bserver O Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
EAST COUNTY FREE • THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
GOVERNMENT Baugh talks traffic at Town Hall meeting. PAGE 8A
OUR TOWN
SPORTS
HEALTH MATTERS Hospitals see birth as marketing tool, business-builder. SPECIAL SECTION
Lakewood Ranch softball pitchers take aim. PAGE 18A
road to relief by Josh Siegel | Staff Writer
FDOT expedites I-75 project FDOT says it will improve the intersection of I-75 and University Parkway sooner if Manatee and Sarasota counties commit to the proposed solution.
+ Harbour Hatties raise $17,000 Ladies in the Heritage Harbour community took a stand against cancer as they hosted the “Hearts for Hope” ball at IMG Academy. Ladies in the Helping Hands Harbour Hatties group presented Michelle Brault, of the Center for Building Hope, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting families affected by cancer, with a check for $17,085 — money raised at the event. The funds will provide support to cancer patients and their families at the center’s Lakewood Ranch campus.
EAST COUNTY — The major players involved in easing traffic at Interstate 75 and University Parkway pooled their commitment and sat in the same room for the first time last week. When the delegation returned
from a morning meeting in Tallahassee March 6 — some traversing the very road network they have vowed to fix — they immediately worked to fulfill a directive by Ananth Prasad, secretary of the Florida Department of Trans-
portation. Prasad said Sarasota and Manatee counties must commit firmly to both a diverging-diamondstyle interchange to ease traffic at I-75 and University Parkway — and to improve the road network
around it — by passing a formal resolution asking FDOT to build the interchange. If the resolution succeeds, the state transportation agency vows
SEE I-75 / PAGE 8A
ALTERNATIVE
SOLO SHOT
by Josh Siegel | Staff Writer
Bus route to serve University A new Sarasota County Area Transit bus route along University Parkway will relieve traffic near Interstate 75.
+ Children ‘Read Across America’ Preschoolers at the Primrose School at Lakewood Ranch Town Center will provide books for local children in need in honor of Read Across America Day this month. Children participate in a book drive that is part of Og’s Bountiful Books, a Primrose reading program designed to encourage parents to read to their children at home and send books to school to share with their classmates and children in need. Og is the official Primrose school bookworm – as well as one of the school’s character development mascots.
+ Club raises $17,000 for local charities More than 200 women in the Lakewood Ranch Women’s Club enjoyed an afternoon of laughter and socializing Feb. 26, as they hosted “Laugh Your Abs Off with Tim Wilkins” at The Francis in Sarasota. Wilkins, who is part of the “Comics on Duty” world tour, served as the day’s keynote speaker.
Amanda Sebastiano
Polo player Chris Nevins races down the stretch during a polo match for the Polo Under the Palms fundraiser March 8. For more photos, see 1B.
EAST COUNTY — While proposed improvements to the interchange at University Parkway and Interstate 75 may resolve traffic woes there, local officials also have looked for alternative solutions, such as public transportation. Bus service, they say, would bring immediate dividends. The Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners approved March 5 the implementation of a new bus route along University Parkway that will run from Lakewood Ranch to the Sarasota-International Airport and serve college students, spectators bound for Nathan Benderson Park and future patrons of the Mall at University Town Center. “It’s a route to serve businesses along University and colleges across Lakewood Ranch that will create economic development and relief to I-75 and University Parkway,” said Glama Carter, the director of Sarasota County Area Transit. SCAT will use a $529,021 federal grant to fund Route 30, which will
SEE BUS ROUTE / PAGE 10A
INDEX Calendar............ 12A Classifieds ........ 12B
Cops Corner....... 10A Crossword.......... 11B
Neighborhood...... 1B Real Estate.......... 8B
Sports................ 18A Vol. 14, No. 49 | Three sections YourObserver.com Weather............. 11B