The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

The Spring community garage sale is set for April 7, It will be advertised in the paper. We’re planning another neighborhood yard sale for April 7 at 8 a.m. The neighborhood group will place an ad for the community yard sale, but we won’t hand out maps or otherwise organize the event. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome to. In addition, if you have items to sell but don’t want to hold your own yard sale, you can donate them to be sold to benefit the neighborhood group. Feel free to drop them off anytime at 4032 Westminster Drive. Thank you! FPL update from Keith Russo FPL had a public forum six weeks ago. Power lines need to be connected. Along 75 between Proctor and  Fruitville. 40-80  foot tall power lines. One option would be straight down bee ridge, another goes along Clark, a third along Fruitville Rd. All end near the Hi Hat Ranch, a 10,000-acre area that is going to be developed in the near future. Maps and more detail on the three options are here . We’re go...

Pot luck picnic! Improved games! Fun activities for the entire neighborhood! Get together with your neighbors and have a good time at the Pavilion in Lakeview park, near the boat ramp and restrooms. Bring an item if you can, or a game, or advertise your business. You'll find the sign-up here:  

Last weekend's Neighborhood Yard Sale was a success, said Ellie Himes, one of the Board members of the Lake Sarasota Community Group who worked to organize the sale and produce a list of LS residences that participated in the sale. Himes estimated at least 200 lists of homes were handed out, most to folks coming in from outside the community. Those who signed on for the $2 donation to be on the list of homes can bring or send it to 7108 Java Drive. Thank you!

The Neighborhood Yard Sale is coming Nov. 15th If you wish to be on the map showing your home's location, contact Joanna at 371-1101. $2 donation.

The date for the Autumn Lake Sarasota Community Yard Sale is Saturday, Nov. 15th, 8 am to 1 pm. (Of course it can continue beyond 1 pm if people wish). More to come.

The Lake Sarasota Community Group (LSCG), an all-volunteer organization, has scheduled a special meeting in January to plan an event, work on a grant, and organize a community garage sale. The special meeting will be held on Thursday, Jan. 16th at 7 pm in meeting room 105 at Sarasota Alliance Church, 7221 Bee Ridge Road. The meeting will combine three initiatives: An Event, a Grant and a Garage Sale. 1. To plan a community-wide event to be held in February or March. Ideas include a party in Lakeview Park that could include kayaking and paddle-boarding demos, disc golf, and possibly some dog training experts.  2. To brainstorm for a Neighborhood Grant of up to $10,000 to be used for community-building and beautification. Ideas include an ecological walk from Mauna Loa to Lakeview School, with a Community Bulletin board; purchase and plant some additional trees in the Mauna Loa median; consider other events and amenities that would benefit the community. All ideas are we...

The next Lake Sarasota Yard Sale is November 12th - that's a Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m . You can of course choose to say open longer or shorter, but those hours will be posted on our ads in the paper and Craigslist . This season's sale won't include any tables for food or information, or maps, so be sure to put some balloons or other eye-catchers on your mailbox. If you have the chance to get the word out via email, Twitter , Facebook , or other social media, here are a couple of links you can share: http://sarasota.patch.com/events/community-yard-sale-lake-sarasota http://events.heraldtribune.com/sarasota-fl/events/show/223122784-lake-sarasota-community-yard-sale If between now and then you see any landscaping or other issues that should be addressed, please let us know - thanks.

Highlights of tonight's meeting: Treasury [Updated after meeting]: LSCG has $321.09 in its budget, unchanged from last quarter, according to Ellie, who adds, "I believe all required reports have been filed for the year as well." Bee Ridge Rd Update Joe O'Hara of the Bee Ridge Neighborhoods Committee provided an informative overview of the history of the Bee Ridge Road Widening from inception to the present. He offered excellent explanations of the key planning and financing hurdles, the timetable going forward, and the things for all residents to watch for. The current concept is a Low Impact Plan that saves trees, provides ample buffers and water retention, and makes for a safe and attractive gateway. The main upcoming event will be a Community Review of the initial plans for the road. These are currently underway. A meeting with the Community will be held when they are approximately 30% complete -- Mr. O'Hara said this could take place in December. Keep an ey...

The Lake Sarasota Community Group would like to extend a special thanks to advertisers who supported our recent Community Garage Sale. Click on the image to make it larger. All are community-based businesses.

Here's the Community Yard Sale Map for the Lake Sarasota Yard Sale on Nov. 20th - this coming saturday. Deadline for inclusion on the printed maps that will be handed out at the Mauna Loa Entrance is this Wednesday. Sandy is looking for volunteers to hand out the maps Saturday morning. Also, there are still spots available on the back of the map for advertisers - get in touch with her, sallen11@comcast.net, or 321-5582. View LS Community Garage Sale - November 20, 2010 in a larger map

The Nov. 11 meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group took the following actions: 1. Heard an interesting talk by Sandee Rains of Credability.org on the various forms of Identity Theft, and ways to prevent it from happening. 2. Ray Bresciani reported that $1000 will be divided among five Lake Sarasota families with a total of 10 children this holiday season. Nearly all of that total was cleared from the Adopt-a-Family Festival held last weekend at Lakeview Park. Lakeview School will deliver the gifts (this year in the form of gift cards) to the families, which were selected by the school's staff. The board acknowledged Ray and Connie's extraordinary work in making the Festival a fantastic day for all. 3. The number of incidents reported to the Sheriff rose to 19 in October, according to Ted Cover. There were 6 burglaries, 10 thefts and 4 juvenile disturbances reported, the bulk of them in the middle of the month, tending to cluster around the noon to 2 p.m. and 4 p...

A message from Sandy: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again...Garage Sale time!  The next community garage sale will be Saturday 11/20.  Please email me to be included in the garage sale map our volunteers hand out.  Please..please..please..if you intend to have a garage sale, let me know and don't just think..o..I'll just put a sign out the day of the sale.  Last time, only about 1/4 of you were on the map and that hinders how many people we can bring into the neighborhood (ergo..how much money you all make).  It's much more impressive to advertise we have 100 garage sales going on that day than it is to say we have only 20.  Again, we are asking for a small donation to cover our advertising costs.  If you can contribute, please do. Contact Sandy to get on the map:  sallen11@comcast.net

Welcome to the new faces at our June meeting! Sarasota County Emergency Recovery Chief Scott Montgomery provided an overview of the oil spill, and helpful hurricane preparedness information. This will be posted separately (link pending). Meeting Highlights: Treasury: $790.89 total - no outstanding bills Three new Yards of the Month were selected - you'll be hearing from Renee. Sheriff's Report : There was an uptick in incidents in May, from 7 in April to 11. Two on Jarvis, one on Brentford. Most occurred during the afternoons, and a number of break-ins took place on May 17th, suggesting these may be related incidents. Citizens Patrol : Ted indicated he's looking for volunteers for the rest of June and the first week of July. He can be reached at , or 379-0758. Citizens Patrol is a proven way to keep neighborhoods crime free. A resident whose home was burglarized on Wake Ave. urged everyone to look out not only for their own homes, but for those of their neighb...

A message from Sandy: Hi, there! We are planning another garage sale on Saturday, 3/13. Please email me to be put on the maps  (Sandy's email: sallen11@comcast.net ) we will be handing out at the entrance. We will also be handing out flyers again and I need volunteers to help go door-to-door to deliver them. Other events coming up: March 11 - Next Thursday: We'll be meeting at Sarasota Alliance Church , 7221 Bee Ridge Rd., from 7-8:30 pm in room #103 (classrooms in back building ~ last room to left after entering double doors). April 14 - trying to get a Lake Sarasota networking event together. Business Directory  - $20 for a business card-sized ad. Deadline is April 17. They will be delivered around May 1. Please let me know if you want to be included in the garage sale and if you can help me distribute flyers. Thanks! Sandy Lake Sarasota Events

Highlights of the February general LSCG meeting (thanks Laura!)  -Treasury Report        $661.15   -Yard of Month  A home on Lanai and two on Palau.   -Future Events:   March 13 is Garage Sale .  Contact Sandy to help and/or be on map.   -Sandy is   passing out flyers on Feb 26   with lots of good info.  Call or email her to help. Our next meeting will be at a new place and on a new day: We'll be meeting at Sarasota Alliance Church for  Thursday, March 11th 7-8:30  in  room #103 (classrooms in back building ~ last room to left after entering double doors). Map The room is free but we should give them a donation if we continue to meet there.   We can continue to meet on the   2nd Thursday of each month   if we'd like.

If you received a flyer announcing the December meeting on Dec. 8 or 9, ignore it -- for various reasons the meeting was held Tuesday night, Dec. 2. We tried to get the word out, however, due to very low turnout, the drawing for the $50 gift certificate has been rescheduled for the January 12th meeting (see below for more details). Crime update : There were eight incidents in Lake Sarasota in October, according to the Sheriff's report. That's down from 20 per month during the summer (but up from four in Sept.) Ted is looking for help with Citizens patro l - please call him (941 379-0758) or email him at TCover6161@aol.com. Training for the patrol is brief, easy and available - contact Ted and he'll set it up. Three more homes were awarded Yard of the Month and will be hearing from Renee. Sandy is working on lining up the annual Santa on a fire truck -- please check this space for an update, but tentatively it's Sunday, Dec. 20th. Confirmation and time TBA. Sandy colle...

A note from Sandy: Hello everyone.... In getting everything in order for the garage sale on Saturday, I have a few requests. I need volunteers to hand out maps at Bee Ridge and Mauna Loa. If you can or hand out maps for an hour or so or you know someone who could help, please let me know. Also, if you have time to make a Craigslist (if you don't already see it on there) post advertising the garage sale between now and Saturday that would be great. Contact Sandy at Sallen11@comcast.net , or at 321-5582 .

Nearly 50 homes are already on the Lake Sarasota Mega Yard Sale Map: The Lake Sarasota neighborhood garage sale is coming up on November 7. Please email Sandy at sandy11@comcast.net asap to be included free of charge on the map that will be handed out on the day of the sale. View LS Garage Sale 11/7/2009 in a larger map If you can help defray the costs of advertising, that would be great. Donations can be sent to: Lake Sarasota Community Group PO Box 21983 Sarasota, FL 34276 Thanks!

Hello Residents of Lake Sarasota: We had a very interesting and informative meeting on Tuesday night. We had guest speakers from Florida Power & Light who discussed how we can lower our electric bills. It was valuable information. We will be having another guest speaker on November 10, 2009 (7 pm). A representative from the Sarasota Fire Department will be at the meeting to discuss a program they have to replace batteries in your smoke detectors or actually provide you with a smoke detector free of charge. YOU MUST BE AT THE MEETING TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE BATTERIES OR THE FREE SMOKE DETECTORS! At Tuesday's meeting we had a treasury report, a report from the citizen's patrol (which was very positive), and we chose 3 new homes for the Yard of The Month Award. Please be advised that we will be having a community garage sale on November 7th . For information on the sale and to be included in map, please call Sandy Allen at 321-5582, or email her at sallen11@comca...