The Islander Newspaper E-Edition: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019

Page 1

Top dog. 12

AMITW Aug. 9: 513 nests, 590 false crawls, 144 hatched nests.

Election qualifying. 8 Astheworldterns fight off dot’s plans. 6

Tracking turtles. 26

AUG. 14, 2019 FREE

VOLUME 27, NO. 42

BB discusses crA spending, beautification. 2-3 Post-trial hearing set in BB sunshine case. 4

Meetings

on the government calendar. 4 mcAt plans to enhance service. 5

Op-Ed

the islander editorial. 6

10-20 YEARS AGO

from the archives. 7

The Best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992

Good news or bad?: Cortez Bridge years from replacement

By Arthur Brice islander reporter

If you’ve been looking forward to — or dreading — the proposed replacement of the Cortez drawbridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge, you’re going to have to wait a while. Quite a while. “It’s not going to happen immediately,” said Florida Department of Transportation spokesman Brian R. Rick. Most likely, if it happens, it won’t be for another 10 years or so.

The DOT is expected to release results of its Cortez Bridge Project Development and Environment Study by the end of the year. The study, started in 2013, determines what environmental, economic, social, cultural and physical effects the new bridge would have on the area, particularly the historic fishing village of Cortez. After that would come the design phase, then right-of-way acquisition, then finally construction. About $6.4 million has been allocated

Happenings

Am mayor’s update on city pier status. 13

Streetlife. 14 Anna maria reviews spending plans. 18

Gathering. 20 good deeds. good work. 21

islander joins researchers in cuba. 25

Half-time report: Storm season. 27 Sports roundup. 28 Anglers dodge heat, thunderstorms. 29

ISL BIZ: 30-31

PropertyWatch. 32 CLASSIFIEDS. 32 nYt crossword. 35

PleASe See Bridge, PAge 16

School buses arrive for the first day of the new school year at Anna maria elementary School in Holmes Beach as students raise the u.S. flag. for more, see pages 22-23 islander Photos: Jack elka

Announcements, activities. 11

fiSH shops for cortez improvements. 24

for design, which has been awarded to the engineering firm H.W. Lochner Inc., but design work has not started, the DOT’s Rick said in a phone interview Aug. 5. Once design begins, it will take about two years to complete. The DOT likely will hold public meetings during that time period, Rick said. Right-of-way acquisition is expected to be funded for fiscal years 2024-27, beyond the scope of the DOT’s current five-year

BUSES ROLL

Save a date. 10

Ame news. 22-23

islander.org

50th anniversary: Islander recalls birth of Woodstock generation By michael dunn islander reporter

val was announced for Aug. 15-18, 1969. He was on summer break, visiting his parents in Haworth, New Jersey, when he and a friend decided to drive to the festival. They had no tickets, very little money, just a tent and a couple of sleeping bags. “We got there a couple of days early and pitched a tent in the woods,” he said. “We awakened the next morning to a sea of people. The Woodstock generation was born.” Finelli still treasures the tie-dyed, starryeyed bonhomie embraced by so many youthful festivalgoers. “It was a unity of love and mud,” he laughed, recalling the frequent, long downpours that soaked the farm where the event was held. “Everyone was getting along. People went out of their way to help you.” Among Finelli’s favorite performers: the

Memories of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, even for many who were there, have long vanished in a sentimental purple haze. But for Brian Finelli of Bradenton Beach, the festival remains a milestone, a vivid reminder of a kinder, gentler time in the country, when more than 400,000 people gathered for “three days of peace and music,” in Bethel, New York. Finelli, 70, is celebrating the iconic festival’s 50th anniversary this week, trading stories with his customers at the Holmes Beach Barber Shop, where he works as a barber. “I never thought there would be such an impact a half-century later,” he said. “We’ll never see those days again.” Finelli was a 21-year-old college student at the University of Tampa when the festi- PleASe See WOOdSTOCK, PAge 2

Brian finelli displays his Woodstock souvenirs. islander Photo: Bonner Joy


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
The Islander Newspaper E-Edition: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019 by The Anna Maria Islander Newspaper - Issuu