Sarasota Observer 02.07.13

Page 1

E

N 1 # AMERICA’S

PER A P WS

bserver SARASOTA

You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.

FREE • Thursday, February 7, 2013

NEWS

DIVERSIONS

NEIGHBORHOOD

The North Trail hits a delay in redevelopment. PAGE 3A

Andrew Lane cheers on the success of the Sarasota Orchestra. INSIDE

Bluegrass jam session lives on through its founder. PAGE 1B

FLYING THE SIGN

OUR TOWN

by Roger Drouin | City Editor

+ Going green Sarasota County will present Siesta Key Hardware with a Green Business Partner Certificate Tuesday, Feb. 12, to acknowledge the store’s environmentally friendly business practices. Siesta Key Hardware applied for the certification, which signifies that the store has taken the proper steps with waste and energy conservation and solid-waste management.

Photos by Roger Drouin

“I’d rather be working than sitting on this stoop,” says Joel McGlone.

Yaryna Klimchak

+ Optical illusion When you see Brian Wigelsworth’s new mural, you might not believe your eyes. The mural, located at Next to the Best Apartment Rentals, 5247 Calle Menorca, on Siesta Key, is painted in the trompe l’oeil style, in which objects are depicted with photographically realistic detail. The mural depicts an arched doorway that goes out to a tiki bar and beach. Wigelsworth is painting the mural around the pool area, and it will take him about a week to complete.

Standing their ground

+ Love is all you need The Foundation That Love Built Inc. has launched its new website, tftlb.com. TFTLB is a non-profit corporation that provides scholarships and aid for students at Booker Middle School and in the Dominican Republic. The new website will allow the organization to update current events, follow-up stories and information on programs.

A 31-year-old homeless man walks back to the median after collecting money from a motorist on Gulfstream Avenue.

Those who ‘fly signs’ at some of Sarasota’s busiest intersections say they have no other choice and will continue to do so — even if the city enacts a new law against it. Joel McGlone sits on a rounded concrete utility stoop on the side of Bee Ridge Road at the intersection of U.S. 41 and watches latemorning traffic zoom past. Two minutes later, the driver of a black Nissan sports car stops for the red light. The driver calls McGlone over and hands him a $20 bill. “That’s a blessing,” says McGlone, 50. “People help.” Earlier in the day someone else bought McGlone coffee. Another resident — a young man who had once been homeless, himself — bought him a cheeseburger from the nearby McDonald’s. And on a cold day, someone gave him a sweater. McGlone does “all right,” earning between $30 and $50 a day. He knows of others who sometimes collect more than $100 in a day through panhandling. McGlone is one of the homeless people in Sarasota who “flies signs” at busy intersections on U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue and downtown to the Bee Ridge

Enforceable Although the city can no longer enforce its signsolicitation ordinance 23-1, City Attorney Bob Fournier explains that the following laws remain enforceable: • Panhandling is illegal within 20 feet of a bank teller. • Panhandling is illegal from sundown to sunrise and on private property, without permission of the property owner. • Aggressive panhandling, such as following someone and asking for money, is illegal. corner. The number of people who holds signs and ask for money has increased from last winter and spread further from downtown to busy intersections on the outskirts of town, noted several homeless people and Sarasota police officials.

SEE HOMELESS / PAGE 2A

INDEX Briefs.................... 4A Classifieds..........13B

Cops Corner.......... 9A Crossword...........12B

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

Sports.................19A Vol. 9, No. 14 | Three sections Weather..............12B YourObserver.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.