Pelican Press 05.02.13

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PelicanPress SIESTA KEY

AN OBSERVER NEWSPAPER

FREE • Thursday, MAY 2, 2013

Hands-on Amateur sand sculptors carve their niches. PAGE 5A

OUR TOWN + Cast your vote The entry period has closed for The Observer’s “Memories with Mom” Mother’s Day contest. But, the voting is open through May 3. So, log on to yourobserver.com and cast a vote for your favorite contest entry. The winner of the contest will receive gift cards from our sponsors: Massage Envy, Carats Fine Jewelry & Watches and CasAntica Italian Restaurant. Be sure to grab your May 9 Observer paper to read about the winning mom, who will be featured.

INSIDE

DIVERSIONS Grilling enthusiasts share their treats, tales and tips. INSIDE

Students experience more than fitness through running program. PAGE 1B

lane changer by Roger Drouin | City Editor

Fruitville stretch could lose two lanes The concept would ‘pedestrianize’ the busy, four-lane roadway that cuts between downtown Sarasota and the Rosemary District. City Commissioner Shannon Snyder thinks narrowing a downtown stretch of Fruitville Road from four lanes to two lanes will make it easier for residents and tourists to cross into neighborhoods and commercial areas north of downtown.

Snyder envisions a tree-lined street with wide sidewalks that would slow traffic and also rejuvenate slated development in the Rosemary District, and Central Cocoanut and Gillespie Park neighborhoods. “When Fruitville Road was put

in, it was put in to skirt downtown,” Snyder said. But, now, the busy road is cutting downtown off from future growth north of Fruitville Road, Snyder said. The commissioner pitched the concept of a narrowed Fruitville Road at a City

Commission capital improvements plan workshop April 23. At the workshop, commissioners agreed to direct city staff to come up with cost estimates for the project. “The commission directed us to take a more comprehensive look at Fruitville Road from U.S. 41 to U.S. 301,” said senior city

SEE FRUITVILLE / PAGE 2A

BEACH BABY

Photos by Yaryna Klimchak

Michelle Stauffer

+ Clean sweep Roughly 38 volunteers picked up trash Saturday, April 27, on Siesta Key Beach, as part of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup. An estimated 800 volunteers from Sarasota County registered to participate in the 2013 Great American Cleanup. Yaryna Klimchak

Dominick Cortes-Sigona, 2, enjoys the sand on Siesta Key Beach Tuesday, April 30. He was visiting the beach with his family from Tampa to enjoy the sun, sand and water.

NET LOSS

+ Key to the city More than 100 community members and leaders, friends and family surprised Paul Thorpe, one of the founding members of the Downtown Association of Sarasota, April 25, at The Gator Club, to show their appreciation and celebrate the strides he’s made for Sarasota over the past four decades. Mayor Suzanne Atwell presented Thorpe with a gold key to the city, and friends made a collage of photographs of “Mr. Downtown.”

by Roger Drouin | City Editor

Residents petition court removal Current plans for the Sarasota High School renovation show that the tennis courts will be demolished to make way for a new bus drop-off and stormwater retention. More than 600 residents have signed a petition against plans to demolish eight tennis courts at Sarasota High School as part of the $26.5 million campus renovation. Current plans — known as

Option 5 — for the high school renovation show that the courts would be demolished to make way for a new bus drop-off loop and stormwater retention area. Tennis advocates and residents in nearby Alta Vista and

Arlington Park who are opposed to the demolition of the courts say the project would remove a one-of-a-kind public asset. “Those courts have been used by the public for 30-something years,” said Mike Lasche, a com-

munity advocate and avid tennis player, who posted the petition online April 15. Nearby Payne Park has 12 tennis courts, but residents must

SEE COURTS / PAGE 6A

INDEX Briefs.................... 4A Classifieds............9B

Cops Corner........10A Crossword.............8B

Opinion................. 8A Real Estate...........4B

Sports.................15A Vol. 43, No. 40 | Three sections YourObserver.com Weather................8B


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