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YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
GREEN GAL
The Garden Club honors a Key legend. PAGE 3A
OUR TOWN + Kristen Herhold reports to Observer Kristen Herhold joined the Longboat Observer Oct. 1 as its newest staff writer. She will photograph community events and write news and feature articles. Herhold graduated in May from the University of Missouri. Herhold Originally from Denver, she wanted to experience working and living in a new area of the country. “I have always loved Florida and have been traveling here since I was younger,” she said. “I’m very excited to start my professional career on Longboat Key and get to know the area and its residents.” When she’s not working, Herhold enjoys scuba diving, traveling and watching sports — especially the Denver Broncos and the Missouri Tigers. Herhold will work out of the Observer Media Group’s Longboat Key office. Contact Herhold about story ideas and events at 383-5928 or kherhold@yourobserver.com.
Courtesy photos
John Wild, Donna Dunio, Susan Phillips and Armando Linde
+ AIP director speaks to Kiwanis Donna Dunio, executive director of the Aging in Paradise Resource Center (AIPRC) at Longboat Island Chapel, spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key at the group’s Oct. 2 breakfast meeting. Aging in Paradise is an expanded community service initiative of the chapel that provides programs and services to seniors on the islands and surrounding communities. For information, visit aginginparadise.org.
FREE • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014
TRASH TALK
DIVERSIONS What critics are looking forward to most this season. INSIDE
PARKING BREAK
Events draw cleanup crews. PAGE 15A
by Robin Hartill | Managing Editor
Town to pick a side on Linley Commissioners opted to limit parking to one side of the Longbeach Village street at Monday’s meeting. It was the eighth meeting in the past 21 months in which the Longboat Key Town Commission discussed Longbeach Village parking. Suffice it to say there are more to come. The commission voted in favor of proposed parking changes, plus added a new restriction eliminating parking on a to-be-determined side of Linley Street, while also
resolving to revisit other parking issues throughout the neighborhood. Other restrictions in the ordinance include: • No parking for the entire north side of Broadway Street from Palm Drive to Bayside Drive; • No parking from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the entire south side of Broadway from Palm Drive to Bayside Drive;
RAISING THE BAR
• No parking on the east side of Lois Avenue between Broadway and Russell Street; • No parking on the eastside of Poinsetta Drive between Broadway and Russell Street. Residents had worried at the Oct. 1 Longbeach Village Association meeting that proposed changes, which didn’t originally include banning parking on one side of Linley Street, wouldn’t go far enough.
SEE PARKING / PAGE 2A
by Caleb Motsinger | Staff Writer
Business lights up on the Key Giacomo’s Cigar Bar, J.McLaughlin and Amore by Andrea are coming to the island this fall. A family tradition that began in Tampa more than 100 years ago will make its way in November to Whitney Beach Plaza. And the north end of Longboat Key will finally have what residents have wanted for more than fourand-a-half years: a bar. Dr. Giacomo “Jack” Guggino will open Giacomo’s Cigar Bar the first week of November, in the former Tiny’s of Longboat Key. The cigar bar will be one of at least three new businesses opening on the Key this fall. Also slated to open this November: International retailer J.McLaughlin will open a new men’s and women’s clothing store Nov. 11, in the Shoppes of Bay Isles. And real estate investor W. Howard Rooks and chef Andrea Bozzolo will open Amore by Andrea in November, at the former Mattison’s Steakhouse at the Plaza building at 555 Bay Isles Parkway that’s been vacant since 2008. Back at Whitney Beach Plaza, where approximately half of the units remain vacant, Guggino isn’t worried about the bar’s location — his company’s first outside of Tampa, where he opened Giacomo’s Cigars in 2010. “We will be our own attraction,” he said. “This will be a destination, not just a bar on the plaza.” Guggino, 74, is a practicing Tampa area pediatric ophtham-
Caleb Motsinger
Dr. Giacomo “Jack” Guggino, lights up a Churchill style cigar at the location of his new cigar bar on Whitney Beach Plaza. He says even though it’s a bit ironic, cigars are what paid his way through medical school. ologist who treated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ eye problems for 20 years. “We’re hoping this bar will be the catalyst for many more to come,” he said. “We want our cigar bars to be all up and down the coast of Florida, and we’re hoping this will be our penetration into the market.” A second-generation Ameri-
can, Guggino was the first in his family to graduate high school, and when his grandparents moved in the late 1800s to the Tampa Bay area from Sicily, Italy, they became involved in the cigar industry. His mother, Giovonna, even helped pave his way through college by hand-rolling Churchill cigars at the Santaella and Garcia
Y Vega cigar factories in Tampa. “Now, a lot of people may ask how I can be a doctor and smoke, and that’s a damn good question,” he said. “But cigars are what got me through medical school; they are a tradition in my family.” The cigar bar will seat nearly
SEE BUSINESS / PAGE 14A
INDEX Building Permits...23A Calendar...............18A
Classifieds......... 26A Cops Corner....... 12A
Crossword.......... 25A Neighborhood.... 15A
Real Estate........ 22A Weather............. 25A
Vol. 37, No. 10 | Two sections YourObserver.com