Longboat Observer 4.28.22

LONGBOAT

Observer

Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978

YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

Ahoy there.

PAGE 12 FREE • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

VOLUME 44, NO. 38

YOUR TOWN

Bridging the gap Is library talk the real thing? Meeting with county could shed new light. PAGE 3

World of wonder

Courtesy photo

Dig it, don’t leave holes in the sand

Earth Day event answers questions. PAGE 23

That’s not a premade nest that Longboat Key Turtle Watch patroller Cyndi Seamon is standing in – it’s even a little deeper than a mother loggerhead would normally dig.

It’s a hole dug by beachgoers, but for nesting turtles, it’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

As turtle season ramps up, Seamon is getting back into her usual routine, filling in holes and passing out “Flip a Switch, Make a Move” pamphlets.

Though beachgoers sometimes know the basics of turning off lights and moving beach furniture, the danger of holes sometimes goes uncovered.

Nesting turtles could fall in and have a tough time getting back out. For the safety of both turtles and humans alike, the LBKTW and town of Longboat Key ask beachgoers to take care to fill in any holes dug in the sand.

Nat Kaemmerer

Krista Carpenter of Wildlife Inc. works with Athena, a rescued owl.

A+E

Courtesy photo

Turtles arrive The sea turtles have arrived on Longboat Key. Even though turtle season is officially from May 1 to Oct. 31, the first nest was spotted and documented on April 24.

Volunteers from the Longboat Key Turtle Watch, who patrol the beaches under the auspices of permit from the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program, found the nest on the southern end of the Key. It’s pretty common for turtles to begin nesting before the official start of the season.

Now that the beach is open for their business, Gulf-side residents will have to make sure to change their outdoor lights to red frequencies to keep the turtles on track, close blinds at night and bring all temporary structures such as beach furniture off the sand.

Quite a pickle

Next chapter.

Popular sport looks for places to grow.

SEE PAGE 3

INSIDE

File photo

Art Davis prepares to serve during a February pickleball match at Bayfront Park.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Library, traffic on table when Key, County meet A library at Town Center Green and transportation are on the agenda for the joint discussions.

ERIC GARWOOD MANAGING EDITOR

Longboat Key commissioners and staffers are scheduled to head over the bridge to Sarasota’s County Administration Building on Wednesday for their annual joint meeting with the County Commission.

High on the list of priorities for Longboat leaders is furthering discussion of a joint project to one day build a library and community center at the Town Center Green site.

Among the steps likely to precede such a commitment are interim library services, such as visits by a library van that could deliver and return books ordered from the system’s online portal and longer-range assessments of what a Longboat Key library might look like, the services it might provide and a timeline.

Longboat Key leaders have said that such a building would also include room for adult education classes and a multiuse space for other events. In a strategic retreat last week, town commissioners expressed interest in continuing to pursue a commitment from county leaders that would result in financial participation in the design, construction and operation of a library.

“I don’t want them forgetting about us,” Commissioner Mike Haycock said.

Although a community center’s parameters haven’t been set out, Commissioner Penny Gold said that it was wise to keep options open and consider a range of uses.

“We have a great opportunity here,” she said. “If you’re doing sculptures, you’re going to need water and special counter space and whatever else sculptors are going to need. And painters, there’s going to be splatter and mess, and you prob-

File photos

Above: Town Commissioner Penny Gold advocated for open minds when considering community center uses. Left: Some of the town commissioners’ priorities.

WHEN AND WHERE

Town commissioners will meet with Sarasota County Commissioners at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 27 in the Think Tank of the Sarasota County Administration Building, 1660 Ringling Blvd. The Think Tank is a smaller meeting venue on the third floor of the building.

ably can’t use those rooms for anything else.”

Among the other topics on the agenda for the joint meeting: UPDATE ON RESIDENCES AT THE ST. REGIS LONGBOAT KEY

Town staffers are expected to explain to county commissioners some history behind the project and update them on construction progress on the 17.6-acre property.

eh War

The study, launched by the Florida Department of Transportation in 2017, concluded in 2020 with a final report that recommended 77 items,

ON-DEMAND RIDE SERVICE

With the elimination of fixed-route bus service from downtown Sarasota to Longboat Key, Sarasota County Area Transit leaders added an ondemand service that operates much like commercial ride-hailing apps.

County figures indicate that 20,000 riders have used the service in the Longboat Key, Lido and St. Armands zone between its launch in June 2021 and January 2022. In the final year of the fixed route service from downtown, more than 71,500 riders were served.

Peak ridership of the on-demand service to, from or within Longboat Key took place in December, with about 1,700 riders.

SCAT leaders are working with barrier island employers to get word out about the $1.25-per-ride service.

Town leaders this month ranked coordinated transit between Manatee and Sarasota county providers as a top priority for the coming year.

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The $800 million project is planned to open on June 6, 2024.

When completed, the residential side of the complex will include 67 condominiums and two tourism units arrayed in three five-story buildings above ground-floor parking.

On the north side of the property, a 166-room resort hotel is under construction, which will also feature three restaurants, three bars, more than 17,600 square feet of ballrooms, meeting rooms and boardrooms.

Three pools will be built between the resort side and residential side, along with an event pavilion near the beach and a reprisal of the Colony Beach & Tennis Club’s Monkey Bar. Town leaders on Oct. 20, 2021, granted approval for the project.

including a late addition requested by the town as the final suggestion.

The town set its priorities from the overall list as follows: n Intersection improvements at Gulf Drive and Cortez Road in Bradenton Beach (ranked No. 77) n John Ringling Parkway counterflow (No. 4) n Additional flexible lane added to future bridge replacements and Coon Key (Nos. 8and 12) n Pedestrian managers at St. Armands Circle, though town leaders advocated for such managers at Bridge Street on Bradenton Beach as well (No. 13) n Anna Maria Island Trail to channelize pedestrians to specific crossing locations (No. 17) n Elimination of some parking spaces on St. Armands Circle to improve traffic flow (removed from final report rankings) n Aerial tram between Sarasota and St. Armands/Lido Key (No. 41) n SCAT and MCAT coordination of transit services (No. 45) n Pedestrian bridges over U.S. 41 (No. 76) The town also continues to advocate for a system of water taxis operating between the mainland

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

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COURT File photos

The Longboat Key Club opened its courts near the Harborside Marina in 2019.

Supply and demand plays out across town as sport become more popular.

ERIC GARWOOD MANAGING EDITOR

W

ith approval from town commissioners this summer, more pickleball access could be coming to Longboat Key. But the four courts recently recommended for approval by the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission behind the gates of Bay Isles on the property of the Longboat Key Club are privately financed and planned for the use of members and guests.

Still, though, the project would bring the total number of pickleball courts at the club to eight and the total court count on the island to more than 50, according to the town, including the three open-toanyone facilities at Bayfront Park and a hybrid tennis court there that can host two additional public pickleball courts when it’s not functioning as a tennis court.

As the sport grows locally, town leaders say there is no more open space for additional public courts and not much appetite for public financing or conversion of facilities for pickleball enthusiasts’ use.

That’s not to say access to the sport isn’t growing in neighboring communities.

At G.T. Bray Recreation Center in Bradenton, 20 covered pickleball courts are expected to open soon at the facility on 33 Avenue Drive.

Twelve courts are under construction at the Pompano Trailhead of the expanded Legacy Trail in Sarasota.

Completion is expected in early summer.

Six courts are under construction at Longwood Park in the north end of Sarasota County. Completion is expected this summer.

More than 20 courts are in various stages of planning and development throughout Sarasota County.

On Longboat Key, though, the question is often one of public vs. private facilities.

PRIVATE EXPANSION

Town leaders said they received no opposition to the Key Club’s proposal to build four pickleball courts directly west of the Tennis Gardens, and neither has the club, said Managing Director Rick Konsavage.

“They’re really anticipating this, because it does get crowded like the town courts do. I mean there’s millions of people waiting to get on the courts in the morning,” he said of the club’s existing pickleball facility near the Moorings. “It’s hard to do it with four courts. It’ll really relieve things

Art Davis handles a backhand volley during a match in Bayfront Park.

for us.”

The club in 2019 converted tennis courts near Portofino in the Marina Village into four pickleball courts, expanding access to the game because demand there had outstripped supply of the club’s original double-lined tennis courts.

At the time, the club said the measure was what it could do given location limitations.

Konsavage said since then, the club has looked for opportunities and locations on its property to expand without cutting into the Tennis Gardens’ 20 Har-tru courts.

The proposal for four new courts is the result of that search.

The club had to come before the town’s Planning and Zoning Board in mid-April because the proposal to build the courts is a deviation from the original planned-unit development, approved in 1975 and subsequently modified several times.

Though the recommendation for approval was unanimous, at least one member of the board wanted to make sure that proposal sat well with the residents across the waterway on Sabal Cove Lane.

Member Jay Plager recalled a tiff over pickleball courts at the Bird Key Yacht Club in 2017.

“The neighbors raised such a fuss that they gave it up because pick-

leball courts do have a very distinct sound, as you know,” he said.

Mike Rissman, vice president of engineering with George F. Young Inc., said the courts adjacent to the tennis facility are in consistent use but he didn’t expect any sound issues.

“I know one of the complaints about pickleball courts is the funny noise the ball makes when it hits the racket or the paddle, but I don’t really anticipate the sound is really going to travel any more than the tennis courts,” he said.

Parking at the Tennis Gardens site remains within the town’s requirements even with the additional courts, and any trees taken down as part of the construction process will be replaced at least on a one-to-one basis, or two-to-one in the case of a replacement tree that’s smaller than the original.

Konsavage said the club once considered expanding the marina site, to no avail.

“I think the town itself is struggling with the same lack of capacity versus demand,” said board Chair David Green.

CAPACITY VS. DEMAND

The issue of public pickleball pops up from time to time as fans of the sport become more deeply involved on their own and interested in the

social aspect of the game, which leads to more participation, particularly during morning hours.

The town’s three regulation courts and two hybrid courts are heavily used, but in a Town Commission planning retreat, leaders said there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to build beyond that which is already there.

Besides the active sports facilities there, the park offers a place for dogs and dog owners to mingle and an open area popular for public events and private occasions.

“It’s going to keep coming up,” Mayor Ken Schneier said.

“I think you’re probably at capacity at Bayfront Park, unless you change the nature of that park,” Town Manager Tom Harmer said. “That’s just my personal opinion.”

The Public Tennis Center was expanded with the help of a private group that donated to the cause. But even if a pickleball version of such an effort took hold, an idea originally championed by former Commissioner Jack Daly, the location of such an expansion might be problematic.

“The only reason the Tennis Center expanded with courts 7 through 10 was because the Friends of Tennis funded it and built it,” Commissioner B.J. Bishop said. “So, until the pickleball community is ready to invest in pickleball, I’m not dying to give away everyone else’s money.”

Harmer, referring to the number of courts available islandwide, wondered when further expansion stops making sense. “At some point, what’s the town’s responsibility to build another six or 10 or 12 courts?

There’s no land that we have that is suitable to go build pickleball courts.”

In 2019, the town did for a time consider pickleball courts in the area near the Longboat Key Library, which could again be considered if the county and town agree on a Sarasotarun facility at the Town Center Green.

But even then, the issue of noise was a complicating factor with residents nearby and tennis players, and sounddeadening screens were discussed.

“So, all that is out there,” Harmer said, conceding that the pickleball community will likely keep advocating for expansion. “I’m not sure there’s a town responsibility to provide a regional center on Longboat Key. We’re a small, residential island.

There’s a limited capacity, and we have a mix of events, whether it’s kayaking or dog walking or tennis or pickleball or basketball, if you just take over one park and turn it over for pickleball, I’m not sure that’s what we want to do.”

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Chamber expansion adds work, meeting space Organization branches out with new boardroom, space for visiting workers.

LONGBOAT KEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANNUAL MEETING

NAT KAEMMERER

The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce hosted its 62nd annual meeting on April 7. Rather than take it to another location, the party stayed close to home as chamber members came to celebrate in the new space.

Loefgren updated attendees on the renovation, and the chamber gave out its annual awards.

STAFF WRITER

For a lot of people, Longboat Key is a home away from home.

Now, people on Longboat Key can have an office away from their office, too. The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce recently completed a remodeling project and added a boardroom and co-working space in the organizaton’s offices at 5390 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Chamber President Gail Loefgren brought the idea to the chamber’s board of directors late last year.

The previous adjacent tenant, Key Cleaners, had vacated the space and the only other tenants were two men renting on a monthly basis.

There was an opportunity to take over both leases to open up the office space and add storage. Board member and future Chairman Darrin Caldwell spoke up. Maybe there was space for an office for his company, WrightWay Emergency Services, back there, too.

“My vision was storage,” Loefgren said. “Darrin’s (Caldwell’s) vision was this.”

“This” is a bright, open boardroom behind the chamber’s main area with multiple open working options, a mini-fridge and a coffeemaker. At the back is WrightWay’s new office, which features a conference table and space for events. The remodel started in December and finished in early April.

“I will never do a remodel in my home,” Loefgren said. “This was enough. This was four months of chaos … . We had visitors coming in all the time. At one point I was doing acrobatics to get to them.”

The end product was well worth it, however, she said.

Loefgren fielded astonished comments from members at the April 7 annual meeting, when people saw the space for the first time.

NEWBIE OF THE YEAR: n Patti Boscoe JOHN WOJTYNA GOING THE EXTRA MILE: n Ken Jackson and Tom Martin, Aqua Plumbing

Photos by Nat Kaemmerer

Above: By expanding into two adjacent offices, the chamber now offers work spaces. Left: WrightWay Emergency Services also added an office.

Caldwell and Loefgren agreed that an upgrade was long overdue, so they got down to it.

“One big need was for a boardroom,” Loefgren said. “We were meeting around this little gray table, and we were meeting under 20th century conditions. We were put-

ting my cell phone in a glass so that if people couldn’t make the meeting, we could hear them. It was just not pleasant, and it was cramped. It was crowded, and it wasn’t professional.

Darrin (Caldwell) had in mind more of a professional look for the chamber.”

Not everyone has office space on the island, so this provides members a place that doesn’t come equipped with a steering wheel and seat belts to get some work done.

“They have a nice space that they can come in and just drop in, hook onto our WiFi, use the TV, Zoom conference calls, whatever they need to do,” Loefgren said. “This is their office away from their office, just for convenience’s sake. We’ll get the word out as more people begin to use it. It should be nice to be busy.’’

Loefgren added that members who belong to condominium associations can reserve the space for board meetings, as well.

Next, they’ll focus on remodeling the front of the chamber office and putting in new carpets, but for

ED & MARGE MORAN MEMORIAL FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE: n Sherri Mills, Michael Saunders & Company NORM MALLARD AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR: n Kellie Spring, ServPro CHAMBER MEMBER OF THE YEAR: n Josh and Kara Reynolds and Darrin Caldwell, WrightWay Emergency Services

now, Loefgren hopes to rebrand the chamber as a community space for the people of Longboat Key. “I think people will get the message, and people will begin to use it, which will be great, because that’s the whole purpose,” Loefgren said. “We’d like this to become a community place where the community can use it and they know it’s available . ... It opens up a lot of possibilities for us.”

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Kiwanis Club meets author of political thriller Jon Dietz discusses his book ‘Fallen Prince,’ which combines fictional characters with real-life events.

NAT KAEMMERER STAFF WRITER

E

veryone in author Jon Dietz’s generation remembers the moment they heard President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas.

Dietz was a high school freshman in his first class of the day on Nov. 23, 1963. From that moment, his life took turns including long stints as a newspaper reporter in Sarasota and an investigator for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court’s Office of the Public Defender, but he stayed interested in Kennedy’s life and death. It took him 58 years, but he came up with a broad story and answers for the way the investigation went.

“I just never lost interest in the Kennedys,” he said.

On April 21, Dietz visited the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key to

BIRTHDAY BRUNCH

The Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key has a golden birthday coming up. On May 15, the club turns 50 years old. President Michael Garey is putting together a party for the occasion.

There will be a brunch from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Lazy Lobster, 5350 Gulf of Mexico Drive, with mimosas, shrimp cocktails, waffles and more.

The cost is $30 per person.

Call 383-0440 to reserve a spot.

discuss his second book, “Fallen Prince.” It’s a political thriller that combines historical and fictional characters to tell the story of Kennedy’s death and the minds behind the Warren Commission that investigated the events.

“I always wanted to write this book, but I couldn’t until I figured out why the Warren Commission behaved the way it did,” Dietz said.

“Now I know, but I won’t tell you.

You’re going to have to read it. I have fictional characters intermingling with historical characters because I didn’t want to write a dry recitation of facts.”

Dietz opened his presentation to the club with a contrast of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination investigation versus that of Kennedy. The former investigation took 90 days. The latter spawned nine investigations that were all disbanded when newly installed President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Warren Commission. In the story, Dietz cites the Katzenbach memo, in which Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, three days after the shooting, advocates to the new administration for a single-shooter theory.

“For decades, I read every article on the Kennedy family that I could, and the beauty of this is that when I decided to (write the book), the internet saved me,” Dietz said.

“A lot of this material I read, and I didn’t keep, because I didn’t think I’d ever solve the problem. But with the internet, I wrote this book sitting on my couch. If I had a question in my head, I’d Google it. My first book that I wrote, before the internet, was called ‘The Jerusalem Train,’ and I had to go to the libraries, I had to go to Washington to research, and I’d have to drive to the libraries to find out the material I wanted. Thank God for the internet.”

Photos by Nat Kaemmerer

Above: Jon Dietz and Michael Garey Left: Jon Dietz signs a copy of his book. He donated all proceeds from April 21 to a Kiwanis Club in Kiev, Ukraine.

“Fallen Prince” is Dietz’s longtime passion project. He’s a selfdescribed passionate historian who’s always had a penchant for putting pen to paper.

As a reporter, he worked the metro beat, the crime beat, the airport beat — you name it.

He even covered the Ted Bundy investigation for a global magazine.

His favorite tasks were the feature stories he wrote, often about local

veterans.

Even as an investigator, he followed faint threads to piece a story together. He’s been a part of the Sarasota community for 50 years; he helped his parents move down in the 1970s and figured he’d stay for three weeks. And yet, he’s still here writing his way through life.

“I always said, I can’t change a lightbulb, but I can write,” Dietz said.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

FRIDAY, APRIL 15

town park walked up to his vehicle while police were on hand to investigate a report of two dogs left in a car. Police found the windows down and the dogs in no danger. The man said he was playing pickleball nearby and had come over to check on the dogs when police arrived.

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER 10:32 a.m., 3400 block of Byron Lane Suspicious incident: Responding to a report of a work crew cutting down trees nearby, an officer told the caller that unless the trees were protected, there was nothing law enforcement could do about the situation. The officer followed up with a visit with another homeowner who said the tree cutting was authorized by the homeowners’ association as a means to beautify the area near a pond.

ROCK ON, NO LONGER 9:08 p.m., 500 block of Yawl Lane Noise: Police spoke to the resident of a home from which music could be heard from the street. Once advised of the noise complaint, the homeowner agreed to turn off the music.

SEAWORTHY NO MORE 1:27 p.m., 3600 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Boating call: A resident called police to report a boat that had been entangled for days in mangroves near his property. An officer found the 9- to 12-foot aluminum boat with water in it, encrusted with barnacles and apparently unseaworthy. The registration number was unreadable, and no other source of information was attached. The officer secured the boat so it wouldn’t become a hazard and notified the town’s Public Works Department.

SUNDAY, APRIL 17

MONDAY, APRIL 18

DEBRIS IN THE AIR 2 p.m., 600 block of Cedar Street Citizen dispute: A resident called police to report construction debris in the air, landing on his property, which was considered an ongoing issue. Police alerted the town’s code enforcement officer because no criminal activity was taking place.

NOT SWEPT AWAY 6:13 p.m., 7200 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Welfare check: Police checked on the safety of four swimmers in Longboat Pass, following a call of concern from the bridge tender. An officer found the swimmers in shallow water, wading ashore. The bridge tender said he called out of concern they were near a swift current under the bridge.

NOT YELLING 8:12 p.m., 3200 block of Bayou Sound Suspicious incident: Police were called regarding what sounded like children yelling. Police arrived to find a group of children playing with an adult walking alongside. The children were not yelling at the time of the officer’s arrival and nothing suspicious was evident.

SATURDAY, APRIL 16

YUP, THAT’S SEWAGE 8:21 a.m., 500 block of Edlee Lane Citizen assist: Police were alerted to a sewer line break and, investigating, confirmed the report. The responding officer notified the Public Works Department, which arrived promptly and took over.

TUESDAY, APRIL 19

TOO EARLY, TOO NOISY 7:47 a.m., 600 block of Cedar Street Noise: The beeping sound from a reversing forklift and wood being moved prompted a call to police

ALONG FOR THE RIDE 10:41 a.m., 4000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Animal complaint: A visitor to a

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20

LET THERE BE (TOO MUCH) LIGHT 11:44 a.m., 3300 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Citizen assist: A resident alerted police to a nearby residence with a bright flood light that shines in at night from across the water. The resident wasn’t sure of the address of the home with the light, and the officer sent to investigate was not able to gauge the problem during the daylight. The officer said he would contact the department’s night shift for a follow-up.

RENTAL RETURNS 1:08 a.m., 4000 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Suspicious incident: A police officer noted two kayaks near the water’s edge, with no one else around.

The officer noticed the kayaks looked similar to others nearby and ascertained they were likely rentals that were returned late and not put away as the others had been.

PERSONALIZED FOR YOUR CITATION 7:44 p.m., 300 block of North Shore Road Litter: Police were alerted to an incident of littering by a person in a vehicle. The responding officer found the fast-food trash also included a receipt with a name and telephone number, which he called. The man who answered said he must have accidentally left the trash. The officer let the man know he would be getting a littering citation by mail.

about work noise 13 minutes before the hour such sounds are allowed in the town. Police spoke to the project manager, who said he would again tell his subcontractors about the town’s rules for morning and evening noise. The officer said the next violation would result in a noise citation for the offender.

ROW, ROW, ROW . . .

3:32 p.m., 1500 block of Harbor Cay Lane Suspicious person: A resident called police to report seeing a man, paddling a small boat with a piece of wood, arrive at an out-of-town neighbor’s dock and sit down for a rest. The man didn’t appear to be doing anything other than resting.

Police spoke to the man and recommended resting elsewhere, not on private property.

MOVING THE MARKERS 4:22 p.m., police headquarters Citizen dispute: A homeowner came to the police department at the suggestion of Town Hall staff to file a complaint about moved property-marking stakes. The homeowner said her property had been marked before tree removal work began, and she recently returned to find the markers had been moved from their original locations. She

SUNDAY, APRIL 17

CHAIRS NOT THEIRS 4:04 p.m., 3800 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive Trespassing: A representative of a homeowners group called police to report trespassers had taken chairs and umbrellas from private property to the beach. An officer spoke to the beachgoers who claimed not to know the chairs and umbrellas weren’t for general-public use.

The officer told the beachgoers to return the property immediately. The beachgoers apologized and did as they were asked.

said she did not see anyone move the markers but speculated it could have been neighbors doing so. The officer assigned to the case could not immediately confirm the markers’ proper locations to accurately identify property boundaries.

PROTECTING AND SERVING 11:10 p.m., police headquarters Traffic hazard: A police officer encountered a vehicle driving southbound on Gulf of Mexico Drive with a completely flat tire before coming to a stop in the traffic lane. The driver said she was trying to return to her place of employment in the 4700 block. The officer suggested parking the vehicle in the police department lot overnight and returning in the morning. A relative thanked the officer upon her arrival to pick up the driver with the flat tire.

LIGHTS ON 3:30 a.m., 4300 block of Chatham Drive Suspicious vehicle: An officer investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle in a residential neighborhood found a car with its taillights on but hood cool to the touch, as if it hadn’t been running for hours. The officer found it was properly registered out of state.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

OPINION / OUR VIEW

LONGBOAT

Longboat deserves better Longboat’s mayor says the Key faces ‘an uphill struggle’ obtaining funds from Sarasota County for a community center. How is that for gratitude?

“This is an uphill struggle for us to get the county to participate with us. They’ve made it pretty clear that it’s got to have the word ‘library’ in it. Maybe they change their mind, but they don’t seem inclined to, and we want to get on their agenda for design. … This is what we have available to us, potentially, but we have to fight for it.”

Ken Schneier Mayor, Longboat Key

T

hose are stunning words: “Uphill struggle … We have to fight for it.”

Mayor Schneier made those comments April 18 at a Longboat Key Town Commission strategic planning meeting in the context of the town wanting to build a long-sought community center — with financial support from Sarasota County.

His words were stunning when you consider how much money Longboat Key taxpayers send each year to Sarasota County government versus how much Longboat taxpayers receive in return.

Here’s the number for fiscal 2021: $14,361,752 in property taxes alone.

That doesn’t include the $2.5 million collected for the tourist development tax from the Sarasota side of the Key or sales tax revenue.

To compound the “uphill struggle,” Sarasota County officials apparently are telling the town that any funding for a community center would come as long as the new facility contained a public library branch.

It has always been thus. Seldom — more like rarely — do you see or hear Sarasota and Manatee county commissioners and administrators treating Longboat Key and its commissioners the way corporate boards and CEOs show respect and

Goodwin should resign “Enough! Silence her!” shouted the Queen. “Guards! Guards! Take this serf away! Off with her head!”

That’s pretty much the way it is at Sarasota County School Board Adventures in Silencing the Public.

As much of the nation now knows, unfortunately, that scene came to real life at the April 19 board meeting. Board Chair Jane Goodwin, who bristles and barks at the slightest bit of criticism, cut off Sarasota County parent and taxpayer Melissa Bakondy.

When Bakondy asked whether newly proposed telehealth and mental health benefits for employees would apply to board members, “because at the last board meeting (board member) Shirley Brown was caught on the microphone …” Goodwin interrupted: “Stop! Stop talking about school board members. You’re done.

You’re done, Mrs. Bakondy. You’re done. Thank you. You’re done. You cannot go and expound on school board members. I’ve told you. I’ve warned you several times. Thank you. Thank you very much. You’re done. Move on. (At this point, a police officer approached Bakondy at the podium.) Goodbye. You were about to say something horrible about Shirley Brown. Please leave.

You’ve said things about me that were untrue. Leave! Please. You have children in our school district?

Do you have children in our school district? (At this, board member Bridget Ziegler protested Goodwin’s question.) Please leave. (By this point, three officers surrounded Bakondy.) Ask her to leave. We’re going to recess for five minutes.

Leave.”

It was stunning. Goodwin muzzled and beheaded Bakondy even before Bakondy said what she wanted to say about Brown.

By all means, everyone supports civil decorum at public meetings and personal attacks on board members are off limits. But the board-adopted decree that taxpayers cannot comment, address or question individual board

members’ opinions or decision making is a bridge too far. This places board members on a pedestal and reverses Jane Goodwin who is serving whom.

Jane Goodwin needs to resign.

With this latest incident, Goodwin has created a perpetual, hostile, confrontational environment that will hang as a thick, dark fog over every school board meeting as long as she sits on the board.

Count on it: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Goodwin’s muzzling of Bakondy will draw out more disgruntled parents and taxpayers in ways yet to be known.

Indeed, Goodwin’s tyrannical attitude and tone at the last meeting will reinforce and deepen parents’ and the public’s distrust and disrespect for the board, and likewise further the perception and reality that Goodwin and her board allies, Shirley Brown and Tom Edwards, set themselves above the people they are there to serve.

Goodwin has put her all into doing what she believes is right for the district since her first of three elections in 2010. For her service and commitment, she deserves credit and gratitude. But as often occurs with longtime elected officials, power corrupts.

Goodwin can save some face by relinquishing the chair’s position.

But even then, she will forever be viewed — despite all the good she has contributed — as the tyrannical board member who silenced dissent.

Goodwin’s resignation would be an honorable step toward repairing parents’ and the community’s respect and trust in this important public board.

gratitude to their biggest investors and shareholders.

So here we go again.

For the past 25 years, Longboat Key commissioners and residents have talked and talked and talked about developing a desperately needed community gathering place.

At one time about 20 years ago, the issue progressed to the point of town voters considering a $6 million multipurpose community and recreation center at Bayfront Park. But back then, a $6 million center was considered outrageously extravagant. The project died.

Most residents probably would take that deal today.

For the past four years, discussions have continued in various iterations, some of which included raising $13 million to $17 million in private funding for an arts, education and cultural center, complete with a black box theater.

Enough of all that.

The way a community center is going to be built is with a combination of town and county funds.

And it should not be an “uphill struggle” or “fight” with the

HOW MUCH LONGBOAT PAYS Here’s how much Longboat Key property owners paid in ad valorem taxes in 2021 to the two counties: Sarasota County: $14,361,752 Manatee County: $13,276,298

Friedrich Hayek

“Road to Serfdom,” 1944

President and Publisher / Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com

county’s portion of the funding. Nor should there be county demands that funding be contingent on a library.

Rather than the county issuing demands for what it wants and what it believes it knows best, its posture should be more gracious: How can we help?

Let Longboaters figure out what they want and need in a community center, with Sarasota County standing by Longboat’s side willing to give Longboaters a commensurate return on the tax dollars they send to the county.

MARCH SINGLE-FAMILY HOME DATA 2022 Closed Sales Manatee 724 Sarasota 859 Cash sales Manatee 278 Sarasota 433 Median Sales Price Manatee $525,000 Sarasota $487,500 Average Sale Price Manatee $703,385 $661,402 Sarasota Median Time to Contract 5 days Manatee Sarasota 5 days Median Time to Sale Manatee 43 days 42 days Sarasota Active Listings Manatee 431 Sarasota 690 Months supply of inventory Manatee 0.6 Sarasota 0.8

2021

% Change

907 1,169

-20.2% -26.5%

307 493

-9.4% -12.2%

$395,000 $379,695

+32.9% +28.4%

$536,981 606,1236

+_31.0% +9.1%

9 days 13 days

-44.4% -61.5%

55 days 56 days

-21.8% -25.0%

467 680

-7.7% +1.5%

0.7 0.8

-14.3% —

Source: Florida Realtors

WHY HOUSING WON’T CRASH LIKE 2008 People keep saying another housing crash is coming. But it’s not — at least not like 2008-2010.

Here’s why: There are way more people moving into Florida and wanting to buy than there are homes and condos for sale. Demand far outstrips supply.

One of the most noteworthy stats: 0.6 and 0.8 months of inventory of single-family homes for sale in Manatee and Sarasota counties, respectively. Typical inventory is three to six months.

Now add the fact homebuilders cannot build homes fast enough.

We continue to have shortages of construction workers and building materials. A commercial contractor told us last week his roofer said it would be a year before he received the materials he needed.

Likewise, every employer is gasping to find workers, which is not likely to change until we have

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

a recession and people are laid off. This will continue to be a drag on home building. (The unemployment rate in both Manatee and Sarasota counties is 2.4%.)

Finally, there’s population growth.

In 2021, Florida added 360,760 net new residents, the strongest increase since 2005-2006.

Manatee population increased in each of the past two years by 12,290/3.1% in 2020 and 11,500/2.8% in 2021, totaling 411,209. Sarasota grew slower — up 7,731/1.8% in 2020 and 7,502/+1.7% in 2021 — 441,508.

All of these people need places to live.

Summary: The ingredients for a big crash are not there, but you can be sure that as the Fed increases interest rates, the overheated market is going to slow down in the second half of the year and into 2023.

Executive Editor and COO / Kat Hughes, KHughes@YourObserver.com Managing Editor / Eric Garwood, EGarwood@YourObserver.com Staff Writers / Nat Kaemmerer, NKaemmerer@YourObserver.com Digital & Engagement Editor / Kaelyn Adix, KAdix@YourObserver.com Copy Editor / Shawn Candela, SCandela@YourObserver.com Editorial Designers / Melissa Leduc, MLeduc@YourObserver.com; José Valle, JValle@YourObserver.com A+E Editor / Spencer Fordin, SFordin@YourObserver.com Black Tie Editor / Harry Sayer, HSayer@YourObserver.com Director of Advertising / Jill Raleigh, JRaleigh@YourObserver.com Sales Manager / Penny Nowicki, PNowicki@YourObserver.com Regional Digital Director / Kathleen O’Hara, KOHara@YourObserver.com Senior Advertising Executive / Laura Ritter, LRitter@YourObserver.com Advertising Executives / Richeal Bair, RBair@YourObserver.com; Beth Jacobson, BJacobson@YourObserver.com; Jennifer Kane, JKane@YourObserver.com; Honesty Mantkowski, HMantkowski@YourObserver. com; Toni Perren, TPerren@YourObserver. com; Brenda White, BWhite@ YourObserver.com Classified Advertising Sales Executive / Lexi Huelsman, LHuelsman@ YourObserver.com Sales Operations Manager / Susan Leedom, SLeedom@YourObserver.com Sales Coordinator/Account Manager / Lori Downey, LDowney @YourObserver.com Digital Fulfillment Specialist / Emma Burke, EBurke@YourObserver.com Tributes Coordinator / Kristen Boothroyd, Tributes@YourObserver.com Director of Marketing / Robin Lankton, RLankton@YourObserver.com Director of Creative Services / Caleb Stanton, CStanton@YourObserver.com Creative Services Administrator / Marjorie Holloway, MHolloway@ YourObserver.com Advertising Graphic Designers / Luis Trujillo, Taylor Poe, Louise Martin, Shawna Polana Digital Developer / Jason Camillo, JCamillo@YourObserver.com Director of Information Technology / Adam Quinlin, AQuinlin@YourObserver.com Chief Financial Officer / Laura Strickland, LStrickland@YourObserver.com Controller / Rafael Labrin, RLabrin@ YourObserver.com Office and Accounting Coordinator / Donna Condon, DCondon@ YourObserver.com

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

FDOT says delays in materials will postpone paving work that was supposed to have launched on Sunday night.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

M

aterial availability and labor shortages have brought delays in the completion of the traffic-snarling roundabout at U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue, but the project remains on pace to be open this fall as scheduled.

During a virtual project update last week, FDOT and contractor representatives fielded questions about dying sod, irrigation disruptions and pedestrian crosswalks related to the project, but the biggest news was that, within weeks, the shape of the roundabout will start to become apparent.

The diamond traffic pattern will remain in effect, though, until the multilane circle actually opens to traffic. Construction of the $8.6 million project began March 15, 2021.

The objective is to improve multimodal mobility along the U.S. 41 corridor; provide a safe, convenient and attractive crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists; and improve connectivity and circulation between the Sarasota’s downtown business district and the bayfront.

“The contractor is spreading and will be compacting the roadway base,” said FDOT project engineer Pinky Pakalapati. “So what that means is you’ll see trucks coming in and out, and also the compaction operation is going to be involved with the rollers.”

Asphalt paving was expected to start Sunday night and run through five consecutive nights, resulting in a new flow of traffic.

But on Sunday afternoon, Alice Ramos, a spokeswoman for FDOT, emailed stakeholders, saying that step would be delayed: “Due to material shortages, the scheduled paving operation and traffic switch

Nat Kaemmerer

UPCOMING CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES n Continue grading of roadway

base along U.S. 41 between Fruitville Road and Gulfstream Avenue on the west side. n Curb, sidewalk and driveway installation on U.S. 41 between Gulfstream Avenue and RitzCarlton Drive. n Final grading and sodding of areas behind new sidewalk and curb on U.S. 41 between Gulfstream Avenue and Fruitville Road. n Installation of storm drainage pipe at Ritz-Carlton Drive during a night operation. Expect noise from equipment and vehicles. Traffic along U.S. 41 will be maintained while the work is occurring.

Beginning next week, drivers and pedestrians will see the project actually begin to take shape.

I would like to report a theft which happened in broad daylight on the morning of April 13 at the Corey’s Landing tennis court.

My unopened packaged lemon Lara Bar was stolen by a black crow who flew down and grabbed the bar with his beak and flew away before I could obstruct the feathered perpetrator. The criminal crow returned five minutes later attempting a second robbery, however there were no items he fancied.

I would like to warn all Corey’s Landing and Longboat Key residents to be on the lookout for a very clever black crow burglar who may soon graduate to attempting to heist more valuable items like jewelry, books, antiques and watches.

MARK MALINOWSKI LONGBOAT KEY

Sarasota leaders must bridle growth Whether it’s overdevelopment, noise, trees or traffic, why do the policies Sarasota city commissioners have been adopting for the last 18 months seem designed to destroy the charm, character and natural beauty that made each of us choose this as our home?

Our area is growing and will continue to grow. Thoughtful growth is good. But the growth we’re experiencing is unbridled.

We’ve seen residents from all over the city with a host of qualityof-life issues which impact the

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

livability of Sarasota ask the city to take their concerns into account when making policy. Almost every time, rather than expressing empathy for or interest in the citizens’ issues, the livability issues stemming from unconstrained growth and conflicting land uses are deflected, dismissed, ignored, or ridiculed.

If you want to prevent further displacement of all that makes Sarasota so appealing, pay close attention to the candidates for our local offices, and demand that candidates articulate a residentfriendly philosophy if they want to win your support. Your vote is your voice. The primary is Aug. 23.

9

LETTERS

Roundabout taking shape

Word to the wise: Keep eyes on the sky

|

SHIRL GAUTHIER SARASOTA

Is there no place for pedestrians?

As a pedestrian, I have many times been almost knocked over by cyclists riding on the sidewalk. I assume they are just being selfish, ignoring signs (like the ones on the Ringling Bridge) asking them to dismount and walk their bikes.

So I was surprised to read in your article “Get scootin’” that on roads with speed limits over 30 mph they are actually told they can “take to the sidewalk.”

Surely if a road is unsafe for cyclists they should walk? Is nowhere safe for pedestrians these days?

SANDIE SCHAGEN SARASOTA

BE HEARD

Surely you have an opinion on a town issue. Let us hear it through a letter to the editor. Email them to managing editor Eric Garwood at egarwood@yourobserver.com. Be sure to include your name and where you live.

on U.S. 41 southbound between Fruitville Road and Gulfstream Avenue has been postponed. Work will be rescheduled when materials are available.”

The next scheduled virtual update for the project is at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 25.

SCHOOL ENDS. HUNGER BEGINS. $ for $ Match April 1 - May 15

Give today at allfaithsfoodbank.org

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This summer, 40,000 kids are at risk for hunger

The summer months create a “hunger gap” for the children of families struggling to put food on the table, as they lose access to free and reduced-cost meals at school. Now, the condition of the economy is likely to make things even worse for these families in the coming months.

Hunger isn’t just a problem in the here and now – children who are hungry are at risk for learning delays, psychological distress, behavioral problems and even chronic illnesses well down the road.

The Campaign Against Summer Hunger has become the community’s strongest line of defense against child hunger. Through the food bank’s supporters, partners and summer programs, All Faiths works hard to make sure children receive the help they need.

We hope you will visit allfaithsfoodbank.org to make a gift, so that no child will go hungry this summer.

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As All Faiths Food Bank launches the ninth year of its Campaign Against Summer Hunger, the pandemic, continuing supply chain impacts, rising labor costs and, now, soaring inflation are hitting the most at-risk in our community hard – especially children. Not only are our current economic woes affecting those who were already on fixed budgets, they are causing additional families to fall into poverty.

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

NEWS BRIEFS

Sarasota sends art choice back to the drawing board By a 5-0 vote, leaders reject coral representation for Fruitville circle.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

Public art should be representative of the community that supports it, and a giant piece of coral is not. That was the message the Sarasota City Commission sent to the city’s Public Art Committee during its meeting last week when it unanimously rejected the PAC’s recommendation of “Dwell” for installation in the roundabout at Tamiami Trail and Fruitville Road.

In a departure from the committee’s usual selection of three finalists for consideration, PAC Chair Wendy Lerner presented “Dwell,” a sculpture in the shape of coral by Sujin Lim, as the committee’s one choice.

Included in the commissioners’ packet, though, were images of the other two finalists: “Whorligig,” a stainless-steel representation of three orchids by Mark Aeling of St. Petersburg, and “Open Gate,” a blue stylized archway made of architectural glass over a steel structure by Shan Shan Sheng of San Francisco.

While the PAC favored “Dwell,” Commissioner Hagen Brody led the opposition to the sculpture in part because it was not representative of Sarasota, pointing out that there are no coral reefs anywhere nearby.

“It’s a piece of coral that we don’t have on the Gulf Coast,” Brody said.

“One of my concerns about our public art — and please take this back to your board — is it in my opinion should bear some relation to our community. If you’re doing natural pieces of art like this natural specimen, they should have some relation to our region or our community.”

He suggested to Mary Davis Wallace, the city’s senior planner and leader of the Office of Public Art,

Courtesy photo

One of the proposals included a median with a switchback pedestrian crossing.

“Dwell” by Sujin Lim.

Town, consultant to update project The town and its consultant, KimleyHorn planners and engineers, are scheduled to conduct an update session for residents on the Gulf of Mexico Drive Corridor Plan. The open meeting is 9-11 a.m. on Tuesday, May 3, at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.

City leaders in March heard from Kimley-Horn representatives on an evolving vision for a reworked Gulf of Mexico Drive, which included wider bike lanes, medians and other amenities.

Commissioners gave Kimley-Horn some feedback on initial plans late in 2021, and the company returned in March to deliver a follow-up presentation. Now, as the plans begin to take shape, the town and the consultant are planning to deliver their latest news to residents.

“Whorligig” by Mark Aeling of St. Petersburg

Courtesy renderings

“Open Gate” by Shan Shan Sheng of San Francisco.

Women’s golf event comes to Key Club

that an emphasis on that history should be included in the underdevelopment public art master plan.

But for now, it should also be considered in the city’s public art program.

Having been made aware that consideration of all three submissions in the packet were at the discretion of the city commission, Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch said her preference was for “Open Gate.”

More than 100 amateur golfers are on their way to Longboat Key for next week’s Kitty Michael Golf Invitational, a team event for women from Central America, the Caribbean and around North America.

The 54-hole event is planned for May 2-6 at the Resort at Longboat Key. Teams from Panama, St. Croix,

Curacao, Bermuda, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Montreal, Toronto, Southwest Florida, Southeast Florida, Key Largo and the Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey are expected.

The Kitty Michael was launched in 1979 as a means of growing the women’s game, forging international friendships and competition and fostering goodwill. It was played in Longboat Key in 2010.

Liz Findley, who plays out of Sara Bay in Bradenton, will be competing in her 42nd Kitty Michael as captain of the Southwest Florida team.

“Kitty was inducted into the Puerto Rico Golf Hall of Fame in 1981 and was passionate about advancing amateur golf for women,” Findley said. “She had a fun idea to invite friends from multiple countries and golf clubs to join her in Puerto Rico for three days of golf, and the rest is history.”

This is the first installment of the Kitty Michael since 2019; the event was canceled the past two years because of COVID-19.

Kolter buys second city hotel Another hotel in Sarasota has been snatched up by Kolter Hospitality.

The company, a division of the Kolter Group, acquired Embassy Suites by Hilton Sarasota in the city’s downtown district. The 18-story hotel was built in 2018.

The acquisition was announced in a press release, and as of April 25, the sale and price paid for the property hadn’t been recorded in Sarasota County property records.

The hotel is the fourth to be operated by Kolter Hospitality on the state’s West Coast, along with the Westin Sarasota, Hyatt Place St. Petersburg and Hyatt Place Coconut Point in Estero.

The Embassy Suites by Hilton Sarasota features 180 suites, a flexible meeting space, garage parking, a full-service restaurant and bar, a business center, fitness center and pool. Delray Beach-based Kolter Hospitality is focused primarily on hotel management, development and acquisitions in the hospitality industry.

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Photos by Harry Sayer

Raygan Galicia, Brooke Cason, and Ty and Delaney Parker take some time on a boat.

Fun in the sun

Above: Nyah, Jaycie, Nora and Laurie Miller Left: Olivia, Dave, Xander and Gracyn Knisley

T

he Suncoast Boat Show marked 40 years with a lively weekend event that brought hundreds to Marina Jack April 22-24.

The annual boat show attracted boat lovers of all stripes to admire the many cruisers, motor yachts and other types of watercraft on display. Families checked out various boats and vendors and kept cool in the shade with drinks and treats.

This year also had a “Hook The Future” fishing clinic where children learned about basic fishing techniques and different types of fish.

—HARRY SAYER

Above: Francesca and Tommy Luciana admire the boats.

Left: Lou Merucci takes his grandson Conor Callihan to the show.

Jill and Jim Rocheford with Scott and Sara Gibbons

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APRIL 28, 2022

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Marcelo Gomes and Victoria Hulland in Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Apparitions”

Victoria Hulland and Ricardo Graziano in Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Enigma Variations”

Ricardo Graziano and Victoria Hulland in Sir David Bintley’s “A Comedy of Errors”

LAST DANCE SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR

T

here are two images of Victoria Hulland that will remain emblazoned in Margaret Barbieri’s

mind.

In one, she’s a young ingenue standing out from dozens of other dancers at an audition, and in another, she’s a mother rehearsing for Victoria Hulland and Marcelo Gomes in Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Varii Capricci”

her final performance in front of her 2-year-old daughter.

That first memory occurred 15 years ago, and the second one happened last week.

SEE LAST DANCE, PAGE 14

Victoria Hulland and Ricardo Rhodes in Sir Peter Wright’s “Giselle”

Photos courtesy of Frank Atura

Danielle Brown, Victoria Hulland and Richard House

Victoria Hulland in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s “Elite Syncopations”

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NEW DANCERS ON TAP FOR SARASOTA BALLET’S NEXT SEASON

Courtesy photo

Macarena Gimenez and Maximilliano Iglesias

Last dance FROM PAGE 13

In between, Hulland became a principal dancer and the perfect embodiment of what Barbieri was looking for in a leading lady, and now it’s become hard for her to imagine staging her ballets with anyone else in the role. Barbieri and Hulland recently joined the Observer on a conference call to discuss “Serendipitous Movement,” the final Sarasota Ballet event of the season, and Barbieri was effusive in her praise.

Hulland might be retiring at the close of the season, but she’ll always be close to Barbieri’s heart.

“Many dancers have done them, and there will be many more who will do them. But I have to say I’m going to always have your picture in my brain when I see these ballets,” Barbieri told Hulland.

“As a mother, I totally understand.

But as an assistant director, I never want her to leave.”

Hulland’s retirement marks the end of an era for Sarasota Ballet, an

It’s a changing of the toes for the Sarasota Ballet.

Principal Victoria Hulland might be retiring at the end of the season, but the organization announced last week that it will dance on capable legs next season.

The Sarasota Ballet announced that it will hire Macarena Gimenez and Maximilliano Iglesias from Argentina’s Estable del Teatro Colón prior to next season.

Gimenez began her career in Argentina in 2004 and also trained in Germany. She joined the Teatro Colón Ballet in 2012 and became a soloist in 2017. She was elevated to principal the following year, and she’s toured the world as a member of the company.

Iglesias began his training at age 10, when he won a scholarship to study at the Julio Bocca Foundation in Buenos Aires. He was hired by

era that began right when Iain Webb and Barbieri were getting ready to take over the organization.

Barbieri recalls staging an audition in New York, where they received a much bigger turnout than they expected.

Hulland was still a trainee at the Boston Ballet at the time, but she immediately stood out.

Barbieri says she can’t quite put her finger on what “star quality” means, but Hulland had it from the beginning.

“There’s something in there you see,” she says. “I have said in the past that I can walk into a room and see them warming up, and I can tell you who I’m going to like. It’s the way they’re warming up. The way they’re working. Their determination. I already know who I should be looking at even before they’ve done one step. When there’s 100 in a room, you’re less likely to spot that talent straight away. But you do hone in on people and see their potential.

“It’s funny because Iain always says, ‘Who are you looking at?’ Then I give him my numbers; he gives me his, and they’re identical.”

Webb and Barbieri didn’t just hire Hulland from that audition.

They also hired Ricardo Rhodes,

the Teatro Colón Ballet in 2010, and he became a soloist in 2017 and a principal the following year.

Hulland, who joined the Sarasota Ballet for the 2007-08 season, will retire at the conclusion of this one.

She’s part of a trend in ballet, which has lost several dancers in recent years. Amy Wood, hired at the same time as Hulland, retired in 2020 and joined the company’s administrative team.

Last season, three dancers — Kate Honea, Ellen Overstreet and Christine Windsor — retired, and Samantha Benoit hung up her pointe shoes earlier this year.

Benoit had been with the company nine years, and Overstreet had been part of Sarasota Ballet for eight seasons. Windsor had been part of the company for 13 years, and Honea for 18.

Margaret Barbieri, assistant di-

who had been Hulland’s friend and fellow trainee at Boston Ballet.

Danielle Brown and Amy Wood were also hired from that audition, and that quartet spent more than a decade with the company.

With Hulland retiring, only Brown and Rhodes will remain as dancers next season.

“I’m so blessed and fortunate that I came upon Sarasota Ballet and that they brought me into their company,” says Hulland. “I felt like I fit here, and it became my family. I was happy to stay for 15 years.”

“You feel blessed, but we feel blessed,” says Barbieri. “There were a lot of people there; we didn’t expect so many people. And I remember at one point, I couldn’t see the wood from the trees. But we did hone in on you and the other three dancers. And you all had a very special quality. I don’t think we thought then that you had the special qualities that would be perfect for the Ashton ballets and the Balanchines and everything else, but we saw something very special.

There was a radiance. There was a look. There was the way you danced and how much you loved it. You could see that. Iain and I instantly

You Served.

rector, said the Sarasota Ballet will miss their contributions.

“It’s hard because Victoria has not only been one of our main principal dancers, but she’s been a great example in the way she works. She’s a true lady,” said Barbieri. “I think a lot of our dancers have learned a great deal from her.

The younger generations move up.

“We still have Danielle Brown, which is great. She’s one of our leading ballerinas. We have Marijana Dominis, who’s become a principal and done leading roles. New people will be joining; it’s always very hard when somebody leaves.

I actually hate anybody leaving. I always want everybody to stay, but especially our ballerinas and the men we’ve worked with for so long.

They feel like our family, and it’s always hard to say goodbye.”

at the same time said, ‘We’ve got to have that girl.’”

ROOTS IN DANCE

Hulland, for her part, says she had an inauspicious beginning in ballet.

Her parents first enrolled her in ballet when she was 2 years old, and she spent the whole class crying.

She tried again when she was 4, and ballet really clicked for her. Prior to that point, she had tried tap and jazz and many other forms of dance.

But Hulland credits her teacher, Nicole Nasto, for really stoking her appreciation for the craft that became her career.

“She was just wonderful. She was so good to me,” says Hulland.

“Instead of saying, ‘Do these steps,’ she would explain why we did them.

I really liked the knowledge behind it, not just doing it but knowing why I’m doing it and what I should be thinking about with the technique. Ballet became more of a mental thing for me than just a physical thing. That’s when I really fell in love with it.”

Soon after falling in love, she rapidly found that she might have a future in it.

Hulland started seriously training

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at age 12 and says she moved away from home to study ballet full time at age 17.

A year later, she was dancing at the Boston Ballet as a trainee alongside Rhodes when she attended the fateful audition that ultimately brought her to Sarasota.

Which is where she’s been ever since.

Hulland says that while the future is the great unknown, she’s not planning on becoming a totally different person in retirement.

“Everybody’s like, ‘Are you going to go skiing now?’” she jokes. “I’m still too scared to go skiing.”

The thoughts of retirement first began to pop into her head when her daughter Thea was born.

But then came the COVID pandemic, which forced her to reevaluate. Hulland says that she’s so happy she had a chance to have a normal season, but she knows beyond any doubt that it’s time to move on.

“I’ve been thinking about it kind of all year to make sure I was sure about the decision,” she says. “I’ve been doing it my whole life. If not professionally, working toward becoming a professional. It’s a big change.

“If you’re going to be a professional ballet dancer, you have to be so dedicated. It takes so much time and energy and passion. And not just physically. Mentally, too. And emotionally. Because you put your whole self into it. I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot lately because I’m getting closer to the end; I think it’s going to be a challenge figuring out how to function as not a ballet dancer. I think I’ll still want to take ballet classes to keep in shape. It’s all I’ve really known as an adult.”

THE NEXT CHAPTER

copenhagen imports

Hulland says she’d like to take some time off to concentrate on being a mother, but ultimately she would like to contribute her knowledge to the next generation.

Barbieri, who made the same transition decades ago, can relate.

Barbieri says she had some fanciful ideas about what she wanted to do in retirement before she decided she wanted to stay around ballet.

“I had this idea where we’d get a house in the country,” she says. “I was going to grow my own vegetables

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Photo courtesy of Frank Atura

and have a restaurant so I could use all those vegetables. And then I was going to have an antique shop. I was combining all my hobbies into one.

I was going to have this place where all my friends would come for lunch and dinner and to buy their antiques.

But when it came time to the actual crunch, I realized I had absolutely nil experience in this and I’d better do something that I knew about.”

The final program of Hulland’s career is part of her full circle.

She performed in Elite Syncopations — the final act of the “Serendipitous Movement” program — during her first season with Sarasota Ballet. She was a member of the corps de ballet then, but now she’s a leading lady for the final time.

And so there she was, just last week, touched by her final rehearsals with Rhodes, with whom she’s spent her entire career.

“It takes so much time and energy and passion. And not just physically, mentally too. And emotionally. Because you put your whole self into it.”

— Victoria Hulland

And there was her daughter, just days ago, watching as she danced.

“I’m dancing with my friend and partner for many years,” she says.

“We didn’t even start dancing yet.

The music started playing, and I was tearing up. This has been such a huge part of my life and so many amazing memories. My best friends. That’s

HELLO SPRING. HELLO SAVINGS.

why I keep saying the company has become my family. I’m going to miss the dancing and the performing, but I’m going to miss the people so much.”

For Barbieri, looking on, it was an out-of-body experience.

Here she was, watching her dancers prepare, and she couldn’t take her eyes off of Hulland’s daughter.

Barbieri just wanted to savor the moment; she wanted it to last forever, and she doesn’t want to ever let go of the affection she has for Hulland.

“I get a bit tearful when I talk about this; yesterday Victoria brought in her daughter to watch, and that was so adorable,” she says. “She was mesmerized watching her mom do this pas de deux, which was very moving. We were all in tears.

“I wasn’t even watching you in that second run. I was watching her.”

Victoria Hulland has long been a center of attention in the Sarasota Ballet.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

SUNDAY

THIS WEEK

A TRIBUTE TO BARBRA 7:30 p.m. at Jervey Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Ave., Venice $38 Visit VeniceTheatre.org.

Memories. They light the corners of your mind. Sharon Owens is going to jog your subconscious as she takes you through the best of Barbra Streisand all in the course of a couple hours. Runs through Monday.

LAUGHING MATTERS 3 and 8 p.m. at John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 First. St. $36 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

The hit musical sketch comedy show is back for its sixth edition, and the performers have a lot of topical humor to share with Sarasota residents and guests alike. The show is inspired by the culture and politics of today’s world and takes on broad targets in the interest of making the largest amount of people laugh.

MONDAY

OUR PICK

CUBAN PROJECT: HISTORIAS It’s a story Leymis Bolaños Wilmott has been waiting her entire life to tell. Bolaños Wilmott, the artistic director of Sarasota Contemporary Dance, is taking on the weighty topics of immigration and family memory in Cuban Project: Historias. The dancer and choreographer is interpreting the tales of her parents and countless other Cuban-Americans who emigrated to the United States as part of Operacion Pedro Pan in the 1960s.

IF YOU GO When: 7 p.m. April 28, 29 and 30; 2 p.m. May 1 Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $10-$45 Info: SarasotaContemporaryDance.org.

Virtuoso pianist Antonio Chen Guang will tickle the ivories at 7 p.m. Saturday at State College of Florida.

FRIDAY

‘ANDARES (PATHWAYS)’ BY MAKUYEIKA COLLECTIVE TEATRAL 7:30 p.m. at Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road $25-$35 Visit Ringling.org.

‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST JR.’ 7 p.m. at Studio 1130, Crossings at Siesta Key, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail $15 Visit ThePlayers.org.

Settle in for a dramatic work in the Spanish language. The Ringling welcomes the Makuyeika Collective Teatral, which is dedicated to presenting original works inspired by the narratives of Mexico’s indigenous people, for a play that shines a spotlight on life in the country’s most-remote areas. Runs through Saturday.

‘TITANIC: THE MUSICAL’ 7:30 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W. $30-$38 ManateePerformingArtsCenter.org.

Antonio Chen Guang has won several awards, including the Scriabin Prize and the Rome Prize, and was named winner in the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition.

The talented pianist will be the first act in State College of Florida’s Pianopalooza series in April and May.

Support the actors of tomorrow as The Players Kids Next Gen presents “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” The talented young performers will hit all the notes in the beloved classic.

If you can’t make the Friday performance, there are also showings at 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday.

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You’ll need to download an app before you go, but once you arrive, you’ll be treated to an exhibition of contemporary artworks created with augmented reality. Several modern masters, including Ai Weiwei and Refik Anadol, have pieces in the exhibition. Seeing the Invisible has been ongoing since last September but has only a few months left before it wraps up in August.

TUESDAY IMAGES OF DANCE 7 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. $25-$45; children $10 Visit SarasotaBallet.org.

The Sarasota Ballet Studio Company and the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory are teaming up to stage their annual celebration of dance. Music from Mozart and Vivaldi, among others, will serve as the backdrop, and choreography

by Arcadian Broad, Richard House, Emelia Perkins and Lindsay Fischer will provide the structure.

THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE 3 and 8 p.m. at Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First. St. $36 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org Elvis has entered the building. Come on down for this play about a struggling Elvis impersonator who learns he might have to expand his horizons to continue in show business.

Runs through May 22.

PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG 7 p.m. at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court $10-$12 Visit WSLR.org/Fogartyville Celebrate the late Pete Seeger’s birthday with musician Robert Killian and a screening of a documentary

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OUR SHOWROOMS ARE OPEN Special Financing Available

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THURSDAY

SEEING THE INVISIBLE 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point, 337 N. Tamiami Trail, Osprey Free with museum admission Visit Selby.org

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DOWNTOWN SARASOTA

DON’T MISS

SERENDIPITOUS MOVEMENT The Sarasota Ballet closes out its season with Serendipitous Movement, which will feature programs set to the music of Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Scott Joplin.

The show will also feature the final performances of longtime principal dancer Victoria Hulland, who joined the company in 2007 and will retire at the close of the season.

The first ballet of the evening, “Serenade,” is choreographed by the late, great George Balanchine.

The second ballet, “The Letter V,” marks the first time that the Sarasota Ballet has performed a Mark Morris choreography number. And the final ballet on the bill, “Elite Syncopations,” is a Kenneth MacMillan routine that hasn’t been performed locally since Hulland’s first season with the company.

IF YOU GO When: 7:30 p.m. April 29; 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 30 Where: Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. Tickets: $35-$115 Info: SarasotaBallet.org

humorous and heartfelt, all centered on park benches, bus stops and the like. The play is directed by Rebecca Holahan. Runs through May 5.

WEDNESDAY

Boz Skaggs is coming to town for one night only. Skaggs was an early member of the Steve Miller Band, and he’s been touring and releasing music as a solo act for five decades.

The gifted guitarist shines on rock, jazz and blues music, and his mostrecent album, “Out of the Blues,” was released in 2018.

‘MURDER AT THE JUICE JOINT’ PRESENTED BY DRAMATURE Florida Cultural Group 5 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave., Bradenton $12 Visit ManateePerformingArtsCenter. org.

It’s another whodunit, but this one is based in the Prohibition era of the Roaring Twenties. Can you solve the mystery before the final curtain? Let your imagination be judge and jury.

And you won’t just be part of the audience; you’ll be part of the show.

Audience members are strongly encouraged to wear a costume.

PINKY’S PLAYERS PRESENT ‘GREAT STORIES WELL PLAYED ON A BENCH’ 7:30 p.m. at Jervey Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Ave., Venice $20 Visit VeniceTheatre.org.

The bench is the conceit here, and the cast of this variety show will take you through stories alternately

Friday, May 6th from 5-8pm

BOZ SKAGGS 8 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 7777 N. Tamiami Trail $52-$87 Visit VanWezel.org.

COME FOR SOME GREAT ENTERTAINMENT! Merchants will be staying open to welcome you with refreshments. Plus FIRE THROWERS, STILT WALKERS, CARICATURE ARTIST, and as always LIVE MUSIC THROUGHOUT!

WBTT NEW PLAYWRIGHT SERIES 7:30 p.m. at Donelly Theatre, 1012 N. Orange Ave. $47, $20 student or active military Visit WestcoastBlackTheatre.org.

Presented by Downtown SRQ Enrichment Association DestinationDowntownSarasota.com @DestinationDowntownSarasota

It’s the world premiere of two oneact plays — “From Birmingham to Broadway” and “Float Like a Butterfly” — at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. “From Birmingham to Broadway,” by Tarra Connor Jones, centers on the talent and drive of Nell Carter, and the second, written by Nate and Michael Jacobs, is based on the tumultuous life of Muhammad Ali. The pair of plays will be in preview performances until May 8, then continue as regular shows until May 29.

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centered on the folk giant’s life and times. The venerable rabble-rouser passed away at the age of 94 in 2014, but the causes he fought for and believed in are still topical in contemporary society. Seeger won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment of the Arts.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Spencer Fordin

Aleshea Harris saw her work “Is God Is” win four Obie Awards and is excited to keep cranking out original plays.

Sarasota set the stage One year after accepting the Hermitage Greenfield Prize, award-winning playwright Aleshea Harris returns to Sarasota with success under her belt.

SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR

T

he Aleshea Harris experience is pinned on full throttle and pointed toward the heavens.

The award-winning playwright returned to the scene of a great triumph on April 8, when she held a speaking event at New College on behalf of the Hermitage Artist

Retreat. Harris, the recipient of the 2021 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, was in town to speak about how her life has changed in the past year.

And boy, did it change.

Harris has seen her plays staged in New York and London, and last week her work was nominated for five Lortel Awards.

At her core, Harris is still the same playwright she was last year when she arrived in Sarasota. But now she’s armed with perspective.

“You’re your own cheerleader.

You have to absolutely feel like, ‘This must be in the world,’ in order to do it,” she said. “The most important thing is the love. Don’t try to write some stuff you don’t care about.”

Harris was speaking in a moderated discussion with Andy Sandberg, the artistic director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and

she provided a generous window into her process.

Harris said her main artistic influences growing up were novelists Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, and she also said she looked up to playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Harris said she thinks in snapshot images, and she hopes to one day pen a graphic novel.

But for now, it’s her stage pieces that are in demand, and Harris is enjoying the ride.

Her play “What to Send Up When It Goes Down” showed at multiple venues in New York last year, and she also went to London for a performance of her work “Is God Is” at the Royal Court Theatre. The two works are very different, she says, in that one requires audience participation before settling into a more familiar rhythm. “What to Send Up When It Goes Down,” says Harris, is a ritual

3 May 2022 Sarasota Opera House

response for when Black people are killed due to racial violence.

“It begins with a series of prompts: ‘Have you ever heard anybody say anything racist about Black people?’

If so, you self-identify,” she says. “‘Are you yourself a Black person who has experienced racism?’

“And these prompts sort of escalate to talking about police violence, and then it moves into a more traditional piece of theater where the audience is seated, and they sort of play out these poetic riffs on these experiences.”

Harris says that the greatest compliment to her work is when people say that her plays are all different.

There’s nothing stopping her, she muses, from writing 10 different plays about rituals.

The world is such that there’s no shortage of opportunities for her to write and comment publicly about race relations, but she says she comes to her work from a place of joy.

“I have to write from a place of need. What I need right now is to remind myself that I don’t have to write about race unless I want to,” she says pointedly. “I think people forget that it isn’t necessarily joyous for me to sit around and think about all the horrible things that happen to Black people because they’re Black people.

The flip side of that is, of course, if I want to on my own terms — which aren’t going to be normative terms, because I’m not on page two of antiBlackness; I’m on like page 2,022 — then I want to be able to do it.”

Harris said that her experience in London was notable in that the initial production of “Is God Is” had been postponed due to the pandemic.

But while she was there, she felt out of place because she was the only one in the room wearing a mask.

From there, she came home and participated in another production of “What to Send Up When It Goes Down” at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons. All the while, her newest work, “On Sugarland,” is receiving its own kudos, and she revealed Friday that her newest work is actually her oldest.

Harris said she began writing “On Sugarland” nine years ago.

And just a day before her Hermitage event, it was announced that the play had been nominated for five Lortel Awards, including Out-

standing Play. All of her works, says Harris, have been composed in near proximity to one another. “‘What to Send Up When it Goes Down’ went up first because I wrote and directed that myself,” she says.

“There are super-early versions that are different to what actually ended up in New York. That actually had a life in California, which is where I live, way before New York. A lot of people don’t know that, but it sort of got its teeth by being mounted in whatever shape it was in back in California. ‘Is God Is’ won an award and went up at Soho Rep (on OffBroadway). … People think that was my first one, but actually it’s newer than the others. ‘On Sugarland,’ it’s wild to think about having started that when I was nine years younger.

I was a different person.”

Sandberg, at one point in the discussion, asked Harris about her relationship with director Whitney White, who has helped her bring both “What to Send Up When It Goes Down” and “On Sugarland” to the stage. At first, Harris says, it was nerve-wracking to think of having a collaborator because she is intensely individual and likes to have a lot of input into staging her work.

But after meeting and having conversations with White, they settled into a natural partnership.

“I was just really impressed by her enthusiasm, her intelligence and her readiness to get down and dirty with the play,” she says. “I was super excited that she was down to traipse in a land she hadn’t visited before.

That’s how we met, and we had a really great time with that work.

People responded really strongly to it, and I think she and I both learned some tremendous things from one another through that work.

Harris says that she doesn’t want to have a lot of back-and-forth about the dialogue as it’s written.

“I’m very closed in my process,” she says. “I don’t want too many extraneous ideas in my brain. I know that other people can thrive on that.

It just depends on who you are as an artist, but I find I want to protect the work until I’m ready to show it and believe enough in it that I can hear whatever people have to say.”

SHOP + SARASOTA ART MUSEUM PRESENTS

puzzlelicious Featuring The Sarasota Ballet Studio Company & The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory

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Punchlines that don’t punch down The hard work of penning a musical sketch comedy show takes longer than you might imagine.

IF YOU GO

‘LAUGHING MATTERS, VARIANT 6: PARANOIA ON PARADE’ When: Runs through June 12 Where: Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. Tickets: $34-$39 Info: FloridaStudioTheatre.org

SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR

wedge several funny people into the same room, that’s when the show really begins to take shape. Durham says that the team aimed to have its first draft done by Thanksgiving and had a rehearsal draft done at some point in December.

The cast doesn’t arrive until January, when the team is still shaping the show. Durham estimated that as many as 16 songs got cut from the final version.

Why does it work that way?

Because the world changes, and so do the things that make people laugh.

“We have new segments throughout, but there was a joke about the Russia-Ukraine situation,” says Durham . “At the time we wrote it, it was still just conversations. Then, when it actually went into turmoil, we were like, ‘We should redo that line.’

And that was a week or two after having opened. We took that joke in a completely different direction.

When we started writing this show, we had ideas like, ‘COVID’s finally gone away.’ And then we’re getting a little farther along and we were like, ‘COVID’s not going anywhere.’

Those things had to be rewritten months before we got into rehearsal.”

Hopkins noted that it is rare for things to change once the show begins; she says another line about audience members needing masks needed to be edited because the theater’s mask policy changed.

But this isn’t an improv show, and Hopkins wants it to run as written.

“It’s not encapsulating this week,” she says. “It’s encapsulating this time period. We want it to have a life.

It’s a full-fledged production. It has sets, and it has costumes. It’s not the kind of sketch thing where we’re just throwing things up.”

Sometimes events change and make things less funny, and sometimes the world changes so a line isn’t factually correct.

But often times, says Allen, the script will change because a line doesn’t resonate with the cast.

“Once you get the cast in the room, the cast responds to the material differently, and the way they interpret it may not exactly match what you’re looking for,” he says. “We may have

Photos courtesy of Florida Studio Theatre

Above: FST writers Rebecca Hopkins, Jim Prosser, Sarah Durham and Kevin Allen know how to find the funny.

Left: Nick Anastasia, Jenna Cormey and Richie McCall — along with William Selby, not pictured — are tasked with converting the script into laughs.

something that’s a banger in concept that we think is hilarious, and the cast doesn’t really connect to it. ... That’s where you as a writer have to check your ego at the door.

“We’re creating something for this community and really challenging them in a lot of ways.”

Some topics in Sarasota are easier than others to extract comedy from.

You don’t have to worry about political implications when you’re joking about traffic or snowbird season.

But how do the writers address political humor without making people upset in the process?

They do it by looking for the universal thing we can all accept and understand. They aren’t looking to pit citizen against citizen by picking

at their political ideologies in public.

“They make fun of what we all agree on,” says Hopkins of sketches needling Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden. “It’s not so much about the individual policies as much as it’s about the personalities that are behind those policies.

“It’s a little bit of a trick because no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, in the DeSantis piece and the Biden piece, you can interpret it to be on your side. ... I’ve had multiple people tell me that DeSantis should use the song as his campaign song.”

Allen, who wrote the DeSantis song, loves the dichotomy in people’s reactions.

“I’ve had people that are proDeSantis come up to me and say, ‘I

love what you did with that song,’” he says. “And people who are totally against him who are like, ‘I love how you guys went after him with that piece.’ That’s one of the really cool moments I’ve had as a writer.”

After all the months and all the meetings to put the script together, what’s it like waiting to see how the jokes land? For Durham, it’s still nerve-wracking. She says that the writers stood on the balcony watching the audience at the first full dress rehearsal, and immediately they could tell where certain tables lined up due to their body language.

“I still get nervous every time seeing if my jokes are going to land,” she says. “We call them ‘civilian audiences’ early in the process. We know what’s landing and what’s not landing. But a joke can land so well one night, and the next night it doesn’t land. ...Someone told me once: ‘Anybody can make somebody sad.

Anybody can make somebody angry.

But to actually make someone laugh is the hardest thing to do.’”

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Y

ou might think that a musical sketch comedy show is written by the seat of its pants.

You’d be wrong.

The writing staff of Florida Studio Theatre’s “Laughing Matters” series labors for a year to gather comedic material, sharpen it and make sure it doesn’t play favorites.

They want as many laughs as possible, but they also want balance.

The last thing a comedic writing team wants is to take easy shots at targets that might alienate members of the audience. At the same time, they want you to laugh, even if it means laughing at yourself.

That’s one of the most difficult lines to walk in a time of political polarization, but head writer Rebecca Hopkins says that challenge is really the whole point of the show.

“We really came back to this show because we see the divisiveness,” she says. “It was a big challenge to make sure we didn’t feed into that, that we did something to bring the community together and remind people that you like your neighbor. We can all laugh about this stuff, and that’s probably going to be the way we’ll find our way through it. Everybody thinks things have never been as bad as they are now, but people have been saying that forever.”

Hopkins, the managing director of FST, has been milking laughs out of current events forever. The last version of “Laughing Matters, Variant 5,” played in 2016. That means Hopkins and her writers are charged with taking the world of the past few years, framing it in a Sarasota-centric light and mining it for laughs.

“We really started at the end of the summer,” says Hopkins. “It stops and starts because we’re producing so many things here at the theater. This time last year, I committed to doing it and started thinking about it. In the summer, Sarah (Durham) and I first started working on it together.

Then Jim Prosser got involved. Kevin (Allen) came in early in the process.

And it kind of goes along for a while.”

The show, which began in February, takes a whole NASCAR pit crew to write. Hopkins, Prosser, Durham and Allen had their roles, as did Stephan deGhelder, Tony Hendricks and Nick Santa Maria. And when you

YOUROBSERVER.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Above: Event chairs Bob and Cathy Bray with Gabrielle and Ethan Bray Right: Brent Greeno and Gana Gilkey Photos by Harry Sayer

Above: Development Director Mary Jo Heider and President Dr. Sara Grivetti Left: Kameron Hodgens and Robyn Faucy

CAUSE 4 HOPE GALA Saturday, April 23, at Michael’s On East | Benefiting Neuro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson’s

N

euro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson’s signature gala returned to Michael’s On East on April 23.

The annual Cause 4 Hope gala brought an air of elegance and goodwill to Michael’s On East, where hundreds of supporters met to support the nonprofit’s education and support programs for people with Parkinson’s, their families and caregivers.

The program started with emcee Bill Menish welcoming board Chair Brad Bryan, who thanked attendees and sponsors. He then passed

off to event chairs Cathy and Bob Bray. The live auction followed, where guests bid on a number of gifts, including a three-hour cruise on a Gold Eagle yacht, a trip to Ireland and more. Guests also heard from Neuro Challenge CEO Dr. Sara Grivetti.

The night featured keynote speaker Kirk Gibson, a renowned Major League Baseball player.

Gibson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015 and has since raised awareness and funding for research into the disease.

Above: Bryan Mayer, Kylie Menish and emcee Bill Menish Left: Nathan Seepaulsing and Nicole Peet Right: Jeremy and Alysha Shelby

—HARRY SAYER

941-306-1202 ArtistSeriesConcerts.org

Stars on the Rise Building on our Legacy

ANTONIO CHEN GUANG, piano

Saturday, April 30 • 7:00 pm • State College of Florida Recital Hall “A pianist of outstanding talent, with a very fine musical sense and extraordinary technical capacity.” – Paul Badura-Skoda

YING LI, piano

Thursday, May 5 • 4:00 pm • Church of the Palms Twenty-three-year-old phenom Ying Li is joined by Daniel Jordan, violin; Matthew Albert, violin; Rachel Halvorson, viola; Natalie Helm, cello; and John Miller, double bass.

VIENESS PIANO DUO

Sunday, May 8 • 3:00 pm • State College of Florida Recital Hall An electric, captivating performance covering a wide range of repertoire

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SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022 | 11:30 AM

This project is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture (Section 286.25, Florida Statutes).

ON THE AVIVA CAMPUS

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Sunday, May 22 • 3:00 pm • Historic Asolo Theater Bandoneón-piano duo Ben & Winnie, along with tango superstars Fernanda Ghi and Silvio Grand, present the romance and drama of tango.

For sponsorship opportunities and tickets, please contact Monica Caldwell: 941-724-8804 or mcaldwell@avivaseniorlife.org

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Left: Renee Biehl and Elly Garner Below: Vicky Herman, Karen Joseph and Karen Quick

21

Left: Chef Jamil Pineda prepares the food and drink.

Below: Doug Gowens, Jana Marie Gowens, Paige and Brennan McCarthy

Photos by Harry Sayer

Above: CEO Andria Bilan and event Chairwoman Traci Smullen Below: Board Chair Ed Scharf

Interactive Dinner Tuesday, April 19, at Michael’s On East | Benefiting Josh Provides

T

he JoshProvides nonprofit made a meal out of its Interactive Dinner at Michael’s On East on April 19.

The fourth-annual Interactive Dinner gathered hundreds of supporters of the nonprofit, which assists those living with epilepsy and seizure disorders as well as their families.

The night’s program featured a lively and involved dinner led by Michael’s On East staff that had the crowd cooking up dishes for their tables throughout the evening.

— HARRY SAYER Meme, Chase and Jeff Signore

Bob Lewandowski and Jennifer Vigner prepare for their table.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Corinthian Society Dinner Wednesday, April 20, at Michael’s On East | Benefiting Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation

T

he Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation (SMHF) paid tribute to its top supporters with its Corinthian Society Dinner on April 20.

The annual dinner returned after nearly two years away with more than 300 of the health nonprofit’s members and donors meeting at Michael’s On East. The Corinthian Society comprises the people who have donated more than $25,000

to the SMHF. Board of trustees Chair Deb Kabinoff and Northern Trust market leader Paul Hudson gave the opening welcome before SMH President and CEO David Verinder and SMHF President Mason Ayers gave updates on the hospital and foundation, respectively.

A number of trustees, honorees, patrons and Legacy Society members were then given awards.

Board of trustees Chair Deb Kabinoff starts off the program.

—HARRY SAYER

Photos by Harry Sayer

Above: A number of honorees were presented awards at the event. Below: Richard Johnson and Deborah Kalb

Above: Northern Trust market leader Paul Hudson addresses the crowd.

Left: Michelle and Frank Morgan

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APRIL 28, 2022

YOUR NEIGHBORS SO, WHAT DID YOU LEARN? We asked visitors to Longboat Island Chapel’s Earth Day Walks and Talks to share a fun fact with us:

Photos by Nat Kaemmerer

Keith and Kay Tschannen: Gopher turtles burrow down 25 feet into the ground, and scientists use cameras to check on them and see what’s in the burrows.

Above: Longboat Key Turtle Watch volunteers Jeff Driver, Tim Thurman, Kim Maddox and Terri Driver staff the table. Below: Mike Scanlon hoists a turtle shell at the LBKTW table.

Walking and talking about the Earth NAT KAEMMERER STAFF WRITER

D

id you know that sharks’ teeth stay sharp after they die, that olive shells are some of the most-common shells found on Longboat Key, or that seagrasses are starting to recolonize in Sarasota Bay thanks to the efforts of clams? If you didn’t, you might have learned one of these fun facts at Longboat Island Chapel’s second-annual Earth Day Walks and Talks event.

Like last year’s inaugural event, the exhibitor-led occasion was held April 22, Earth Day. “A lot of people really care,” said Sabrina Cummings, environmental programs coordinator of the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast. “Earth Day is one of those days where people have hope for the environment.”

Dozens of people strolled through the chapel’s garden campus, taking in presentations from 15 local organizations including Save Our Seabirds, All Clams on Deck, Florida Forest Service, Wildlife Inc., Florida Mari-

time Museum and more. Last year was the first edition of the Earth Day event and drew dozens to the chapel to learn about what environmental programs do for the local area.

“We added more exhibits, and the food truck has been a big draw,” volunteer Karen Pashkow said. “We can tell just from the cars in the parking lot that there’s more people here this year.”

Ingrid McClellan and Joan Partridge organized the event for the chapel and wanted to focus on bringing in more exhibitors. All Clams on Deck, which focuses on restoring estuaries and clam populations to stimulate seagrass growth, was a new one that McClellan was excited to hear from.

The organizers also wanted to focus on water quality after hearing about manatees on the state’s east coast dying from lack of seagrass.

“We want to focus on talks about water. We asked Sarasota Bay Watch to test our water quality (behind the chapel) to see if Millar Bay could support clams,” McClellan said.

Though the event brought in a lot of new people, it also brought some repeat visitors back from last year.

Irina LaRose, who owns Design 2000 in Whitney Beach Plaza, helped get her neighbor, Ultra-Yacht, involved this year. The boating and supply store also sells and charters electric boats, and captain Bob Lopez piloted one example over to the chapel

to showcase the environmentally friendly vessel.

“It was cool to learn about things we can actually do as individuals, like using electric boats, and I learned about new organizations this year, too,” LaRose said.

Exhibitors were poised and ready to provide information about their organizations, like the town of Longboat Key’s code enforcement officer Chris Kopp, who showed attendees examples of turtle-safe lighting.

Wildlife Inc. brought Athena the “spokes-bird” to educate attendees about the dangers of rat poison.

Athena lost her mother and siblings to rat poison and has eye trouble from eating an animal that had rat poison in its system.

Despite some of the thornier examples of humanity’s relationship with nature, the day turned out to be

Yolanda and Charlie Turner: The leathery, black objects they’ve seen on the beaches are stingray egg cases, often called mermaid’s purses.

a positive experience for attendees.

Dozens attended Sarasota Bay Estuary Program’s Executive Director Dave Tomasko’s keynote discussion about the current conditions of Sarasota Bay and how to work for a cleaner future. As the day wound down, a few attendees continued to visit tables.

“We totally enjoyed it,” visitor Yolanda Turner said. “The people at the tables were all so enthusiastic and smart.”

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More guests and organizations were present this year, and talks were more focused on water quality.

David Driscoll: The names of shells he sees on the beaches so often, like olive shells, turkey wings and cats paws.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

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Above: Dave Bishop and Fred Wilson head back to their table. Below: The Maine Line serves up lobster rolls.

Photos by Nat Kaemmerer

Jinx and Hank Kochan direct traffic for the party.

Top: The Rev. Dave Marshall made the rounds to talk with attendees such as C.J. and Katzy Nager. Above: Beverly Henry, Natalie Davis, Brian Davis and Cindy Brown head to the Maine Line.

The new thing is the Spring Fling T he Spring Fling is the new thing at All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church. The congregation got together outside of the Bay Isles Road church on April 21, accompanied by lawn games and the Maine Line food truck.

To get ready for the first-time event, the Rev. Dave Marshall and members of the church pulled tables and chairs from the parish hall, blocked off the end of the road and got the party started. Because most of their snowbirds have flown back north already, the goal was largely to introduce the church’s many new members to one another. When Marshall looked out at the groups that had cropped up around the get-together, he noticed many people getting to know new faces.

“We just wanted to have a party,” Marshall said.

“We’re not fundraising or anything. We’re just funraising.”

More than 50 members attended the party, and although most people spent the time mingling and chatting, a few took the opportunity to try their hand at lawn games. The summer classic cornhole drew Elijah Marshall and Ed Upshaw, who were locked in a fierce battle.

Above: Elijah Marshall tosses a cornhole bag as Ed Upshaw looks on.

Left: Carolyn and Don Judd head to the party.

—NAT KAEMMERER

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2067 H A R BOUR LINKS DR I V E, #4 L on g b o a t K e y | O f f e re d a t $ 7 79, 0 0 0 MLS# A4178487

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Photos by Nat Kaemmerer

Co-Chair Hannah Weinberg and Diane Patrone, who was in the second-place net quartet

Eileen Merchant, Julie Henry, Jill Anderson, Amy Price, Marcelle Landry and Donna Troendle toast to another successful season.

Above: Pat Anderson and Zoey Zakovec make their way to their table.

Below: In keeping with the spring season, tables were decorated with flowers.

Above: Katherine Martucci and Susan Coyne discussed the round that day. Below: Lori Brochin and Pam Crowe stay out of the bright sun just a bit longer.

Goodbye fore now, ladies G

olfers arrived at the Longboat Key Club’s Harbourside Dining Room on April 19 expecting an indoor luncheon, but when they walked into the empty dining room, they quickly found that event organizers for the Key Niners’ closing luncheon had moved everyone outdoors.

The women’s nine-hole golf association will hang up their golf shoes and cover up their clubs for the season after April 19.

They took to the course one more time, and the quartet of Noreen Ackerman, Pam Crowe, Deborah Gardner and Lori Brochin won the first gross.

About 50 golfers attended the luncheon, which for some was the last social event of the season. The clubs are put away and the members will put aside their friendly competition until October, when they meet again. Attendees mingled and shared post-season travel plans with friends or made plans to get together for one more round before leaving. After lunch, the committee received gifts from their members.

—NAT KAEMMERER

About 50 golfers came to the luncheon.

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27

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

REID MURPHY PRESENTS

LUXURY ON THE WATER BUYING or SELLING Call Reid for a successful real estate experience!

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New resort-style estate now under construction on Longboat Key. Home + Guesthouse w/100’ of frontage on rare 1+ acre. 10,400 sf of A/C + 2,850 sf of decks & patios w/ Spa & fitness, 60 ft. lap-pool and eight car garage.

$17,900,000

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LONGBOAT KEY BAYFRONT ESTATE

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LONGBOAT KEY CUSTOM HOME

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LONGBOAT KEY UNIQUE BAYFRONT

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Best views on Longboat Key. 6,000 sf, 4 en-suite bedrooms + 5th den/bedroom. Bruce Saba luxury built with panoramic views & pool at treetop level.

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

SARASOTA 1423 Hillview Drive 6 Beds 7/2 Baths 11,588 Sq. Ft. Linda Driggs & Kim Ogilvie 941-374-2920 A4525534 $21,600,000

SIESTA KEY 7108 Midnight Pass Road 6 Beds 5 Baths 4,697 Sq. Ft. Stephen Weeks & Jeff Hinrichs 941-504-3689 A4523915 $4,950,000

ANNA MARIA ISLAND 820 N Shore Drive 4 Beds 4/1 Baths 3,953 Sq. Ft. Kathy Harman 941-900-9828 A4524887 $4,350,000

ENGLEWOOD 6860 Manasota Key Road 4 Beds 3/1 Baths 3,867 Sq. Ft. Maryann Casey 941-468-3741 D6124931 $3,475,000

SIESTA KEY 615 Waterside Way 4 Beds 3 Baths 4,211 Sq. Ft. Ethel Lovelace & Mina Johnson 941-586-7390 A4529531 $3,200,000

SIESTA KEY 472 Island Circle 4 Beds 3/2 Baths 3,339 Sq. Ft. Lenore Treiman 941-356-9642 A4526972 $2,995,000

SARASOTA 650 Golden Gate Point 302 2 Beds 2/1 Baths 1,949 Sq. Ft. Dana Westmark 941-356-5091 A4531159 $2,900,000

SARASOTA The Ritz-Carlton Tower Residences, 603 3 Beds 3 Baths 2,990 Sq. Ft. Joan Dickinson & Beth Afflebach 941-914-0496 A4529059 $2,750,000

SARASOTA 1846 Datura Street 4 Beds 3/2 Baths 3,332 Sq. Ft. Michael Hays 941-376-1826 A4531555 $2,550,000

ANNA MARIA 822 N Shore Drive 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,840 Sq. Ft. Ken Kavanaugh, Jr 941-799-1943 A4529310 $2,350,000

SIESTA KEY 6326 Midnight Pass Road 508 3 Beds 3 Baths 2,318 Sq. Ft. Karen Chandler 941-544-4919 A4523199 $2,159,000

LONGBOAT KEY 1145 Gulf Of Mexico Drive 401 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,172 Sq. Ft. Ian Addy, PA & Gail Wittig, LLC 941-961-8850 A4530559 $1,599,000

SIESTA KEY 6146 Midnight Pass Road 10S 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,204 Sq. Ft. Marlene & George Marshall 941-539-8850 A4527968 $1,500,000

LONGBOAT KEY 775 Longboat Club Road 906 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,524 Sq. Ft. Lenore Treiman 941-356-9642 A4527843 $1,299,000

LONGBOAT KEY 4401 Gulf Of Mexico Drive 702 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,013 Sq. Ft. Tony Boothby 941-799-1948 A4531435 $1,250,000

SIESTA KEY 5920 Midnight Pass Road 304TOW 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,234 Sq. Ft. Rudy Dudon 941-234-3991 A4528197 $1,225,000

SIESTA KEY 6140 Midnight Pass Road 502 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,521 Sq. Ft. Barbara Dumbaugh & Victoria Lear 941-951-6660 A4532193 $1,200,000

SIESTA KEY 6480 Midnight Pass Road 315 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,265 Sq. Ft. Denise Mei 941-685-3198 A4527710 $1,150,000

LONGBOAT KEY 1926 Harbourside Drive 1304 3 Beds 3 Baths 2,135 Sq. Ft. Cindy Fischer & Mark J Baron 941-465-1124 A4528490 $1,145,000

LONGBOAT KEY 4311 Gulf Of Mexico Drive 401 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,293 Sq. Ft. Victoria Lear 941-350-1064 A4522542 $1,100,000

SIESTA KEY 5760 Midnight Pass Road 404D 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,361 Sq. Ft. Joseph McDonald 941-375-9646 A4531860 $1,100,000

LONGBOAT KEY 4600 Gulf Of Mexico Drive 205 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,312 Sq. Ft. Ann Martin & Joanna Benante & Joanna Benante 941-356-7717 A4529849 $875,000

SIESTA KEY 6236 Midnight Pass Road 107 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,150 Sq. Ft. Tara Lamb & Judy Greene 941-266-4873 A4528175 $849,000

SARASOTA 707 S Gulfstream Avenue 207 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,247 Sq. Ft. Marybeth Flynn 941-704-1477 A4526957 $795,000

SIESTA KEY 5855 Midnight Pass Road 121 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,156 Sq. Ft. Kaitlin Kuhn 941-400-7861 A4530368 $759,000

ST. ARMANDS KEY 66 N Washington Drive 4 Beds 3/1 Baths 4,983 Sq. Ft. Kristina Waskom 941-266-8658 A4519666 $10,900,000

SIESTA KEY 7722 Sanderling Road 2 Beds 3 Baths 2,580 Sq. Ft. Brian Loebker 941-735-4393 A4527041 $9,000,000

BRADENTON 5708 Inspiration Terrace 4 Beds 5/1 Baths 6,326 Sq. Ft. Fran DeDona & Pam Goodwin 941-812-5023 A4528037 $4,995,000

888.552.5228 | MICHAELSAUNDERS.COM

373728-1

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LONGBOAT OBSERVER

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

REAL ESTATE

L’Ambiance unit sells for $4.65 million

|

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

APRIL 11-15

ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR

A

condominium in L’Ambiance at Longboat Key Club tops all transactions in this week’s real estate. Terence Bingham sold his Unit G-201 condominium at 435 L’Ambiance Drive to Steven and Susan Bloch, of Highland Park, Illinois, for $4.65 million. Built in 1994, it has three bedrooms, threeand-two-half baths and 3,220 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,072,600 in 1994.

BAY ISLES

David Michael, of Harlow, England, sold his home at 3160 Bayou Sound to Stephen Price Wayne Barnes, trustee, of Longboat Key, for $1.57 million. Built in 1989, it has three bedrooms, two-and-two-half baths, a pool and 2,593 square feet of living area. It sold for $455,000 in 1993.

BEACHPLACE

Gail Russell, of Longboat Key, sold her Unit 403 condominium at 1115 Gulf of Mexico Drive to John Greenberg, of Ontario, Canada, for $1.2 million. Built in 1979, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,503 square feet of living area. It sold for $585,000 in 2020.

INN ON THE BEACH

Mark Sol Eisner, of Tampa, sold his Unit 6203 condominium at 225 Sands Point Road to William and Valerie Bartkus, of Tomball, Texas, for $675,000. Built in 1983, it has

File photo

Built in 1994, Unit 201 of L’Ambiance at Longboat Key Club has three bedrooms, three-and-two-half baths and 3,220 square feet of living area.

one bedroom, one bath and 642 square feet of living area. It sold for $290,000 in 2004.

in 1991, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,440 square feet of living area. It sold for $395,000 in 2018.

WINDWARD BAY

FIRST LONGBOAT HARBOUR

Paul Kutasovic and Theresa Nardi, of Huntington, New York, sold their Unit 303 condominium at 4500 Gulf of Mexico Drive to Douglas and Laura Marty, of Longboat Key, for $650,000. Built in 1975, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,312 square feet of living area. It sold for $250,000 in 2013.

CEDAR’S EAST

Larry Marion and Leslie Eisenberg, trustees, of Longboat Key, sold the Unit 34 condominium at 847 Evergreen Way to Mevzad and Kelly Durakovic, of Lynnfield, Massachusetts, for $615,000. Built

Evan and Marilyn Merenstein, of Pittsburgh, sold their Unit 302 condominium at 4360 Chatham Drive to Sarah Casey, trustee, of Longboat Key, for $525,000. Built in 1969, ithas two bedrooms, one bath and 928 square feet of living area. It sold for $281,500 in 2004.

PELICAN GARDENS

Patricia Hamm, of Sarasota, sold her Unit 15 condominium at 170

Roosevelt Drive to Daniel Jimenez Silva, of Warren, New Jersey, for $450,000. Built in 1955, it has one bedroom, one bath and 672 square feet of living area. It sold for $210,000 in 2016.

SAINT JUDES APARTMENTS

Alice Feltz, trustee, of Longboat Key, sold the Unit 13 condominium at 717 Saint Judes Drive S. to 128 Greenwood LLC for $405,000. Built in 1966, it has one bedroom, one bath and 630 square feet of living area. It sold for $100,000 in 2013.

In with the new

TOP BUILDING PERMITS

NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION

These are the largest building permits issued by the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Department for the week of April 15-21 in order of dollar amounts.

L O N G B OAT K E Y ADDRESS 571 Putter Lane

PERMIT Replacement single

APPLICANT Kristin B. Herendeen

AMOUNT($) 1,909,400

Longboat Key

family residence 603 Longboat Club

Interior alterations

Newhouse Family Trust

256,300

1125 GMD #204

Interior alterations

LBK 1125 GOM Trust

250,000

620 Hibiscus Way

Mechanical

Larry S. Kress

204,212

4800 GMD Unit 302

Interior alterations

Marcie L. Heyl

117,364

525 Cutter Lane

Re-roof

Jennifer M. Fischley

84,580

Road #702

Revocable Trust

1145 GMD #204

Doors and windows

Steven L. Custenborder

54,176

1045 GMD #204

Doors and windows

Urs Zuppinger

54,176

1095 GMD #404

Doors and windows

Trends US Inc

54,176

1115 GMD #303

Doors and windows

Michael A. Balk

54,176

1281 GMD #601

Hurricane shutters

Janet T. Tobin 2018 Trust

51,480

1109 GMD

Electrical

Beachplace Association Inc

40,290

4420 Exeter Drive

Doors and windows

Phyllis Kaplan

38,600

4011 GMD

Plumbing

Naomi and Roger Muselman

3456 GMD

A/C change-out

Mark J. Chipman

28,000

2110 Harbourside

Hurricane shutters

Jerome Bergman

21,183

The Residences at the St. Regis | 941.213.3300 | From $2.4MM to $10.9MM | Call for appointment | SRResidencesLongboatKey.com NOW TAKING CONTRACTS

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31,317 2 UNITS LEFT

Drive #551 565 Sanctuary Drive #B404 Electrical

Daryl Loyal Peterman

20,000

5 Winslow Place

Electrical

Ralph Lorenzo Denino

19,750

3040 Grand Bay

Electrical

Susan Infeld

15,000

2105 GMD #3301

A/C change-out

Deborah McCarthy TTEE

14,894

3324 Sabal Cove Lane

A/C change-out

Richard A. Smith Living Trust

14,625

575 Sanctuary

A/C change-out

Michael E. Fox Revocable Trust

13,648

1211 GMD #106

A/C change-out

Mei Chen Welland TTEE

12,981

737 Norton St.

Demolition of single Charles C. Pflueger

Downtown Sarasota

Blvd #266

Drive #A202

The Collection | 941.232.2868 | From the $2MM’s | Call for appointment. | thecollection1335.com

12,900

family residence

Sales galleries open and available for virtual or in-person presentations.

Virtual home tours | OnDemand local experts | Interactive site and floorplans

547 St. Judes Drives

Parking lot

Continental Kitchens Inc.

11,000

4234 GMD Unit B2

A/C change-out

Gerard Bernard Rivollier

10,279

2110 Harbourside Drive #553 Hurricane shutters Jeffrey Kantner

10,220

2110 Harbourside Drive #554 Hurricane shutters Donald Tanselle

10,200

2110 Harbourside Drive #552 Hurricane shutters Jaclyn M. Fletcher

10,020 Source: Town of Longboat Key

373650-1

and pools

MichaelSaunders.com/New-Homes | 844.591.4333 | Sarasota, Florida Prices as of February 2022.

Licensed Real Estate Broker

29

30

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 J.D., REALTOR ® , LBK COMMISSIONER J.D., ,, LBK REAL ESTATE SIMPLY DONE J.D., REALTOR REALTOR LBK COMMISSIONER COMMISSIONER ® ®

203.605.9582 203.605.9582

® J.D., J.D., REALTOR REALTOR ® ,, LBK LBK COMMISSIONER COMMISSIONER

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REAL ESTATE SIMPLY DONE REAL ESTATE DONE • Certified LuxurySIMPLY Home Marketing Specialist • On Longboat Key since 2002 • Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist • On Longboat Key since 2002 • LBK Commissioner • 2020 Michael & Company • LBK Commissioner SaundersSaunders & Company Sarasota Memorial Hospital volunteer • 2020 Michael “Top Sales Associates” • Sarasota Memorial Hospital volunteer “Top Sales Associates” • Recent in:Isles-Harbor Bay Isles-Harbor | • Recent salessales in: Bay | • 35 of legal experience • 35 years of years legal experience Promenade The Pearl | Tangerine Promenade | The |Pearl | Tangerine Bay | Bay | 2020 Masters Award Winner Sands | Fairway Bay | Harbour Award Winner Sands PointPoint | Fairway Bay | Harbour Villa Villa• 2020•Masters ClubClub | Perico Bay | Longbeach | Perico Bay | Longbeach

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LONGBOAT LIBRARY The Longboat Library is open again from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visit the library at 555 Bay Isles Road. There will also be a half-price sale on the library’s collection of used books every Wednesday. Call 383-2011 for information.

MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS

Water Club #401 501 Halyard Lane enaL draylaH 105 104 # bulC retaW 501 35 Lighthouse 3,400 SF | A4421764 SF | A4448464 0 0 0Halyard ,|5$2,575,000 99,1Lane $ | 4|6Country 4 8 4 4 4AClub | FSShores 043,2,340 2 0 0 0,5| Point 7$1,995,000 5 , 2Drive $ | 4 6| 7Gated 124 4Community A | FS 0 04,3 2,340sf | 3BR | Canal Front | $2,550,000

THINKING OUT LOUD: TIMELY TOPICS WITH MIKE KARP From 1-2:30 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Topics will include U.S. and world current affairs, popular culture and topics relevant to seniors. Cost is $10.

Walk-ins welcome. Call 383-6493.

PUMPING THE PRIME WITH MIRABAI HOLLAND At 10 a.m. at the Bayfront Park Recreation Center, 4052 GMD, take this low-impact cardio and strength class. Participants should be able to get up and down from the floor.

Bring a mat or towel. Classes are outside. Class is $10 for members and $15 for others. For information, email Mirabai Holland at mirabai@ movingfree.com or call 201-9561466

845 LongboatevClub 65 Lighthouse dPoint irD tRoad nioP esuohthgiL 56 aoR bDrive ulC taobgnoL 548 Lighthouse 19,300 SF | A4440615 |,9$3,795,000 0845 0 0,Longboat 59|7$19,750,000 ,3$ |Club 181Road 834 4|ARegent | FS 3Court 39,4 4,933 SF |70A4438181 0 0 0,057Point 1$Drive | 516|0Gated 4 4 4ACommunity | FS 0 03,91 19,300sf | 140’ on the Gulf | $16,500,000

STRETCH & STRENGTHEN From 10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Focus is on strength training and flexibility for balance. Suzy Brenner leads the class. Fee is $10. Walk-ins welcome.

Call 383-6493.

MUSCLES AND MORE WITH ANN ALVIS From 8:30-9:30 a.m. at the Bayfront Park Recreation Center, 4052 GMD, use strength equipment to build flexibility, endurance and balance.

Class focuses on proper lifting technique. Class is $10 for members and $15 for others. Visit LongboatKey. org for information.

t silaicep S lai tn edis eR defi it reC e t a i c o s s A - r ek o r B EXCEPTIONAL

LD SO

MONDAYS

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY

YRANIDREXTRAORDINARY OAEXTRAORDINARY RTXE

Certified Residential Specialist LBroker-Associate ANOITPECXE

RECURRING EVENTS

MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

• Consistent top producer on Longboat Key • In-depth knowledge of the real estate market • Active in our community with Longbeach Village Association Longboat Key Historical Society Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce Longboat Key Garden Club

seitreporp esitrepxe stluser

YOUR CALENDAR

REAL REAL ESTATE ESTATE SIMPLY SIMPLY DONE DONE J.D., REALTOR ® , LBK COMMISSIONER

LORD’S WAREHOUSE THRIFT STORE The thrift store will be open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 6140 GMD. Donations

File photo

THURSDAY, MAY 12

LEARN PICKLEBALL From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road, learn pickleball from Terri Noyes. Learn the basics of play and scoring while participating in demonstrations. Fee is $10 for nonmembers. Walk-ins welcome. Call 383-6493 to RSVP.

are accepted during business hours.

Call 383-4738.

MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS

SARASOTA INSTITUTE OF LIFETIME LEARNING VIDEOS OF MUSIC MONDAYS AND GLOBAL ISSUES III LECTURES 9 From 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road.

Through Thursday, April 7. $10 per person. Visit SILLSarasota.org or TBI-LBK.org.

TUESDAYS

QI GONG From 10-11 a.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Qi gong is a mind-body-spirit practice designed to improve mental and physical health. Class is outdoors, weather permitting. Cost is $10. Walk-ins welcome. Call 383-6493.

MAH JONGG From 1-3 p.m. at The Paradise Center, 546 Bay Isles Road. Fun time for experienced players. To check availability at the tables, email MaryAnnBrady@TheParadiseCenter.org.

Now is a GREAT Now GREAT time is toaSELL! time to SELL!

WHY? WHY?

Our sellers are receiving Our sellers are receiving multiple offers and top dollar! multiple offers and top dollar!

STARTS TOMORROW! One Day TWO DAYS ONLY! Only!

Tuesday Friday & Saturday Aprilth12th April 29th-30 10am - 5pm 10am-5pm

In This Robust Market

Consider Selling Your Property In This Robust Market Call today for a no-obligation, no-cost market analysis!

Home values are up. Inventory is low...it’s a seller’s market.

CallGet today for trusted a no-obligation, no-cost analysis! the most source of local market market conditions from Home values arereal up.estate Inventory is low...it’sata Wagner seller’s market. your local area professionals Realty.

Get the most trusted source of local market conditions from your local area real estate professionals at Wagner Realty.

Call our experts at Wagner Realty Call our experts Dia Wilson Rae Ellen Hayo at941.383.5577 Wagner Realty More than 35 years of combined experience 941.383.5577 Dia Wilson Rae Ellen Hayo Longboat Key Office • 5360 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Ste 101 • Longboat Key, FL Longboat Anna Maria Island • Sarasota Longboat Key Office • 5360 Gulf of Mexico Drive,Key Ste•101 • Longboat Key, FL Lakewood Ranch • East & West Bradenton

Longboat Key • Anna Maria Island • Sarasota www.WagnerRealty.com Lakewood Ranch • East & West Bradenton

www.WagnerRealty.com

374470-1

More than 35 years of combined experience

Winter Is Here!!!

55 Town Center Blvd Hyatt Regency Sarasota 1000 Blvd of the Arts Sarasota, FL 34236 Palm Coast, Fl 32164 380385-1

Consider Selling Your Property In ThisProperty Robust Market Consider Selling Your

YourObserver.com

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

|

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

31

Congratulations DR. MAHFOUZ EL SHAHAWY

48 YEARS

SERVING THE SARASOTA COMMUNITY The City of Sarasota proclaims February 4, 2022 as Dr. El Shahawy Day in recognition of his 48 outstanding years of dedication to our community healthcare and cardiovascular disease prevention

CARDIOVASCULAR CENTER OF SARASOTA

On behalf of the International Society for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention (ISCVDP) Jay Cohn, MD, FACC, Vice President, ISCVDP | Thomas Kelly, MD, Secretary/Treasurer ISCVDP Sharon Wetzler, ARNP | Ramona Stevens, MA, CRC

381205-1

On behalf of the Cardiovascular Center of Sarasota (CCS)

32

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

Parking lotta pizza

E

very few minutes, a handful of residents from Longboat Harbour would cross Gulf of Mexico Drive, often lugging coolers and holding drinks, to make their way to the community’s beach access. Before long, the parking lot of the space had transformed into a pizza party paradise as about 100 residents set up chairs, tables and more for the annual event.

On April 21, the community celebrated another busy snowbird season with its signature event.

The pizza party has been held for more than 30 years, said social committee member Mary Jean Drugan, and different residents organize it every year. This year, Maureen and John Shea had the honors of wrangling everything for the party.

Attendees checked in, coolers in hand, and made their way to the main party spot. Friendly groups developed clusters of chairs throughout the evening, and a dance floor even sprouted as guitarist John Rinell provided tunes. Before long, 52 pizzas from Joey D’s in Sarasota lined the tables and residents flocked to them.

Photos by Nat Kaemmerer

Above: Jack Sullivan unloads pizza from the van. Below: Tom and June Morse get the dance party started.

—NAT KAEMMERER

Above: About 100 residents came over to get the party started.

Left: Gail Gilvey, Joanne Vinci, Maureen Shea, Mary Jean Drugan and Susan Claudio check in attendees.

Below: Cindy Ritchell, Dawna Goodwin, Jack Goodwin and Herb Ritchell set up their picnic spot together.

Above: Volunteers serve up slices of pizza.

Right: Carol and George Beddie head off to find their friends.

We’re neighbors covering neighbors.

Kat Hughes EXECUTIVE EDITOR & COO

Hometown: Aurora, Colorado Currently Living: Sarasota, Florida Alma mater: University of Missouri School of Journalism Observer Employee: 14.5 Years What you do when you are not working?

Ride my bike, walk my dog and visit our great local libraries to read!

Connect: khughes@yourobserver.com

People tend to focus a lot on national news, but it’s what happens locally — from the roads we drive on to the nonprofits we support — that often impacts our lives the most. The thing I love about the Observer is the stories that we cover reflect the heart of the community.

JOIN THE NEIGHBORHOOD //

Support independent local journalism today at YourObserver.com/newsies

YourObserver.com

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

SUNRISE / SUNSET

FRIDAY, APRIL 29

Sunrise Sunset

High: 85 Low: 65 Chance of rain: 50%

33

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

WEATHER

NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH

FORECAST

|

Thursday, April 28

6:53a

8:01p

Friday, April 29

6:52a

8:02p

Saturday, April 30

6:51a

8:02p

Sunday, May 1

6:50a

8:03p

SATURDAY, APRIL 30

Monday, May 2

6:49a

8:03p

High: 85 Low: 66 Chance of rain: 58%

Tuesday, May 3

6:49a

8:04p

Wednesday, May 4

6:48a

8:05p

MOON PHASES SUNDAY, MAY 1 High: 85 Low: 66 Chance of rain: 39%

May 30 New

June 7 First

June 14 Full

June 20 Last

TIDES Highs Lows

Gary Wise took this photo of the surf on Longboat Key.

Thursday, April 28

11:33a

—

5:53a

6:41p

Friday, April 29

12:21a

11:46a

6:15a

7:19p

Saturday, April 30

1:10a

12:00p

6:33a

7:54p

Sunday, May 1

1:57a

12:18p

6:47a

8:29p

Monday, May 2

2:43a

12:39p

7:01a

9:05p

Tuesday, May 3

3:34a

1:05p

7:13a

9:45p

Wednesday, May 4

4:36a

1:36p

7:20a

10:31p

Submit your photos at YourObserver.com/Weather. All submissions will be entered for the 2022-23 Weather and Nature photo contest. In February 2023, you will vote for your favorite photo, and the submission with the most votes will win a $500 gift card.

The Observer’s

Weather ENTER: &Nature

Sponsored by

YourObserver.com/contests KITCHEN | CABINETRY OUTDOOR PAVERS

379856-1

2022-23 PHOTO CONTEST

A REFLECTION OF NATURE’S BEAUTY

celebrity cipher

©2022 Universal Uclick

ACROSS 1 Speedy boy in “The Incredibles” 5 Bunny movements 9 Play part 12 “Get a ___!” (“Cool it!”)

16 Norway’s capital 17 Place to pin a rose 18 Get ready, briefly 20 Christmas song 21 “Where was my mistake?” (In this clue’s answer, note letters 7-10) 24 Overjoy 25 ‘80s drink that fizzled out 26 Light beer?

27 In any way 29 Tiny bit 30 “Just a moment!”

32 Info to analyze 34 Quaint, in a shoppe name 36 Holey footwear brand 39 It can be ascending or descending (... letters 9-13) 44 Crescent-shaped bag style 45 Like some straits 46 “Better ___ Saul” 47 Highest, on a diploma 48 “You can’t back out now!” (... letters 6-9) 52 Fall Out Boy genre 54 ___ trial (legal simulation) 55 “The Force Awakens” heroine 56 “___ House” (‘80s hit) 57 Tennis championships 60 Aug. appliances

62 Very beginning?

63 What’s turned on its head?

65 Regard 67 American Eagle line with an apt name 69 Boozy, citrusy drink brand (... letters 3-7) 73 Made simpler 74 Double-reed woodwind 75 Accumulate 76 “Mulan” invader 77 “___ a pity” 79 PC shortcut for making a hard copy 82 “Without further ___ ...”

83 Letter before chi 86 Ish 88 3 letters on a phone 90 Sailors’ songs (... letters 3-9)

93 Momma’s partner, perhaps 95 Region 98 Org. overseeing employers 99 Messy pile 100 Spanish nickname for the enchanting Puerto Rico (... letters 4-8) 103 Like clothes in a 99-Across, often 104 Skin soother 105 Dutch cheese 106 Slip-on shoe 109 Avatar on a Switch 111 Rush the quarterback 113 Letter after chi 115 Quinceaneras, e.g.

119 “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” musical 121 Genre-spanning per-

58 Name camouflaged in “chameleon” 59 View 61 Spice up 63 Bro’s sibling, perhaps 64 First of the Five W’s 66 UFC sport 68 Streets (Abbr.)

69 Described patronizingly 70 “Modern Family” channel DOWN 71 Decay 1 Word above this clue 72 Nebraska city near Iowa 2 Tennis great Arthur 73 They’re spent in Berlin 3 Dressed BBQ side 76 Arizona tribe 4 Ski lodge drink 78 Presidential emblem 5 Underworld deity 80 Singer Bridges or politi6 Nail lacquer maker cian Panetta 7 Spa treatments for “little 81 Former incarnations piggies” 83 Santa Monica ___ 8 Food for pigs 84 What humidity intensi9 Tax mo. fies 10 Zagreb’s land 85 Car game for kids 11 Octopus part 87 Gem that can change 12 Actress Gadot color 13 Film with too many four- 89 Game show winner’s letter words, say vacation 14 Tiny bit 91 Command to a fly 15 Begged 92 Craved, with “for” 17 Common speech filler 94 Sun-dried bricks 19 Tiger Woods’ org.

96 Where to do the Griddy 20 They take big bows dance 22 Mafia leaders 97 Obama health law 23 Enjoy a shallow pool (Abbr.)

28 “Ha ha,” in a text 101 That’s a moray!

31 Oklahoma city 102 Rock concert boxes 33 Rainbow’s shape 103 XING animal 35 Instrument to beat 107 Natural hairstyles 36 Blacken 108 Italian automaker 37 Took the bus 109 ___ of honor speech 38 Follow orders 110 Excited about 40 Coarse corn product 112 “Gross!”

41 ___ mater 114 Pepsi or Coke 42 Role scrapped by the 116 One of the Jackson 5 Oscars from 2019-21 117 On the topic of 43 Tool for an autumn 118 Walk of Fame symbol chore 120 Texter’s “I’d say ...”

45 Has the nerve 122 Jamaican genre 49 Photo pendant 123 ___Pen 50 “Yep, that happened” 51 Chutes’ counterparts 53 Anthem sung in Toronto

“YAGJI BXNNGYDA GJ R YGI ZGDT GM R PFGVLAN JXMAHGKA SBRJ HXGJI RJ XYMVFNA ZGDT RJH TRLGJI JX TXJAW.” – NAJAA CADDOAIAN

“J NKU’C IBYJBZB CTPC CPMJUS HPVB KE XKRV TKROB PUN HTJYNVBU JO BUKRST EKV P DKAPU. XKR NKU’C EBBY HKAGYBCB.”

– FKPU HTBU

“RDB OXZSM ... GRZXRG LTXJSMC RDB ATABMR VTN CBR NE SM RDB ATXMSMC ... KTBG MTR GRTE NMRSU VTN CBR SMRT RDB TYYSPB.” – XTOBXR YXTGR © 2022 NEA, Inc.

Puzzle Three Clue: L equals W

former, or a theme hint 124 Things 125 Twist in a hose 126 Train stop 127 Jazzy James 128 Former flightless bird 129 Royal pain?

130 Garage sale caveat 131 Word after “side” or “sliding”

By Luis Campos Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present.

Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

Puzzle Two Clue: I equals B

THE MASKED SINGER by Stephanie Fox, Hayden Giller and Drew Schmenner. Edited by David Steinberg

Puzzle One Clue: C equals Z

crossword

sudoku Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

©2022 Andrews McMeel Syndicate

4-28-22

Made for where you live. Here!

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

RED PAGES Vacation/ Seasonal Rentals

DEADLINES: Classifieds - Monday at 2PM Service Directory - Friday at 3PM • PAYMENT: Cash, Check or Credit Card

WEEKLY MONTHLY SEASONAL Rates

The Longboat Observer reserves the right to classify and edit copy, or to reject or cancel an advertisement at any time. Corrections after first insertion only. *All ads are subject to the approval of the Publisher. *It is the responsibility of the party placing any ad for publication in the Longboat Observer to meet all applicable legal requirements in connection with the ad such as compliance with towncodes in first obtaining an occupational license for business, permitted home occupation, or residential rental property.

Notice: All real estate advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

5360 Gulf of Mexico Dr., Suite

Autos Wanted

Longboat Key, FL 34228

As low as $17.50 per week!

real estate

stuff

941-955-4888

Items Under $200 USED KAYAK 10’, good condition $199 OBO 941-312-5863

General Merchandise GOLF CART - 2013 Club Car. 4 seater, 2 year old batteries. $2,500 (941) 383-4666

Condos/Apts. for Rent

auto

LUXURIOUS CONDO on Anna Maria Island For Rent - Upgraded granite/strainless kitchen.

Incredible water views through floor length windows. Waterfront patio, luxury furnishings, 2BD/2BR, king bed. Pool, tennis, walk to the beach. Private carport.

Monthly rent May-November.

Owner/renter. Flexible terms.

570-239-0431 marketreps@aol.com

First 15 words .................... $ 17.50 per week Each add’l word ......... 50¢

15% DISCOUNT FOR 4-WEEK RUN Color background: $ 5 per week Ad border: as low as $3 per week PLACE YOUR AD: Call: 941-955-4888 Email: RedPages@ YourObserver.com

RESPONSIBLE DRIVER will drive your vehicle from Sarasota area to New York, Long Island area in mid-June.

Call Oscar for details.

941-773-1733

The Lake Club LWR 4 bed 4.5 bath Pool/Spa Dazzling with upgrades 2.5 Million Buy or Sell with Brooke O’Malley as your Realtor, and CLUB REALTY will Pay your title insurance.

Call 941-726-2677.

Autos Wanted CASH FOR YOUR CAR We come to you!

Ho Ho Buys cars.

941-270-4400.

Rentals Wanted

REAL LOCAL STUFF HERE!

SEAPLACE OWNERS Inquiring about a 2 or 3 bedroom rental for next (2023) season.

We are seeking an updated rental with a water view.

I was an original owner in G-5.

Contact with dates & photos. rnelson137@outlook.com

You’re only cheating yourself.

Homes for Sale

LONGBOAT KEY: Beachfront Condos, 1st or 2nd floor, 2BR/2BA, W/D in units, free Wi-Fi, heated pool, & parking.

Call 941-383-3338.

peekers’ place

3BR/2BA SLEEPY Lagoon.

Monthly rental, available May 2022 and next season. Heated pool, large screened lanai, one car garage, breakfast nook, quiet street, on canal $3,500.

Ask for Bruce (302) 420-4289

Autos Transport

STORAGE FACILITY Boat/ RV/ Trailer. Secure facility, low monthly rentals, Clark Rd area.

941809-3660, 941-809-3662.

RED PAGES AD RATES

Homes for Rent

LONGBOAT KEY Incredible views Private boat dock Owner/agent $650,000

YourObserver.com/RedPages

L’AMBIANCE, LONGBOAT KEY Beach front 2BR/3BA condo on high floor with wrap-around terrace, 270 degree views over the Gulf, Sarasota Bay and LBK Club.

Sunrises, sunsets through floor to ceiling windows. View at: www.thephotos.smugmug.com Call John at: 203-984-8477 or E-mail: garment@optonline.net

Between Houses or Condos Reservations 941-383-5577 wagnerlbkrentals@gmail.com Visa/MC

101 Rental office 9a.m. - 5p.m.

M-F Ask about our special rates!

Wagner Realty Since 1939 www.rentalsonlongboat.com

Epic Home Care Personal Care-Respite Care Alzheimer’s Care Light Cleaning Med Administration Meal Prep Shopping, Errands & More Call for a FREE Evaluation!

941-536-6372 EpicHomeCare@yahoo.com Rosa Torres- Owner

Cleaning CLAUDIA C. Cleaning Services.

Experienced, dependable, and ready to begin!

Residential.

Excellent references.

941-773-6895.

Auto Transport SHIP YOUR car, truck or SUV anywhere in the United States.

Great rates, fast quotes. Call Hawley Motors: 941-923-3421.

POST YOUR AD WITH EASE YourObserver.com/RedPages

Painting CARLO DATTILO Painting Licensed & insured. Interior/ Exterior painting including drywall repair and retexturing.

Wallpaper installation & removal, pressure washing. Residential & commercial, condos. Honest & reliable.

Free estimates. 941-744-1020.

35+ years experience.

FIND BUYERS & SELLERS HERE! 941-955-4888

Transportation LONGBOAT LIMOUSINE Your local luxury transportation provider since 1994.

New luxury Sedans and SUVs. Fully Licenced and insured.

Advertise your business or service in the Observer

RED PAGES CALL TODAY 941-955-4888

Call/Text 941-383-1235 E-mail: longboatlimousine @yahoo.com

This week’s Crossword answers

Use the RED PAGES to clean out your garage CALL 941-955-4888

This week’s Celebrity Cipher answers Puzzle One Solution: “Being horrible in a big film is a quicker nosedive than doing an obscure film and making no money.”

Renee Zellweger Puzzle Two Solution: “I don’t believe that taking care of your house and children is enough for a woman. You don’t feel complete.”

Joan Chen Puzzle Three Solution: “The brain ... starts working the moment you get up in the morning ... does not stop until you get into the office.”

Robert Frost

This week’s Sudoku answers

©2022 Universal Uclick

SEARCH the RED PAGES for GREAT DEALS To place an ad

Call 941-955-4888

©2022 NEA, Inc.

GARAGE SALE

BEACH HARBOR CLUB, LONGBOAT KEY FLORIDA: 2 Bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,046 sq. ft. 3rd floor, water view.

Fully upgraded and equipped.

Walking distance to Sarasota Bay and Gulf. Rent is $2,0004,000/month. Contact (440)371-5008 lin44139@yahoo.com

Beachfront, Bayfront and In

home services

WE BUY cars. top $$ paid for your vehicles.

Call Hawley Motors: 941-923-3421.

Vacation/ Seasonal Rentals

Adult Care Services

The CRYSTAL CLEAR choice!

INFORMATION & RATES: 941-955-4888

redpages@yourobserver.com • yourobserver.com/redpages

YourObserver.com

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

Dog Grooming

Massage

Chrissy Stites

SELL YOUR CAR!

LMT, CMCE

609-820-4251

FAST • EASY • SAFE

By appointment only

WE COME TO YOU

941.270.4400

MediCupping & Massage Therapy services for healing

Rest your mind & body.

Connect with your spirit.

379529

Auto Service

35

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

|

Personal Services

5-Star Rated 380109

381025

HoHoBuysCars.com

Registered member of the National Dog Groomers Association of America (NDGAA)

Beauty

Furniture Repair

SERVING YOU IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME

Patio Furniture Repairs.com 941-504-0903

379546

380107

380070

Furniture Sales & Repairs Cushions • Slings • Re-powdercoating

FREE PICKUP / DELIVERY • FREE ONSITE QUOTES

Power Washing

Health

GET YOUR LIFE BACK! Do You Have Neck or Low Back Pain?

Do You Want To Avoid Surgery?

Concrete CRACK REPAIR

941-345-5264

specialty screens / screw replacement / paint Doors and more!

Roofing

Board Certified in the specialty of non-surgical spinal decompression

SIDEWALKS • DRIVEWAYS

Manufacture and workmanship Warranties

DR. DAVID CIFRA, DC

BUZ CORP D/B/A

CONCRETE FUSION

Kenneth Fuhlman Inc. (941) 345-5264

University Health Park 2415 University Parkway Bldg. 3, Suite 216 Sarasota, FL 34243

Building & Roofing Contractor

• Aluminum, Vinyl, & Wood Soffit & Fascia Repair & Installation • Roofing Repair & Installation • Metal Roofing & Tile Roof Repair Specialists

www.SarasotaDiscCenter.com DrCifra@SarasotaDiscCenter.com

The Only Thing You Have To Lose ... Is The Pain!!

Call Bobby • FREE Estimates 319-693-8800 or 941-374-7670

379116

CREATE BUZZ! Advertise your business in the Red Pages.

Doors

941-626-3194

Licensed & Insured CCC - 058059 CBC - 1253936

Call 941-955-4888

Sliding Glass Door Repair

Insurance

MIC INSURANCE

New Deluxe Rollers Will Make Your Doors Roll Better Than Ever Call Mark 928-2263 proslidingglassdoorrepair.com

379537

“FIX IT - DON’T REPLACE”

Windows Res./Com.

EXPERIENCE KNOWLEDGE SOLUTIONS

Our team of professionals provides superior service and expertise for all of your insurance needs.

Mike Mailliard ~ Lacey Weaver Allen Hovis ~ Chloe Gardner Matthew Mailliard ~ Julia McIlrevey Haley Jestings ~ Samantha Ryan Jaimie Simpkins

CREATE BUZZ! Advertise your business or services in the Red Pages.

Home • Condo • Auto • Umbrella • Boat • Flood

380572

Call 941-955-4888 YourObserver.com/RedPages

595 Bay Isles Rd. Suite 215 941.554.8909 | www.micinsurancefl.com

Lic./Ins.

& Pressure C Window lean t e s i Sun merly known as Sunrise Windo ng For

Serving Longboat Key Since 2005

25

UP TO

STANDARD WINDOWS

ws

140

$

INCLUDING SCREENS, TRACKS, MIRRORS & FANS

SPECIAL 00 5

$

senior citizen discount. www.sunsetwindowcleaningsrq.com

Purified water window cleaning available!!

Call Tibor for FREE ESTIMATES | 941- 284 - 5880

Insurance

SECUR-ALL INSURANCE AGENCY

Sandra Smith

| 941.383.3388

510 BAY ISLES ROAD, SUITE 1 • LONGBOAT KEY, FL (Next to SUNTRUST BANK)

CHUBB, AIG, UNIVERSAL, UNITED, SAFECO, PROGRESSIVE, VAULT, FLOOD, WE HAVE YOU COVERED!

381028

379535

• Pool Cage Restoration • Rescreening Specialists • Specialty Screens • Paint • Doors and more!

Satisfaction guarantee Satisfaction Guarantee Pool cage Restoration/ Rescreening specialists Manufacture and Workmanship Warranties

Recognized Among the Best Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Physicians in America

Like Us on Facebook

95 EPLACE Don’t R Concrete d of Goo only 5% when cked! is cra

Rescreening & Repairs

FREE CONSULTATION 941.358.2224

Check out our 5 Star Reviews on Google

#1 in IR REPA Crack %

FREE INSTANT ESTIMATES when you Call RICK for SCHEDULING

Give Us a Call - We Can Help

380570

Serving AMI, LBK and Bradenton for 25 years

941-CLEAN IT 2 5 3 - 2 6 4 8

379541

941-778-2882 • 941-387-0607

House Washing, Roofs, Screen Cages, Pavers, Driveways and Walkways.

380575

DRIES IN HOURS – NOT DAYS • SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

WE ARE THE SOFT WASH PRESSURE WASHING PROS

$100 COUPON

CARPET, TILE, UPHOLSTERY CLEANING ODOR CONTROL • AREA RUG SPECIALIST

PRESSURE WASHING

379548

381026

$100 COUPON $100 COUPON

GladysKhabbaz@gmail.com 805 Molly Circle, Sarasota

$100 COUPON

SOFT WASH

$100 COUPON

Naji Aoun

Carpet Cleaning

$100 COUPON

$100 COUPON

424-333-0713 | rockstarmobilehair@gmail.com www.rockstarmobilehairsalon.com

$100 COUPON

CONSTRUCTION HANDYMAN • Home Repairs & Maintenance • Interior & Exterior 941.504.2745 • Garage Floor Paint 941.400.1563 • Power Wash

$100 COUPON $100 COUPON

AMANDA

379539

Handyman

36

LONGBOAT OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022

ROGER SELLS

LUXURY WATERFRONT PROPERTIES MORE MORE THAN THAN $206 $206 MILLION MILLION CLOSED CLOSED IN IN 2021 2021

3731 INDIAN BEACH BEACH ROAD ROAD 3731 INDIAN

$6,495,000 $6,495,000

Built Builtinin2006, 2006,this thisgorgeous gorgeous5BR 5BRestate estateoffers offersexceptionally exceptionally high highquality qualityconstruction, construction,designed designedwith withenergy energyefficient efficientand and sustainable sustainablematerials. materials.The Theenviable enviablecentral centrallocale, locale,minutes minutesfrom from downtown, downtown,with withspectacular spectacularbay bayand andsunset sunsetviews, views,perfectly perfectly complement complementthe thelavishness lavishnessatatthis thiscustom customresidence. residence.

www.3731IndianBeach.com www.3731IndianBeach.com

15111 15111 GADDY GADDY UP UP RANCH RANCH ROAD ROAD

$3,995,000 $3,995,000

Country Countrybreezes breezesrustling rustlingthrough throughcentury centuryold oldoaks oaksand andpines pines welcome welcomeyou youtotothis thisunique, unique,821/2-acre 821/2-acreproperty propertyknown knownas asthe the fully-operational fully-operationalGaddy GaddyUp UpRanch, Ranch,offering offeringmany manypossibilities possibilitiesfor for the thefamily. family.Some Someequipment equipmentand andlivestock livestockare arealso alsoavailable availablefor for purchase purchaseseparately. separately.

www.GaddyUpRanchSRQ.com www.GaddyUpRanchSRQ.com

862 GRANDEPASS PASSWAY WAY 862GRANDE

$2,995,000 $2,995,000

842 MOLLYCIRCLE CIRCLE 842MOLLY

Create Createyour yourdream dreambeach beachhome homeatatthis thisprivate, private,gated gated enclave enclaveon onthe thesouthern southerntip tipofofBoca BocaGrande.

Grande.One Oneofof only only19 19homesites homesitesininthe theexclusive exclusiveHill HillTide TideEstates, Estates,this this spectacular spectacularparcel parcelboasts boastsmore morethan thanaa1/4-acre 1/4-acreofofdirect direct beachfront beachfrontproperty propertytotoenjoy, enjoy,with withits itsown ownprivate privatebeach beach access accessand andcommunity communityfishing fishingoptions. options.

Delight Delightininthe theconvenience convenienceofofnewer newerconstruction construction atatthis this2016-built, 2016-built,Ashton AshtonWoods Woodshome homeininthe the maintenance-free maintenance-freeWhitaker WhitakerPark Park(lawn (lawnmaintenance maintenance and andirrigation irrigationprovided providedby byHOA).

HOA).This Thisbeautiful beautiful 3BR 3BRgarden gardenhome homeisismove-in move-inready, ready,offering offeringsome some furnishings furnishingsavailable availabletotopurchase purchaseseparately. separately.

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www.842MollyCircle.com www.842MollyCircle.com

$625,000 $625,000

CALL TODAYFOR FORYOUR YOUREXCLUSIVETOUR EXCLUSIVETOUR(941) (941)387-1840 387-1840 CALLTODAY

379686-1

443 443John JohnRingling RinglingBoulevard, Boulevard,Suite SuiteFF| |Sarasota, Sarasota,FL FL34236 34236 595 595Bay BayIsles IslesRoad Road, ,Suite Suite250 250| |Longboat LongboatKey, Key,FL FL34228 34228 www.Longboatrealestate.com www.Longboatrealestate.com| |www.bestSarasotarealestate.net www.bestSarasotarealestate.net Twitter.com/RealRoger Twitter.com/RealRoger| |Instagram.com/RogerPettingell Instagram.com/RogerPettingell | |Roger@Pettingell.com Roger@Pettingell.com Owned Ownedby byaasubsidiary subsidiaryofofRealogy RealogyBrokerage BrokerageGroup GroupLLC LLC