Sarasota & Manatee Counties news thread

[wondermint2]

FHP says one out of four drivers invlved in a FL accident illegaly leave the scene. 100,000 hit & runs in FL per year. That's a lot.

Rising hit-and-run cases in Southwest Florida spark concerns


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w__adxo3do

[wondermint2]

$15,000 scholarship applications for female students open until Sunday

For full article:

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/33744...n-until-sunday

The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation has a new $15,000 scholarship it hopes will shape and support the next generation of female leaders.

The foundation partnered with Selby Gardens for the scholarship, which will offer the awardee invitations to Selby Gardens events and a seat on the Advisory Committee to observe CEO/President Jennifer Rominiecki and participate with local community, scientific and business leaders.

The scholarship will also include an annual Selby Gardens membership and four mentoring sessions with Rominiecki.

Of the four sessions, one will be a private one-on-one with Rominiecki and a full day of learning sessions with other female members of Selby Gardens’ leadership team.

The Virginia B. Toulmin Leadership Scholarship requires applicants to be female undergraduates enrolled in a university or college in Sarasota, Manatee or Charlotte County as an incoming junior or senior.

Students interested in the scholarship must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 and a demonstrated interest in a nonprofit or business administration.

“The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation envisions a world in which all people have equal opportunity to fulfill their potential and succeed in life,” the Selby Gardens website said. “This scholarship seeks to create a pathway for successful female leadership in the business and nonprofit world.”

Scholarship support is to be directed to qualified student expenses, including tuition, fees, and course-related expenses such as books, supplies and equipment, Selby Gardens said.

The deadline for applications is Sunday, March 24.

The application form can be found at selby.org/virginia-b-toulmin-leadership-scholarship/.

Finalist interviews will be held in April. The winner will be announced on May 1.

Any questions can be directed to Selby Gardens staff at cwhiteaker@selby.org.

[wondermint2]

County rezones site for East Venice Avenue fire station

For full article & map:

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/33745...e-fire-station

The Sarasota County Commission rezoned the site for the county's 27th fire station Tuesday, to serve the East Venice Avenue corridor.

There's a need for the station there because response times in the area are more than 20 minutes, compared to the National Fire Protection Association Standard of 8 minutes, the presentation at a neighborhood meeting stated.

Venice is planning a new fire station of its own on East Venice Avenue, next to the police station, to replace Fire Station 2, which is in a flood zone, and enhance city response times.

The county site is a 5-acre parcel at 3176 E. Venice Ave. that was used for agricultural purposes in the 1940s, then was the site of a single-family home for about 50 years, a staff report stated. The house was demolished in 2022.

The rezoning takes the parcel from Open Use Estate, which allows 1 unit per 5 acres, to Government Use.

To "benefit the safety, efficiency, and security of the fire station," it also modifies standards of the East Venice Avenue Overlay that would require interconnectivity with adjacent parcels, according to the report.

The nonbinding concept plan contemplates a 12,715-square-foot station with a 50-foot building setback and a 15-foot landscape buffer.

According to the staff report, there's one grand tree on the site that's protected in the concept plan. There are also potential gopher tortoise habitats that will require a professional wildlife survey later in the development process.

The report notes several times that "(t)he noise from emergency services responding to incidents may be incompatible with neighboring residential properties."

That was a concern for many of the people who attended the neighborhood meeting. Several asked for a wall, but they were told it's not in the concept plan.

The plan isn't final, however, and the project will still need site-and-development plan approval.

[wondermint2]

Habitat for Humanity homes in Bradenton (Video)

Habitat for Humanity is creating a neighborhood full of affordable homes. Each family puts “sweat equity” into the houses.

For video:

https://www.newsbreak.com/bradenton-...s-in-bradenton

[wondermint2]

Joy Mahler retiring as president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast

For full article:

https://www.newsbreak.com/venice-fl/...-the-sun-coast

oy Mahler, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast for the past 41 years, announced this month that she plans to retire in summer 2024.

The board of directors and Mahler have agreed that she will play a leadership role through the selection and transition of her successor. Mahler became president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast in 1983.

“Being a part of an organization that inspires the potential of youth has been a tremendous career knowing we have made a difference in the life of others, “Mahler said. “Being the one-to-one connector of young people to another generation of caring committed adults will change their trajectory and make a better community and world. It just doesn’t get better than that.”

Under Mahler’s leadership, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast has grown from a small Venice area nonprofit serving 30 children to a 10-county organization serving almost 1,800 youth from Manatee County to Collier, including opening offices in Highlands, Hardee, Desoto and Hendry counties.

[wondermint2]

SCS | Board Meeting - Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 3:00 PM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVuaWmIp7so

To view the meeting agenda, click here:

https://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/Page/2572

You can also watch on Comcast 20 or Frontier 33. All videos will be uploaded to YouTube in its entirety.

[wondermint2]

New College's growing footprint could trample a beloved neighborhood

For full article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real...ca7fe6f1&ei=23

The Uplands is a residential neighborhood of 110 modest homes that sits on the Sarasota-Manatee county line north of New College of Florida and south of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.

Bordered on the east by U.S. 41 and the Sarasota-Bradenton airport, and on the west by the Sarasota Bay, the Uplands is a uniquely preserved pocket of old Sarasota, with lush vegetation, a plethora of wildlife, a spring-fed freshwater lake and undeveloped waterfront green space where neighbors walk their dogs, watch sunsets and stroll Uplands Boulevard, a dead-end internal subdivision street that is used more by pedestrians than vehicles.

All of that could change if a new master plan for growth put forth by the NCF Board of Trustees in February comes to fruition. The plan proposes to create a north/south thoroughfare by extending Uplands Boulevard at both dead ends, to stretch from the college’s west campus to the nine-acre parcel north of USF’s Powel Crosley estate it received from Manatee County last year, where it envisions building dormitories.

The grassy wetland centrally west of the neighborhood – which is now filled with native palms, oaks, mangroves and sea grapes and where the lake outlets to the bay – is the proposed site of the Freedom Institute, an estimated 75,000-square-foot building that will serve as a think tank “to engage the college’s students, the greater Florida community and the world to promote freedom of inquiry and champion tolerance of civil discourse among those of opposing views.”

Ironically, that 187 feet of waterfront land – plotted as part of the original Uplands and described by developer A.B. Edwards as “for use by homeowners” in a 1948 sales pitch for homesites on the land his ancestors homesteaded 80 years prior – was gifted to the college by the neighborhood in the 1960s, with the provision that it be left in its natural state.

At the moment, Uplands residents are poised for the release of a revised plan, which may or may not incorporate input from an open house in late January, attended by about 140 residents – none of whom had previously seen the plan – that showed renderings of proposed new construction.

[wondermint2]

New brewery, restaurant, full bar and beer garden is something ‘Sarasota has never seen’

For full article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tri...ca7fe6f1&ei=28

The Sarasota team behind a successful group of local restaurants, known for their delicious pizza, burgers, and wings, has partnered with one of the region's top breweries for a major new dining and drinking destination.

This massive new brewery, restaurant, full bar, and beer garden replete with lawn games and pickleball court, will soon be opening in the burgeoning Fruitville Commons neighborhood, situated just east of Interstate 75.

[wondermint2]

Real estate pro says don't believe National Association of Realtors settlement myths

For full article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real...ca7fe6f1&ei=40

Last week the National Association of Realtors announced a settlement agreement in the Sitzer Burnett case that would take effect in July. For those who missed the declarations in the media that this outcome will render transacting real estate almost free, protect consumers, and make homeownership affordable once again, the settlement does none of that.

Here’s the truth.

[wondermint2]

Trump's Truth Social company files lawsuit in Sarasota County

For full article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...ca7fe6f1&ei=42

A potential merger between two companies that could net Donald Trump a windfall of nearly $4 billion has been rocked by accusations of impropriety and sabotage, the extent of which is detailed in a lawsuit filed in Sarasota County.

A shareholder's vote is scheduled for Friday on whether to approve a merger between Trump Media & Technology Group – the parent of social media platform Truth Social – and a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., or DWAC.

The merger vote has been delayed by problems and delays for years, including scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, rendering Friday's scheduled vote crucial to Trump's financial portfolio as the 2024 election approaches.

If the merger is rejected, liquidation would be required and over 450,000 shareholders would receive their investments back. An approval means TMTG – based on Cattlemen Road in Sarasota – would be a public company and Trump would profit substantially at a time when he owes more than $500 million in legal fines.

Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) and Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG) are suing Arc Global Investments II LLC and Miami businessman Patrick Orlando in Sarasota County Court. It is one of four lawsuits involving Trump's media company filed in the country.

TMTG and DWAC filed a five-count amended complaint against Arc Global and Orlando on March 17. Sarasota County Circuit Court Judge Hunter Carroll is overseeing the case.

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Orlando conducted a "blatant shakedown extortion effort" by using his ability to kill the merger as leverage to maximize his stake that could be worth $222 million in stock, and that he also attempted to convince shareholders to vote against the merger.