot. 25 The dissenting vote came from ComSpoil island rezone sets missioner Mark Short. “It’s still too soon to up Tiki bar? 27 narrow this down,” he said. The motion in favor of Mote’s plan was PropertyWatch. 27 made by Commissioner Joe Muscatello and seconded by Commissioner Jonathan CLASSIFIEDS. 28 Crane. The vote came at the second commission meeting in eight days after Murphy reviewed five options from the previous Comings and goings. meeting and outlined a sixth: A “cantina.” The “cantina” would require removing puzzle. three walls to provide an “open-air shelter”
isl BiZ
NYT
for a bar and seating for the existing City Pier Grill & Bait Shop on the north side of the T-end. However, City Pier Grill & Bait Shop owners Brian Seymour, Nick Graham and Vic Mattay were granted first right of refusal for operation of a business in the larger space in their contract with the city. Seymour said Feb. 17 that the only way he could see a “cantina” complementing his business would be if he and his partners operated the concession. Otherwise, he said, the cantina vendors would be competing. Seymour and Graham previously declared their support for the Mote project at the Feb. 10 workshop on the pier. Also, said Murphy, the Mote project is “the only option that would not cost city taxpayers money.” When Mote representatives presented their plan Feb. 10, they said the city would be responsible for securing $500,000 for a build-out but that money could come from a host of sources. TuRN To pIer, PAGe 5
“This has nothing to do with the county, per se,” Baugh said Feb. 16. “This was done strictly by the governor,” she said, adding that she and developer Rex Jensen “worked on it all weekend, to get it done, and it is commencing tomorrow.” Baugh said the National Guard and deputies from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office would be there for “crowd control.” “This is not uncommon,” Baugh said. “The governor is doing this all over the state.” Commissioner Misty Servia disagreed. “You have to understand the optics are horrible,” Servia said Feb. 16. “If we were going to pick and choose who was going to be vaccinated ahead of everyone else, I would hope it would go to the underserved population.” TuRN To CoNtroVersY, PAGe 2
Journalist don Moore dies
Thomas D. “Don” Moore, 81, died Feb. 14, with his wife at his side. Mr. Moore’s association with newspapers began in 1949, at age 9, when he delivered the Tampa Times on Anna Maria Island. He later pursued a career as a journalist and in 1966 went Moore to work at The Anna Maria Islander weekly paper. In 1973, he bought the paper and became editor and publisher of The Islander. By the time the New York Times purchased the paper in 1980, Mr. Moore had expanded the Anna Maria Island coverage area to include Longboat Key and had grown the paid-circulation weekly to 9,000. And there’s much more. For Mr. Moore’s obituary, please, turn to page 15.