During Hot Dog Day at Hamlet’s Eatery on July 6, you could find just about any type of dog you were looking for.
“We tried to really accommodate any type of hot dog topping that you could have,” said Kim Livengood, co-owner and operator of The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime, where the eatery is located.
She noted the approximately 15 varieties of mustard and the toppings, which included pickles, relishes, along with vegan and traditional chili and cheese, at the event that celebrated National Hot Dog Day and the fourth anniversary of Hamlet’s Eatery. Customers walked away with meat and vegan hot dogs loaded with colorful toppings. There was another type of dog available as well — the adoptable sort — as the event also supported Low Rider Dachshund Rescue of Florida.
Choice reads
Sarasota County Libraries released its list of five books under consideration for the 2025 One Book, One Community event.
A library committee will choose one of these books, inviting the author to visit Sarasota next year to talk about the book.
Residents are invited to read the selections and join the debate on social media, using the hashtag #OneBook2025, as the committee deliberates.
“Members of the community will often treat this as a reading list, eager to decide for themselves which book they feel deserves to be the one,” said Renée Di Pilato, director of Sarasota County Libraries in a news release.
The top five contenders are:
■ “The Art Thief” by Michael Finkel
■ “Bite by Bite” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
■ “The Geography of Bliss” by Eric Weiner
■ “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
■ “The Swimmers” by Julie Otsuka
Play time for Payne Park?
Ian Swaby
Owen Peacock, 9, and Ellie Rodgers, 9, make hot dog buns.
Ian Swaby
Mike Gilkison and his wife, Stacey Gilkison, of Low Rider Dachshund Rescue of Florida, with rescues Savannah and Dixie
WEEK OF JULY 11, 2024
BY THE NUMBERS
$2 MILLION Donation
350 Rental apartments planned for the under-construction Bayside and planned adjacent Bayside North in the Rosemary District.
PAGE 14
1 Number of Olympic silver medals Sarasota rifle athlete Mary Tucker has earned.
She’s got another chance for gold this year in her second Olympic Games.
PAGE 29
CALENDAR
n Sarasota City Commission regular meeting — 9 a.m., Monday, July 15, Commission Chambers, City Hall, 1565 First St.
n Sarasota City Commission special meeting — 5:30 p.m., Monday, July 15, Commission Chambers, City Hall, 1565 First St.
n Sarasota County School Board regular meeting — 6 p.m., Tuesday, July 16, Board Chambers, Landings Administration Complex, 1980 Landings Blvd. (black awning entrance).
“This started in 2022. We’re in 2024, so I just want a
recognition that this is not something that we’re rushing, that we’ve taken our time.”
Sarasota City Manager Marlon Brown. Read more on Page 10
SHA opens 84 affordable apartments
The Sarasota Housing Authority opened an 84-unit affordable housing community with a ribbon cutting on Monday at Cypress Square apartments at 1672 First St.
Cypress Square was built with funds from the sale of Low Income Housing Tax Credits awarded by the Florida Housing Finance Corp. that were purchased by Bank of America, SHA officials said in a statement. Cypress Square was developed in partnership with the SHA, Fortis Development, Sarasota
County, the city of Sarasota, Housing and Urban Development, Florida Housing, Bank of America, Berkadia, Hoyt Architects and NDC Construction.
Other financing was provided by American Rescue Plan funds from Sarasota County, the city of Sarasota and a long-term HUD subsidy.
Cypress Square’s 84 units are a mix of 18 one-bedroom, 36 twobedroom, 24 three-bedroom and six four-bedroom apartments. It is open to residents who earn 30% or below and 80% or below
area median income.
According to the SHA website, the community will have 21 project-based Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and 63 affordable Low Income Housing Tax Credit apartments.
Cypress Square is the ninth redevelopment it has done with the city and county in the past 16 years.
In all, the agency reported it provides affordable housing to more than 2,400 families and employs 42 people.
SPD mourns loss of K-9 Bronson
The Sarasota Police Department is mourning the loss of one of its own, as K-9 Bronson, who served with Officer Jacob Nelson from 2014 to 2021, has died. Officers gathered outside SPD headquarters on July 3 afternoon to bid K-9 Bronson a final farewell.
Officer K-9 Bronson retired in November 2021. During his career, he was deployed 450 times, participating in community demonstrations and aiding in numerous cases including homicides, attempted murders, aggravated assaults, kidnappings and sexual batteries. He also worked with SWAT, the U.S. Marshals Office and provided mutual aid with the Manatee County and Sarasota County sheriff’s offices. In 2018, K-9 Bronson won first place at the Gulf Coast Police K-9 Competition and received a Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Marshals Offices.
Smash therapy headed for Sarasota
For those gripping their steering wheel in bumper-to-bumper traffic or cringing at the sensation of hot breath on the back of their neck while standing in a crowded line, there is finally a place to channel all that energy that stays pent-up to function in society.
iSmash, a “rage room” company offering what’s known as smash therapy to patrons in Brandon, just outside Tampa, announced it’s expanding to four additional locations in Sarasota, Lakeland, Wesley Chapel and St. Petersburg.
At iSmash, individuals or groups of customers are able to purchase packages ranging from 20 to 50 minutes and can smash everything from a glass dish to a used car with a small arsenal of instruments including baseball bats, sledgehammers and crowbars.
Smashers can customize their experience with personal music playlists and permission to bring objects from home. Each session takes place in a contained room with proper safety equipment.
WANT TO GO?
Payne in the park?
ANDREW WARFIELD | STAFF WRITER
MOpposition grows along with Sarasota Players’ plans to expand Payne Park Auditorium.
SETTING THE STAGE
ore than a year since the Sarasota City Commission approved a term sheet with The Players Inc. to lease and expand Payne Park Auditorium, amended language to the document is on the agenda for the commission’s July 15 meeting.
With it comes a third iteration by The Players Centre for Performing Arts, now known as The Sarasota Players, that is significantly larger than the original concept presented in September 2023.
The agenda item calls for commissioners to consider requesting staff and the city attorney to prepare a lease agreement based on a revised term sheet that would allow
The Players and its subsidiary, The Stage at Payne Park, to finalize due diligence, site plans and undergo the major conditional use process, after which staff will return to the commission with a lease agreement for consideration of approval.
The Stage at Payne Park is a subsidiary created by The Players Inc. to act as its fundraising, development and eventual management arm for The Stage, as it is calling the planned expanded facility, which is intended to be available for use by other community performing arts organizations as well as to provide event space.
A new two-story building of approximately 17,300 square feet would be attached to the existing auditorium and includes a 300-seat theater that can be arranged in multiple seating configurations.
From a benign reception at the initial workshop in September 2023 to its reworked version, opposition to the plan for Payne Park Auditorium has been growing by those who oppose the loss of 2.1 acres of green space to a new building, parking spaces and driveway access.
Among them is the Alta Vista neighborhood, which borders the southeast corner of the park, whose leaders are rallying residents to oppose the plan.
“When it is a matter of both principle and law, there is no compromise,” neighborhood leadership wrote in an email to residents. “The Payne family’s intentions are clear and recorded in their deed to the City of Sarasota as a magnanimous gift to all of us residents in their explicit deed restriction: ‘Now and forever, that this land is to be a public park, playground, and for no other use or purpose.’”
Also, the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations has produced a position statement regarding commercial use of all city parks. In the statement, the CCNA resolves to “oppose any such use that diminishes free and public use of our city
“The Payne family’s intentions are clear and recorded in their deed to the City of Sarasota as a magnanimous gift to all of us residents in their explicit deed restriction: ‘Now and forever, that this land is to be a public park, playground, and for no other use or purpose.’”
— Alta Vista neighborhood leadership email to residents
parks or is a liability on the sur rounding neighborhood or the city. Any planned development to add to or change our parks should enhance the free and public use thereof and be an asset to the surrounding neighborhood and the city.”
The city must also weigh the prospect of litigation by Payne family descendants to pre vent building on deedrestricted park space it donated to the city.
WORK IN PROGRESS
On May 15, 2023, the City Com mission approved a term sheet related to a proposed lease agreement between the city and The Players, Inc. for the Payne Park Auditorium.
At that, representatives of The Players began developing a site plan for the leasehold. That planning included a community workshop, community focus group discussions, meetings with city staff and a preapplication meeting with the city’s Development Review Committee.
Between the September 2023 workshop and December 2023, The Players expanded the concept site plan for the auditorium. Following an initial review by staff of its DRC application, The Players withdrew the application. That was followed by meetings with city staff to receive
Plans for The Stage at Payne Park include:
■ 5,000-square-foot theater with flexible seating of up to 300
■ State-of-the-art audio and visual equipment
■ Multiple flexible rehearsal and event spaces
■ Green room private dressing rooms, laundry, wardrobe and maintenance facilities
■ Box office and reception lobby
■ Event catering facilities
■ Well-appointed restrooms
■ Can be converted into a 300seat ballroom
additional comments.
In the interim, The Stage at Payne Park hired veteran fundraiser Michael Ayers as its executive director and vice president of advancement. Among his tasks is to raise the balance between the $4 million committed to the project by the Sarasota
The Monday, July 15 meeting of the Sarasota City Commission will be held at City Hall, 1565 First Street, beginning at 9 a.m. The meeting may also be viewed online at SarasotaFL.gov.
DRC and presented a third concept site plan, after which it altered the plan to address protection of existing grand trees and other technical matters such as fire truck turnaround space and utility lines relocation.
As a result of those changes, staff is now seeking the approval of a revised term sheet, which will eventually lead to a proposed lease agreement.
Proposed changes to the term sheet include increasing the leasehold area from approximately 1.6 acres to approximately 2.1 acres and increasing the value of the planned improvements from $1 million to $12 million, plus minor housekeeping language for clarification.
The Players would pay the city rent of $100 annually, plus $1 per ticket sold for each Players event. The Players will be responsible for all related expenses — capital repairs and replacement, interior and exterior maintenance, utilities, insurance and taxes.
Any improvements The Players completes will be conveyed to the city at the end of the lease term, be that 10 years or 30 years following execution.
The Sarasota Players has been searching for a permanent home since it sold its home on U.S. 41 in 2018 for about $9.5 million, with plans to build a new facility in Waterside Village at Lakewood Ranch. While those plans fell through, it has operated since 2021 in converted retail space at The Crossings at Siesta Key shopping center.
A
expanded Payne Park Auditorium designed by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski architects.
$18.99
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Last week was a big week for Florida Studio Theatre’s ambitious plans to build a new Arts Plaza at its downtown campus on what is currently a gravel parking lot on First Street.
On the heels of a $1 million state of Florida grant for the affordable housing component of the multiuse Arts Plaza, the organization received a $2 million donation toward the project from Cheryl Gorelick and Jake Zeigler.
The gift was made as part of The Maier Match Challenge in support of the “McGillicuddy Circle of Friends” in honor of longtime benefactors Dennis and Graci McGillicuddy, the dollar-for-dollar match that brings the gift to $4 million.
Announced in May by benefactors
Ed and Susan Maier, the challenge will match donations toward the Arts Plaza up to $4 million. To date, the challenge match has raised $2.6 million.
Gorelick and Zeigler arrived in Sarasota in 2022 and quickly became involved with FST, with Gorelick joining the Board of Trustees in 2023.
“We are delighted with the response we have had to the Maier Match,” said FST Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins in a news release.
“We received gifts ranging from $500 to $100,000, all the way up to the $2 million gift from Cheryl and Jake. It shows the deep connection people have with FST and their willingness to join the Maiers in both achieving our goal and honoring Dennis and Graci McGillicuddy. With each day, we are more and more confident that we are going to make the Arts Plaza a reality.”
To date, FST has banked $41 million toward the $46 million needed to build the first phase of the project, which includes construction of an eight-story building, the opening of the parking garage, and three stories of artist and arts employee housing.
The total price of the project is $57 million, which in Phase 2 will include the buildout of two cabaret theaters, a kitchen and food service stations, dressing rooms, bar and lounge area, and public restrooms. Phase 3 will add a second mainstage theater, lobby and concessions area.
“The Maier Match has provided a wonderful opportunity, and we are thrilled with the initial response,” said FST CEO Richard Hopkins in the release. “We still have $1.4 million to raise to meet the rest of the match. I hope our audience and the public will continue to step up to meet this challenge.”
Density dilemma
In the 1920s, long before the existence of Sarasota County’s land development code, some land on the mainland and barrier islands was carved into 25-foot-wide lots and offered for sale to buyers who wanted to own a sliver of paradise.
Today those are defined as “nonconforming lots of record,” and owners can build one or two homes across four adjoining lots, maintaining the remainder of the plot of open space.
On Tuesday, that history caught up to the Sarasota County Commission as it wrestled over a privately
initiated amendment to the county’s Unified Development Code submitted by attorney Steve Rees of Icard Merrill. The amendment would have allowed those lots to be combined or recombined to permit a single house — or up to three houses given the 17,000-square-foot minimum lot size — to be built.
Commissioners rejected the amendment request by a 4-1 vote with only Ron Cutsinger, calling it a property rights issue, voting in favor of his motion to approve, one that languished for several seconds before it was seconded by Joe Neunder for purposes of discussion.
The county’s 1989 update of its 1975 Comprehensive Plan permits
combining such lots on the mainland, but in the interest of controlling density, not on the unincorporated barrier island residential zone districts.
The conflict was whether allowing redevelopment of four 25-foot lots would result in more density — or less.
Ralf Brookes, an assistant county attorney from 1990 to 1991, told commissioners the proposed amendment would bring more density as most four-wide nonconforming lots on the barrier islands, Siesta Key in particular — have only one or two homes.
“In the 1920s, it was more of a sell lots on the back of a cereal box and people up north would come down, and lots were inexpensive, and they would buy many lots and make a parcel,” Brookes said. “Typically, you wouldn’t build on those 25-foot lots. There are some 25-foot lots that may be out there that may have one single-family home on them, but the shortest ones I know of are like 50 feet.”
Brookes’ point was that the amend-
MAX MILLAGE SET
Residential and commercial property owners in Sarasota County will pay no more than 3.30 mils in ad valorem taxes in fiscal year 2025.
On Tuesday, county commissioners voted unanimously to set the max millage rate. That means as budget season progresses, they cannot raise the rate, but they may lower it.
The County Commission is scheduled to adopt the final budget for next year at its Sept. 26 meeting. It will hold two public hearings on the budget on Sept. 12 and Sept. 26 before adoption. Although 3.30 mils represents the lowest rate in 37 years, escalating property values and new construction adding to the residential and commercial stock more than offset the reduction.
The current year’s millage rate is 3.35. The countywide property tax revenues are projected at $283.3 million based on a preliminary valuation of $103.4 billion, a 9.86% increase over the actual value in fiscal year 2024.
ment would allow a single home on a 100-foot-wide combined parcel of four platted lots to be demolished and, in its place, up to three homes built. Rees argued that the density of four homes on four lots was baked into Comprehensive Plan, and that the amendment would result in one, two or three homes where four homes, impractical though it may be, could be built.
Rees initiated the amendment request on behalf of a client, which he said grew into a larger discussion of the policy on all the barrier islands.
Shari Thornton read a statement prepared by Siesta Key resident Lourdes Ramirez, who has successfully litigated against countyapproval of hotels on the key. The statement challenged the proposed amendment as noncompliant with the Comprehensive Plan and should be denied.
The nonconforming lots, she read, “Do not conform with the minimum lot sizes required by our zoning code since 1975. According to the Comprehensive Plan, all new lots created since 1975 must meet a minimum lot size requirements for their district. The county must adhere to the laws for the barrier islands as they existed in 1989.”
Rees attempted to convince commissioners the amendment would reduce density on the barrier islands “in perpetuity” by codifying that what could be four homes side-byside on narrow lots will be fewer in number.
Brookes countered that while it could result in a one home over four lots, it was more likely to be two or three homes where one currently stands.
“Make no mistake with this ordinance, the way it’s written, allows you to take that one house that’s on those four lots, sell it to a developer who will demolish it and then they can build three. It will be less than four houses, but they could put three houses on those four lots. It’s not going from raw land like you would think. There are many homes on Siesta Key that are built on top of more than one underlying lot.”
In support of his motion to approve, Cutsinger said the density that one house per each 25-foot lot was already considered in the Comprehensive Plan, and that the amendment, as Rees argued, would reduce that density.
“The density was the density that existed when (the plan) was originally done, and those four lots represent four buildable sites,” Cutsinger said. “So if they would take those four and build two instead of four, I certainly wouldn’t have a problem with that.”
In opposition to the motion, Commissioner Mark Smith, himself a Siesta Key resident, cited recent litigation losses by the county with regard to proposed developments on Siesta Key, and his desire to avoid future legal skirmishes.
“The whole question of density on Siesta Key, I’m very sensitive to it,” he said. “We need to find a way to reduce the density, and this I’m seeing is a way of increasing it.”
CANDIDATES RALLY!
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
File image
Some homes on Siesta Key are built over several underlying 25-foot-wide lots as platted in the early 19th century.
From slander to libel
Sarasota resident challenges prior ruling that Kyle Battie was acting as an elected official when he made racial allegations during a public meeting.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Beating the deadline by hours, the attorney representing Sarasota resident and local government critic Kelly Franklin filed an amended complaint and demand for jury trial in her ongoing litigation against Sarasota City Commissioner Kyle Battie.
On July 2, Tampa attorney Richard Anderson filed the complaint in 12th Circuit Judicial Court, re-alleging that Battie defamed Franklin during the Jan. 16, 2024, City Commission meeting by displaying a printout of a racially charged social media post that Franklin said is a hoax.
Franklin is seeking $50,000 in damages.
During a discussion he placed on the agenda at that meeting, Battie displayed the crumpled paper on the meeting chamber’s overhead projection system that included a photo of himself, while serving as mayor, cutting the ribbon at Corona Cigar Co. with co-owner Tanya Borysiewicz.
Above it read a caption, “Gorillas in the midst of being gorillas are on my mind.” The printout included Franklin’s name and profile picture, identifying her as the alleged poster.
Franklin charged it was all a hoax in retaliation for her very public opposition to the business permitting cigar smoking at outdoor seating on a city-owned sidewalk as in violation of city code. She said the printout of the alleged post was a mashup, lifting the gorillas comment from a September 2022 post of images of gorillas photographed by her during a 2022 photo safari in Africa.
A brief search of Franklin’s Facebook page revealed that original post.
According to the filing, Franklin’s personal Facebook page was at all
times on a public setting, meaning that anyone with access to the Internet could view it, and that “not a single person had reported actually seeing the hoax post on Franklin’s personal Facebook page at any time between Sept. 22, 2023, the purported date of the hoax post, and Jan. 16, 2024.”
Further, Franklin alleges Battie was in possession of the printout in December 2023 and waited nearly a month before making it public, calling the discussion before the commission scripted and rehearsed.
The amended complaint still alleges the original five counts: defamation, defamation per se, defamation by implication, conspiracy to defame and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Rather than concentrating on slander, as the original complaint did, the amended filing focuses on libel as a result of the publication of the image, and what Franklin told the Observer is, “The advance planning and coordination it took to contrive to publish the offensive image in the first place, and time where potentially a claim of absolute immunity for legislative activity could be staked.”
On June 12, Judge Stephen Walker granted Battie’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that, as an elected official, he is shielded from litigation for any statements made while serving in his capacity as a commissioner.
Franklin said the amended complaint also describes what she said is a “cozy” relationship between Corona Cigar Bar owners Tanya and Jeff Borysiewicz and Battie.
Alleges the complaint, “At all times material to this action, Battie was acting beyond the scope of his employment or function as a city commissioner, in bad faith and with
malicious purpose and in a manner exhibiting wanton and willful disregard of Franklin’s rights.”
The amended complaint does not include the city or any other city elected officials or management personnel.
The complaint reads, “Battie is personally guilty of intentional misconduct, as defined in Florida Statute 768.72(a), in that he had actual knowledge of the wrongfulness of his conduct and the high probability that injury or damage to Franklin would result, and despite that knowledge intentionally pursued the course of conduct described herein, resulting in injury or damage to Franklin.”
During its July 1 meeting, the City Commission approved covering $25,000, the city’s directors and officers insurance coverage deductible, of Battie’s legal expenses to date. Insurance will pick up the remaining $1,619 of the total.
Commissioners had no choice as Walker ruled that Battie was executing his duties as an elected official on Jan. 16. Had he ruled to the contrary, the city would have had the option to pay the additional $11,619 beyond the $15,000 commissioners approved in February.
Should a future ruling determine Battie was not acting in his official capacity and that he is found liable in civil court, he may be deemed responsible for future legal fees.
City Attorney Robert Fournier told commissioners the insurance carrier would likely deny payment under those conditions. Should Battie be cleared, he could seek restitution of his fees from Franklin, $25,000 of which would be returned to the city.
Since making his presentation in January, Battie has declined to comment to the media, but he did have comments to make at the July 1 meeting.
“This comes with the territory, and it’s shameful for what’s gone on as she continues to pursue this,” Battie said. “This is all on her. It’s not on us. It’s not on me. It’s not on my character because I made my pre -
sentation and I left it alone. I never said a thing before or after the ruling. I won’t make a statement, but I’ll continue to stand my ground as I’m sure they probably will as well.”
File images
Sarasota resident Kelly Franklin has filed an amended complaint alleging defamation against City Commissioner Kyle Battie.
Beyond First Class™
Observer recommends
The common refrain and complaint you here about all county commission candidates is this: “The greedy developers control them.”
The proof? Their campaign contributors. Look at the accompanying table below for the four Republican Sarasota County Commission candidates.
But before we elaborate on that, let’s first be clear: It’s wrong to label developers greedy. They do what every business does. They fill an essential need. They provide homes, apartments, condominiums and townhomes for the thousands of people moving to Florida. And let’s get even more micro: You. A developer built the structure where you reside. And you paid the price because you thought it was a fair deal. You didn’t have to buy that residence. That was your choice. Why does that make the developer evil or greedy?
What’s more, consider this: Compare the annual net profit margins of the following companies — the first three being national homebuilders:
Lennar: 11.58%, D.R. Horton, 13.3% and Pulte: 16.5% compared to Alphabet: 26%, Apple: 26.3%, Meta: 32% and Microsoft: 36%.
Now, tell us: Who’s greedy?
One more consideration: When Sarasotans decry developers for their campaign contributions to politicians and the politicians for accepting developer contributions, put that in context. Indeed, if you own, have owned or work for a business, put yourself in the shoes of the developer or homebuilder.
Your livelihood, everything you have — plus the business that supports the lives of all your employees’ families; and the business that builds homes for hundreds or thousands of people — is largely dependent on politicians. They rule what you can and cannot do. They make the rules that affect the cost of what you do.
So for all who decry developers, think how you would like your livelihood to be in the hands of elected officials who think you’re greedy and evil. How do you think that would work out?
It should be expected, then, that homebuilders and developers would support the elections of candidates and politicians who are inclined to support the economic arguments for development and homebuilding.
We have argued this for three decades: Florida is a growth state with 350,000 new people a year moving here — all of whom need places to live. And yet, as the rising prices of housing reflect, we are not building enough residences to accommodate this growth. That’s why we need elected officials who understand this and who are willing to stand up to the immoral forces who oppose development. Yes, immoral.
When Sarasota County Commission candidates say we need to “manage growth,” beware. What they actually are saying is it’s OK for you to have your homes, but they believe they have the power to decide who else has the right to live or build here.
Which brings us to the Republican candidates on the Aug. 20 primary ballot for Sarasota County Commission:
Sarasota County Commission
Commission Districts — Only voters in the districts with contested elections are permitted to vote.
District 1: From University Parkway south to State Road 72; roughly east of McIntosh Road to the county line.
ELECTION ’24
SARASOTA COUNTY COMMISSION; PUBLIC HOSPITAL BOARD; CHARTER REVIEW BOARD
Full-length Editorial
For the complete recommendations, including Sarasota County Commission District 3 and Sarasota County Charter Review Board commentary, go to: YourObserver.com/opinion. Also see: “Republicans killing their own; Go negative to win” at YourObserver.com/ opinion
Candidates: Republicans Alexandra Coe and Teresa Mast Coe and Mast are competing to replace term-limited Mike Moran. Give them credit and gratitude. It takes courage and perseverance to pursue public office.
It also takes humility — the ability to remember to be a servant of the people and to resist an addiction to power, traits rarely seen in politicians. As a longtime Tallahassee wag once told an aspiring legislator, there are only two reasons people seek public office: to be somebody or to do good. If you are motivated by the first, don’t run.
In Coe and Mast, at least in their written comments, they want to do good. The question, then, is which of them would be better for you, for individual taxpayers? Not better for the collective or the county government; better for every individual’s liberty and property.
They are both longtime Sarasota County residents — Coe, 30 years; Mast, 45 years. Both have sought public office before. Coe, 60, was elected in 2020 and 2022 to the Charter Review Board; was a 2018 candidate for the County Commission; and has been active for many years in the Sarasota Republican Party. Mast, 58, ran for school board in 2016; served after that on the Sarasota County Planning Commission.
They’re both engaged citizens.
To judge them on previous experiences that would translate to the job of county commissioner, Mast is decidedly more qualified. In addition to developing an understanding of county codes and having voted on land-use issues as a planning commission member, Mast has been vice president and president of the Davin Group Inc., a custom residential design and remodeling business, for 32 years; and for 10 years served as Sarasota County’s business relations coordinator. She has seen county government work first hand.
Coe, meanwhile, describes herself as “an experienced cultural sustainability practitioner, creative social innovator, farmer, statesman and an anthropologist with a strong commitment to addressing global challenges through sustainable agriculture policy and environmental stewardship.” (For more on her eclectic passions and skills, go to: Linkedin.com/In/CoeAlexandra/).
Suffice it to say there is a gap between Mast and Coe in business and government experience.
If Coe has any edge over Mast, it would be as the commission’s unpredictable, nonestablishment member. She has no ties to the region’s development and construction circles and could be an independent voice among four other members of similar political philosophies.
It’s often good to have at least one voice on a board willing to challenge
the prevailing views.
Fiscally, Coe and Mast talk the talk.
Coe: “Government should not overly burden our labor or our land with excessive taxes. Instead, it should strive to be efficient, transparent and focused on serving the needs of its citizens without infringing on their financial freedoms.”
Mast: “We need leadership that consistently prioritizes the interests of taxpayers and scrutinizes how every dollar is spent. I advocate for maintaining the lowest possible taxes while delivering the highest quality of life for all residents.”
In Mast, voters have a candidate who understands what it takes to operate and manage a business and the burdens government creates when it intervenes where it should not. But because of her heavy support from developers and contractors — as well as her husband’s role as CEO of the Suncoast Builders Association, Mast has the challenge of being able to make decisions independent of their influence.
Mast did not respond to the Observer for comment on how she can assure voters of that.
For our tastes, while Mast and Coe profess fiscal conservatism, they also are strong advocates for the county government to intervene with aggressive growth management and controlling where development occurs. This will satisfy the voters who think Sarasota’s growth is out of control.
But whoever is sitting in the five commission chairs, they must keep in mind their primary job is to keep Sarasotans safe; keep taxes at a minimum; create a framework for businesses to thrive and economic growth; and that all government regulation on development and people’s property rights will make Sarasota increasingly unaffordable for our children and grandchildren. Overall, Mast has the better experience and qualifications, but she must apply those skills with each vote to what is best for individual taxpayers.
We recommend: Teresa Mast
Sarasota County Public Hospital Board
Three items Sarasota County voters should hold in their minds for the primary and general elections to fill the seats for the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board:
1. The Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System is a huge, complicated business enterprise.
2. The COVID crisis is over. Get over it. Move on.
3. The SMH System is one of the best-managed in the country, certainly among the best in Florida.
When you consider $1.6 billion goes through the accounting department of SMH each year; the system has more than $1.3 billion worth of structures and highly sophisticated equipment; that it treated more than 1.6 million people in 2023; and that it has more than 570 physicians and 10,000 employees, all of that requires board members with diverse skills, high intelligence and the ability to sort and meld details with 30,000-footlevel strategic thinking.
Board members cannot be oneissue agitators. Ask board members Patricia Maraia and Bridgette Fiorucci, two RNs who were elected to the board as part of an antiadministration, Medical Freedom slate in 2022. They will tell you the responsibilities of hospital board members go far beyond a platform of “medical freedom,” “patient autonomy,” “transparency” and “accountability” — four pillars of this year’s slate of four Medical Freedom candidates.
All from a raucous wing of Republicans in south Sarasota County, spearheaded by retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, the four candidates are seemingly obsessed with and stuck in the COVID past. They want to re-litigate and harp on what happened with patient treatment during COVID. To wit:
Asked what are the top three priorities SMH needs to address, candidate Dr. Tamzin Rosenwasser replied the first priority is: “Tracing what went wrong during COVID, not just at SMH, but all over our nation, for all of us to understand and correct it.”
Challenger Tanya Parus says she “champions medical freedom and patient autonomy, advocating for informed healthcare decisions without coercion.”
Mary Flynn O’Neill, Gen. Flynn’s sister, says she “is committed to transparency and accountability of all operations … ” (and) “pledges to advocate for the protection of all patients and … true medical freedom.”
Good for their earnestness. They mean well. And of the four, Dr. Rosenwasser has the experience and credentials to be an effective board member. But first they all need to get over what happened in 2020 and 2021 during COVID.
With 100% probability, you can go to every hospital in America and find it did things it now wishes it did not do during COVID. It was a chaotic, uncharted period — as if bombs were being dropped every day on the American medical system. Every hospital made mistakes.
What’s more, what public hospital anywhere at the time would dare risk being a complete outlier in the medical establishment and go against federal health care officials’ protocols and guidelines? Most likely: none.
To be sure, the SMH board and administration did their best. And they learned from COVID, affirming that by making a commitment recently to patients having the right to decide their treatments. No coercion.
Done. Over. Move on.
Which brings us to our final points: The litmus test for every election is how well the incumbents have performed. In that vein, the SMH System is an exceptional organization. All the data show it.
That is a reflection of the hospital board’s oversight. The incumbents are doing an admirable job, and it and the administration have great, positive momentum — expanding SMH’s Venice hospital and on the verge of building a hospital in North Port. There is no need to change, no need for disruption.
As for the two open seats — Atlarge Seats 2 and 3 — when you put the skill sets and experiences of Kevin Cooper and Pam Beitlich up against those of Medical Freedom candidates, Dr. Stephen Guffanti and Ms. Flynn O’Neill, Cooper and Beitlich would add better and even more depth and breadth of useful knowledge to the board.
Lastly, the Medical Freedom side has said there are too many business people on the board and that it needs more medical people focused on patient care. To that: Every successful business person knows, above all, if his or her business is to succeed, the satisfaction of its customers is always the business’ highest priority. They get it.
We recommend: Sharon Wetzler DePeters (incumbent), Sarah Lodge (incumbent), Kevin Cooper and Pam Beitlich
Sarasota County Charter Review Board
Sarasota County’s Charter Review Board is charged primarily with serving as a conduit between citizens who want to change the county’s governing constitution and the voters.
Historically, most members elected to this board appropriately have adopted a Hippocratic Oath toward the charter: “Do no harm.”
That is the correct approach.
In that vein, there are three candidates who would maintain that approach.
We recommend: Nicholas Altier, Tom DeSane and Greg “Tex” Bukowski.
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Unite with shared vision
deeply concerned about the future of public education. Public education is at a crossroads.
More than ever, our community is paying attention to education and is willing to work for its success. We have an incredible opportunity to put our collective experience, skills and energy to work. But we must choose to do this. Political extremism threatens to upend the entire system in favor of privatization. Are we willing to abandon public schools and sell our children’s education to the highest bidder? Or are we committed to protecting them? Public schools are the foundation of our American democracy. They guarantee a free and appropriate public education to every child. The quality of our public school system is directly tied to our home values and local economy. For a community to thrive, it must have strong, robust public schools. We’ve often heard, “Good schools are good for business,” and this is certainly true here in
Sarasota. Our community can’t afford to allow public education to fail.
To do this, we must choose to put our kids over the political chaos and move forward with unity. Sarasota County Schools have engaged families, outstanding educators and a plethora of generous community partners. We have access to more research and data around best practices in effective instruction than ever before. We have better systems for monitoring student progress and analyzing data.
Imagine what could be achieved if we chose to leave politics out of the educational equation.
Education in Florida has changed dramatically in the last few years and poses many new challenges to public schools. The expanded voucher program and the increasing number of charter schools run by for-profit businesses has diverted funding away from traditional public schools. The way we respond to these challenges in the next four years is critical.
To move forward effectively, we must rethink our approach. What if parental rights meant more than stacks of permission slips and packed up libraries? What if instead it meant a true partnership between schools and families? Our public schools can be a place where every family is empowered to participate and every student is treated with dignity and respect. Academic outcomes are inextricably tied to the availability of resources, including food, shelter and mental health support. What if, instead of stigmatizing mental health services in schools, we embraced the idea that students do not learn in a vacuum?
Research is clear that schools with strong mental health support are safer and higher achiev-
ing. Addressing the needs of our students beyond academics ensures that every student comes to school every day ready to learn. Central to this equation are our educators, dedicated professionals who deserve fair compensation and our total support. Teacher shortages nationwide are a startling consequence of both the challenges of teacher pay and politicization of the profession. We must stop acting as if our teachers are nefarious influences who are trying to indoctrinate our children. They are not. They are highly skilled, committed experts who care deeply about our children’s futures.
According to the results of a survey conducted in April 2023 by the Sarasota Classified Teachers Association, 83% of teachers in Sarasota report feeling unsupported by the current school board, and 68% of teachers fear retaliation from this board if they were to voice their concerns. If we value public education, we must return to the days when teachers were respected and treated as pillars of our community. We have a responsibility to chart a course for public education. We can continue to waste time and resources on political battles or we can unite behind a shared vision and demand change.
Imagine what we could accomplish if our elected leaders were champions for the public schools they are elected to serve. This is our moment to work together to ensure that our public schools remain an opportunity for future generations.
Liz Barker is running for the District 2 Sarasota County School Board seat. Her website is LizForSarasota.com.
Honoring the legacy of Overtown
As a resident of the Rosemary District, I am excited to see the progress on our new neighborhood park. With the park’s imminent completion, the city of Sarasota is considering names for the park.
The Rosemary District, just north of downtown Sarasota, is now home to over 3,600 residents. Despite being the fastest growing and most densely populated area in the city, it has been without a neighborhood park.
My wife, Martha, and I moved to the Rosemary District over seven years ago and at which time I quickly joined with a dedicated group of neighbors to identify park opportunities.
Now, we’re almost there. Our 0.25-acre park is about to be finished, with eagerly anticipated canopy trees having been planted and park lighting installed last week. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is now within sight.
The journey to this park has not been easy. Initially envisioned almost 25 years ago in the Downtown Sarasota Master Plan, which identified a “Civic Square” in this area, the park concept faced numerous setbacks, including economic downturns and funding challenges.
The recent effort to purchase the park parcels succeeded thanks to over 100 community members and business owners who contributed to cover the costs.
Even this year, construction faced delays due to permitting issues.
The Rosemary District has several unique factors, including a central location, a rich cultural history tied to the founding of Sarasota, a high concentration of significant historic buildings within a small geographic area and a vibrant community of creative industries.
While “Rosemary Park” and “Rosemary District Park” reflect our current neighborhood name and its historic Rosemary Cemetery, I believe “Overtown” stands out as a unique and historically significant option.
Overtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes 28 buildings that contribute to our neighborhood’s historic character. It was the original name of our area before it became known as the Rosemary District.
I personally recommend the name “Overtown Square” for the following reasons:
■ It honors our neighborhood’s history and is immediately recognizable.
■ It creates a strong connection to our unique cultural history and historic buildings.
■ It acknowledges the live/ work history and future of our neighborhood.
■ There is virtually nothing in our neighborhood named “Overtown,” making it a distinctive choice.
■ Additionally, the park’s exact square shape makes this name even more fitting.
While the name for the park should be permanent, the features in the park don’t have to be. There is an opportunity for it to change and grow.
Think sculptures, more trees, and other elements that can be added. The park can continue to evolve as its real-world uses play out, all one-quarter acre of it. For now, I cast my vote for “Overtown Square” and hope the name can be agreed upon in advance of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for our very own Rosemary District Park. It will have been worth the wait.
DAVID LOUGH ROSEMARY DISTRICT RESIDENT
CORRECTION
In the June 27 editorial, “Moran, tax collectors in a Supreme Court fight,” the Florida PACE Funding Agency (FPFA) was incorrectly referenced throughout. There are multiple PACE agencies in Florida not connected to the Florida PACE Funding Agency, or FPFA.
Manual labor
Two-year effort to update 22-year-old Engineering Design manual reaches City Commission workshop.
ANDREW
WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Some two years after it directed staff to revamp the city’s Engineering Design Criteria Manual, the Sarasota City Commission on Monday got its first look at the document that hadn’t been updated since 2002. Much has changed in design and philosophical standards in the past 22 years, with further evolution to come in the two years it will take from now to implement a new EDCM with a target of 2026. That’s why City Manager Marlon Brown urged commissioners to consider not what the manual might address today, but how it will adapt to changes in the future.
During Monday’s workshop, commissioners heard from key staff members about the process of assembling the draft document and provided input for further refinement.
“I know that you’ve received a number of emails from individuals expressing different comments about the EDCM,” said Brown to commissioners. “This is not a oneand-done. The intent is to come back at a regular City Commission meet-
PROJECT TIMELINE
LIGHT READING
For anyone so inclined, both the 206-page Engineering Design Criteria Manual, 2002 edition, and the 534-page 2024 draft version may be viewed at SarasotaFL.com/EDCM.
ing to get your direction and then set this for a public hearing sometime later on. There are many opportunities after today for the public and individuals who have an interest to provide their comments.”
The EDCM is a bible of sorts for public and private development throughout the city, covering standards for the benefit of the public realm.
It doesn’t get into development design and land use, but it does set standards for a variety of topics from subdivision regulations to streetscapes within the public right of way.
Where it varies from the city’s zoning code and the Florida Greenbook — a manual of uniform minimum standards for design, construction and maintenance for streets and highways — the higher standards will prevail.
Those conflicts can vary from one zone district to another, and also overlay districts atop them, such as the Rosemary Residential and North Trail overlay district, with regard to contradictory standards such as
sidewalk widths, amenity zones and more.
“You would follow the overlay district over what the EDCM contains,” said Chief Transportation Planner Alvimarie Corales.
Commissioners heaped praise on the staff involved in developing the updated EDCM, calling the new format more digestible to the uninitiated than the current version.
“It is so well done,” said Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch. “It is so well organized and is incredibly approachable for somebody who is not an engineer to read this and understand it.”
A layperson’s level of interest in the EDCM notwithstanding, the more absorbable data is intended to elevate the comprehension of the average citizen while specifying modern standards for engineers of both city and private projects.
The EDCM update was prioritized by the City Commission in the 2022 and 2023 Strategic Plans. The standards shall apply to all forms of development under the jurisdiction of the city engineer.
Among the significant procedural changes in the EDCM is a shift in the approval of exceptions from the city manager’s office to that of the city engineer. An appeal by a developer of the city engineer’s decision will be under the purview of the city manager.
Brown addressed a frequent criticism from residents regarding the pace of drafting plans and ordinances.
“This started in 2022. We’re in 2024, so I just want a recognition that this is not something that we’re
WHAT IS THE FLORIDA GREENBOOK?
The Florida Greenbook provides criteria for public streets, roads, highways, bridges, sidewalks, curbs and curb ramps, crosswalks, bicycle facilities, underpasses and overpasses used by the public for vehicular and pedestrian travel. The manual is intended for all projects not on the state and national highway systems.
rushing, that we’ve taken our time,” Brown said. “We’ll have another opportunity at a regular City Commission meeting to get more guidance and direction and you can actually take action.
“This is not for today, but this is for the future. I know there are individuals who like to speak about what we’re doing now, but keep an open mind that this is for the future.”
image
Among other things, the city’s Engineering Design Criteria Manual covers standards for the location of cafe seating outside downtown restaurants.
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MONDAY, JUNE 24
SIGN TOSSER
12:59 p.m., 1500 block of Main Street
Criminal mischief: After five minutes of being allowed to sit on a sidewalk at a privately owned parking lot, a man became belligerent and caused property damage when asked to leave by the attendant. The complainant said she was approached by the man, who asked if he could sit and rest, which she permitted, after which he refused to leave. She said he then stood up and ripped a sign off its post and threw it toward Main Street. The damage is estimated at $100.
When officers arrived, the subject was still on the scene, and the complainant said she wished to press charges. The subject was subsequently arrested and charged with criminal mischief.
THURSDAY, JUNE 27 KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD
4:19 p.m., 1600 block of Main Street
Disturbance: While on vacation, a married couple had been arguing all day because the wife wanted to cut the trip short and return to their home in Austin, Texas. When officers were dispatched to the scene of the ongoing dispute, they were informed that the dispute was over the husband not wanting to leave.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26
FRUIT FIGHT
3:25 p.m., 300 block of South Palm Avenue
Disturbance: A dispute between a parcel package driver and landscapers resulted in an allegation by the driver of fruit being thrown at him.
The complainant said he was delivering packages to a residential building, where a portion of the sidewalk was cordoned off by workers trimming palm trees but the walkway remained available. After delivering packages, an argument ensued between himself and one of the landscape workers. As he was leaving, he said fruit from a palm tree was thrown at him. The complainant said he did not wish to press charges, but only wanted documentation of the incident in case the landscapers file a complaint with his employer. The landscape worker countered that cones were placed to close access to the entire walkway but that the complainant ignored the blockade. He said a brief argument ensued but nothing was thrown.
over her, smoking a cigarette and holding a partially consumed bottle of wine.
The woman said that while en route to the airport, she was using her cellphone’s navigation app while her husband kept trying to grab the device. She advised that she did not want to drive to the airport with him in the vehicle and instead ordered a ride-share vehicle for him. The officer remained on the scene until the man’s ride arrived. How the remainder of their trip back to Austin went remains unknown.
MONDAY, JULY 1
SKINNY-DIPPING
9:53 p.m., 200 block of John Ringling Boulevard
Suspicious incident: When officers arrived at a home on St. Armands, the homeowner told them an unknown woman had entered the property and was swimming in the pool. The officers then made contact with the woman who was standing poolside while nude, a towel draped
An officer asked her where her clothes were and to put them on, at which point the subject began “speaking gibberish.” The comments that were comprehensible were described as “outrageous.” She finally agreed to get dressed, but stopped and again began making outrageous comments, at which time she was taken into protective custody. One of the two responding officers then assisted the woman into her dress.
After being placed in the back seat of a patrol vehicle, she claimed to be with the CIA. She was taken into custody under the Baker Act. While in transport to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, she began to kick the partition in the car. Upon arrival, she attempted to kick one of the two responding officers.
As for the complainant, she said the woman had taken some towels and went into the refrigerator located in the pool area. The complainant did not wish to pursue charges.
High scores
The state’s standardized testing results showed a 2% rise in third grade English Language Arts scores, among improvements in other areas.
IAN
Third grade reading scores have been a frequent topic of discussion for Sarasota’s school district.
The standardized testing data for the 2023-24 school year, recently released by the Florida Department of Education, has district officials pleased.
Most notably, Sarasota’s scores in English Language Arts rank second highest in the state for the third grade, moving up from fourth in 2023, while improvements were also seen in other areas.
The final data, which will include only those students present in the district since October, is still pending release, anticipated by the district for late July.
When available, that data will determine district and school grades. Sarasota’s district has consistently maintained an “A” grade since 2004.
A POSITIVE STEP
As of the 2022-23 school year, the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking replaced the former Florida Standards Assessment test.
Compared to this past year, third grade reading scores for students at Achievement Level 3 or above jumped 7%, moving from 61% to 68%.
A table assembled by Sarasota County Schools indicated a 6 percentage point increase, with 2023 scores modified to reflect new cut scores approved by Florida’s State Board of Education in 2023. The cut scores established new achievement level standards.
Level 3 indicates that a student performed on-grade across all assessments.
Department of Education docu-
ments noted that in English Language Arts, greater improvements were seen across elementary grade levels than middle and high school grade levels.
For instance, statewide over the course of the 2023-24 school year, third grade performance improved by 31%, sixth grade performance improved over that time by 11%.
Sarasota ranks 13th highest of the state’s 82 districts in the number of students scoring at Level 3 or above, from Grades 3-10, in English Language Arts, at 61%.
Sarasota ranks 12th highest in the number of students scoring at Level 3 in mathematics, from grades 3-8, at 66%.
School Board Chair Karen Rose said she was excited to see the increase in the third grade scores for English Language Arts.
According to Rose, the third grade reading scores involve the “nucleus where everything moves out from.”
“If you can read at grade level at third grade, your probability of suc-
cess in all subject areas through 12th grade increases significantly,” she said.
She said this development was welcome after several years during which the improvement of the district was stagnant.
“We were doing what I call flatlining, and so to get a seven-point growth and move up to second highest in the state is huge,” she said. “It’s challenging to grow third grade reading one point or two points.”
She said there was still progress to be made.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m celebrating what our schools
have been able to accomplish, the work our teachers have done and the leadership that superintendent Connor and his district team have provided.”
School board member Tom Edwards said the progress was in line with the district’s initiatives, calling it “right on track, as far as I can tell.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic had been a major contributor in the past decline in scores across the state and nation, noting teachers and bus drivers who were out sick, as well as students undergoing remote learning and quarantines.
“It was pandemonium, and I think
STANDARDIZED TESTING SCORES HIGHLIGHTED BY SARASOTA COUNTY SCHOOLS
In this table, 2023 scores have been retrofitted to reflect cut scores recently approved by Florida’s Board of Education. “B.E.S.T.” indicates end-of-course assessments using the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking standards.
FAST
(Grades 3-8, Algebra, Geometry)
(Grade 5, Grade 8, Biology)
Source: Sarasota County Schools
people forget that, and that through leadership, and through our teachers, they’ve been able to — with the right plans in place — been able to rise to the occasion. We have the best; the best people. The very best people, following excellent plans.”
He called the scores a credit to administrators, the district’s teachers and any parents who were able to offer support.
“I think it’s a team effort,” he said. “I think that the foundation was laid during (Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen). It was continued through the interim period, particularly with our chief administrative officer, Chris Renouf, and then with our high-quality instructional teaching staff. It was all a handoff from my tenure of Dr. Asplen through, and then as I said before, (Superintendent Terry Connor) added a sense of urgency when he got here, and it really all came together.”
He said with “solid leadership” in the superintendent’s office, he looks forward to a continued rise in scores.
In a written statement, Connor also remarked on the scores.
“I am incredibly proud of the dedication and hard work demonstrated by our students, teachers, staff, administrators, and families throughout this school year,” he wrote. “Their tenacity and collaborative efforts have significantly improved our state assessment results in every area.”
Ian Swaby
Angela Stephanides teaches a geometry lesson.
Club floats expansion plans
With a long waiting list and already tight quarters, Sarasota Yacht Club is seeking to add more space.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Local architect Mark Sultana recalls when he received the phone call with news he won the contract to design the current facilities for Sarasota Yacht Club just east of St. Armands off John Ringing Causeway. It came the day his daughter was born.
“My daughter is 16 now, so I’ve been working on this project for that long,” said Sultana, founder of DSDG Architects, to the city’s Development Review Committee on July 3.
“The club has become very popular. They have about a 75-person waitlist currently to get a membership, so they engaged me to look at future development and future expansion for the project,” Sultana said. “Some of the areas that need attention are the fitness center that’s too small and the office space for employees is too small.”
To address those needs and to eliminate the waiting list, Sultana and the club settled on a new free-standing structure built above current surface parking, plus more parking spaces to expand membership. The private club is zoned Office Regional District and requires a minor conditional use and site plan approval by the Planning Board.
Proposed changes to the site plan originally submitted in 2008 include:
■ Addition of 4,691 square feet to the existing 22,068-square-foot second floor clubhouse to allow for 155 seats to be added to the existing 833 seats.
■ Addition of 1,003 square feet to the existing 26,920-square-foot outside dining deck area to allow the club to add 66 seats to the existing 179 seats.
■ New 8,000-square-foot, three-
story multiuse building to include club offices, a classroom and fitness space. A 2,540-square-foot roof deck that will have 169 outdoor dining seats.
■ Addition of 26 parking spaces for a total of 197 spaces.
No change to the refuse and recycling requirements are expected as a result of this change other than perhaps an additional day for collection.
With multiple comments made by staff and a traffic impact study required, the project requires a resubmittal to the DRC. Once it meets all code requirements, it will be placed on the Planning Board agenda.
777 S. PALM AVE.
Located directly across U.S. 41 from the new parking structure at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, developer Odin Endeavors is seeking to redevelop an aging two-story commercial building standing on just more than half-an-acre into a five-story condominium building that will include attainable housing.
A new multiuse building is planned to replace this commercial structure at 777 South Palm Avenue.
Representing the developer, land planning consultant Kimley-Horn is anticipating administrative approval of the project as there are no requested changes to the Downtown Edge zoning requirements.
As a pre-application hearing before the DRC, details are few and the plan remains in flux. The preapplication documents referenced 27 condominiums with two attainable housing units, but Patrick Seidensticker of law firm Icard Merrill, representing the applicant, suggested that could change by the time a plan is submitted.
“The proposed development today says 27 units,” he said. “Subsequent
to this, it has been determined those units may increase to 33 or so with required attainable housing. And there also may be an addition of some commercial retail space on the site as well.”
The increase in residential units will require at least thee affordable and attainable units per the city’s density bonus policy. They must be evenly distributed between price points that are defined as affordable to 80% or below, 81%-100% and 101%-120% of area median income.
The proposed development includes a pedestrian amenity area, a ground-floor lobby with a mezzanine and two levels of parking. A rooftop amenity area featuring a pool and fitness area are also proposed. The public realm will be improved with street trees and wide sidewalks along South Palm Avenue and Bayfront Drive.
BAYSIDE NORTH
With site work already underway on the Bayside apartment development between Florida and Cocoanut avenues bordered by 10th Street and
May Lane in the Rosemary District, its developer, Longboat Group, presented plans for a second phase to be named Bayside North.
The site is just shy of an acre and borders the 3.5-acre Bayside property to the north to 10th Street. Although developed separately, Bayside North will add 96 apartments to the 254 units planned for Bayside. At seven stories, Bayside North will be two stories taller than Bayside, as permitted by code. Fifteen units in Bayside North will be priced as attainable and affordable.
The parcel is currently used as staging area for Bayside construction.
Development consultant Joel Freedman told the DRC a Planning Board adjustment will be required for the project because of design conflicts between the city’s Engineering Design Criteria Manual and the Rosemary Residential Overlay District on matters such as easements and setbacks.
“It creates an interesting issue because of maximum setbacks in Downtown Edge, so we’re obviously
having to get an adjustment from the Planning Board,” Freedman said. “This is another case where we have the Rosemary Overlay District wanting one thing and the EDCM wanting another, so my expectation is we’ll be asking for a technical deviation to do what the Rosemary Overlay District wants us to do.”
The RROD requires at least three additional development standards incorporated into the project’s design, Bayside North meeting four of them. Urban open space will occupy at least 10% of the site, which qualifies as two standards. In addition, the project will be mixeduse as required and at least 50% of the dwelling units above the ground floor and facing streets will have balconies.
In addition to the 96 apartments, Bayside North proposes a 2,995-square-foot commercial space on the ground floor that is currently planned for a casual restaurant of up to 100 seats that may serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Courtesy image
Sarasota Yacht Club plans to build a three-story addition as part of its expansion plans.
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
To London
Sarasota Ballet wins hearts with its Royal Opera House residency.
MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
with love
More than 35 years after his death some of Ashton’s ballets are more popular than ever and some of those that might easily have been forgotten are being kept alive in Sarasota. —Bachtrack
All hail the Sarasota Ballet. They came, they saw, they conquered. The glowing reviews of their June 4-9 London residency at London’s Royal Opera House provide the proof.
Among their fans and benefactors in Florida, there seemed little doubt that the Sarasota Ballet would be a hit in London.
After all, the company, which has made its reputation preserving the ballets of Sir Frederick Ashton, has gone from strength to strength since Iain Webb became managing director in 2007 and was joined by his wife, Margaret Barbieri, in 2012, as assistant director.
Earlier in their careers, Webb and Barbieri danced the principal roles in Ashton ballets at the Royal Ballet, where Ashton was choreographer under Ninette de Valois and later director of the company when Valois retired.
The Sarasota Ballet flew to London and performed in “Ashton Celebrated” at the invitation of Royal Ballet Director Kevin O’Hare, but the residency was fraught with peril, to hear Webb tell it.
“It was like bringing coals to Newcastle,” said Webb, a native of Yorkshire, in the north of England.
“Even though it was a great honor, there was the fact that we’ve been known for doing Sir Fred’s ballets — it’s what put the company on the map. But you’re basically taking his ballets, which are very special, back to his home theater,” Webb noted in an July 3 interview.
“There’s long been a perception that the Royal can’t dance Balanchine and the Americans can’t dance Ashton. We were going up against that by bringing in rarely seen works with new dancers,” he said.
Before the residency, Webb couldn’t stop thinking about how the National Ballet of Canada met with disaster when it performed Ashton’s “La fille mal gardée” at the Royal Opera House in 1979. Recalls Webb: “I was there and everything possible went wrong. It was as if it had been
sabotaged.”
“It was daunting because there had been so much hype beforehand,” says Barbieri about the Sarasota Ballet’s London showcase. “Tickets sold out almost immediately and the expectations were so high.”
It was Barbieri who staged the Ashton ballets the company performed in London. The repertoire included the ensemble-driven “Dante Sonata” (staged with Patricia Tierney), the showcase of choreographic satires “Facade,” the abstract “Sinfonietta,” the waltzing “Valses nobles et sentimentales” (with Webb) and Ashton’s self-parody “Varii Capricci,” as well as several divertissements, smaller pieces that are ballet’s answer to a chef’s amuse bouche.
Ashton’s considerable legacy and the storied reputations of the Royal Ballet dancers weighed on the Sarasota Ballet’s performers. “The Royal Ballet is such an icon in the ballet world,” says principal dancer Jes -
sica Assef, who joined the company last season from the Atlanta Ballet. “It’s such an honor to dance there. It’s something you dream of when you’re little.”
Assef adds, “You know you’re going to meet these ballet stars from today’s generation and hear about the ones from before. The studios are named after them — the Fonteyn, the de Valois, the MacMillan — and they all have the pictures of their namesakes above them. So you’re there dancing and MacMillan is watching you. You [feel] the weight of it.”
Asked if she was surprised by anything during the residency, Assef replied, “How welcoming everyone was,” at which point Barbieri chimed in. “The surprise was that the reviews were great. The audience reaction was wonderful too,” she says.
As it turns out, all the fears about flopping in foggy Londontown were for naught. The hard work paid off.
The revelation was “Dante Sonata,” which sends 22 dancers flooding across the tiny stage in movement at once uninhibited and highly sculptural. —The Guardian Tuesday’s strongly danced triple bill began with Ashton’s swoony, wistful take on Ravel’s “Valses nobles et sentimentales,” which premiered in 1947. Sarasota’s well- drilled couples inhabit Sophie Fedorovich’s debs-and-dancecards setting with smiling conviction, led by Jessica Assef swivelling undecidedly between two romantic possibilities (a cheeky nod to “Sleeping Beauty”). — Financial Times
It took lots of heavy lifting to get the Sarasota Ballet to the “Ashton Celebrated” program in London honoring the choreographer’s 120th birthday.
Of the Ashton ballets performed at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the Sarasota Ballet had presented three — “Varii Capricci,” “Dante Sonata” and “Sinfonietta” — during its 2023-24 season, which wrapped April 26-27 at the Sarasota Opera House.
“Sinfonietta” was in the last program of the season, so it was fresh in the dancers’ minds and bodies, but it still needed polish, Webb says.
Five days after their season finale, the Sarasota Ballet dancers returned to the studios, where Barbieri began to stage all the Ashton ballets that would be performed in London.
“It would have been easy to just do one program throughout the six days but instead I did three different programs,” says Webb. “So Maggie had to really teach everything with the help of Victoria (Hulland) and Octavio (Martin).”
Hulland, a former Sarasota Ballet principal dancer, danced many of Ashton’s ballets during 16 years on stage. She returned to the company in 2022 as artistic assistant to the directors. Martin is ballet master of the Sarasota Ballet.
Once they arrived in London, the Sarasota Ballet dancers only had a day off before they had to begin rehearsals. After the residency, Webb gave them another day off to go sightseeing.
During the London run, everything went like clockwork except for a last-minute laundry snafu on the first night, says Jennifer Hackbarth, Sarasota Ballet principal dancer.
“Our white tights turned pink in the laundry,” she says. “They must have been washed with something.”
However, the Royal Ballet’s costume department came up with some fresh white tights for their guests.
In addition to dancing their Ash-
Ricardo Graziano and Macarena Giminez performed “The Walk to Paradise Garden” on the main stage of the Royal Opera House in London.
Images courtesy of Foteini Christofilopoulou
The Sarasota Ballet won favor with London critics with such productions as Sir Frederick Ashton's "Dante Sonata," part of the program of "Ashton Celebrated" at the Royal Opera House.
ton repertoire in the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, the Sarasota Ballet also shared the main stage with the Royal Ballet.
The company performed “The Walk to the Paradise Garden” on June 7, 18, 21 and 22.
“For Kevin (O’Hare) to do that was quite remarkable,”
Webb says. “It was a great gesture that showed he understood and respected what we’ve been trying to do with Sir Fred’s works.”
But no good deed goes unpunished. This was the performance that received a brickbat from the critics amid all their other bouquets.
The Guardian dismissed “The Walk to Paradise” as “an oddity, best forgotten.” Still, that’s more a criticism of Ashton than the company.
While the Sarasota Ballet’s management, staff and dancers pushed themselves to the limit to make the London residency a reality, it wouldn’t have been possible without the financial wizardry of Joseph Volpe, the company’s executive director, and the generosity of donors, Webb says.
The $640,000 cost of the London trip didn’t come out of the Sarasota Ballet’s regular budget, which is about $9.2 million. It was raised separately, Webb says, after the company received its London invite in April 2023.
Volpe joined the Sarasota Ballet in 2016 after retiring as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. Along with Webb and Barbieri, Volpe forms the troika that has raised the Sarasota Ballet’s international profile and strengthened its financial footing.
Volpe’s financial acumen is needed more than ever in the wake of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ rejection last month of $32 million in state arts grants for fiscal 2025. Last year, the Sarasota Ballet got a state cultural grant close to $104,000. It had hoped for at least a similar amount this year.
The news of the cuts came while the Sarasota Ballet was in London, Webb says. But the company didn’t let it rain on their Covent Garden parade.
Bringing home the souvenir of a lifetime
arasota Ballet Director Iain Webb got some good news last month when he was in London rehearsing for the company’s residency at the Royal Opera House: Webb was honored with the 2024 British National Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Webb was presented with the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement by Graham Watts and Dame Monica Mason at London's Coronet Theatre on June 3, the night before the first performance.
He didn’t have time to dally at the presentation. “I took a taxi to the ceremony in Notting Hill Gate, said, ‘Thank you’ and got a cab back to the opera house,” says Webb, only half in jest. “I might have shed a tear or two along the way.”
The National Dance Awards have been handed out since 2000 by the U.K.'s Critics' Circle, made up of more than 60 dance writers
and critics. This year, more than 300 companies, choreographers, performers and other artists were nominated for the awards.
“I was hoping the critics didn’t honor me one day and murder us the next,” Webb quips.
Webb’s honor wasn't just in recognition of his efforts to elevate the Sarasota Ballet since he and his wife, assistant-director Margaret Barbieri, took over the reins in 2007. The award also spotlighted his achievements as a former first soloist with London's Royal Ballet and other star turns during his career.
Under Webb's stewardship, the Sarasota Ballet has performed at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Massachusetts Berkshires, twice at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and several times in New York City, most recently in August 2022 at the Joyce Theatre. Although the Sarasota
Ballet is known for its expertise in the works of Sir Frederick Ashton, the late choreographer and director of the Royal Ballet, it has a wide-ranging repertoire. Among the choreographers whose works it performs are George Balanchine, Johan Kobborg, Kenneth MacMillan, Jessica Lang, Twyla Tharp and Christopher Wheeldon, to name a few. Along with its profes-
sional dance company, the Sarasota Ballet offers youth and adult classes as well as pre-professional training at the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory. Its summer intensive attracts hundreds of students from around the nation to study with the faculty of the Sarasota Ballet School, which uses the American Ballet Theatre national training curriculum.
Left: The Sarasota Ballet traveled
the Royal Opera House.
Courtesy images
Sarasota Ballet Director Iain Webb displays the National Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement that he received in London on June 3.
THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
JAZZ THURSDAY AT SAM
5:30 p.m. at Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail Free to $20 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.
The Jazz Club of Sarasota teams up with the Sarasota Art Museum for an evening of jazz on the museum’s Michael and Marci Klein Plaza. Watch Darcie Allen and the Five Points Quintet and enjoy extended hours in the museum’s galleries, shop and bistro.
‘RHINESTONE COWGIRLS’
7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 N. Palm Ave.
$18-$42
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
Created by Nancy Allen Productions, this musical tribute to some of the first ladies of country features such classics as Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and Carrie Underwood’s “Last Name.” Runs through Aug. 4.
‘THE MUSIC OF LAUREL CANYON’
7:30 p.m. at FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. $18-$42
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
If you know, you know. But not everyone knows about Laurel Canyon, the neighborhood above West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip that became home to folk musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young and The Mamas and the Papas. Runs through Aug. 25.
‘DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE’
8 p.m. at FST’s Keating Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave.
$29-$46
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
Acclaimed playwright Ken Ludwig tells the story of his parents’ courtship during World War II. The play follows U.S. Army Capt. Jack Ludwig, a military doctor stationed in Oregon, who begins a life-changing pen-pal relationship with Louise Rabiner, an aspiring actress living in the Big Apple. Runs through Aug. 11.
FRIDAY
SUMMER CIRCUS SPECTACULAR
11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road $20 adults; $15 kids Visit Ringling.org.
If you’ve never seen a performance in The Ringling’s jewelbox venue, the Historic Asolo Theater, here’s your chance. Presided over by Ringmaster Jared Walker, the Summer Circus Spectacular includes contortionist Uranbileg Angarag, acrobatic hand balancers The Bello Sisters, hair hang artist Camille Langlois, slack wire performer Antino Pansa and clown Renaldo, a veteran of the Big Apple Circus. Runs through Aug. 17.
WBTT STAGE OF DISCOVERY SHOWCASE: ‘MAKE ROOM FOR ME’
7:30 p.m. at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave. $27 Visit WestcoastBlackTheatre.org.
“Make Room for Me” showcases students in Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s seventh annual summer musical theater program. The show represents the culmination of WBTT students’ five-week experience developing their musical, writing and dramatic talents. The student performances will be accompanied by a live band led by WBTT Resident Music Director Matthew McKinnon. Runs through July 14.
MONDAY
JAZZ JAM SRQ
5:30 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.
Jazz Club of Sarasota presents an open mic jam session for professionals and amateurs alike sure to be enjoyed by the listening audience.
DON’T MISS 14TH ANNUAL SARASOTA IMPROV FESTIVAL
Florida Studio Theatre’s downtown Sarasota campus becomes a hotbed of improvisational comedy as visiting acts join the resident FST Improv for a jamboree of laughter and unexpected fun. Chile’s Lospleimovil troupe makes its debut at this year’s festival, which will be headlined by Impro Theatre, a Los Angeles group that gins up full-length plays inspired by the world’s greatest playwrights. Returning are fan favorites Available Cupholders, Big Bang Improv, Dad’s Garage, Parallelogramophonograph and North Coast. Don’t miss the grand finale, when more than 80 festival artists unite on FST’s Gompertz Theatre stage for an unscripted show. Runs through July 13.
7 p.m. The Players Centre, Studio 1130, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail $12; $30 for three-play series Visit SarasotaJewishTheatre.org.
If it’s summer in Sarasota, it’s time for play readings. The Sarasota Jewish Theatre enters the derby with Newish Jewish Plays, a three-play series on three consecutive Mondays. First out of the gate is Gary Morgenstein’s “Dancing on Glass,” a play about the firing of a Jewish teacher of Israeli-Palestinian studies for not being “balanced enough.” This ripped-from-the-headlines production will be directed by Blake Walton, managing director of SaraSolo Productions and an award-winning multihyphenate performer.
OUR PICK
CLYDE BUTCHER: NATURE THROUGH THE LENS
If you haven’t seen the breathtaking exhibition of photographer Clyde Butcher at Historic Spanish Point, why not take a morning drive to the 30-acre compound overlooking Little Sarasota Bay? Dotted throughout the campus are large-scale prints of Butcher’s black-and-white photographs of Florida’s flora and fauna. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
IF YOU GO
When: 10 a.m. Sunday, July 14
Where: Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point campus, 401 N. Tamiami Trail, Nokomis
Tickets: $20
Info: Selby.org.
Courtesy image
"All Play," the annual finale performance of the Sarasota Improv Festival, shown in 2023.
Image courtesy of John Jones
Ken Ludwig’s “Dear Jack, Dear Louise” runs through Aug. 11 at FST’s Keating Theatre.
File photo
You might never see a ghost orchid in the wild, but you can see Clyde Butcher's photo of it at "Nature Through the Lens," which runs through Aug. 31 at Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point.
EATING WITH EMMA
Hot diggity dog! July is National Hot Dog Month
Bite into the best buns and dogs in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
EMMA BURKE JOLLY CONTRIBUTOR
My mother has not always been a fan of the boys I chose to partner up with — and as usual, mother knows best.
My high school boyfriend sported dentures after getting knocked out one too many times during hockey games. He was also on a first-name basis with the local cops. My college boyfriend broke up with me while I was packing for a trip to Disney World with my entire family. Plus, the number of times he cheated on me was greater than all the galas thrown during a Sarasota season.
So when I went from zero to hero with my forever boyfriend, I think it was the proudest I ever made my mom. When he brought her flowers, prosecco and her favorite toilet paper (Charmin) just a week after meeting her, she knew I had learned quite well from my mistakes. Other than their love for me, my mom and now husband have bonded over their joy for Johnny Walker (black) on the rocks and their admiration for Idris Elba. Most importantly, they have joined forces and created the “we hate hot dogs” task force.
But this July, with it being National Hot Dog Month, I am determined to get them both to down some dogs. Here are the best spots in town to do just that.
TONY’S CHICAGO BEEF CO. 6569 Superior Ave., Sarasota; 941-922-7979; Facebook.com/ TonysChicagoBeef
Let’s Be Frank: If I’m getting my mom to eat a hot dog, I know it’s gonna be the Chicago Dawg ($6.29). Served up just like they do at Wrigley Field, Tony’s prepares this “is-it-a-sandwich or is-it-not-asandwich?” in a poppy-seed bun with all the Midwestern fixings: yellow mustard, gorgeous green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onion, tomato slices, a delightful dill pickle spear, pickled sport peppers and celery salt.
food truck is parked to get your dawg on. The list of these all-beef hot dogs ($5 each) will have you relishing foodie heaven, but the chili and cheese is frankly the top dog. However, if you aren’t feeling like a heavy doggie, go ahead and get the classic New York style. I can just picture my dad snacking on this, humming Frank Sinatra and saying, “I’ll never get why your mom hates hot dogs.”
You’re the Bun for Me: To brat or not to brat, that is the question. The answer? Definitely yes. The Chicago brat ($6.69) comes with kraut on a hot dog bun or, my personal pick, French bread.
WILLY-YUMS HOTDOGS & MORE 2003 14th St. W., Bradenton; WillyYums.com
Let’s Be Frank: Don’t be a loser, be a wiener and find where this local
You’re the Bun for Me: Next time I head to Willy’s, I am crushing a Carolina slaw dog made with mustard and homemade coleslaw. My eyes are on the prize, and the prize lays between buns found in this Bradenton food truck.
PACIFIC COUNTER
4942 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 941-217-6016; 11581 FL-70, Suite 109, Bradenton, 941-7398039; PacificCounter.com
Let’s Be Frank: What do you get
when a girl who loves food walks into a poke bowl and burrito bar? A newfound love for Hawaiian dogs ($5.99). Never judge a restaurant by its vibe, right? I wouldn’t have expected to add this dog to the list, but ever since my first bite, I can’t stop thinking about it. After eating this dog smothered with Hawaiian salsa, sesame seeds and chili aioli, I now know the true meaning of aloha.
You’re the Bun for Me: My oh my, the banh mi dog ($5.99) is the runner-up wiener for me. Packed with cucumber, jalapeno, daikon radishes, cilantro and avocado lime deliciousness, the flavors flawlessly fold into one another in a fantastic way that foodies only dream of.
JOEY D’S CHICAGO STYLE
EATERY & PIZZERIA 3811 Kenny Drive, Sarasota, 941378-8900; 6401 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton, 941-753-8900; 945 10th St. E., Palmetto, 941-417-2106; 750 U.S. 41 Bypass N., Venice, 941-7861300; JoeyDsFL.com
Let’s Be Frank: I was raised by two proud Chicago natives. When we went to Madison Square Garden as kids, we were not there rooting for the Knicks, baby, we were rooting for MJ, Scottie and Dennis. Our answering machine message when I was growing up was, “Da Bulls, Da Bears, Da Burkes aren’t home right now so leave a message.” So when I stumbled upon the original Chicago-style hot dog ($6.09) at Joey’s, I felt instantly connected to my Chicago roots. I am determined to have my husband eat one as he watches the Cubs beat the Guardians in the next World Series ... again.
You’re the Bun for Me: Come one, come all, it’s chow time. Chicago combo, AKA Da Chief ($12.99) is dished out with thinly sliced beef on top of a tasty Italian sausage and sweet or hot peppers.
DOGGYSTYLE
1544 Main St., Sarasota; 941-2605835; HotDogsWithStyle.com
Let’s Be Frank: With more than 13 signature dog options ($6.99) to choose from and four types of dogs (100% beef, beef/pork, red hot or vegan) dog-lovers are surely to fall in love with the array of samplings here. Choose from Memphis style with beautiful bacon jam, shredded cheese and green onion or the Philly with sautéed onions, mushrooms and Swiss.
You’re the Bun for Me: Animal rights group PETA ranked Sarasota’s own Doggystyle as one of the top 10 best vegan options in the country. Their pick? The Chicago Hot ($6.49), where you sub standard relish for hot pepper relish, has been named one of the best!
Courtesy images
Doggystyle, Sarasota’s Main Street one-stop dog-shop, is bun in a million.
Willy-Yums, in business since 2017, makes the best (and most unique!) dogs in Bradenton.
Choose from Hawaiian, kimchi, banh mi or Cali dogs at Pacific Counter.
Forge of history
Historic Kreissle Forge, located near SRQ Airport, provided metalwork for many community landmarks.
in the front of the shop, and I would work in there.”
He first started blacksmith work in first grade, and by high school, was working in the shop every day.
Having attended art school in Massapequa, New York, he also came to draw and design the items he made.
The history of blacksmithing in the family goes back to about 1700 in southern Germany.
Ablacksmith’s forge might seem like an odd establishment to find near the runway of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
After all, in the past, the airport has called in with safety concerns due to smoke in the air, when the forge’s furnace was running on coal power, one of its multiple fuel options. However, the Kreissle Forge and its industrial zoning are a relic of the past, just like the craft it serves.
At the historic site, now part of the office of the forge’s current owner, Kingston Realty, you can find a variety of relics from the days the forge provided for locations like the Ca’ d’Zan and Church of the Redeemer.
“I love that every time I walk in there, it’s like a historical timelapse,” said Ashton Hoehne, who manages the forge. “It’s like, every time you walk in there, you walk into the 1940s.”
FORGOTTEN ART
As the facility has faded into relative obscurity, so has blacksmithing.
Finding someone to carry on the work today is challenging, said Peter Kreissle, a member of the youngest generation to work in the forge.
“It’s a viable business, certainly, but it’s really labor intensive, and I think, in the U.S. in general, a lot of those businesses are falling by the wayside that were profitable, but where the owner had to be there hands-on to make it happen,” he said.
George Kreissle Sr. founded
Kreissle Forge and Hand Wrought Iron Co. in 1946, according to National Register of Historic Places documents. Until the sale of the forge in 2009, it provided metalwork for many Sarasota-area sites.
In 2009, the forge was sold to Marty Haas. It was purchased by Ralph Hoehne in 2019, according to Manatee County property records.
“We got customers all over the country that came through Sarasota,” said George Kreissle Jr., Peter Kreissle’s father.
Hoehne, owner of Kingston Realty, said he has no plans to shut down the forge, due to the difficulty of purchasing quality metals today.
Currently, it is used by the company for fixing items like the metal tools, trailers and excavator it uses to maintain its properties.
IF YOU GO
Kingston Realty, 7947 N. Tamiami Trail. Visit Kingston. Sale. To make an appointment to view the forge and/or items, contact Ashton Hoehne at 941536-1007.
Despite the lack of a dedicated blacksmith, it still has plenty to offer in its inventory, which is for sale to the public and, like the forge, viewable by appointment.
Hoehne said items of the forge have a durability and resistance against rust not found in metal items today, pointing to a light fixture, with its copper surface and brass screws, both of which don’t rust.
“Every part of this thing, from A to Z, when they put it together, has been thought about to weather the weather,” he said.
But he said not just anyone can learn to create such items.
“This is not just welding; it’s art, so you have to have somebody that’s got artistic abilities, that can weld and that also understands that they have to build these things with the parts that are going to endure through salt weather conditions,” he said.
FAMILY HEIRLOOM
In the past, knowing the trade was often a part of one’s upbringing.
Born in 1934, George Kreissle Jr. recalls working in the shop from the time he started in the sixth grade at Bay Haven School of Basics Plus.
“I was always at the shop,” he said. “The school bus would drop me off
That’s also where George Kreissle Sr. formally apprenticed. He was born there in 1908, before immigrating to New York in 1927 and starting a blacksmith shop on Long Island in the 1930s.
There, he became connected with William J. Levitt, who is widely considered the father of modern American suburbia, creating many thousands of stair railings for Levitt’s homes in Long Island.
The railings kept him afloat during the Great Depression, said George Kreissle Jr., noting that back then, each railing sold for a mere $33.
By World War II, Kreissle had 50 to 70 employees and continued to see success, producing components like shackles and keels for use by the United States Navy.
Eventually, he sold the shop and headed to Florida, seeking a warmer climate due to his wife Pia Kreissle’s arthritis.
“The story I always heard was that the car ran out of gas by the airport, and that’s how he picked that property,” Peter Kreissle said.
At that time, the runway had yet to expand to the area.
George Kreissle Sr. worked there into the 1990s, but the forge was always a family effort.
For instance, Pia Kreissle worked in the office from 1947 to 1990, while Peter Kreissle’s mother, Mecky Kreissle, worked there from 1960 to 2004, serving in the office, applying gold leaf and also driving truckloads of iron work to Tampa to be galvanized.
Peter Kreissle himself had conflicting experiences with the craft.
“As a kid, I was always given repetitious stuff, so it was horribly monotonous,” he said.
He said the work varied in difficulty, but one aspect that truly tested
LOCAL LEGACY
Around Sarasota, and even beyond, remnants of the forge’s work can still be seen.
George Kreissle Sr. frequently performed work for churches, with Church of the Redeemer receiving a majority of the pieces, among them lighting fixtures, gates and railings.
Others for which he provided included St. Martha Catholic Church in Sarasota and St. Mary Star of the Sea on Longboat Key.
To the Bishop Museum in Bradenton, he contributed many large gates, handrailings and light fixtures.
him was running the furnace.
“When you got within eight feet of it, you ran up to it, grabbed your part with the tongs and dragged it out ... You felt like you were going to go on fire,” he said.
Particularly trying, he said, were paint days. Items that weren’t galvanized received a primer paint, sprayed through a garden hose.
“It sprays all over … and the paint goes all over you and the floor, and it gets slipperier and slipperier,” George Kreissle Jr. recalled. “And then you’ve got a customer comes in and wants to see the boss, but the boss is unavailable on paint days.” George Kreissle Jr. said the forge was able to provide for many needs, including his home.
“We were very lucky.”
IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER
Photos by Ian Swaby
George Kreissle Jr. displays a plate of St. George slaying a dragon. He created it as a test during his apprenticeship.
Courtesy image George Kreissle Sr.
The interior of Kreissle Forge
A light fixture created at the forge.
Bayfront sparkles
Ruth Weisberg said there was no better celebration
than the Fourth of July fireworks show on the bayfront in Sarasota.
That might seem like high praise, but attendees found the Bayfront Fireworks Spectacular that night offered an experience worthy of the name.
“It was awesome. It was spectacular. It was nice to be here in the park and see so many people enjoy it,” said Bello Nock. “It was great to see all of Sarasota just having a great time.”
A staple of Fourth of July events in Sarasota for more than 10 years,
the show, hosted by Suncoast Charities for Children as part of its Suncoast Summer Fest, draws huge crowds to Bayfront Park each year.
Zack Altman, who attended with his fiancée, Carmen Altman, was among the newcomers this year. “It was amazing,” said Altman, who recently came to Sarasota from Wisconsin. “It was cool to be in a different environment and watch the fireworks with my fiancée.”
– IAN SWABY
Dental Care
Russa Fecteau and his girlfriend, Estefani Gillum, and Carmen Altman and her fiancée, Zack Altman
Photos by Ian Swaby
Alexandra Osipyan, 11, celebrates with a sparkler.
Crowds enjoy the fireworks.
Jane Donovan and Ruth Weisberg
Alden DiBitetto, 6, and Charles Scherer, 6, enjoyed the fireworks by boat with their families.
Morning sweep
Michael Shay said about 10 years ago, when the Liberty Litter Cleanup first began, that volunteers were greeted by easily visible impacts from the Fourth of July celebrations the night before.
While the county has since ramped up its trash removal efforts, he said he still feels compelled each year to support the environment by volunteering for the cleanup.
On the morning of July 5, others who shared his initiative could be seen across Siesta Key Beach. Multiple volunteers were searching the sands that morning, whether they belonged to the Liberty Litter Cleanup, an event by Keep Sarasota County Beautiful held each year in multiple locations, or another party.
Another group present included a cleanup organized by the local business Driftheory.
Danielle Ferrantino, owner of Driftheory, said it was important to her to give back to the environment for the central role it has played in Driftheory’s handcrafted jewelry, which incorporates natural materials from local beaches.
— IAN SWABY
Photos by Ian Swaby
Mike Ziebell and Bobbie Larsen
Sarah Nottingham and Wyatt Nottingham, 6, search the beach.
Michael Shay
DISCOVER TUSCANY
Culinary camp
As
“He
After moving to Sarasota from Chicago, Dennis O’Sullivan became interested in establishing a franchise of Young Chefs Academy in his new
Now, the franchise has reached its first anniversary of teaching kids to cook.
Children can be a little more open to learning new things,” he said. “They may not know how to use a chef knife, or they may not know how to combine wet and dry ingredients ... and it’s fun to watch their faces light up when they learn something new and different.”
O’Sullivan said in addition to the lifelong skill of cooking, kids learn etiquette, manners and teamwork, as well as elements of biology, math and science.
— IAN SWABY
Photos by Ian Swaby Ellie Rodgers, 9, makes a hot dog bun.
Instructor Rebecca Thomas and Indie Lewis, 7, mix ingredients.
Undergraduate:
Undergraduate: Medical School:
Residency: Certification:
Hospital Affiliations:
Gainesville State College, Athens, GA
Gainesville State College, Athens, GA
Universidad Internacional del Ecuador (UIDE), Quito, ECU
Universidad Internacional del Ecuador (UIDE), Quito, ECU
Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ
Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ
Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine
Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine
Sarasota Memorial Hospital; Doctors Hospital
Hospital Affiliations: Sarasota Memorial Hospital; Doctors Hospital
Delaney Saldivar, 12, and Ember Magnuson, 11, drip honey into a bowl as they build a red, white and blue smoothie.
Phillip Foti, 8, mixes whipping cream.
Maddie Ierardi, 7, and Tess Dagotino, 8, slice bananas.
Maddie Ierardi, 7, fills a bowl with banana slices.
Harbor Acres home tops sales at $5,965,000
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
Ahome in Harbor Acres tops all transactions in this week’s real estate. Scott and Stacey Dalton, trustees, sold the home at 1449 Hillview Drive to Bradley and Catherine Burdsall, of Sarasota, for $5,965,000. Built in 1952, it has four bedrooms, four-anda-half baths, a pool and 4,982 square feet of living area. It sold for $3,213,000 in 2020.
SARASOTA
THE BOULEVARD SARASOTA
Dwaine Snow and Linda Snow, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the Unit 703 condominium at 540 N. Tamiami Trail to Yin Becker, trustee, of Montville, New Jersey, for $2.6 million. Built in 2020, it has three bedrooms, three-and-ahalf baths and 3,671 square feet of living area. It sold for $2.03 million in 2020.
1350 MAIN RESIDENTIAL
Parviz Daneshjoo, of Sarasota, sold his Unit 1110 condominium at 1350 Main St. to Elizabeth Rosenthal Munch, of Sarasota, for $1,825,000. Built in 2007, it has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 2,288 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.55 million in 2021.
POINSETTIA PARK
Nelson Kim and Allison Mabe sold their home at 1919 Bougainvillea St. to Scott Dalton and Stacey Dalton, trustees, of Sarasota, for $1.75 million. Built in 2014, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,556 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.41 million in 2022.
BUNGALOW HILL
Scott and Teresa Tocher, trustees, sold their home at 1689 Alta Vista St. to Scott Dalton and Stacey Dalton, trustees, of Sarasota, for $1,335,000. Built in 1984, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,760 square feet of living area. It sold for $460,000 in 2010.
SAPPHIRE SHORES
Kara Keane Alexander, of Sarasota, sold her home at 415 S. Shore Drive to Robert and Susan Kichuk, Eamonn Kichuk, Julia Rachel Kichuk and Erica Kichuk, of Ontario, Canada, for $1.3 million. Built in 1959, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,846 square feet of living area. It sold for $530,000 in 2014.
THE 101
Dolphin Towers 16F LLC sold the Unit 16F condominium at 101 S. Gulfstream Ave. to Calice and Axay Kalathia, of Sarasota, for $1.05 million. Built in 1974, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,509 square feet of living area. It sold for $392,000 in 2002.
A home at 1449 Hillview Drive in Harbor
REGENCY HOUSE
Mollie Talley, of Naples, sold her Unit 1101 condominium at 435 S. Gulfstream Ave. to Cynthia Stack, trustee, of Acton, Massachusetts, for $1 million. Built in 1972, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,855 square feet of living area. It sold for $937,500 in 2021.
RENAISSANCE
Byung So Han and Keesoo Han, of Orlando, sold their home at 750 N. Tamiami Trail to Andre Michael Herke and Jennifer Douglas, of Sarasota, for $865,000. Built in 2001, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,405 square feet of living area. It sold for $610,000 in 2006.
GRANADA
Ruth Schneider sold the home at 3603 Almeria Ave. to Christopher Michael Theriault, of Sarasota, for $850,000. Built in 1952, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,690 square feet of living area. It sold for $900,000 in February.
FOREST LAKES COUNTRY CLUB
ESTATES
Stacy Moss, of Osprey, sold her home at 3164 Espanola Drive to Ervin King and Verna Mae King, of Gap, Pennsylvania, for $805,000. Built in 1969, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,420 square feet of living area. It sold for $425,000 in 2020.
James Dodds and Lisa Anne Barletta Dodds, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the home at 3440 Pine Valley Drive to Michael Smith, of Atlanta, for $630,000. Built in 1964, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,794
recently sold for $5,965,000. Built
square feet of living area. It sold for $557,000 in 2023.
ENCLAVE AT LAUREL PARK
James Steven Wilkinson and Rose Marie Savignano-Wilkinson, of Millington, New Jersey, sold their home at 504 Laurel Park to ECT International Inc. for $800,000. Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,451 square feet of living area. It sold for $552,500 in 2020.
Other top sales by area
SIESTA KEY: $3.5 MILLION
The Terrace
Angela Bastian and Daniel Bastian, trustees, of Mankato, Minnesota, sold their Units 81 and 82 condominiums at 5400 Ocean Blvd. to Peter and Susan Cha, of Cincinnati, for $3.5 million. Built in 1970, they have two bedrooms, two baths and 1,872 square feet of living area. They sold for $1.95 million in 2019.
PALMER RANCH: $1.2 MILLION
Enclave at Silver Oak
Barbara Krebsbach sold her home at 8889 Enclave Court to Anna Molnar, trustee, of Sarasota, for $1.2 million. Built in 2004, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,080 square feet of living area. It sold for $720,000 in 2016.
OSPREY: $1.27 MILLION
Oaks II
Joanne Miller, of Sarasota, sold the home at 58 Fairway Oaks Lane to Stephen Blowers and Tamara Blowers, trustees, of Osprey, for $1.27 million. Built in 1996, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,048 square feet of living area. It sold for $600,000 in 2020.
NOKOMIS: $715,000
Calusa Lakes Michael Gautier, of Nokomis, Marc Howard and Lore Porter, trustees, of Louisville, Kentucky, sold the home at 2007 White Feather Lane to Tyler and Francisca Ruth, of Nokomis, for $715,000. Built in 2002, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,578 square feet of living area. It sold for $501,000 in 2022.
Courtesy of Realtors Barbara Sassen May and Fred Sassen
Acres
Your Child Will Thrive
Blake for yoga poses and creative movement for children. Bring your own mat. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.
FAIRY HOUSE MAKING
11-11:30 a.m. at Sarasota Children’s Garden, 1670 10th Way. Free with admission. Children are invited to make fairy houses alongside a magical stage story. Visit SarasotaChildrensGarden.com.
SATURDAY, JULY 13
HISTORY IN THE PARK: DR. C.B. WILSON HOUSE OPEN HOUSE
10 a.m. to noon at C.B. Wilson House, Urfer Family Park, 4000 Honore Ave. Free. Take a selfguided tour through the historic Dr. C.B. Wilson House, with volunteer docents on-site to guide you and to answer questions. Visit SarasotaCountyParks.com.
SUNDAY, JULY 14
SEAS THE SUMMER FIELD EXPLORATIONS: MARVELOUS MANGROVES
10-11:30 a.m. at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway. $25. Join Miss Dana, the creator of Mote’s popular homeschool programs, to learn about ocean animals, explore field techniques and catch critters in Sarasota Bay. Pre-registration is required. Visit Mote.org.
TUESDAY, JULY 16
YOUTH SUMMER PROGRAM: DRUMMING CIRCLE
2-3 p.m. at Fruitville Library, 100 Apex Road. Free. For all ages. At this end of summer Learning Party, learn how to play traditional drum music with Steve Turner. Drums provided. Pick up tickets at the youth desk starting at 1 p.m. Visit SCGovLibrary. LibraryMarket.com.
YES, YOU! AN ENTERTAINING AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN THREE EASY STEPS
2-4 p.m. at Gulf Gate Library, 7112 Curtiss Ave. Free. Learn the ins and outs of writing your own memoir with Sarasota author and publisher Liz Coursen, in three easy steps.
BEST BET
SUNDAY, JULY 14
BRUNCH AT THE BAY FEATURING
LIVE MUSIC BY JUAN BONGOE
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (brunch) and 11 a.m. to noon (live music) at The Bay Park, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Enjoy new brunch items, as well as the regular menu, at The Nest Café, while John Bongoe sings and plays bongos, performing classic and original Latin romantic bolero and balada songs. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket. com.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17
SOCRATES CAFÉ
10:30 a.m. to noon at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free. People from diverse backgrounds come together for a moderated discussion based on the Socratic method, the concept of learning through respectful listening and debate. Visit SCGovLibrary. LibraryMarket.com.
THURSDAY, JULY 18
TEEN SUMMER PROGRAM: JUGGLING WORKSHOP
2-3 p.m. at Fruitville Library, 100 Apex Road. Free. Recommended for ages 9 and older. Learn how to juggle using scarves and beanbags, with Gerard Tricarico. Tickets available at the youth desk starting at 1 p.m. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket. com.
Courtesy image
Brunch at The Bay featuring live music by Juan Bongoe will be held Sunday, July 14.
Pursuing a dynamic career starts with our A.S. in Music Production program! Learn from experienced industry pros, practice with cutting-edge equipment and tune into a world of creative opportunities, such as music production, sound engineering, recording and more.
Fast Break SPORTS
Cardinal Mooney High girls basketball rising senior Kali Barrett committed to the University of Cincinnati on July 7. The 6-foot-2 Barrett, a small forward, averaged 14.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game as a junior. Barrett is ranked by Prep Girls Hoops as the No. 4 player in the class of 2025 in Florida.
The Sarasota Sharks Synchronized Swimming program had two groups finish in the top 10 at the 2024 Junior Olympic Championship on June 29-July 6 in Gresham, Oregon. The 16-17 “Warrior” team finished seventh overall, while the 16-19 “Spiderverse” team finished eighth overall.
Laron Dues, a football cornerback from Hurricane, West Virginia, announced July 7 that he is transferring to Cardinal Mooney High for the 2024 season. Dues, a 5-foot-9 rising junior, holds offers from Appalachian State University, Marshall University and Bowling Green University among other schools.
Sarasota junior boys tennis player Jagger Leach is playing in the main draw of The Junior Championships at Wimbledon, held July 6-14 in London. As of July 9, Leach has defeated Izan Almazan Valiente of Spain (7-6, 7-5) in the first round. Leach is the son of tennis legend Lindsay Davenport.
Sarasota Sharks swimmer Michaela Mattes won the 200 butterfly (2:20.67) and the 200 individual medley (5:02.87) at the FL SYS Shark Open, held June 20-23 at Selby Aquatic Center. Mattes, a Cardinal Mooney High graduate, competed in the 2024 Olympic Trials in Indianapolis this summer and will swim for the University of Florida in the fall.
“Don’t worry about the last kick. Even if it was good, it doesn’t matter. Go out and hit the next one.”
GOLF GENES IN FULL SWING
Sarasota junior golfer heads to U.S. Kids World Championship in August.
Marisa Merlino has a strong connection with Innisbrook Golf Resort.
Merlino, who lives in Sarasota, attended the PGA Tour’s 2015 Valspar Championship, held on the Palm Harbor resort’s Copperhead course, with her husband, Walker Kinne.
Jordan Spieth won that event at 10-under-par, but that’s not what Merlino remembers from the event.
She remembers walking the course in the early stages of pregnancy, carrying a new life. She took in the sights and the sounds. Years later, the life she was carrying would make an impact on the same course.
Liam Kinne, 9, has turned into one of the top junior golfers in the Sarasota area. After a string of second-place finishes, Kinne got his first regional tournament win at the Copperhead Classic at Innisbrook in January, sinking a birdie on the final hole to finish 2-under-par. He played in 42-degree temperatures to do it; Kinne said the cold didn’t faze him, other than making some of his shots shorter than they normally are.
The feeling of winning, however, was something else.
“It didn’t feel real,” Kinne said. “I was just so excited.”
The win at the Copperhead Classic has led to something of a hot streak at big events. Kinne took home the Boys 9 division of the Southeast Florida State Invitational, shooting 12-under-par June 8-9 at Hammock Creek Golf Club. Kinne’s finish was 10 strokes better than second-place Brayden Johnson of Jupiter. The win earned Kinne a spot at the U.S. Kids Worlds Championship, held Aug. 1-3 in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Then, on July 8, Kinne won a local Drive, Chip and Putt qualifier for his age group at Lakewood National Golf Club. There are state and regional rounds left in that process, but if Kinne keeps doing well, he could attend the finals at Augusta National in April.
In other words: What can’t he do now?
“It is humbling to see him grow, especially in the last couple years,” Merlino said of Kinne. “The biggest
thing has been his emotions. That is hard to teach at 7, 8 years old. But he has learned to get his emotions in check, which I think has helped him do better at some of these regional events.”
In the past, Kinne would have a bit of a fit if things were not going well, Merlino said. Now that he’s older, those losses of control are rare. Kinne’s passion for golf, and a hunger to improve, have taught him the importance of staying within himself. The more in control he is, the better he plays. It makes Merlino proud, she said.
Kinne has a private coach — Ben Craggs of Laurel Oak Country Club, where the family has a membership — but he spends most of the time practicing with his father. They hit the course three to four days a week for two to three hours at a time. Merlino will stand by to provide snacks and sunscreen, she said. In that way, it becomes a family affair. Liam and Walker Kinne are going to play in the parent-child portion of the U.S. Kids Championship, too, working as a team to tackle the course.
The camaraderie Liam Kinne feels with his family through golf also extends to his friends. Kinne is close with 10-year-old Graham Gapin of Lakewood Ranch Country Club and 10-year-old Parker Campbell of Heritage Oaks Golf and Country Club. Gapin won the Boys 10 division of the Southeast Florida State Invitational at 9-under-par, while Campbell finished top-six at the 2024 U.S. Kids Golf European Championship in May (12-over-par). All three kids will train together and support each other despite golf’s individual nature.
“Playing with people is more fun,”
FAST FACTS: LIAM KINNE
Age: 9 Sport: Golf
Accomplishments: Won the Copperhead Classic at Innisbrook Golf Resort in January (2-under-par) and won the Boys 9 division of the Southeast Florida State Invitational at Hammock Creek Golf Club in June (12-under-par)
Favorite food: Filet mignon and potatoes
Favorite school subject: Math and social studies
Best golf advice: Make the par; the birdies will come Up next: Playing in the U.S. Kids Worlds Championship, held Aug. 1-3 in
Kinne said.
On the course, Kinne said his driving is his best skill. Before each drive, he goes over a simple piece of advice in his head: “Just keep the ball in play.”
Avoiding mistakes can be as important as making the perfect shot, Kinne said. His wedge game has also come a long way, adding more consistency and getting the ball closer to the hole.
Off the course, Kinne is a typical kid. Asked about his personality, Merlino could only laugh.
“He’s got lots of energy,” Merlino said. “He likes to eat a lot.”
Kinne, unprompted, then added more details. Filet mignon and potatoes are his favorite foods. A meal fit for a king, or at least an up-andcoming golfer.
At Pinehurst in August, Kinne will make a mark not just on Florida, but on the national scene. It will be his second year at the event. Last year, he had no expectations of winning, he said; he was just absorbing the experience. He “tried his best and did OK,” he said. This year, after his recent wins, he’s taking things more seriously. But he also remembers the growth he has made.
“I’m not going to get too mad if something bad happens,” Kinne said. “I just want to have fun.”
File photo
Cardinal Mooney High rising senior Kali Barrett committed to the University of Cincinnati on July 7.
— Riverview High’s Nick Delfau. SEE PAGE 30
RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR
Pinehurst, North Carolina
Courtesy images
Sarasota's Liam Kinne will play in the U.S. Kids Worlds Championship, held Aug. 1-3 in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Sarasota's Liam Kinne won the Boys 9 division of the Southeast Florida State Invitational at Hammock Creek Golf Club in June (12-under-par).
Sarasota rifle athlete shoots for gold
Mary Tucker will compete in two events at the Paris Olympics.
Mary Tucker misses burritos. They’re one thing she can’t find in the Czech Republic.
“There is no Mexican food here at all,” Tucker said. “Coming from Florida, where there is so much Mexican and Spanish influence in the food, it’s especially hard. Like, what do you mean I can’t get a burrito?”
As much as Tucker yearns for meat, cheese, rice and veggies wrapped in a warm tortilla, she’s made her peace with the Czech Republic’s limited food options. In other aspects of her life, the central European country is a perfect fit. Tucker, the former Sarasota Military Academy rifle shooter, is living there to train with her personal coach, Matt Emmons, who is a three-time Olympic medalist. Tucker, 22, is an Olympic medalist herself: She took silver in the Mixed Team Air Rifle alongside Lucas Kozeniesky at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tucker will be going for gold. She will compete in both the women’s air rifle and the women’s smallbore rifle.
Tucker said she feels physically and mentally prepared to win this time.
“I visualize myself on the podium, receiving medals, even doing interviews, just to get in that scenario,” Tucker said. “I have been on that range before, so I (mentally) put myself on the line. I’ll run through my match and different shots and scenarios so when I get there, it will feel like I’ve done it 100 times already.”
Tucker will not technically be in Paris during the Olympics. The rifle competitions will take place at the Châteauroux Shooting Centre in the town of Déols, approximately two hours from Paris. So Tucker will not get the full Olympic experience, which she called a disappointment. But she also recalled her Tokyo Olympics experience fondly, unlike Sarasota rower Clark Dean, so she’s content with completely focusing on the competition this time.
Though Tucker has only been to one Olympics, she’s competed in several international events and landed on top. Tucker won the women’s 50-meter smallbore rifle and the mixed team air rifle at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She also helped the women’s 50-meter rifle three-
positions team take gold at the 2023 ISSF World Shooting Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Compared to those events, Tucker said, the Olympics do not seem as daunting. There are less competitors per country at the Olympics, Tucker said, which lowers the overall level of competition — though Tucker expects the Paris games to be more intense in that regard than Tokyo, as several of the world’s best shooters have qualified through a new world ranking system.
The biggest difference between this year’s Olympics and the 2020 Olympics? For Tucker, it is the changes she made to her outfit. That may sound trivial to anyone unfamiliar with rifle shooting, but it matters to the athletes. Each athlete receives a custom-fit suit
to wear during competitions, and Tucker’s coach suggested some modifications for this year’s event — tighter in some areas, looser in others — that will allow Tucker to feel more comfortable in her shooting positions and ultimately lead to a higher score.
“I was like, ‘That’s crazy,’” Tucker said with a laugh, recalling her coach’s advice. “But he was right.” Tucker has also been working on herself. Not just in terms of her competition visualizations, which have become part of her routine, but in her everyday life. Tucker is an advocate for athletes speaking out about their mental health. Athletes have a lot of emotions, Tucker said, and when they don’t know how to deal with those feelings in a healthy way, they can have negative effects.
It can start at an early age, she said. “In middle school, I was temperamental,” Tucker said. “Just ask my mom (Jennifer Tucker-Mogensen). I was not fun to be around. I did not know how to deal with those emotions. When I got to high school, I started realizing that maybe it was a problem, but I didn’t have a way to exit it.”
In college — first at the University of Kentucky, then at West Virginia University — Tucker had access to therapists and sports psychologists. By talking to them, Tucker said she learned why she was feeling the emotions she felt. Instead of feeling like there was something wrong with her, Tucker said, she felt validated.
“Going through that journey changed me as a person,” Tucker said. “I ended up transferring universities, and I found the people that I was actually supposed to be around. And seeing young athletes coming in, I don’t want them to have to go through the same process of struggling in sports for so long until they finally figure it out. They should be about to talk about it and get the help they need early in their careers so they can flourish.” Tucker is finally where she is supposed to be, in her mind and on her feet. She feels good, and she’s prepared. At West Virginia, and now in the Czech Republic, Tucker has discovered who she is and how she can achieve her dreams.
The only things missing?
An Olympic gold medal and a burrito.
Ryan Kohn is the sports editor for the Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer. Contact him at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.
Sarasota’s Mary Tucker is going to her second Olympics this month in Paris, competing in the women’s air rifle and the women’s smallbore rifle.
Courtesy images
Sarasota's Mary Tucker is an advocate for athletes talking about their mental health struggles.
&
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Nick Delfau
Nick Delfau is a rising senior punter/ kicker on the Riverview High football team. Delfau is ranked by Kohl’s Kicking as the No. 38 punter in the national class of 2025 as of July 9. He holds offers from Grinnell College and Wesleyan University.
When did you start kicking/ punting?
If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Ryan Kohn at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.
at them. You only get a few balls (to perform). That’s all the coach will see. You have to be on your A-game at all times.
What was your reaction to your offers?
I’m just grateful to be getting noticed. I’ve done well at some camps, and I have been talking to some coaches. I intend on playing college football in the future.
Submit your photos of spectacular local weather and nature displays and you could win $500! Go to Yourobserver.com/contests for details.
Suncoast Swing Band
Friday, July 19th @ 7pm
Manatee Community Concert Band
Tuesday, August 27th @ 7pm
LWR Wind Ensemble & Choral Artists
Friday, September 27th @ 6pm
I started the summer before my freshman year. I used to play soccer for years and years, but I always loved football. I played it a little when I was younger, but I was never big or strong enough to play other positions. So one day I just decided to start kicking. I have always had a strong leg. I tried out as a kicker my freshman year, but as I progressed, I figured out I was more of a punter.
What was the transition from soccer to football like?
It was harder than I thought it would be. It’s a completely different style. Soccer is more finesse. You are trying to bend the ball. Football, you’re trying to hit it straight and as hard as you can. And punting is even harder than kicking because there are more elements. You have to drop the ball and hit the ball a lot cleaner.
What is your best skill?
I’ve been told at camps that I have good hands. When I catch the ball, mold the ball and drop the ball, my ability there is what allows me to hit good punts.
What have you been working to improve?
I have been trying to squat more. I need the quad strength to take the ball farther and higher. I want to get my hang time up and my drops more consistent. Everything stems from the drop.
What has the camp and recruitment process been like?
It’s different from other positions. You have to go to a lot more camps and you have to be more consistent
What are your goals for your senior season?
I want to push my average distance on punts to 42 or 43 yards. That will mean more consistency. And I want to go 100% on kicks and extra points.
What is your favorite food? Duck confit. It’s French. It’s real good.
What’s the best advice you have received?
Don’t worry about the last kick. Even if it was good, it doesn’t matter. Go out and hit the next one.
Finish this sentence: ‘Nick Delfau is … ’ … Focused.
The stage is set
Sights + Sounds is an outdoor showcase of the best instrumental, visual and performing arts the Sarasota region has to offer. Come out for dinner at the town center and stay to enjoy the show!
Check out all of the events happening around The Ranch!
NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH
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“KJN KJEGDD
FYGSF KY JXRRNS KEXGSNU AN KY ZN RENRXENU LYE XSPKJGSF.” XEGXSX FEXSUN
CROSSING THE LINE by Halle Amore Bauer, edited by Jeff Chen
By Luis Campos
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References & resume requested. THE BUSINESS OBSERVER newspaper is seeking a fast-paced, detail-oriented Proofreader / Typist for a part-time position in Sarasota, Florida. Hours are 9am-2pm, Mon-Fri.
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