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YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
free • THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013
INSIDE
NEIGHBORHOOD
Bullet Hole prepares to relocate after 66 years on Main Street. PAGE 3A
DIVERSIONS
Sarasota Bay Club residents are on the case at murder mystery dinner. PAGE 1B
YMCA Foundation transitions to new its president. INSIDE
OUR TOWN
constant monitoring
GROWTH
by Roger Drouin | City Editor
by Roger Drouin | City Editor
Woman’s Exchange plans its expansion The nonprofit plans to expand into an adjacent property it purchased in 2012. Options for the space include additional storage and retail space.
Nick Friedman
Tampa-based artist Stephen Palladino painted a 40-foot clover mural for Shamrock’s St. Patrick’s Day party.
+ Hearts of gold The Shamrock Pub donated $7,100 to the YMCA Youth Shelter April 1. The pub raised the money at its annual St. Patrick’s Day Block Party March 17, which drew a crowd of more than 3,000 people. The Youth Shelter provides temporary housing and safe care to children ages 10 to 18 who have run away from home; are experiencing family problems; or have been locked out of their homes. The YMCA will use the money to purchase a new van to transport children to school and other activities throughout Sarasota and North Port.
Courtesy photo
Cash Murphy and Cooper Joy, both 5, are ready to plant.
+ Green thumbs St. Boniface Preschool has teamed up with the Florida Farm to School program to teach children from where their food comes. Florida Farm to School South Central District co-ordinator Zach Glorioso and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Services granted St. Boniface $250 for gardening supplies, tools and resources. Preschool Director Sarah Schebel is working with Glorioso to develop a curriculum that is appropriate for use in an early-childhood setting. Schebel is also working with parents on gardening at home with preschoolers.
Yaryna Klimchak
“He deals with you on a one-to-one basis,” says Clinton Earl Scott, a former construction worker who has been homeless in Sarasota since the 1990s, of Officer David Dubendorf.
Homeless Boundaries Whether it’s as ‘Carrot Top’ or ‘Officer Dave,’ most of Sarasota’s homeless population know David Dubendorf.
Officer David Dubendorf didn’t get a chance to have his coffee this Thursday morning. But, even without the caffeine buzz, he has plenty of energy to meet his 10-hour shift head-on. As the homeMeet Officer less liaison ofDavid ficer with the Dubendorf Sarasota Police PAGE 2A De p a r t m e n t , these days he is taking on more and more tasks — from checking on homeless camps hidden in tall brush along an old rail line to trying to calm two intoxicated women engaged in a fight. As the temperature heats up just before noon, Dubendorf stops the SPD’s all-terrain Gator beside an industrial building off the rail line north of Fruitville Road, where he sees a homeless man and woman who don’t bother to disguise
The Woman’s Exchange purchased the 4,598-square-foot property at 526 Rawls Ave., which is directly adjacent to its consignment shop, in October 2012 and has received a demolition permit from the city to tear down a four-plex there. The non-profit consignment shop that donates a portion of proceeds to local arts organizations and gives scholarships to students studying art is now “checking into several different options” for expansion on the adjacent property, said Karen Koblenz, executive director and CEO at the Woman’s Exchange. “Our organization is growing, and we are looking to move forward,” Koblenz said. The Woman’s Exchange board of directors will likely discuss the possibilities for expansion at its upcoming meeting. Current options include constructing additional storage and retail space, although there are no specific plans or dates for a demolition, Koblenz said. The current facility — from the
SEE EXPANSION / PAGE 6A
Roger Drouin
A homeless camp located on private property south of Fruitville Road, outside of downtown, is vacant April 18, a week after David Dubendorf told a group they could no longer stay there. the beers at their feet. “It’s my first beer of the day,” the man says when Dubendorf walks up. Dubendorf has them empty the half-full beers. He reminds the man of how he can get when he’s intoxicated.
“We need to get you over to ‘the Sally’ (Salvation Army) to see Cathy. She is trying to get all the women to come in,” he says to the homeless woman. He’s referring to Cathy Hart,
SEE LIAISON / PAGE 2A
Roger Drouin
The Woman's Exchange purchased the adjacent property that current houses a four-plex.
INDEX Briefs.................... 4A Classifieds..........12B
Cops Corner........13A Crossword...........11B
Opinion................. 8A Real Estate...........8B
Sports.................17A Weather..............11B
Vol. 9, No. 25 | Three sections YourObserver.com