SIESTA KEY
Observer Formerly the Pelican Press
Downtown takes stock of retail mix. PAGE 3A
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 46, NO. 28
FREE
YOUR TOWN
•
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016
WATER EMS SEWER
EDUCATION
LIBRARY PARK
Courtesy photo
Margaret Buck shows off her slippers.
Early birds flock to Mass The congregation was faced with the tricky task of getting its younger members to Sunday Mass 15 minutes early to accommodate the annual parish meeting. The solution? Let them wear their pajamas. Children rolled out of bed and into church Jan. 31. Their treat for arriving fashionably early was a pancake breakfast following Mass. “Everyone loved it,” parishioner Jacki Boes said. “Especially the pajama parade as all the children and youth left at the end of the service.”
GENERAL GOVERNMENT
FIRE JUSTICE BRACING FOR
IMPACT Tourism tax collections on Siesta Key could begin to level off as the area reaches its capacity for visitors. SEE PAGE 12A
DAVID CONWAY NEWS EDITOR
For more than a year, a group of citizen activists has rallied around the cause of saving Pineapple Park, fighting the proposed sale of a piece of land adjacent to the public space. On Monday, the City Commission voted 3-1 to approve the sale of that land to commercial real estate firm Hembree and Associates for $260,000. In doing so, officials who supported the deal expressed a similar sentiment — they believed a new building on the property would help save Pineapple Park. SEE PAGE 10A
Courtesy rendering
This concept drawing depicts a new two-story structure and Pineapple Park, with a raised planter removed.
A+E Honoring Florida’s Highwaymen
Save Our Seabirds becomes artists’ palette Students from the Ringling College of Art & Design painted the walkway entrance to Save Our Seabirds Feb. 1. Artists received their own space on the walkway to paint their original conceptions of birds.
The Sarasota City Commission agreed to sell a piece of land along Lemon Avenue, which could mean doom or good fortunes for the nearby park, depending on whom you ask.
The city of Sarasota is considering restoring and revising some of its impact fees on new developments, a growing trend facing builders in the area. SEE PAGE 5A
Siesta Key: No vacancy? Ringing College students paint the walkway of Save Our Seabirds.
City strikes Pineapple Park land deal
INSIDE
Jack Short
Siesta Key Public Beach remains a crucial component of Siesta’s allure, and its success as a tourist draw in recent years.