Pelican Press 11.21.12

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PelicanPress Happy Thanksgiving!

AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER

FREE • Thursday, NOVEMBER 22, 2012

DIVERSIONS

NEWS

Red Bug Slough gets $1 million dollar upgrade. PAGE 3A

OUR TOWN

SIESTA KEY

SCHOOLS

ODA students venture into robotics work. PAGE 5A

‘Home of the Month’ offers splendor on Sarasota Bay. INSIDE

dirty job by Alex Mahadevan | News Editor

Aesthetics, costs clash for project Sarasota County commissioners will consider the fate of 26,000 cubic yards of soil left over from Beach Road drainage improvements Dec. 11.

+ Relief effort Blasé Café held an event Sunday, Nov. 18, to raise money and collect food, water and clothing donations for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Owner Rami Nehme told the Pelican Press that one load of donations has already been shipped to the Red Cross, and the restaurant raised more than $2,000 for Save the Children and other organizations active in superstorm relief in the Northeast. Attendees listened to live music from Kettle of Fish during the event.

Dump trucks will rumble to and from Siesta Key public beach next year to move loads of dirt from a Sarasota County project. Attendees at the open house for the public beach project Nov. 13 gave their opinions on how many trips those trucks will make based on two options for the Beach Road

drainage improvements. Sarasota County commissioners will consider the choice of projects Dec. 11; the decision comes down to a balance between island aesthetics and taxpayer money. As part of the first option, the county would remove the 26,000 cubic yards of soil from the beach

road site and store it elsewhere. Then, when the time came, they’d return some of the dirt for use in the Siesta Key public beach enhancement project. But if commissioners approve a second option, the county would, instead, leave a 4-foot pile of dirt at the drainage project location in

anticipation of the beach project and plant a 20-foot-wide buffer made of trees and shrubs. During the open house, County Resources Manager Hank Schneider said that the landscaping buffer wouldn’t completely hide the pile of excess soil. County staff estimates the first option will cost more than triple

SEE DRAINAGE / 2A

Three liTTLE Indians Nick Friedman

Marilyn Gerkin and Jeff LaHurd

+ Historian turns back time Sarasota historian Jeff LaHurd celebrated the release of his latest book Monday, Nov. 12, at Bookstore1Sarasota. The book, “The Rise of Sarasota,” takes a look at Ken Thompson’s service as city manager from 1950 to 1988, the longest in U.S. history. LaHurd’s book examines Thompson’s role in this period of great growth for the city.

Rachel S. O’Hara

Kindergartners Jack Feeney, 5, Fiona Sutton, 6, and Ray Rini, 6, pose together Monday, Nov. 19, at the Out-of-Door Academy, on Siesta Key. The students made Native American outfits for their Thanksgiving program. For more photos, see page 1B.

road rehab by Alex Mahadevan | News Editor

Sarasota County repaves Siesta Key streets The contractor assigned to the project expects to finish work in the center of the island by Nov. 28. Some part-time Siesta Key residents returning for Thanksgiving and the season will find the drive to their homes smoother than when they left. Superior Asphalt Inc., the contractor Sarasota County picked earlier this year to resurface roads within the Gulf Gate Area

12B, which includes roads within Gulf Gate and on Siesta, is racing to finish paving eight Siesta roads before Turkey Day, said county project manager Art Powell. The project is taking place during a year with the lowest planned funding for resurfacing since 2009.

Sarasota County picked Superior Asphalt, which bid $2.9 million for the contract originally estimated to cost $3.3 million. The project covers 84 countymaintained roads, two miles of which are on Siesta. “We anticipate, without any unforeseen weather conditions, being competed before Thanksgiving,” said Powell. County engineers use a system called the Overall Condition

Index, which grades roads on a range from zero to 100, to prioritize resurfacing projects. Streets that have an OCI of less than 60 are considered undesirable. Eighty-five percent of the miles being resurfaced on the island fit the bill. The work comes seven months after county engineer Jim Harri-

SEE STREETS / 2A

INDEX Briefs....................4A Classifieds ........ 12B

Cops Corner..........9A Crossword............ 9B

Opinion .............. 8A Real Estate.......... 8B

Sports................ 14A Vol. 43, No. 17 | Three sections YourObserver.com Weather............... 9B


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