SARASOTA/SIESTA KEY
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Pushing up for charity.
PAGE 2B
FREE • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022
VOLUME 18, NO. 44
YOUR TOWN
SARASOTA
DIGS IN FOR IAN
Eric Garwood
Bay’ter park right here, Bill
Shifting hurricane forecast prompts last-chance run for sandbags, evacuation orders. SEE PAGE 3A
He’s the chief operating officer of The Bay Sarasota, the multiyear, public-private effort to convert 53 acres of city-owned land into a signature park on the bayfront. So Bill Waddill’s support and patronage of even the initial stages of the ambitious project should come as no surprise. But what might is that no matter how crowded or popular the mangrove walk, or the Canal District or the Sunset Pier might become, he never has to worry about parking. Just behind the Blue Pagoda, which is now part of the park, his own little piece of parking heaven exists.
File photo
Not a shelter
Though some flights might have been canceled earlier, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport said it would close at 8 p.m. Tuesday and reopen when it was safe to do so. In announcing the closure, airport officials stressed the terminal would be locked and secured and would not be open to passengers or others seeking refuge from Hurricane Ian. “The airport terminal is not a shelter,’’ officials said, adding the airport status would be updated on the SRQ Facebook page and Twitter@SRQAirport.
Eric Garwood
Patty Avery was among one of the first to arrive Tuesday morning at a county-run sandbag station at Ed Smith Stadium.
A+E Above all, art. SEE PAGE 11A
Turtle Tracks AS OF SEPT. 24 TOTAL NESTS: 2022 Siesta Key 531 Lido Key 160 Casey Key 2,053
2021 521 107 1,471
TOTAL FALSE CRAWLS: 2022 2021 Siesta Key 584 603 Lido Key 205 279 Casey Key 1,940 1,773 Source: Mote Marine Laboratory
Making the green Earthmoving key to Bobby Jones renovation. SEE PAGE 4A Andrew Warfield
The new 18th green at Bobby Jones Golf Course has been reshaped and is ready for turf.