Longboat Key projects focus on keeping residents closer to home (Sarasota: theater, school districts)

[wondermint2]

For full article:

https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/arts-c...ts-closer-home

A library, north-end community center, and Town Center stage advance as new attractions for arts, culture and education in Longboat Key.

Three town projects advancing on three different timelines aim to keep Longboat Key residents closer to home and farther from the region’s notorious over-the-bridges traffic.

It will likely be a while, though, before Longboaters can check out a new spy thriller or listen to a seminar about iPhones at a county-run library or absorb the basics of watercolor painting in a converted space at north-end landmark, Whitney Plaza.

Catching an outdoor concert at a centrally located amphitheater, though, is on track for this season, when Longboat Key’s residential population swells with winter residents and seasonal visitors.

All of those projects, which involve collaboration with county governments on both sides of the Manatee-Sarasota border, private philanthropy or a combination, were conceived with a frequent complaint in mind.

In the most recent town survey of its residents, 68% said traffic and congestion were a major bother, a response repeated consistently in the four years the town has queried its residents.

[wondermint2]

About time they give back

For full article:

https://www.yourobserver.com/news/20...hey-give-back/

Cynics that we are, let’s try looking on the bright side for a change.

It was surprising to a degree last week to read that the Sarasota County Commission is committing $1 million to fund the design of a new county-owned library on Longboat Key and that Manatee County School officials are entertaining the idea of funding an adult education center in one of the Whitney Plaza buildings.

It was surprising and surprisingly pleasant to read because rare is the occasion when commissioners and top administrators in Sarasota and Manatee counties throw a financial bread crumb to Longboat Key.

We often think they would be much more gracious and grateful considering the millions and millions and millions of dollars Longboat Key taxpayers send across the bay each year — with little tangible results in return.

As the table shows, in the next fiscal year, given the valuation of Longboat Key property, Longboaters will send $17 million and $14 million, respectively, to Sarasota and Manatee counties — $31,650,380 altogether.

While that is A LOT of money, it actually pales in comparison to the $46,295,303 Longboaters pay in property taxes for the Sarasota and Manatee school districts. Of that, the Sarasota County portion of Longboat contributes $31,501,980 in school taxes; the Manatee portion of Longboat contributes $14,793,523.

Being the generous people they are, Longboaters on the whole haven’t demanded or squawked much to county elected officials about all the money they contribute to the counties and what little they see in return.