bserver O SARASOTA
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FREE • Thursday, AUGUST 2, 2012
INSIDE
DIVERSIONS
in focus
Youth sailing program ropes in eager mariners. PAGES 6A-7A
New principal puts the ‘Sara’ in Sarasota Ballet. INSIDE
Greeting-card company hits the funny bone. PAGE 15A
call of duty
by Robin Hartill | Staff Writer
Voters have say on amendment Voters will now decide the role the city clerk’s office plays in the future. But that didn’t stop supporters and opponents from making their cases to the commission.
Courtesy photo
The Mable Ringling Memorial Fountain in the early 1930s
+ Fountain of youth Help honor the memory of Mable Ringling by making a donation to help restore the memorial fountain built in her name in 1936 in Luke Wood Park. The memorial fountain has fallen into disrepair and was filled in with dirt. The Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation has received permission from the City Commission to renovate the fountain, and members are currently raising funds to pay for the work, which they hope will include the whole community. Those interested in donating to the $112,000 project should visit historicsarasota. org/#mableringlingfountain.
The Sarasota City Commission didn’t have much of a decision to make on a proposed charter amendment that would split the city auditor and clerk’s office into two separate offices and place the clerk under the supervision of the city manager. Approximately 10% of registered voters — more than 3,300,
according to Commissioner Terry Turner — signed petitions to place the amendment on the ballot in November. City Attorney Robert Fournier told the commission that it needed to schedule the vote, set forth the text of the proposed amendment and provide for an effective date for the amendment, if approved.
Although the commission’s decision at its Aug. 1 meeting was a formality, approximately 35 people attended the meeting. The 21 attendees who addressed the commission brought up issues ranging from the historically strained relationship between the city manager and clerk’s offices, racial tensions in
SEE AMENDMENT / PAGE 2A
read all over
DRAMATIC DIP
By Alex Mahadevan | News Editor
Gulf Gate Library’s rebuilding price tag called into question Sarasota County Planning Commission has asked county commissioners to re-examine the new building’s cost.
+ Happy haircut From Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, Sarasota residents in need of a haircut will have the opportunity to help a local disadvantaged child. As part of the Share a Haircut program, for every person age 18 and younger who purchases a haircut at the Hair Cuttery Salon, 93 N. Cattlemen Road, the company will donate a back-to-school haircut to an underprivileged child.
+ Geology rocks Sarasota resident and Lafayette College junior Wesley von Dassow is logging extracurricular hours this summer at his internship at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. A geology major, von Dassow is contributing to the studies of the museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies division, for which he’s been digging up fossils in Montana and examining the plate boundaries of the moon.
the city and recent controversies surrounding the performance of City Auditor and Clerk Pamela Nadalini. Nadalini sat expressionless throughout most of the meeting but smiled slightly when
Rachel S. O’Hara
Sydney Johnson and Sid Pocius, of Empire Ballroom Dance Studios Sarasota, perform together Wednesday, Aug. 1, in the 40th anniversary of the Florida State Dancesport Championships at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. See more photos on page 12A.
What is a library’s purpose in the era of the eBook? That’s an inquiry that came to light when Sarasota County Planning Commission board member Jody Hudgins questioned the cost of the Gulf Gate Library project during a July 19 meeting. “I’m just afraid this is a tired model — a tired template,” Hudgins said. “It just seems like $7 million is a lot of money.” The Planning Commission approved the amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, with Hudgins as the dissenting vote. But, Sarasota County commissioners may reconsider the project’s cost during budget workshops in August, after the Planning Commission voted unanimously for
a request that the July 19 meeting minutes reflect its concerns. Sarasota County spokesman Curt Preisser said it’s too early to confirm the agenda for the Aug. 20 budget workshop. “Libraries, I’m afraid, have become PalmPilots and Blackberries,” Hudgins said. “It just seems we can retool what we have and use capital-improvement monies somewhere a little more strategic.” Hudgins suggested the $7 million that would be pulled from the Infrastructure Surtax III revenues in the 2013 fiscal year could be reduced for a renovation instead — a $1 million renovation to improve
SEE LIBRARY / 2A
INDEX Briefs.................... 4A Classifieds..........22A
Cops Corner........14A Crossword...........21A
Neighborhood.....15A Opinion................. 8A
Real Estate.........16A Weather..............21A
Vol. 8, No. 40 | Two sections YourObserver.com