Harbor Sound 4 sale. 26
Spring Lake watch. 3
Popcorn, politics. 14 Astheworldterns pull a fast one on DOT. 6
OCT. 16, 2019 FREE
VOLUME 27, NO. 51
AMCP restaurant construction begins. 4
Meetings 4 ‘Gangway’ failure forces dock closure. 5
Op-Ed. 10-20 YEARS AGO from the archives. New fire chief looks ahead. HB plans to prohibit bike-shares, curb e-scooter rentals.
Happenings Community activities.
Bayfest bound!
Save the date. HB OKs pay raises.
Streetlife. Get in the game!
Gathering.
The Best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992
Gulls die, but why? List of possibilities runs long By Sandy Ambrogi Islander Reporter
Theories on the cause of a rash of sick and dead laughing gulls from those in the know are long on speculation and short on science. A few dozen dead laughing gulls were found the week of Oct. 7 on Anna Maria Island and Passage Key. Also, at least two dozen dead laughing gulls were found in Sarasota County. Wildlife rescuers, environmental scientists and red tide researchers speculated on the causes of the deaths — including botulism or red tide — but further puzzling is why only one species is being affected. Ed Straight, founder of Wildlife Inc., a rescue and rehab organization based in Bradenton Beach, received a tip Oct. 8 that gulls were found dead on Passage Key, the national wildlife refuge on a spit of land north of Anna Maria Island. The refuge was established in 1905 to help preserve nesting colonies of native seabirds and wading birds. At Straight’s request, Jeannie Bystrom, a wildlife advocate who dedicates time rescuing birds entangled in fishing line, boated
Bridge Battle
An Islander series
AmE NEWS
fall fun, science.
fishing heats up.
ISL BIZ: Anniversaries, accolades.
PropertyWatch. CLASSIFIEDS.
NYT puzzle.
PLEASE SEE birdS, PAGE 2
to Passage Key with her son. There, they found laughing gull carcasses — 23 dead birds — strewn across the beach and the veg-
to battle DOT on Cortez Bridge
take 5:00:
Island scoreboard.
Ed Straight, owner of Wildlife Inc., holds a sick laughing gull brought Oct. 9 to his Bradenton Beach rehab center. Islander Photo: Sarah Brice
etation. They found one bird alive and took it to Straight. “It didn’t make it through the night,” Straight told The Islander Oct. 9. Around 7 a.m. Oct. 9, Straight took in a sick gull — it also died — from Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach. Later, when he went to Anna Maria to retrieve a sick bird near the city pier construction site, Straight saw another dead laughing gull in the parking lot. Earlier in October, more than two dozen sick laughing gulls were found on Siesta and Lido keys. They were taken to the Save our Seabirds facility on City Island, which is near Mote Marine Laboratory at the south end of Longboat Key. More than half of those birds died in the first 24 hours, according to Jonathan Hande, a senior hospital technician at SOS. Meanwhile, nine more birds died on two Sarasota County beaches.
Planned Cortez Bridge height a Opponents lack plans, manpower spoiler to many
Obituaries.
About the mighty mangroves.
islander.org
By Arthur Brice Islander Reporter
Get ready for a shock. The Florida Department of Transportation announced 17 months ago it planned to replace the aging Cortez Bridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge, but opponents of the bridge were mostly unprepared for a fight when the agency announced Oct. 10 it is moving forward with the megabridge. Why weren’t they ready? “I don’t think there’s a good answer for that,” said Nancy Deal, a Holmes Beach resident who has been fighting DOT efforts to
build big bridges to Anna Maria Island since moving to Holmes Beach in 2001. “The bottom line is we didn’t think they’d do it,” Deal told The Islander, hours after the DOT announced its final plans. “We’re going to fight like hell,” bridge antagonist Joe Kane of Cortez said shortly after the DOT announcement. How? “I’m not really sure,” he said. Linda Molto, a Cortez activist who has been battling DOT efforts to build a big bridge to Cortez since the late 1980s, also didn’t offer any concrete solutions. “We will talk with them about other options,” she said shortly after the announcement. The DOT said Oct. 10 it had approved the project development and environment study, clearing the way for design work to begin on the 65-foot-clearance fixed bridge. The DOT had announced on April 23, 2018, PLEASE SEE battle, PAGE 17
By Arthur Brice Islander Reporter
Fact of life: All sides in a dispute can have a valid point of view, but not all sides will prevail. Prime example: The replacement for the Cortez Bridge, which has pitted the Florida Department of Transportation and Longboat Key on one side and Cortez and the three Anna Maria Island municipalities on the other. “There are competing interests, and there is no right and wrong,” said Longboat Key town manager Tom Harmer. Just winners and losers. So far, the DOT and Longboat Key have the upper hand, but Cortez and the island cities are fighting back. “We’re not going to let them off easy,” said longtime Cortez resident Linda Molto, who has been fighting DOT efforts to build a 65-foot-clearance fixed span since the agency first brought up the plan in 1989. The DOT was unsuccessful in that attempt but announced in April 2018 PLEASE SEE bridge, PAGE 16