bserver O LONGBOAT
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
NEWS
Northern Trust will leave the Key in December. PAGE 5A
OUR TOWN
signs of life
free • Thursday, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012
DIVERSIONS
NEIGHBORHOOD
Nine-year-old Ava Podewitz charms audiences in ‘Heidi.’ INSIDE
BKYC shakes it up at festive night inspired by Carnival. PAGE 15A
by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor
New application revives project Longboat Key Club and Resort Manager Michael Welly said a decision to re-submit the Islandside application solidifies the commitment club investors have for the resort.
Courtesy photos
+ Longboat couple to say ‘I do’
The Longboat Key Club and Resort’s $400 million Islandside expansion-and-renovation project was pronounced dead in August when Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld a ruling
that quashed the project’s development order the town approved. But a new application — for the same project previously proposed — will be filed within the week and will give plans for Islandside
a chance at new life. Longboat Key Club General Manager Michael Welly told the Longboat Observer he received the green light Tuesday afternoon from New York-based Loeb
Partners Realty Group, the owners and managers of the resort, and the project’s London-based investors, Abercromby Property
SEE KEY CLUB / PAGE 2A
Longboat Key residents Corey Gropp and Jessica Rickards have announced their engagement and upcoming October wedding. Rickards is the daughter of Pam Eatrides, of Sarasota, and Scott Rickards, of Spring Hill. She is a graduate of the Manatee School for the Arts and works for Whole Foods Market in Sarasota. Gropp is the son of Denise Lea, of Orlando, and Peter Gropp, of Traverse City, Mich. He graduated from Moore Mickens High, in Dade City, and works for Cannons Marina.
Photo courtesy of Mary Lou Johnson
Friends and family gather at the nest dedicated to Penny Rosenthal.
+ Loved ones pay tribute to Rosenthal Friends and family of Penny Rosenthal gathered on the beach Aug. 22 to remember her dedication to many beach activities. About 70 people gathered to watch the excavation of a newly hatched nest that was dedicated to her memory. Three hatchlings from the nest were released into the Gulf. Many at the excavation shared how much they learned from Rosenthal about conservation of the animals that share the beach with humans and about the many ways she inspired the lives of those who knew her. Rosenthal died May 19. She lived on Longboat Key for many years and walked the north end of the Manatee County portion of the beach.
In remembrance Kurt Schultheis
Public Works Department employee Don Barth placed flags along Gulf of Mexico Drive Monday afternoon. It takes about five hours, the day before Sept. 11, for four teams of two workers to line the entire Key with flags by hand. In total, 2,974 flags, one for each victim of the terrorist attacks, line the road.
ROLE REVERSAL
by Robin Hartill | City Editor
Longboat misses its starring role What does North Carolina have that we don’t? Tax incentives and a film industry, for starters. Longboat Key was ready for its close-up. Writer/director Michael Maren wrote the island into the script of his independent-film
project, “A Short History of Decay.” It was supposed to be the home of the condominium in which 30-something-year-old
hipster/unemployed writer Nathan Fisher moves into to be near his parents after his girlfriend dumps him and his father has a stroke. There, he and his retired parents would come to a new understanding of one another in what Maren described as “a mid-
dle-age coming of age story.” When the Longboat Observer reported on the film, Maren was raising money and hoped to begin filming in September on
SEE MOVIE / PAGE 7A
INDEX Bridge Bites....... 20A Briefs....................4A
Classifieds ........ 22A Cops Corner....... 10A
Crossword.......... 21A Permits.............. 18A
Real Estate........ 18A Weather............. 21A
Vol. 35, No. 8 | Two sections YourObserver.com