bserver O EAST COUNTY FREE • THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
SPORTS
Baseball players build teamwork off the field. PAGE 19A
OUR TOWN
BUSINESS
COMMUNITY
Alliance preps to move in to building. PAGE 8A
East County celebrates Irish culture. PAGE 1B
road work by Pam Eubanks | Managing Editor
Changes hinge on Villages’ approval To expedite I-75 improvements, Sarasota and Manatee counties will commit to extend two roadways. Only, those roads depend on the counties approving an SMR development.
+ Nesting watch East County resident Louise Levinson recently captured this picture of a sandhill crane nest located in a retention pond near the corner of The Masters Avenue and Legacy Boulevard in the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club. “The male and female take turns sitting on the nest,” Levinson says. “The two are mated for life. Very interesting birds!”
EAST COUNTY — As Rex Jensen looks over an aerial map of Lakewood Ranch’s boundaries, he points to two vertical fuchsia lines and a yellow square. The symbols mark future roadway connections — ones that will connect Lakewood Ranch with the surrounding area and largely fill in a road network grid that, to
date, doesn’t exist east of Interstate 75 and south of the Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park in Sarasota County. The connections are a critical part of Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch’s plan to develop its roughly 5,000-
SEE I-75 / PAGE 9A
Pam Eubanks
The Florida Department of Transportation plans to improve the I-75/ University Parkway interchange to relieve traffic congestion.
PLAYTIME
+ Chicken charity The Chick-fil-A at Cooper Creek Boulevard and State Road 70 participated March 6 in Tampa Bay Chick-fil-A restaurants’ “Buy a Sandwich, Donate a Meal” fundraiser. For every Chick-fil-A sandwich purchased through the drive-thru that day, the restaurant donated a Chick-fil-A sandwich meal to Junior League of Manatee County. Marketing Director Lisa Ith presented Junior League’s president-elect, Andrea Johnson, with a voucher for 400 sandwich meals following the event.
+ Boston crusader East County resident Ed Kelly seeks the community’s support to raise $7,500 for the Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation as he prepares for the Boston Marathon. Martin W. Richard was an 8-year-old boy killed during the Boston Marathon bombing last year. Kelly’s nephew was a schoolmate of Martin’s. “I grew up in the Boston area,” Kelly says. Donations are being collected through firstgiving.com/ fundraiser/EdKelly/team-mr8boston-marathon-2014.
SEE OUR TOWN / PAGE 16A
Pam Eubanks
Alicia Hebert proudly plays Bobolika during a puppet show at Braden River Elementary School March 13. For more photos, see page 11A.
BUSINESS
by Josh Siegel | Staff Writer
Alliance continues vision for expansion As it works to hire an executive director, the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance leans on volunteers to move the group ahead.
LAKEWOOD RANCH — During the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance Board of Directors’ annual retreat last summer, thenchairman Tommy Klauber charted the future of the organization on a white board. Board members hold this ritual every year.
But this time, with membership increasing quickly and the profile of Lakewood Ranch growing, the future projected to be bigger and bolder. What board members didn’t know then, in May of last year, was that the future also would be uncertain.
In December, Robin Parsons, the organization’s business development director — the full-time, paid leader of the alliance who had been in her role for about seven years — resigned just three months before the organization
SEE TRANSITION / PAGE 8A
Josh Siegel
Marc Simms leads the effort to hire an executive director.
INDEX Calendar............ 18A Classifieds ........ 17B
Cops Corner....... 10A Crossword.......... 16B
Neighborhood...... 1B Real Estate........ 12B
Sports................ 19A Weather............. 16B
Vol. 14, No. 50 | Two sections YourObserver.com