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PER PA S W
bserver LONGBOAT
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
NEWS
Developer talks strategy after Long Bar Pointe hearing. PAGE 6
OUR TOWN
free • THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013
DIVERSIONS
boater paradise
Craftsman Shawn O’Malley creates woodworking community. PAGE 15
price of paradise
Town upgrades its only boat ramp. PAGE 3
by Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor
Insurance rates continue to rise Mayor Jim Brown and others are worried that if insurance costs keep going up for Key properties, it will scare off potential buyers.
Courtesy photos
Susan Phillips and Phyllis Black wait for bail.
+ Partners in crime bail out of lock-up Susan Phillips, assistant to the town manager, and her partner in crime, friend Phyllis Black, were “arrested” Aug. 7 at Longboat Key Town Hall and “booked” at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, where they participated in the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Lock-Up event to raise funds for people with neuromuscular diseases. Phillips raised $2,517 for her bail — exceeding her goal of $2,500.
“There’s a price we pay for living on an island such as this.” Town Manager Dave Bullock has used that line before, mostly to warn people about preparing for hurricane season. But the price Longboaters pay continues to rise in other forms as well, including the price they
pay to insure their homes. Longboat Key property owners who don’t live here full time and don’t use their island home as their primary residence are seeing 25% increases in their flood insurance policies this year. And because more than half of Longboat Key properties are second
homes, it’s affecting more than half of the Key’s 6,088 year-round estimated population. Federal Emergency Management Association’s (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) went through an overhaul after Superstorm Sandy ripped through the Northeast last year
and wreaked havoc to that area and for the NFIP, which is responsible for paying out claims. In July 2012, Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, which calls on FEMA and other agencies to make a number of changes to the way the NFIP is run. “FEMA had $3 billion in flood losses and had to figure out what
SEE RATES / PAGE 2
FEATHERED FRIENDS
+ Couple sets sail to matrimony Kelsey Brooke Lashway, daughter of Wayne and Toni Lashway, of Longboat Key, married Alan Daniel Yim, of Boston, July 28. Yim is the son of Ming Do and Wah Kit Yim. After graduating from Flagler College, Lashway moved to Boston, where the couple met, to pursue her master’s degree in psychology. They were married on board “The Majesty” in Boston Harbor.
SEE OT / PAGE 14
Turtle tracks Week of Aug. 4 through Aug. 10
Nests..................................16 False crawls........................12 2013 2012 Nests 632 623 False crawls 475 466
Heather Merriman
Gloria Lipscomb and Margit Gravino dressed the part for Sarasota Yacht Club’s annual Black and White Ball Saturday, Aug. 10. For more photos from the event, see page 20.
data hounds
by Robin Hartill | City Editor
Cameras remain focused on Key drivers The license-plate recognition camera system went live Friday afternoon, creating a busier-than-usual weekend for the island’s police officers. Longboat Key police had a busy weekend — but not because of rowdy beachgoers, burglaries or car crashes. If you noticed more patrol-vehicle lights than usual activated along Gulf of Mexico Drive, it’s
because the long-awaited license-plate recognition cameras on each end of the island began snapping Friday afternoon. Longboat Key Police Chief Pete Cumming said that on Sunday alone, data captured on the cam-
era produced approximately 20 hits for issues such as suspended and expired driver’s licenses, warrants and alerts that sex offenders were traveling onto the island. “Primarily, we’re getting trafficrelated crimes,” said Cumming,
who estimates that on a typical Sunday in August, officers would have pulled over a half-dozen drivers for similar offences. Contractor L3 Communications installed a total of six cameras in June on both ends of the island. Now that they’re opera-
SEE CAMERAS / PAGE 2
INDEX Briefs......................4 Calendar...............22
Classifieds ...........29 Crossword.............28
Obituaries.............14 Opinion...................8
Real Estate...........26 Weather................28
Vol. 36, No. 2 | One section YourObserver.com