bserver O SARASOTA
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
History
Mable Ringling memorial receives a fresh look. PAGE 7A
OUR TOWN
community challenges
FREE • Thursday, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012
DIVERSIONS
SPORTS
Nine-year-old Ava Podewitz charms audiences in ‘Heidi.’ INSIDE
Pro Chris Kennedy returns to Mooney to coach golf team. pAGE 19A
by Roger Drouin | City Editor
Barwin comments on issues The Sarasota Observer asked neighborhood and business leaders what they felt was the No. 1 issue City Manager Tom Barwin will have to tackle in his new role.
Rachel S. O’Hara
Andrew Seeley, of Flying Sliders, serves up an order.
+ Meals on wheels Familiar, brightly colored food trucks rolled back into town Tuesday, Sept. 11, for the Ringling Picnic’s return to the lunch scene. Food vendors took a hiatus during the summer months, but O’Macalicious, Baja Boys Grill and Flying Sliders are back and serving lunch to downtown patrons. For more information about upcoming events and other food trucks that will be a part of Ringling Picnic, visit ringlingpicnic. com.
Courtesy photo
Nick Bobbitt, Sarah Quick, Jake LaMore, Alex Pepe and Maddy Del Medico
+ Bright futures Five Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School students have been selected to participate in the Sarasota County STAR Leadership program, which is designed to encourage and develop positive leadership qualities among students in grades nine, 10 and 11. The students will participate in training to develop leadership, communication and team-building skills and knowledge about civic engagement. After completing the training, students will be placed on a Sarasota County committee or board as voting members for a year. The accepted students are Nick Bobbitt, Sarah Quick, Jake LaMore, Alex Pepe and Maddy Del Medico, all sophomores.
Tom Barwin began his second week on the job as city manager with the stack of papers beginning to grow — albeit neatly — on his desk at City Hall. Thus far, he’s met with about 300 residents and city employees. Barwin faces some massive
Read Barwin’s comments on the big issues / page 3A challenges over the next few months. The Sarasota Observer spoke to neighborhood and
business leaders about what they felt were the most pressing of those challenges. The issues are nuanced, and the solutions even more complex. The city manager plays a pivotal role in future changes throughout the city, yet he is only one part in
a plethora of moving parts — a process of governance in which he implements policies set by the elected board of city commissioners and the residents they represent.
SEE BARWIN / PAGE 3A
REMEMBRANCE RUN Rachel S. O’Hara
John Pyle leads the way Tuesday, Sept. 11 during the annual 9/11 Memorial Run. Pyle and some other runners began at the Frank G. Berlin Sr. Branch YMCA on Euclid and Bahia Vista while others joined in at the parking lot at Marina Jack near the Ringling Bridge. The group of more than 20 ran to Lido Beach and back, despite the rain, lightning and thunder.
PARKING PLAN
by Roger Drouin | City Editor
City seeks proposals for State Street garage To have the State Street parking garage built in time to meet a four-year deadline, the city must start its two-phase process of selecting a design-build firm no later than October. Tre Michel, co-owner of State of the Arts Gallery, points to a brochure map. With a black pen, she draws lines outward from a square on the map. The square denotes the
city-owned parking lot directly across from her gallery on State Street. The lines go out to Greater Main Street, Burns Square, Lower Main and Upper Main Street.
“It’s a hub,” says Michel. And that is why the gallery owner supports plans to raze the parking lot and build a parking garage on that land. The estimated $7.3 million project would at
least double the number of parking spaces and add two floors of retail-and-restaurant space. The city will begin seeking
SEE GARAGE / PAGE 2A
INDEX Briefs.................... 4A Classifieds..........26A
Cops Corner........10A Crossword...........25A
Opinion................. 8A Real Estate.........22A
Sports.................19A Weather..............25A
Vol. 8, No. 46 | Two sections YourObserver.com