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SARASOTA
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NEWS
NEWS
City commissioners get acquainted with their new veto power. PAGE 3A
Apartments to offer affordable downtown living. PAGE 2A
OUR TOWN + More than meets the eye No, you’re not seeing double — this week’s issue of The Observer includes a magic-eye puzzle. If done properly, the text on this page will reveal a 3D image. To see the image, hold the paper up to your nose, focus your eyes as if they were looking past the picture and let your eye muscles relax. Slowly take the picture away from your face while keeping your eyes relaxed and stare at the page for two minutes to see the hidden picture. Submit your findings to rdonahue@yourobserver.com for a chance to win a prize.
+ New eatery causes diner confusion A new restaurant has caused hungry diners some pains since opening last week. Eat There, located in the Gulf Gate area, is a casual, American/Japanese/Cajun fusion restaurant, which locals say they want to try — but don’t know if they should. “Am I supposed to ‘eat here’ at Eat There, or ‘eat there’ at Eat Here?” asked one confused customer, referencing an established Sarasota restaurant of a similar name. The man was spotted circling Eat There’s building before finally peering into a window. Even though a waitress motioned for him to come in, he finally gave up and decided to hit a fast-food drive-thru on his way home.
+ Take a whiff and smell us anew! Following numerous calls from readers who reported the ink on our newspaper smelled so bad they had to keep the paper in the garage for a few days before picking it up to read, we’ve taken action. Starting this week, we’ve started using a new ink that comes in a variety of smells — cotton candy, licorice, bubble gum and even peppermint. Send your feedback about to rdonahue@yourobserver. com.
SEE OT / PAGE 4A
free • THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
mimes the word
INSIDE
New Siesta lot brings cars to its sandy shores. PAGE 3A
by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor
Professional mime group proclaims ‘silence is golden’ The Golden Apple Dinner Theatre will now be known as Silence is Golden Theatre, a non-profit professional mime school and performance venue. Two new proprietors have signed a lease for the space located at 25 N. Pineapple Ave. They wish to remain silent partners for the time being. The owners named an artistic director, 47-year-old Calme Tromper, who has more than 25 years of experience teaching and performing. Tromper moved in 1992 SILENCE IS from Paris to FlorGOLDEN ida, and has been living in Fort Myers since. “I’ve known Sarasota to have a reputation as a fine-arts city,” he says. “I think this art (form), will do well here, and I’m looking forward to giving it a voice — well, kind of.” The venue will host silent movies; weekly “sound off” mime recital performances; and larger-scale professional performances, “Quiet Time,” which will take place the first Friday of every month. The new partners hope to earn a reputation as the place to go for a quiet night out. “There’s a stigma associated with miming,” Tromper says. “Some people believe any ignoramus can paint his face white and trap himself inside a box, but there’s a proper and
BETWEEN THE LINES
Silence is Golden Theatre, the non-profit educational and performing-mime group, plans to open in early November.
Turoffs donate 40 years of costumes to the homeless / PAGE 4A classical method to it.” Individual and group instruction in the art form that dates back to the 1700s will be offered to patrons of all ages once the theater’s doors open. Class topics for both introductory and expert levels range from dance and improvisa-
tion to character development in both abstract and literal miming. One class, called Mime Rhyme Time, calls for two performers, each miming something that rhymes with whatever the other person mimed. Tromper hopes the venue will eventually host master class workshops with famous mimes, but has nothing contracted yet. “There’s a lot of renovation that needs to take place first,” Tromper says. “A lot.”
SEE SILENCE IS GOLDEN / PAGE 4A
by Nick Friedman | Community Editor
Adult bookstore has city turning pages Following a 3-2 vote last month, which denied a 98,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter in the Ringling Shopping Center, city commissioners are now considering a proposal for a new tenant: Hardbound, a fast-growing Tampa Bay adultbookstore chain. The X-rated bookstore, whose flagship location in Ybor City, Tampa, boasts more than 2 million books, saw a spike in business after the release of the novel, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” With the growing popularity of the novel and demand for others like it, Hardbound’s CEO says
he’s been looking to expand. “Sarasota was the next logical step,” he said. “We’ve kind of reached our peak in the Tampa Bay area, and after some research, we decided the market here is exactly what we’re looking for.” According to a Hardbound spokesperson, the chain is considering relocating its headquarters to the new Ringling Shopping Center location. “After the commissioners voted against Walmart, the location kind of just fell into our laps,” said a company executive. “We think the location is big enough
HARDBOUND BOOKSTORE
that we could rebrand Sarasota as our home.” Much of the Walmart debate centered on a stipulation in the city’s zoning code that forbids certain types of commercial use
in the shopping center — specifically department stores. According to the city’s zoning code, a department store is
SEE HARDBOUND / PAGE 4A
INDEX Briefs.................... 8A Classifieds..........13B
Cops Corner........10A Crossword...........12B
Opinion...............14A Real Estate...........8B
Sports.................19A Weather..............12B
Vol. 9, No. 21 | Four sections YourObserver.com