When 4-year-old Kennedy Brown rides by Sarasota County Fire Station 5 at 400 N. Beneva Road, she knows it as “Grandpa’s station.”
It’s where her grandfather Glen Taylor was formerly employed, having retired as a captain.
During an Aug. 9 open house by the fire department, Taylor returned to the station, with Kennedy alongside him and sporting a firefighter’s uniform.
“We’re glad it’s here this month,” said Kennedy’s mother Katelyn Brown, who also attended.
Held at a different station each month, the open house events provide an opportunity for the public to meet firefighters, view firefighter apparatus and learn about fire safety. This month’s event also showcased a Bayflite medical helicopter.
The last lap of summer
Kids had the chance to close out the summer with some high-speed remote-controlled car action during the Sarasota City YMCA Summer Camp.
For five weeks, the camp had partnered with the Sarasota Police Department’s RC Car STEM Summer Camp program, with kids building their own cars and designing their own tracks, and the experience culminated with an RC car derby on Aug. 6.
The program is an initiative of the police department’s Community Relations Unit, and is intended to build relationships with youth through a hands-on educational experience.
$0.10
Cup runneth out
Dana Kampa
Ian Swaby Courtesy image
WEEK OF AUG. 14, 2025
BY THE NUMBERS
$57 MILLION
The cost of the McGillicuddy Arts Plaza planned by Florida Studio Theatre, which secured Planning Board adjustments PAGE 6
9.2
Acres, the size of the Marian Anderson site the city plans to sell for development PAGE 9
190 The number of Alta Vista students who picked up school items at Church of the Redeemer PAGE 14
CALENDAR
n Sarasota City Commission regular meeting — 9 a.m., Monday, Aug. 18, Commission Chambers, City Hall, 1565 First St.
n Sarasota County Commission budget workshop — 9 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 19, Third Floor Think Tank, County Administration Building, 1660 Ringling Blvd.
n Sarasota County School Board regular meeting — 6 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 19, Board Chambers, Landings Administration Complex, 1980 Landings Blvd. (black awning entrance).
“It’s kind of weird sitting here in this spot.”
Sarasota County Tax Collector Mike Moran to his former Sarasota County Commission colleagues during a budget workshop.
New rental homes planned for airport area
ects in the works regionally, has bought 11.6 acres just off University Parkway near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
Peter Olesiewicz, the firm’s principal, said in an email that the plan is to build a 125-unit build-to-rent community on the property on the Sarasota County side of University Parkway near the DeSoto Lakes neighborhood.
The site was acquired on Aug. 11, Olesiewicz said in an email.
The planned community will include one-bedroom paired villas as well as two- and threebedroom detached villas. Each unit will have a private back yard and “top-of-the-market rental features.” The community will have a pool and dog park.
Marquesa hopes to break ground during the second quarter next year and complete the project in 2028.
The company’s other regional projects include the Villas at Gulf Coast, a similar 140-unit community on Alico Road in Fort Myers
that was completed last year. It is also completing an 81-unit community on Jacaranda Circle in Venice named the Villas at Venice.
Marquesa is a partnership between Olesiewicz and Sarasotabased Scot Lloyd.
“Scot and I specifically target horizontal multifamily, where we feel that we can provide residents all of the amenities and community of apartment living with the privacy and low density of single-family living,” Olesiewicz said in the email.
SMH wins top federal government rating
Sarasota Memorial Hospital has received the federal government’s highest quality rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, setting a 10-year benchmark for five-star care.
Of more than 4,000 U.S. hospitals evaluated each year, SMH-Sarasota is the only one in Florida — and among fewer than 20 nationwide — to receive a five-star rating each year since CMS began the overall hospital quality star ratings in 2016. It is also the only hospital in the Tampa Bay region to earn five stars this year.
Sarasota Memorial HospitalVenice, which opened in late 2021, received a four-star rating. It is the second year the Venice hospital has been eligible for review.
For more information about the 2025 CMS Star Ratings, visit Medicare.gov/Care-Compare.
Enos steps down as school board chair
Sarasota County School Board Chair and District 5 representative Tim Enos announced Wednesday that he will resign from the school board, assuming the role of the district’s police chief, which he previously held.
His resignation is effective Aug. 24.
Enos was elected to the board in 2022, and was chosen by his colleagues as chair in 2024. He had previously served as the board’s vice chair, a role that now belongs to Robyn Marinelli.
According to the school district, Enos has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement, including 22 years of experience working with schools.
“While it has been an honor to serve as a school board member and board chair, my deepest passion has always been ensuring the safety of our students and staff,” Enos said in a media release. “This new role allows me to focus all my efforts on strengthening school safety and continuing the work I have dedicated much of my career to.”
Courtesy photo
Marquesa Capital Partners plans to build something similar to its soon-to-open Villas at Venice on land it just bought in Sarasota County near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
NO MORE TAX RETURN
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
During his eight years as a Sarasota County commissioner, Mike Moran often found himself sparring with department heads and constitutional and elected officers over spending requests during the annual budget season.
They included a regular protagonist, former Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates, whose chair he now fills after defeating the long-time incumbent in the 2024 election.
From across the table in the third floor “Think Tank” at the Sarasota County Government Center, the two regularly exchanged barbs over what he called excess collections of fees to the tune of $15 million to $20 million that Ford-Coates returned to the county coffers year after year.
This year, Moran found himself facing his former commission colleagues along with two freshmen members in Tom Knight and Teresa Mast, the latter of whom was elected to replace Moran in District 1 upon the expiration of his second fouryear term. And this year, he has a use for at least some of the that excess revenue while pledging to end in the near future the practice of collecting millions more in fees than the office needs to operate.
Last fiscal year, the Tax Collector’s Office returned $20.15 million to the county. For fiscal year 2026, Moran has budgeted a return of $18.67 million, the primary factor in the difference being an upgrade in its collections software more than 15 years overdue, he said.
“It’s kind of weird sitting here in this spot,” Moran admitted to his former colleagues.
It must have also been “kind of weird” to lay out the investment of some of the excess fee revenue he opposes, money the county has heretofore counted on annually to balance the budget.
His argument had been that user fee revenue should more closely reflect actual costs rather than customers renewing licenses and other functions bearing the burden of helping balance the county’s general fund as a whole.
The Tax Collector’s Office annual budget is approved by the Florida Department of Revenue and is funded by fees it collects for services that it provides. Those fees are attached to property tax collections, motor vehicle and vessel registrations, driver’s licenses and identification cards, hunting and fishing licenses,
motor vehicle transactions and other state and local revenue collections.
Fees collected that exceed the office’s approved budgetary needs are remitted back to the county at the end of each fiscal year. Moran inherited the current fiscal year’s budget when he took office in January, and since has observed he has observed many changes necessary that will require use of some of next year’s projected excess.
Priorities listed by Moran for fiscal year 2026 include:
■ Improve personnel turnover trend with appropriate staffing
■ Implement kiosk services
■ Artificial intelligence integration
■ Improving and updating compensation and benefit models
■ Employee education and training
■ South county location improvements
■ Improving fraud prevention measures
The office functions inefficiently, he told commissioners, because of antiquated technology, burnout and turnover resulting from an undersized staff operating in insufficient space and other shortcomings.
“These are totaling well over a million transactions (annually), and those are done in four locations,”
Moran said of the office’s body of work. “That’s not totally true. It’s three locations plus, literally, a closet in North Port. It is a closet that was converted where we have four people in probably 30-by-20 feet making 1,200 transactions a day. I don’t know if that even really tells the story because, if any of you have been in our offices on a Monday or a Friday … it could easily hit 1,600 people a day.”
ZERO EXCESS IS THE GOAL
To address staffing, Moran’s budget includes the highest number of new full-time equivalents, percentage-wise, among all constitutional and elected officers — 14 total new employees for a total of 117, an increase of 13.6%. At 103 FTEs, Sarasota is well behind the average of 156 for comparable counties including Collier, Lake, Manatee, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard and Pasco, and has the fewest employees among all of them.
Likewise, the office’s budgeted spending increase for next year outpaces all other departments at 27% growth from $11.73 million in the current fiscal year to $14.92 million next year.
That’s a $3.18 million increase, and Moran went on to explain why he will be spending that money rather than returning it to county coffers.
“Out of 67 tax collectors in the
BUSY AND GROWING OPERATIONS
The Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office is responsible for the collection of county property taxes and serving as an agency to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles department. Its 1 million-plus transactions per year include:
In-person: 1,200-plus per day at four
locations
By phone: 560-plus calls per day
Online: 1,200-plus per day
Mail: 700-plus pieces per day
TRANSACTIONS
■ Collecting property taxes
■ Preparing, sending and processing tax bills
■ Conducting tax lien sales
■ Tourist development tax collections
STATE OF FLORIDA ASSISTANCE
■ Titling and registering motor vehicles, motorcycles, manufactured homes, vessels and trailers
■ Issuing disabled parking permits
■ Issuing hunting and fishing licenses
■ Issuing driver’s licenses
■ Processing concealed weapons applications and renewals
Source: Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office
state of Florida, we are the only one that is on the software platform we’re on,” Moran said. “We cannot stay this way. It’s not even an option. If we sign those contracts today, we don’t go live for a year. The setup initiation for that conversion is just shy of $2.2 million.”
That capital outlay, he said, will be spread out over three years.
Sarasota is also one of the few counties, Moran said, that does not employ the use of kiosks in Publix stores, where motor vehicle transactions may be executed.
“We are the only (county) on the West Coast of Florida, in our comparable demographic, that does not have these services, which is my goal to have those coming about as soon as humanly possible,” he said.
In addition to more personnel, the office needs to improve its compensation and benefit models to address what Moran described as a troubling turnover trend and funding to facilitate hiring and adequately training new personnel.
“I can’t hire somebody who works in retail as a cashier and bring them into this facility and have them up and running in a week,” Moran said. “It is a very long runway for some-
“We cannot stay this way. It’s not even an option. If we sign those contracts today, we don’t go live for a year. The setup initiation for that conversion is just shy of $2.2 million.”
Mike Moran
body to actually be on the counter to be able to handle some of these transactions. So making sure we’re recruiting talented folks and making sure they’re getting through the education and training funnel and coming out at the bottom to be able to handle these transactions is just a priority.”
Finally, the “closet” space in North Port must be addressed with the need for more facility room.
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger noted the long list of deferred issues needing attention set against the amount of revenue the office has historically returned to the county, which it relies upon for budgetary balancing.
“We need to be very closely monitoring what you’re looking at in terms of what we can expect and how much money your department is going to need to spend on upgrades and improvements on software and new space,” Cutsinger told Moran. “I really do not like hearing that we’re the only county that’s not there yet in these areas — the kiosks, the online, things that can take pressure off the facilities. I appreciate what you’re doing, but we need to be very careful about what we’re looking at for next year in terms of dollars as you as you make those upgrades.”
In future years, the County Commission will have to take an even closer look at its budget minus the return of excess fees from the Tax Collector’s Office. Moran said his ultimate goal — as he argued when he occupied the other side of the dais — is to collect zero revenue exceeding expenses from county residents.
“You have my commitment to make sure there’s a tight relationship with you to make sure that you understand, and your finance folks understand, how that affects the excess that you were getting,” Moran said.
Courtesy Images
Mike Moran has led the effort to end the countywide business tax that directly supports the EDC of Sarasota County.
Mound Street condo project sailing through staff review
On its second submittal to the city’s Development Review Committee, the 66-unit condo project has received partial sign-off.
With few comments remaining to be addressed, a 66-unit, mixed-use condominium development on Mound Street has received partial sign-off from the city’s Development Review Committee on only its first resubmittal.
Located between Orange and Pineapple Avenues directly across from Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the development currently named 777 South Palm Avenue Condos, proposed by Unilog Group of Miami, will be the first development to take advantage of both the city’s affordable housing bonus density program and its new Transfer of Development Rights historic preservation initiative.
Standing on 1.1 acres on the former Kodra Professional Center building, five of the 66 residences will be priced as affordable, per the city’s program.
It will be one building of varying height up to seven stories with 17,946 square feet of commercial space. A five-story podium used for parking will be integrated into the building.
The project achieved two additional floors above the five-story Downtown Edge limit via the transfer of development rights acquisition from a nonidentified qualified downtown historic property.
In January 2025, the Sarasota City Commission approved an ordinance to allow owners of historically significant properties in the downtown area to monetize their air rights by selling them developers of properties in a receiving zone in one of the
downtown zone districts.
The built density of 60 dwelling units per acre more than doubles the permitted base density of Downtown Edge of 25 units per acre, although well below the available density of 100 units per acre permitted by the attainable housing bonus.
Because the property is located within a downtown zone district, the project will require only administrative approval.
The developer is not seeking any zoning code adjustments that would require Planning Board review.
Investor group buys cup maker Tervis, will move HQ to Bradenton
The new owners’ ‘strong investment in Tervis,’ CEO Hosana Fieber says, ‘speaks to its well-established and beloved brand legacy.’
MARK GORDON
Less than a year after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with at least $30 million in debt — and six months after coming out of it — Sarasota County-based drinkware manufacturer Tervis has been sold.
The new owners are a group of five investors formed under the name JV2 Innovative Products LLC, which, records show, was formed June 4 in Delaware. Executives with Venice-based Tervis declined to disclose the names of the investors, saying only that one of the five is local, while the others are outside of Florida, and the new entity intends to relocate the company headquarters from Venice to Bradenton. Tervis executives, while declining to get into specifics on who the new owners are, saying they preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that JV2 is “made up of investors that collectively have extensive manufacturing experience.”
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The new owners plan to keep the Tervis name, say company officials, and in the coming weeks will name a new president and chief revenue officer, in addition to four sales team leaders. JV2, according to a Tuesday statement, also seeks to “build on the great Tervis legacy with product, material and manufacturing innovation,” and also plans “to invest in a larger sales force with a renewed emphasis on product development.”
Tervis Chairman Rogan Donelly, whose family has owned the company for 75 years, will be a minority shareholder under JV2’s ownership. Hosana Fieber, who has held
several leadership posts with Tervis going back to 2009 — including being president and CEO since October 2023 — will help the new owners during a transition process, but won’t remain with the business.
In something of an unusual twist, both Donelly and Fieber will maintain another tie to Tervis: They will co-own the lone Tervis retail store, at 928 South Tamiami Trail in Osprey.
Fieber and Donelly, in separate interviews with the Business Observer, say the new owners, in addition to leadership changes, intend to invest significant capital into the company. That’s a factor they say was missing in the company’s exit from bankruptcy as it sought to regain market share in what’s become a competitive sector, with brands like Stanley, Yeti and more.
“You can’t grow if you can’t put the money into it,” Fieber says.
“But we didn’t have the dollars to grow organically.”
Donelly adds the investment and “fresh blood” is something Tervis, founded in 1946, “badly needed.”
“The entire Donelly family is extremely proud of Tervis’ legacy, and we are excited for the opportunity ahead given the renewed investment in the brand,” Donelly adds in the Tuesday statement.
“This investment is exactly what is needed to position Tervis for success in its next 80 years.”
Tervis officials declined to disclose the amount the new owners plan to invest into Tervis.
Fieber and Donelly stress the sale and investment, while the end of an era in Venice and Sarasota County — where Tervis was once one of the region’s largest employers — is a good short and long-term
move for the company, brand and employees. “It was a great opportunity for both the investors and shareholders,” Fieber says; shareholders are made up mostly of the Donelly family, and the principal shareholders/family members loaned nearly $19 million to Tervis from 2020 to 2024 to help provide capital for ongoing operations, bankruptcy court records show.
The sale, announced to the company’s 70 employees Tuesday morning, marks the end of a 75-year run of the firm being run by the Donelly family and being based in Venice, south Sarasota County. Detroit engineers Frank Cotter and G. Howlett Davis founded the firm in 1946, when they created the double-walled insulated tumbler that became the company’s core product. (They named the company Tervis after the last three letters of their names.)
Donelly’s grandfather, Casey Key entrepreneur John Winslow, bought the company in the 1950s and moved it from Michigan to
Venice. Winslow died in 1989, and his son-in-law, onetime Wall Street banker Norbert Donelly, Rogan’s father, took over the business.
From roughly 2000 through 2020, the company grew from a quirky cup maker into one of the most recognizable brands in the region. Its products were sold in Bed Bath & Beyond and Beall’s stores, among other retailers, and it had a robust e-commerce business. A decade ago it had a peak of 1,000 employees, including seasonal workers; in 2022 the company posted $90 million in revenue, a figure that dropped 50% by 2004.
In addition to the revenue drop, the company’s Sept. 5, 2024, bankruptcy filing revealed several lingering issues. The list included a post-COVID spike and then a just-as-sharp decline in e-commerce sales; a long-lasting drop in consumer discretionary spending; inflated operating expenses; and a complicated lawsuit from a former supplier. The company had
$15.7 million in assets and owed more than $32 million to creditors when it filed for bankruptcy, court records show.
It exited bankruptcy Feb. 10 with all litigation dismissed and debt resolved. Its post-bankruptcy plans, Fieber said then, included focusing on products that could be used at the home rather than only for on-the-go occasions. That included a sub-brand called TervisHome launched in 2024 and a new category of products made of melamine, a chemical compound found in dinnerware, that debuted this past January.
Fieber, who has left Tervis and come back twice since 2009, quips that with the retail store, she feels like “I will never completely detach myself from this brand.”
But she also looks forward to what the new owners will do with the brand. “The company has been through many good and a few bad moments in the past 15 years,” she said. “I believe it has bright days in its future.”
Courtesy image
Tervis maintains more than 50 licenses, including one with Guy Harvey.
FST scores a marquee victory
Florida Studio Theater secured multiple Planning Board adjustments for its McGillicuddy Arts Plaza.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Zoning codes can be written to cover most scenarios, but occasionally, a project within it doesn’t necessarily conform to convention. Such is the case of Florida Studio
Theatre and its planned McGillicuddy Arts Plaza on two parcels it owns on First Street adjacent to its current performing arts facilities. The $57 million addition will serve a variety of uses, including a second main theater, two smaller cabaret theaters, a 125-space parking structure plus dining and office space. Included in the design are 24 multifamily rental units and a 33-room hotel. Its primary identifying feature, though, is the theater space, and that’s where several requested adjustments were presented to the Sarasota Planning Board at its Aug. 7 meeting.
In addition to an exemption to the code that will allow for parking in the second layer above the two-story theater space to provide a more efficient design and maximize the number of spaces, FST also requested a cut in the median on Cocoanut Avenue. That will allow patrons coming from the south to enter the westbound alley between Cocoanut and First Street without having to make a U-turn at Second Street.
In the spirit of Radio City Music Hall and the Chicago Theater, though, FST officials want the new theater space to be easily identifiable by adding extra signage to the
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AT WELLEN PARK
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exterior of the building, among them one that spans five stories in height. They include vertical building identification signs on the west, south and east elevations of the building.
A proposal of an architectural feature at the top of the eight-story building will also include branding.
To representatives of the project, it seemed like little to ask for a prime downtown location that, rather than a longstanding cultural element could otherwise be another nondescript 18-story condo tower.
“We’ve been downtown since before the days when you could fire a cannon and not hit anything, and now everything’s grown up around us,” said FST Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins. “We want to stay downtown, but in order to do that, we have to meet our needs, and we absolutely need this building.”
Not only does FST want a second main theater building and two more cabaret theaters to meet patron demand, it also needs to consolidate housing, in affordable fashion, for long-term visiting performers and staff. The theater has provided that type of housing in single-family homes scattered around its downtown location. The hotel rooms will offer short-term accommodations for performers and will be open to the general public, as well.
“We need this, and we need it to look like a theater district,” Hopkins said. “You go to any city in the
country and you’re going to see and know you’re in a theater district. That’s why we have our marquees in our existing theater. It’s important that the experience starts from the second you land on property. We are part of the crown of the arts in Sarasota, and we need that jewel to shine.”
The Planning Board required little convincing that Florida Studio Theatre’s ask was reasonable and appropriate, with little discussion among its members before granting unanimous approval. The proposals, in fact, elicited uncharacteristic praise from the board.
“I’m excited about this,” said board member Dan Clermont. “It’s fun to have something other than a condo building or apartment structure for us to consider. That, to me, is the essence of Sarasota and the direction that Sarasota needs to take. Many of our arts buildings are rather nondescript. This one is out there, so thank you.”
Said Planning Board Chairman Dan Deleo, “I’m a huge fan of your organization. I have been for a very long time. You’re a model of what an arts organization should be in this community, and this design really reflects that. And this plan, I think you guys did a tremendous job of taking disparate elements and marrying them together in something that’s visually appealing and also suits your needs.”
PALMERA
Image Courtesy of Alan Anderson Architect
The rendering of Florida Studio Theatre’s McGillicuddy Arts Plaza shows marquee signage granted as adjustments by the Sarasota Planning Board.
Courtesy image
The Florida Studio Theatre property is outlined in red. The nondeveloped left portion of the property along First Street between Cocoanut Avenue and Tamiami Trail is currently used as a surface parking lot.
SUNDAY, JULY 13
REPEAT TRESPASSER
1:12 a.m., 1400 block of Main Street
Trespassing: Flagged down by bouncers of a downtown late-night club, officers were advised a man who was kicked out of the establishment the day prior had returned, was causing issues and refused to leave. An officer recognized the man due to prior interactions.
When questioned by officers, the man became combative and said, “I’m just here to eat a hot dog.”
The trespassing warning received one day earlier, however, applies to street-side tables outside the establishment via an outdoor café permit issued by the city of Sarasota. As such, he was informed he was unlawfully in an area from which he was banned and was knowingly in violation of a trespass warning. He was arrested and transported to Sarasota County Jail.
MIFFED VAN WINKLE
2:16 a.m., 1700 block of Siesta Drive
Disturbance: Having been jolted awake, an incredibly heavy sleeper responded angrily, leading to a response for a family disturbance. The responding officer encountered the male subject walking toward the street from the residence, advising he believes his fiancé called law enforcement but was not certain why.
He said he recalls being awaken by the couple’s roommate because his fiancé, who said she is anemic, was in the bathtub and needed his assistance. Once he finally woke up from his typically deep slumber, he said the woman had managed to extract herself from the tub and demanded he leave. To avoid further issues, he complied and walked outside to meet arriving officers.
SATURDAY, JULY 12
WHEELING WHILE INTOXICATED
2:05 a.m., 1900 block of Main Street
Impaired person: An officer reported observing an adult male slumped over in a motorized wheelchair ... in the middle of the road. With slurred speech, the man advised he was in need of dispelling the remnants of numerous alcoholic beverages from his bloated bladder.
When asked where he was destined, he said he was going home and that he lived on Cohen Way. This despite the fact he was headed in the opposite direction of his home.
The man admitted to having several beers and was attempting to navigate his wheelchair while heavily under the influence of alcohol. While speaking with officers, he attempted to ride away, rolling into the middle of the road, prompting officers to physically restrain him.
Because of the man’s level of intoxication and inability to safety navigate home, he was placed under the Marchman Act and EMS personnel transported him to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
The complainant told an officer she heard the man yell, “Leave me alone!” as the roommate tried to awaken him. She confirmed the man is a very heavy sleeper and is difficult to wake up. The roommate said once he discovered the woman was in need of assistance, he found the man asleep on the living room floor. He said tried shaking the man awake and then poured water on him, all to no avail. Tapping him with his foot, though, did the trick as the
man woke up and became enraged. That’s when the roommate walked outside, he said, to avoid getting in the middle of couple’s conflict. After speaking with all parties involved, it was determined no crime had occurred and the woman called as a proactive measure. The man told an officer he would sit outside for a while to not bother his fiancé and would go to bed soon.
Some federal land in Florida should be sold
Florida should follow Texas’ lead by focusing on legalizing accessory dwelling units, streamlining permitting and loosening restrictive zoning regulations.
At 640 million acres, more than a quarter of America’s total land area, the federal government’s real estate portfolio dwarfs that of private developers and corporations. The U.S. federal government owns more land than France, Spain and Germany combined. When some in Congress recently proposed selling a small amount of federal land to build affordable housing, the idea met fierce bipartisan resistance and was dropped.
The barriers to building housing are best addressed at the state and local levels, so it was for the best that provision failed. However, the intense emotions surrounding the divestment of even one of those 640 million acres illustrate how challenging it has become to confront the government’s poor asset management and spending.
About 12.9% of Florida’s land is owned by the federal government, or about 4.5 million acres. That is over 1 million acres more that the feds own in Georgia and Alabama combined. The National Park Service controls over half of federal land in Florida.
It’s understandable to get passionate about protecting Everglades National Park or Big Cypress National Preserve and other crown jewels of our national parklands. Or the 17 wilderness areas in the state. But that’s not the lands for which we should be reconsidering federal ownership.
Most calls for land divestment focus on the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, the agencies that hold nearly 70% of all federal lands. BLM land is mostly in the West, but the forest service controls about 1 million acres in Florida. Almost 600,000 of those acres are wetlands or wilderness areas, so they are not being considered. Most of the rest is also off the table, situated in remote areas far from job centers and existing infrastructure.
The land that has potential are small parts of the Apalachicola National Forest near where it borders Tallahassee and small parts of the Ocala National Forest near Orlando. Some of that acreage may not be crucial to the park, especially given extensive nearby state parks as well, and could be better used for commercial purposes.
The Government Accountability Office has flagged federal property management as “high risk” since 2003. Maintenance backlogs for federal land have gone from $170 billion to $370 billion
in just seven years. Federal facilities are crumbling, underutilized and poorly configured for modern needs. Therefore, it should not be heresy to suggest that targeted, data-driven divestment could save taxpayers money, prioritize lands with genuine development potential near existing communities, while preserving crown jewel parks, wilderness areas and wetlands that provide clear public and ecosystemic value.
The federal government owning nearly 50% of the area west of the Mississippi suggests a massive misallocation of resources and missed economic opportunities. While there are pockets of parks, and recreational and industrial revenue generation from public lands, many federal land holdings offer minimal public benefit while imposing substantial carrying costs.
Rural communities across the West have long chafed under federal land rules that limit local economic development and constrain local tax bases. That is less of a problem in Florida, but not zero — some counties suffer considerable tax revenue loss. A smart approach to federal land sales could strengthen rural economies, increase local property tax revenue, and bring environmental protection and land management under local oversight.
It’s not about selling Everglades or Big Cypress; it’s about unloading underutilized properties that drain federal resources without delivering commensurate benefits.
The best path forward requires Congress to launch a comprehensive inventory of federal holdings, identifying properties ripe for divestment while safeguarding truly national assets. It could even create a bipartisan federal lands committee modeled after the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which successfully navigated the closure of hundreds of the country’s military bases through a fair process with minimal politics and maximum pragmatism.
When it comes to Florida’s and America’s housing crisis, selling federal land isn’t the answer. Local land-use regulations, zoning laws, subdivision ordinances, delays in permitting, poor regional planning
and governance, and other regulatory barriers are to blame for the lack of housing and high prices. These regulations, red tape and long delays prevent builders from meeting the demand for housing.
Rather than relying on Congress to provide a solution, leaders in Florida should follow the lead of major cities in Texas, such as Austin and Houston, by focusing on legalizing accessory dwelling units, streamlining permitting processes and loosening or eliminating restrictive zoning regulations. These types of reforms can help increase housing supply quickly and at scale and are far more impactful than what could be expected from distant federal land sales.
Recent housing reforms in Texas and Montana demonstrate what’s possible when state governments are motivated to finally address long-standing problems.
States and localities must continue to build momentum in implementing the zoning and permitting reforms that actually increase housing supply and drive down costs.
Congress can’t solve the housing crisis by selling federal land, but that doesn’t mean we should cling to an outdated land ownership model that serves nobody well. It’s time to right-size the federal government’s real estate empire — not because it will make housing more affordable, but because responsible stewardship demands it.
The federal government should focus on safety, security and truly national priorities, not on being America’s largest and worst landlord. And state and local governments should remove the barriers they’ve created to building more housing. That’s the path to more affordable housing and a little less government.
Leonard Gilroy and Adrian Moore, both are vice presidents at Reason Foundation.
Walsh will be on leave until mid-October.
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ADRIAN MOORE AND LEONARD GILROY
Marian Anderson property plan receives partial staff sign-off
The developer of the brownfield Marian Anderson site make strides toward rezoning for commercial use; Siesta Row Publix redevelopment introduced to the Development Review Committee.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
sed for decades as an unli -
Uthe 13 acres known as the Marian Anderson property has finally
its first official step toward brownfield cleanup and development in the heart of Newtown.
Located between U.S. 301 and the railroad tracks off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, a group of partners called Newtown Gateway made its first appearance before the city’s Development Review Committee. It is seeking a rezoning without a site plan approval of 9.2 acres from Commercial Residential District with a future land use designation of Community Commercial to Industrial General District, which is an implementing zone district for the Production Intensive Commercial future land use classification.
The rezoning would enable environmental remediation and development of the long-vacant site by allowing for light industrial use.
Newtown Gateway intends to divide the property into two parcels, one to be developed as a health care clinic and medical office complex. The parcel intended for light industrial use requires a Comprehensive Plan amendment and rezoning, which must be eventually approved by the City Commission.
The partnership of Newtown Gateway includes Miami-based Woodwater Investments CEO Barron Channer and Newtown residents Keith DuBose, Ernie DuBose and Al Davis. The group intents to purchase the site, which, as a brownfield, requires significant environmental remediation prior to being developed, from the city for $50,000.
Their effort to acquire the site for development dates back to 2021.
Having received partial DRC signoff with few remaining outstanding matters to address with staff, the next step prior to acquisition is rezoning approval by the City Commission.
MARINA SEA WALL REPLACEMENT ADVANCES
Also receiving partial DRC sign-off was a project to replace some 1,500 linear feet of sea wall fronting Bayfront Park and compromising the A Dock area of the marina.
The city-sponsored project had its first appearance before the DRC on Aug. 7. The project will raise the sea wall cap and the landward adjacent grade as a resiliency measure. It will also include an environmental component with panels installed for water filtering organisms.
The engineering consultant for the project is Cummins Cederberg Coastal and Marine Engineering of St. Petersburg.
Storm surge from Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused seawater to breach the marina and several areas of damage are visible along the seawall in the dock area.
SIESTA ROW PUBLIX TO BE REPLACED
Shoppers who frequent the Publix at Shops at Siesta Row at 3825 S. Osprey Ave. will soon have to find a new temporary location to forage for seasoned, crispy fried chicken tenders. The owner of the center intends to redevelop the store into its 50,800-square-foot prototype, making its first appearance before the DRC in a pre-application conference.
The current store contains approximately 48,000 square feet of space.
The number of spaces in the retail
HEALTH CARE
■ Clinic facilities and medical offices
■ Prioritize affordable providers
■ Target pediatric, neonatal, dental, etc.
LIGHT INDUSTRIAL
■ Approx. 100,00 square feet
■ Target storage, assembly, packing and shipping use
■ No heavy industry
CELLULAR TOWER
■ Up to 200 ft.
■ Enhance mobile and broadband coverage
center parking lot is proposed to be reduced from 227 to 214 with existing driveways to remain. The project includes only the existing Publix store and other retail tenants in the center are planned to remain. When
the current Publix will be demolished has not been announced, but the estimated completion date is June 2026. As reported by sister publication Business Observer, the center is
owned by Pittsburgh-based Echo Realty, which owns several Publixanchored retail centers in the region from Tampa to North Port.
A portion of damaged sea wall along the Marina Jack A Dock adjacent to Bayfront Park.
Photos by Andrew Warfield
This Publix store at Shops at Siesta Row will be demolished and rebuilt as a slightly larger model.
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER
THE HEAT IS ON
Carole J. Bufford belts out a sizzling ode to summer in FST’s ‘Too Darn Hot.’
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
he science fiction writer
Robert Heinlein gets credit for saying “Every generation thinks it invented sex.”
That observation may be true, but cabaret singer Carole J. Bufford knows that’s not the case.
For her summer cabaret show at Florida Studio Theatre, “Too Darn Hot: Songs for a Summer Night,” Bufford digs deep into the annals of American popular music to celebrate summer pastimes of days gone by, including one called “makin’ whoopee.”
Before TV, there was radio. Its songs and serials educated the young about the rites of adulthood in a different manner than did the minister in his pulpit.
For those with the means, the automobile provided a way to get off the front porch and escape the watchful eyes of parents and neigh-
Away from home, there were the pleasures of the movie theater and later, the drive-in. For many years, the drugstore counter was a prime meeting spot for members of the opposite sex. It was here that you cooled off with Coca-Cola, which came from a fountain, not a bottle
The drugstore often had a jukebox, and in some places, people even danced. Such dangerous activity was banned in bars and restaurants by the City of New York in 1926. The Cabaret Law remained on the books until Bufford spans the decades in her FST show. Her repertoire — and her costumes — transport you to a slower, steamier time where summer provided ample opportunity for misbehavin’.
As the Cole Porter song that gives Bufford the title for her show reminds us, sometimes it’s “Too Darn Hot” to do much of anything, except perhaps roll in the hay. But there could be a price to pay for such abandon, as Bufford warns us with that Jazz Age favorite “Makin’ Whoopee.”
Bufford, a red-headed siren, organizes her show by the summer months —June, July, August and
September. Each month is introduced with a poem to set the mood. During the show, it quickly becomes evident that not only is Bufford a dazzling entertainer, she is a scholar.
A SINGER WITH A KNACK FOR RESEARCH
A lot of cabaret singers ad lib their librettos (the spoken word part of the show), but Bufford has done her homework, not only in her wideranging selection of songs, but in the stories behind them. Even those well-versed in the popular music of the 20th century may learn something new.
With its subtitle “Songs for a Summer Night,” it’s not unexpected to hear Bufford croon George Gershwin’s 1934 song, “Summertime,” his aria from the opera “Porgy and Bess.” But Bufford demonstrates her vocal versatility by performing the song in the style of Janis Joplin, who recorded it with Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968 before going solo.
Sometimes, Bufford flips the switch, like when she belts out Bob Seger’s “Fire Down Below,” a masculine salute to strippers and their faithful followers that one might not expect in the set of a songstress, even a sultry one. With this and other knowing nods in “Too Darn Hot,” Bufford embraces the power of female sexuality.
But the heat of summer can lead to destructive pursuits. Randy Newman is known for his humorous and often sardonic ditties like “Short People” and “I Love LA,” the tonguein-cheek anthem he wrote for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
But how many people have heard Newman’s “Let’s Burn Down the Cornfield?” Bufford brings her considerable powers of persuasion to this sinister number. Her seductive delivery reminds you that in a onehorse town before high-tech pastimes, this might have been someone’s idea of fun.
Back in the days before information was instantly available on the internet, a New York City-based performer such as Bufford would have had to spend a lot of time in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, a cultural repository of books, sheet music, audio and video.
Carole J. Bufford stars in “Too Darn Hot,” where she is backed by a band, including Angela Steiner on piano and Isaac Mingus on bass.
Carole Bufford stars in “Too Darn Hot,” one of three FST Summer Cabaret shows.
Photos courtesy of Sorcha Augustine
But with the help of Google and evolving AI tools, Bufford isn’t tied to the Lincoln Center NYPL branch.
Thanks to her research both online and off, you’ll leave “Too Darn Hot” full of factoids that you can regale your friends with or maybe win a round of “Jeopardy!” if you watch at home.
During a recent performance, Bufford confessed to her audience she was once criticized by a professor at Ithaca College, where she earned a BFA in musical theater, for being too old-fashioned in her musical tastes. Obviously, she’s gotten the last laugh, having made a career out of cabaret.
Bufford’s created her own shows, including “speak easy” featuring Grammy winners Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, and has performed with Michael Feinstein’s Great American Songbook series at Jazz @ Lincoln Center and in “Broadway by the Year” concerts in New York and California.
When Bufford was growing up in what she calls a “one-stoplight town” in Georgia, there weren’t many opportunities for her to hone her performing skills. To help her accumulate showbiz credits, her father directed her in a performance of “The Wizard of Oz” when she was in high school.
A Georgia 4-H club, “Clovers and Company,” brought Bufford together with like-minded young performers. “I loved it because I finally got to meet people like me,” she says. Talent shows and singing at beauty pageants while judges tallied their votes also helped Bufford get more stage experience.
Along the way, she figured out that “nearly all the songs I loved, especially those in the Great American Songbook, came from Broadway musicals.” That’s why she decided to major in musical theater.
Asked how her musical taste developed as a child, Bufford says family members played a part. Her dad was fond of the Great American Songbook, her mom liked Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand and her grandparents played country and western music on the radio and stereo.
ON THE TRAIL OF LIZA
But the single greatest influence on Bufford’s budding professional
Along the way, (Bufford) figured out that “nearly all the songs I loved, especially those in the Great American Songbook, came from Broadway musicals.”
aspirations was a woman who made a name for herself as “Liza with a Z.”
That’s Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Garland and film director Vincent Minnelli.
“We had a Betamax at home and my dad had recorded Liza’s 1980 HBO special in New Orleans. I used to come home from school every day and watch it,” she recalls. Bufford was also a student of Garland’s now classic movies, including “Summer Stock,” “For Me and My Gal” and “Easter Parade.”
After establishing herself in New York’s cabaret scene, Bufford got the chance to meet her idol for the first time in 2011. The meeting came during a break while Bufford was performing with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks during his regular Tuesday gigs downstairs at the Hotel Edison. (They have since moved to the jazz club Birdland.)
“Vince brought me over and introduced me to Liza and Michael Feinstein,” Bufford recalls. “She was lovely and complimentary. That week it seemed like I saw Liza at least five times. She must have thought I was stalking her.”
Since then, Feinstein and Liza (Like all divas, she’s known only by her first name.) have become part of Bufford’s extended circle or vice versa.
“Some friends of mine are involved in her memoir, which is coming out next year,” Bufford says. “I can’t wait.”
“Too Darn Hot” marks the fourth time Bufford has brought a show to Florida Studio Theatre at the invitation of FST Associate Artist Catherine Randazzo, who supervises the Summer Cabaret series. Bufford was last on the FST stage in 2021, with “Vintage POP!” Two years earlier, she starred in “Come Together: When the ’60s Met the ’70s.”
Her maiden journey at FST was in 2017 with “Roar,” where she celebrated the music of the flapper and speakeasy era. You can hear echoes of that time throughout “Too Darn Hot.”
“Roar” was an offshoot of “speak easy” (lower case intentional), the collaboration between Bufford and the Nighthawks that played at the New York City nightclub 54 Below.
The first time Bufford had a gig at FST it was for eight weeks. This year she’ll be here for three months, until Sept. 14, when “Too Darn Hot” closes.
“Usually in cabaret, a show is only a night or maybe as long as a week. But with the long runs at FST, my shows become a cabaret/theater hybrid,” she says.
Before being hired by FST, she came to Sarasota for the first time under the auspices of Artist Series Concerts, then run by Lee Dougherty Ross. “That was around 2012 or 2013, which was when my cabaret career really started taking off,” she says.
After discovering the warmth of Sarasota audiences, Bufford is always happy to return to Florida’s “Cultural Coast,” especially to FST.
“I can’t think of a place in the country that has such a dedicated subscriber base,” she says.
A TIGHT TRIO MADE TO ORDER
It’s an article of faith that an artist will say their latest endeavor is their best yet. Bufford is no different, although she seems quite sincere. In her opinion, what helps makes “Too Darn Hot” so effective is her band.
Joining Bufford on stage are Isaac Mingus on bass, Angela Steiner on piano and Aaron Nix on drums.
Bufford put together the trio herself, with help from Mingus, who accompanied her on “Vintage POP!” He suggested Nix and Steiner, whom he knows from working on musicals at Asolo Repertory Theatre.
Mingus, a 2023 New College of Florida grad, is a Renaissance man who has attracted a cult following among jazz enthusiasts in Sarasota despite his tender age.
Nix is also a local, but the adjunct professor of percussion at State College of Florida has performed with touring Broadway shows, including “Cats,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and “West Side Story.”
Steiner is a music director based in the Denver area, with extensive national music director and conductor credits. She’s usually in charge of many more instruments than just her own piano.
Bufford generously gives the members of her band a chance to shine and improvise. The chemistry between the three musicians and with Bufford is palpable. It’s clear that four stars are on stage and they all love what they’re doing.
As the creator of “Too Darn Hot,” Bufford ask her personal music director, Ian Herman, to do arrangements. She sent MP3 digital audio
files to Mingus, Steiner and Nix ahead of her arrival to prepare them for the FST show.
When she got to town, she and the band had two days to rehearse for “Too Darn Hot.”
“But we really needed a half-day because they were so prepared,” she says.
Sitting in FST’s Court Cabaret watching Bufford sing, shimmy and strut (“I don’t dance, really”) surrounded by her tight trio, it’s possible to go briefly back in time, to “when we were young,” to borrow the title of an Adele song in “Too Darn Hot.”
Isaac Mingus plays bass at Florida Studio Theatre’s “Too Darn Hot: Songs for a Summer Night.”
THIS WEEK
Even the best laid plans for adultery can go awry, especially when a scheming wife sees an opportunity for a little hankypanky of her own with her husband’s best friend. Written by Marc Camoletti (“BoeingBoeing”) and Robin Howdon, “Don’t Dress for Dinner” is a high-speed farce sure to shake anyone out of their summer torpor. Runs through Aug. 24.
IF YOU GO
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15
Where: FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. Tickets: $42 and up Info: Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
THURSDAY
JAZZ THURSDAYS AT SAM: O SOM DO JAZZ 5:30 p.m. at Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail Free for members; $25 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.
Brazilian jazz group O Som do Jazz performs on the Marcy and Michael Klein Plaza at Sarasota Art Museum in the Jazz Thursdays series sponsored by the Jazz Club of Sarasota. The band’s frontman is David Manson, and its vocalist is Andrea Moreas Manson. The evening features extended hours in the galleries, Bistro and museum shop.
SATURDAY
‘THE HIGH LIFE: CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE BIRDS’
10 a.m. at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St.
$28; $23 online Visit Selby.org.
Organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, the exhibition features 70 breathtaking works of birds in a variety of locales, including nature, the studio and the museum. The show is curated by William Ewing and Danaé Panchaud, the same team that brought “Flora Imaginaria” to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in 2022. The photos are displayed in the galleries of the Museum of Botany & the Arts and throughout the gardens, where some of the birds appear right at home. Runs through Sept. 14.
MONDAY
JAZZ JAM SRQ
5:30 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.
Piano, bass and drum set are available at the free jam session open to professional and amateur jazz musicians. Sign up to play or just come to enjoy the music and people-watching.
TUESDAY
‘LILLIAN BLADES: THROUGH THE VEIL’
10 a.m. at the Sarasota Art Museum campus of Ringling College, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail Free for museum members; $20 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.
Award-winning artist Lillian Blades invites visitors to get lost in her first solo museum exhibition, at Sarasota Art Museum. Her installation combines handcrafted and found objects to create a mesmerizing display. Blades attributes her use of dazzling color to her childhood in the Bahamas and her process of creating large-scale assemblages to her late mother, an accomplished seamstress. Runs through Oct. 26.
A BAND CALLED HONALEE
7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 Palm Ave. $39 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
The subtitle to Florida Studio Theatre’s last cabaret show of the summer season is “A Tribute to Peter, Paul and Mary … and Friends,” but any self-respecting folk rock fan can spot the play on words in the name A Band Called Honalee. ICYMI, it refers to the mythical land made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
The incarnation of A Band Called Honalee appearing in Sarasota includes Brian Ott, a veteran of FST’s “59th Street Bridge,” who has been touring with the group since 2019. Also on stage are Michael Grieve, Geoffrey Neuman and Sigrid Wise. Runs through Oct. 26.
DON’T MISS PATTI SMITH: ‘A BOOK OF DAYS’
Give yourself a break from routine and make a right turn when you see the sign for Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point while you’re driving south on Tamiami Trail. You’ll find an outdoor exhibition of large prints taken from poet/ rocker Patti Smith’s newly published bestseller “A Book of Days.” By displaying her photographs outdoors, Selby brings them into conversation with nature. But there’s more to see at Spanish Point, a 33acre campus that Marie Selby Botanical Gardens adopted in 2020. You’ll find a Butterfly House filled with live Florida species, gardens developed by Sarasota pioneer Bertha Palmer with a lovely pergola, Mary’s Chapel with an historic cemetery and an Indian burial grounds that dates back 2,500 years. Runs through Aug. 31.
IF YOU GO When: 10 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 17
Where: Selby Gardens Historic Spanish
range of aircraft
images
Band Called Honalee’s “A Tribute to Peter, Paul and Mary ... and Friends” plays at
Theatre’s Goldstein Cabaret from Aug. 19 through Oct. 26.
YOUR NEIGHBORS
Recess is over
Southside Elementary and Alta Vista Elementary kids make their return for the 2025-26 school year.
DANA KAMPA
STAFF WRITER
IAN SWABY
STAFF WRITER
When asked what she was most excited for on her first day of kindergarten, Malia McCullough said with a cheerful grin that she couldn’t wait for physical education class, a favorite subject of her mother’s as well.
Amanda Swatek said seeing her daughter starting at her alma mater of Alta Vista Elementary School made the first day of school, Aug. 11, especially exciting.
“I went here as a kid, and I love how she’s going to get to enjoy music, art and everything else instead of just staying in a classroom all day,” she said. “I hope she makes some new friends and is happy when I pick her up.”
Parents and younger siblings bid their family a happy first day as the students high-fived their favorite past teachers, straightened their backpacks and made their way onto the school campus.
Members of the First Congregational United Church of Christ across the street waved pom poms and signs wishing the kids a great year.
“It takes nothing to make someone’s day brighter,” said church member Toska Strong.
“We’re so excited to kick off another amazing school year at Alta Vista,” Principal Meredith McArthur wrote the Observer. “We can’t wait to learn, grow and soar together this year.”
Meanwhile, at Southside Elementary School, it wasn’t just another school year, but the one that will mark the school’s 100th anniversary in 2026, for which a celebration is planned in January.
After Catherine and Dominic Forth said goodbye to their daughter, Amelia Forth, who is starting second grade, they said they were looking forward to the year ahead.
Dominic Forth said the couple were “really excited” about “the whole buzz around the school today,” as well as the anniversary and the new developments that are coming to the school in its honor.
“We’re just so happy about the community and learning environment she’s in, and just watching her thrive at school,” he said.
Nadia and Dan Polimeni, who were coming to the school for the
first time as they dropped off their son Leo Polimeni for kindergarten, enjoyed immersing themselves in the community during breakfast at the school’s media center.
“We’re excited,” said Dan Polimeni, noting they were seeing “all new people, all new faces.”
Principal Allison Foster said the school is working on multiple projects to ensure that the school meets the needs of the kids for its 100th year as much as it did on its first.
It has applied for a grant for Phase 2 of its courtyard renovation, to create an “outdoor learning space” that can host performances and other activities, and is planning an expansion of its media center and a beautified front entrance.
The school has performed fundraising for the projects, including selling personalized bricks on the front walkway.
“It’s been great,” Foster said.
“We’ve had great interest from a lot of parents and families and community members that went to school here. It’s been wonderful.”
Ian Swaby
Fifth graders Ryland Esposito, Andreas Kobajlo, Joseph Cool and Charles Pimentel
Ian Swaby
Hawley Holsbeke, a fifth grader, heads to school with her mother, Tiffany Holsbeke, sisters Adeline Holsbeke, a third grader and Vann Holsbeke, a first grader, and her father, Travis Holsbeke.
Ian Swaby Alex Chau and her daughter, Celia Chau, a pre-K student outside of Southside, are shown with Cynthia Ordonez and her daughter, Valentina Ordonez, a pre-K student outside of Southside.
Amanda Swatek has breakfast with her daughter, Malia McCullough. Malia said she is most excited for physical education class on her first day of kindergarten.
Dana Kampa
Jesus and Juan Moncada get a warm greeting from staff at Alta Vista Elementary School on the first day of the new school year.
Dana Kampa
Laura Busenburg, math science coach at Alta Vista Elementary School, greets returning students on the first day of school.
Dana Kampa
Andre Evans, 11, his mother, Heather Abling, and cousin, Nyomii Knight, 9, left with backpacks for the school year.
STARTING STRONG
Church of the Redeemer helps prepare Alta Vista Elementary students with Back-to-School Bash.
entist Dave Schroeter of Schroeter Dental was glad to volunteer his services during the Aug. 9 Back-to-School Bash at Church of the Redeemer.
He says it’s something especially important in Sarasota, where there is a lot of wealth, but it is also easy to overlook there is also lower-income families.
He said it was a chance for underserved communities to know there was support to be found.
The church was prepared for a turnout of 190 children as it hosted the event for students of Alta Vista Elementary School, with the intention of meeting needs, including clothing, backpacks and others that the school cannot.
The school receives Title I funding, meaning that 40% or more of students are from low-income households.
Redeemer Director of Youth & Outreach Ministries Jackie Overton,
who organized the event with Chair Meredith Piazza, said the church worked closely with Alta Vista Elementary to find out what offerings were needed.
Across the variety of volunteermanaged stations, students could find free items and services, some of which included uniforms customized with the school’s logo, socks, backpacks, underwear, hygiene items, and, courtesy of Holiday House SRQ, sneakers that were preordered in the correct sizes.
Other offerings included haircuts, vision exams, fresh food available for pickup, back-to-school family photos and a Walmart gift card provided to each family.
Numerous community partners were involved, including businesses, organizations and the Sarasota County Fire Department and Sarasota Police Department.
Earlier in the summer, the church had also supported a school supply drive for Alta Vista students who would attend the event, partnering with School Tool Box.
Andrea Williams, who attended with her children Martin McGough and Kenya Jones, both 8, noted the “haircuts, eye exams, all of it.”
“It helps a lot, especially for those who can’t afford it,” she said.
Ian Swaby
Creating community
CreArte Latino Cultural Center co-founder and Producing Artistic Director Carolina Franco said since the new space on Northgate Boulevard is open, the organization hosted its first birthday celebration at the new center for the community.
She hoped the celebration and fundraiser, held Aug. 9, would showcase the organization’s mission of representing Latino and Hispanic culture.
Serving Sarasota and Manatee counties, the nonprofit offers programming that includes theater and community narratives, classes in the arts and English and Spanish language classes.
“We need to close that gap that’s a bit closed now, more than ever,” Franco said. “It’s about celebrating that we can be stronger if we all learn from each other and we all mingle together.” Attendees had the chance to dance to music by a DJ, participate in crafts and activities and enjoy food and a birthday cake. They were encouraged to bring gifts and to donate, while Franco said an anonymous $5,000 matching gift prior to the event had the potential to double the donations made. — IAN SWABY
Board members Marc Masferrer, co-founder and Producing Artistic Director Carolina Franco, and board member Amanda Rico celebrate as the candle is blown out.
SATURDAY, AUG. 16
3RD SATURDAY LIMELIGHT MARKET
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime, 821 Apricot Ave. Free to attend. Every third Saturday of each month, The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime opens its courtyard to feature guest vendors, adoptable dogs and live music. The event includes over 50 local vendors inside and outside. Visit HamletsEatery.com.
FRIDAY, AUG. 15
NAMASTE AT THE BAY WITH JANINE MARTIN
9-10 a.m. at Sarasota Garden Club, 1130 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Enjoy an hour of mindful yoga at The Bay in a challenging yet relaxing class led by Janine Martin. Martin has been teaching yoga for more than a decade and is a registered yoga teacher at the 500-hour level. All skill levels are welcome. Modifications are offered. Bring your own mat and water. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
SATURDAY, AUG. 16
ZUMBA AT THE BAY WITH YAËL CAMPBELL
10:30-11:30 a.m. at Sarasota Garden Club, 1130 Boulevard of the Arts Free. Join Yaël Campbell for Zumba and her group of Zumba Rockstars as you “dance, smile, jump, shake and sing.” Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
FARMER’S MARKET
7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at North Lemon Avenue. Free. The weekly Farmer’s Market features the products and services of local farmers, businesses and artisans, as well as
nonprofit organizations benefiting the community. Visit SarasotaFarmersMarket.org.
SATURDAY, AUG. 16 AND WEDNESDAY, AUG. 20
YOGA IN THE GARDENS
9:30-10:30 a.m. at Downtown Sarasota Campus, 1534 Mound St. Free. Ages 18 and up. Enjoy a mind and body yoga experience at the Selby Garden Downtown Sarasota campus. The class focuses on alignment, breathing techniques and relaxation and is open to all skill levels. Recommended supplies include a water bottle, sunscreen, sunglasses, comfortable clothes and a towel or yoga mat. Visit Selby.org.
MONDAY, AUG. 18
YOUTH LAB: AIR DRY SCULPTURES
3-4:30 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free. Ages 5-9. Use air dry clay and your imagination to create a fun sculpture. Adult assistance may be needed for parts of this craft. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.
JAZZ JAM SRQ
5:30-7:30 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free. Listen or to play at this bi-monthly open mic jazz jam session for amateur performers. No registration is required. Bring your instrument, and if you would like to play, sign up when you arrive. Visit SCGovLibrary. LibraryMarket.com.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 19
HOMESCHOOL HANG: CANDLE-MAKING
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Gulf Gate Library, 7112 Curtiss Ave. Free. Ages 13-18. Gulf Gate’s homeschool program offers opportunities for homeschool teens. This month’s activity is candle-making. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 20
READ WITH THE DOGS
4-5 p.m. at Gulf Gate Library, 7112 Curtiss Ave. Free. Children are invited to share a story with a furry friend in a judgment-free zone with certified therapy dogs. First come, first seated. Visit SCGovLibrary. LibraryMarket.com.
Photos by Ian Swaby
Martha Ceron joins other attendees in singing “Happy Birthday” to CreArte Latino.
Paola Ramirez, Jairo Badilla and Anderson Pelaez
MICHAEL SAUNDERS & COMPANY PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE SUMMER OF
Opportunity OPEN HOUSE
Extravaganza
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Harmony home tops sales
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
Theresa Dorsey, trustee, and Patrick Dorsey, of Charlottesville, Virginia, sold the home at 4940 Peaceable Way to Juan Garcia Palacios and Amber Nicole Palacios, of Pflugerville, Texas, for $2.95 million. Built in 2019, it has four bedrooms, five baths, a pool and 3,928 square feet of living area.
Gerald Collins and Heidi Wilhelm, of Grapevine, Texas, sold their home at 2254 Hawthorne St. to Patricia Elmone, trustee, of Sarasota, for $1,195,000. Built in 2018, it has three bedrooms, two-and-ahalf baths and 2,332 square feet of living area. It sold for $1 million in 2022.
RIVER FOREST
Home Buyers Plus LLC sold the home at 5377 Palos Verdes Drive to Clayton Johnson and Dieu Vo, of Gainesville, for $1,135,000. Built in 1958, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,842 square feet of living area. It sold for $727,000 in 2024.
Erin Cunningham and John Schmitt, of Sarasota, sold their home at 5238 Susan Ave. to Trent Andrew Bowers and Christine Bowers, of Sarasota, for $775,000. Built in 1965, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,722 square feet of living area. It sold for $150,000 in 2012.
PRIME
Scott and Susanna Long, trustees, of Greensboro, Georgia, sold the home at 1703 Alta Vista St. to Juniper Mill Holdings LLC for $935,000. Built in 1949, it has two bedrooms, one bath and 1,176 square feet of living area. It sold for $900,000 in 2024.
CORWOOD
Andrea Cano, of Sarasota, sold the home at 577 Corwood Drive to Kent and Ashley Aabye, of Woodstock, Georgia, for $916,300. Built in 1967, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,450 square feet of living area. It sold for $680,000 in 2020.
SAN REMO ESTATES
Paul and Sharon White, of Sarasota, sold their home at 3705 Tangier Terrace to M&J Pham Development LLC for $900,000. Built in 1956, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 2,529 square feet of living area. It sold for $160,000 in 1987.
CENTRAL PARK
Scott Needham, of Sarasota, sold two properties at 1677 and 1671 Fourth St. to Scott Beam and Mary Kovacevic, of Sarasota, for $850,000. The property at 1677 was built in 1924, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,476 square feet of
living area. The property at 1671 was built in 1932, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,428 square feet of living area. They sold for $186,500 in 2000.
CORAL COVE
Sharon Driscoll, of Sarasota, sold her home at 1808 Coquina Drive to Kimberly Salisbury, of Sarasota, for $825,000. Built in 1955, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,025 square feet of living area. It sold for $342,500 in 2010.
SOUTH GATE
Matthew Quattro, of Sarasota, sold his home at 2180 Orchid St. to Cheyne Colwell and Steven Lewis, of North Port, for $750,000. Built in 1961, it has three bedrooms, oneand-a-half baths, a pool and 1,419 square feet of living area. It sold for $454,000 in 2021.
Debra Rita Zinn, trustee, of Sarasota, sold the home at 2522 Fruit Tree Drive to Bianca Tengerdy and Zachary Segatto, of Sarasota, for $523,500. Built in 1969, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,072 square feet of living area. It sold for $237,000 in 2007.
RIVERWOOD ESTATES
Mikeal’an O’Keefe, trustee, of Franklin, of North Carolina, sold the home at 4711 Placid Circle to Martin and Amy Rochford, of Sarasota, for $715,000. Built in 1986, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,153 square feet of living area. It sold for $450,000 in 2019.
LORD’S
Rigo Rivera, Eddiram River and Fernando Rivera-Lugo, of Bradenton, sold their home at 2820 Wood St. to Keith Otto, of Naples, for $565,000. Built in 1973, it has five bedrooms, two baths and 1,924 square feet of living area. It sold for $89,900 in 1989.
SIESTA KEY
SIESTA BEACH
Robert Scot James and Elizabeth James, trustees, sold the home at 875 Siesta Key Circle to Adam and Karen Sailor, of Sarasota, for $2.9 million. Built in 1990, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths,
a pool and 5,423 square feet of living area. It sold for $2.05 million in 2018.
Margaret and James McGinnis, of Williamsburg, Virginia, sold their home at 813 Plymouth St. to Solo Estates LLC for $650,000. Built in 1953, it has three bedrooms, twoand-a-half baths, a pool and 2,919 square feet of living area. It sold for $126,400 in 1992.
ONLINE
See more transactions at YourObserver.com.
Other top sales by area
SARASOTA: $1.5 MILLION
Pine Bay
Douglas Robert Goodman and Doris Eugenia Gallon-Goodman trustees, sold the home at 1412 Pine Bay Drive to Wolfe Pack LLC for $1.5 million. Built in 1951, it has four bedrooms, three-anda-half baths, a pool and 3,892 square feet of living area. It sold for $465,000 in 1998.
PALMER RANCH:
$1,555,000
Esplanade on Palmer Ranch
Mark Steven Reis and Helen Sandra Simpson, of Sarasota, sold their home at 5437 Manchini St. to William Joseph Hungate and Beverly Ann Hungate, of Morton, Illinois, for $1,555,000. Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,126 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.5 million in 2022.
OSPREY: $1,015,000
The Woodlands at Rivendell
Julie Attar, of Sarasota, sold her home at 678 Clear Creek Drive to William Kristopher Ozanus and Michelle Ozanus, of Osprey, for $1,015,000. Built in 2002, it has five bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,912 square feet of living area. It sold for $348,600 in 2002.
SPORTS
“My grandma, my grandpa and my dad are all into golf, so it was easy for me to get into it from a young age.”
SETTING SIGHTS ON STATE
A new-look Cougars volleyball team believes it has the players to make a run at a title.
VINNIE PORTELL STAFF WRITER
The Cardinal Mooney volleyball team has established itself as one of the premier programs in Southwest Florida since winning a state championship in 2019.
After graduating four seniors from last year’s 22-5 team that made it to a regional final, however, some might wonder if the Cougars can stay on top.
That doubt could work in Cardinal Mooney’s favor this fall.
“I think people are maybe expecting us to have a drop off, but I don’t think that’s going to happen this year,” senior setter Layla Larrick said. “We have a bunch of good talent. We just have to figure out how it’s going to mesh together.”
Cardinal Mooney graduated three of its top four hitters from last year in Izzy Russell, Riley Greene and Zoe Kirby, as well as Katie Powers, the team leader in digs.
That’s a tough loss for any team, but it could wind up creating a better, and more unpredictable offense for opposing teams to stop.
There are talented returners to lead the transition.
Charlee Hermann, a 6-foot-2 hitter who had the team’s second-most kills last season, is back along with the setter, Larrick and right side Sydney Sparma (fifth-most kills, third-most digs).
Another returner is Kelsey Fisher, a 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter who didn’t play indoor volleyball in 2024, but was a part of the beach volleyball team’s No. 1 pairing alongside Russell this past spring.
“My coach in Tampa (Jeff Lamp) and coach (Allan Knight) are best friends, and there was a little bit of talking going on,” Fisher said. “Indoor is my first love, and I decided to come back. It’s my last year, so I might as well have fun.”
Some newcomers have players and coaches excited, as well.
Sophomore Brooke Gruhl transferred in from Venice, where she had 697 assists last season for an Indians team that went 14-10 and made it to a regional final.
Outside hitter Gracie Cody is the team’s only freshman, but is already turning heads.
“She’s honestly impressed me the most,” Larrick said of Cody. “I’ve never seen a more mature freshman before. She hits the ball really hard. She has a few mechanicals to work
on, but once she gets those down, she’ll be a really good player when she gets older.”
With a mix of returners, newcomers, seniors and underclassmen, coach Knight views depth as the strength of his 2025 team.
It may take time, however, for Knight and his staff to figure out how these players work together and in what rotations.
“I think we have a lot of really good young talent on this team, but we’ve also picked up a few players from here and there, and that’s also strengthened our depth as well,” Knight said. “With our returning talent, our young developed talent and some new players on our squad, I think we’re right back where we were, as strong as ever.”
Players have classes together, sit
together at lunch, share jokes over team meals and constantly communicate via the team’s group chat.
“In our team group chat, we are already making jokes with each other and some of us have known each other for like a week,” Sparma said. “We are already very friendly with each other, which is a big part of a sport that involves a lot of communication with each other on the court.”
Knight will test his new team early and often.
Cardinal Mooney will play teams such as Port Charlotte (Class 5A state semifinals in 2024), Tampa Prep (2A
Region 2 final in 2024), and play in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Gainesville, all within the first month of the season.
The district, however, will be the Cougars’ to lose. District opponents include Avon Park (16-9 in 2024, lost to Cardinal Mooney 3-0 in district tournament), Lake Placid (9-15 in 2024) and Sarasota Military Academy (7-10 in 2024).
If Cardinal Mooney can win that district, the regular season won’t matter much beyond being a test for another run at a regional championship.
“I think we are right on that same path that we were on last year,” Knight said. “It’s our goal to make it past our region and get to states, and I think this is the team that can do it, but we have a very competitive region. Some of our goals are very short-term and some are longterm. We want to get a feel of what we have and what’s going to work best for us.”
“With our returning talent, our young developed talent and some new players on our squad, I think we’re right back where we were, as strong as ever.”
— Allan Knight, head coach
— Jake MacDonald, Sarasota High boys golfer SEE PAGE 21
Junior right-side player Sydney Sparma is back as a veteran for a young Cougars team.
Photos by Vinnie Portell
Setter Layla Larrick is one of a few key returners who expect Cardinal Mooney volleyball to make another run deep into the postseason.
Junior outside hitter Charlee Hermann is expected to be Cardinal Mooney’s top offensive player following the graduation of three top hitters from last year’s team.
Kickoff Classic games will reveal where area teams stand
Questions abound heading into this high school football season.
The high school football games on Aug. 15 don’t count for teams’ records, but it’s foolish to think that they don’t matter.
The Kickoff Classic games set the tone of the season and can reveal crucial details about roles certain players will have and which players have taken a step forward this past offseason.
Though all eyes will be on Cardinal Mooney and Booker, two teams that made it to their respective state semifinal games last season, the games are equally important for Riverview and Sarasota, two teams that are looking to bounce back after subpar 2024 seasons.
Coaches and players shared some of their thoughts on the upcoming season at a Suncoast Media Day at Carroll GMC in Venice on Aug. 8.
CARDINAL MOONEY AT SAINT
THOMAS AQUINAS, 7 P.M.
This is one of the best matchups that any Sarasota area team will have this season. Good luck telling the Cougars this game doesn’t count if they come away with a win.
The Raiders have won 16 state championships, five more than any other school in state history — adding one last season in a 34-0 win over Lakeland.
Fort Lauderdale’s Saint Thomas Aquinas graduated many of its top playmakers from last season and have a new head coach in Jasiah Crockett, which makes it hard to tell how good they’ll be in this game, but the Raiders have won at least 10 games for 20 straight years, so it’s unlikely they have much of a drop-off, if any at all.
Tidbit: The quarterback position will be one to watch. Devin Mign-
ery is back for his senior year, and junior quarterback Davin Davidson is an impressive talent, as well. “They’re so talented, both of those guys,” Cougars coach Jared Clark said. “Devin Mignery is everything you want in a leader, and he’s your quarterback. The kid can do it all. He played without an MCL against Cocoa. Tore it the week before, rehabbed it for a week, played four quarters with no MCL. That’s the type of kid he is. I can’t say enough about him. He’s an incredible young man. Davin Davidson is going to play a lot of football this year. That’s how talented he is.”
MANATEE AT BOOKER, 7:30 P.M.
Booker has fallen short in the state semifinal round two years in a row, and with most of its best players entering their senior year, this feels like a championship or bust season for the Tornadoes.
The team lost just one impact player — sophomore wide receiver Tyree Mannings Jr. — to transfer.
They also added junior Nazir Pitchford, Palmetto’s leading receiver in 2024, to replace him, and added edge rusher Jamaun Thompson from Riverview to fortify the defense.
The Hurricanes lost to Saint Thomas 16-13 in the state semifinal round.
Tidbit: Coach Carlos Woods was Booker’s strength coach last fall, but is now the head coach, and said he is looking to change some things.
Those changes are most likely to happen on offense, based on what Woods said at media day.
“Offensively, we’ve made some tweaks, especially at the offensive line position as far as what we wanted to do schematically,” he said. “But from a defensive standpoint, these guys have been in the system the last three years. At the end of the day, we don’t even call the defense. Our defensive guys, they make all the checks.”
RIVERVIEW AT PORT CHARLOTTE, 7:30 P.M.
Riverview lost last year’s Kickoff Classic game to Port Charlotte, and lost four of its next six games to open the season at 2-4.
The Rams rallied to finish the season at 4-6 and made it to the regional playoffs, but lost 47-28 to Plant City.
Port Charlotte will still be a challenge. The Pirates return quarterback Logan Flaherty, who broke the school record for most touchdowns in a season last fall, along with leading tackler Ahmad’dra Greene.
Tidbit: Riverview has three quarterbacks on its roster who could start. Last year’s starter, Anthony Miller, has been moved to wide receiver, which leaves Parker Nippert and Logan Carillo.
Rams offensive coordinator Brody
Wiseman said Nippert will be the starter for the Kickoff Classic, and Carillo will be an option off the bench if needed.
“We have Parker going into his senior year,” Wiseman said. “You talk about arm talent and the things he can execute and do. I’m so impressed with his progress. And Logan Carillo is one of the smartest football players I’ve ever coached. It’s a situation as an offensive playcaller and a coordinator where I have two guys I have a lot of confidence in.”
SARASOTA AT BRANDON, 7:30 P.M.
The Sailors opened last season with an encouraging 3-2 start, but lost all five games down the stretch to finish at 3-7 in their first year under coach Amp Campbell.
This year, Sarasota is expected to take a step forward. The Sailors have a new offensive coordinator in Tommie Battie III, a quarterback with Division I offers entering his sophomore season, and added three playmakers from Lakewood Ranch.
Their Kickoff Classic game is unlikely to reveal much, however. Brandon had a 1-9 record last year and was shut out five times last season.
Tidbit: Sarasota did not show up to Suncoast Media Day. With a light schedule to open the year, not much can be learned about the Sailors until games against an improved St. Petersburg Gibbs team on Sept. 12 and Riverview on Sept. 26.
File image
Cardinal Mooney receiver Kymistrii Young had a breakout performance in last year’s Kickoff Classic preseason game against Booker with three touchdowns.
Vinnie Portell is the sports reporter for the Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer. Contact him at VPortell@ YourObserver.com.
Vinnie Portell
New Booker head football coach Carlos Woods has united the Tornadoes after former coach Scottie Littles resigned in April.
Jake MacDonald
Sarasota High boys golfer Jake MacDonald finished in 10th place individually at the Class 3A state championship last season, leading a group of five golfers who placed in the top 90. That finish wasn’t satisfactory to MacDonald, who has his sights set on bringing home a state championship this fall in his senior season with the Sailors.
When and why did you start playing golf?
I started at a pretty young age. I live on a golf course, Sara Bay, which is one of the top courses in the area. My grandma, my grandpa and my dad are all into golf, so it was easy for me to get into it from a young age. It’s just felt normal to me ever since and I fell in love with it.
What was the most memorable moment for you this summer?
Practicing with my buddies is always a good time. I played in a bunch of tournaments and did pretty solid here and there. It’s always fun playing with my buddies, grinding every day and seeing improvement.
How have you developed your game recently?
I think putting. My whole life, I’ve been one to mess around with a bunch of putters, and I think I’ve finally found the one, which is nice. It’s the (Odyssey) Jailbird. It’s a counter-balance putter, which is nice. I’ve bounced around with blades and weird putters, but it’s nice to finally find a good fit. I’ve only had it for probably a month, but it’s been great, and probably the most confident I’ve ever felt with a putter. What makes you confident in this year’s team?
Seeing how much everyone has improved from last year. Last year, we did well. I think we could have done better, but seeing how much better everyone is this year makes me feel pretty good.
What is a realistic goal for this year?
If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Vinnie Portell at VPortell@ YourObserver.com.
I think winning states as a team. I think we can. Hopefully, I can win individually, too, of course. I think I can do it. There’s a lot of talented players in Florida, obviously. It’s one of the best in the country. It’s going to be tough, but I think I can do it.
What has been your most humbling moment in golf?
My sophomore year was pretty humbling. My freshman year, I came to the high school scene and played pretty solid and made a name for myself. Then my sophomore year, I underperformed quite a bit. I didn’t have my best stuff, and that was a humbling experience. I worked really hard that offseason to put my game in a good spot.
What is your favorite meal?
My parents work at a seafood restaurant on St. Armands (Crab & Fin), so something seafood for sure. I’ve been around it my whole life. Something with shrimp or salmon always hits the spot.
What is your favorite TV show or movie? I love “Breaking Bad.” You never know who’s who, and people are always hiding something. I think it’s an interesting show.
Finish this sentence. Jake MacDonald is ... The 2025 state champion.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
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PASSION PLAY by Zhouqin Burnikel, edited by Jared Goudsmit
By Luis Campos
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