The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

'Yes' on local-option surtax Tallied up over the two decades since its inception, Sarasota County's 1 percent sales surtax probably has cost the average resident at least $1,000. That's a substantial sum for a so-called penny tax. But the question is, what have taxpayers received in exchange? The answer is, a great deal.

At Lakewood Ranch on Nov. 17th, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (click to enlarge):

*Citizen's Patrol Training: Tuesday (this evening!) 7-7:30 pm @ Sarasota Baptist Church - Room #100 via Admin entrance. *New Officers: We need nominations (and feel free to nominate yourself :) for voting in @ November meeting: Chairman (no nominations yet, and I'll be passing the baton….) Beautification Director (Tisha Farrington & Dawn Steele so far) Membership Director (I'll help w/ newsletters, but need a new 'PR' type person for this role) Treasurer (I'll nominate myself if need be, but would like to see someone new here, too) We have the following on Committees: Citizen's Patrol - George Morgan (and he could use help or a replacement :) Yard of Month - Rene' Pitts Traffic Calming / Safety - Judy Johnson Welcome Wagon - Rene' Pitts and Diane MacDonald Events - Sandy Allen (THANK YOU SANDY FOR 'STEPPING UP' :)

Last year at a Neighborhood Workshop, a developer announced his intention to build an affordable housing project north of Bee Ridge Rd., opposite the main Lake Sarasota entrance at Mauna Loa Blvd. That project proved controversial, and apparently has been withdrawn. A new developer, Discovery Management , will present a new proposal for an adult congregate living facility on the same "Ansin tract" on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. at the Hampton Inn. A pdf of the plan for the proposed facility has been uploaded to our community group site . The public is welcome to attend.

Hello neighbors, We had a great turnout at the meeting last Tuesday and worked through a draft of the Articles of Incorporation - see immediately below for the text. The next step will be the final voting on Articles and of Officers at the November meeting. Please take a look at the 4 officer positions and email me nominations. We also voted to do the landscaping at front median ourselves as the landscaper "fell through" . Flag is getting closer to happening as we work thru more "hoops" to jump through. Thank you, Laura Mathis LSCG LAKE SARASOTA COMMUNITY GROUP Articles of Incorporation Article 1: Name of Organization The name of the organization shall be the Lake Sarasota Community Group (LSCG). Mailing address: PO Box 21983 Sarasota, FL 34276 Article II: Statement of Purpose LSCG 's purpose is to maintain and improve the beauty, safety, sense of community and quality of life of residents of our neighborhood.

KATHY DENT SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS SARASOTA COUNTY, FLORIDA www.srqelections.com Public invited to attend logic and accuracy testing ~Supervisor of elections to test voting equipment before November 6, 2007, election~ (SARASOTA, FL) - Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent invites the public to observe the logic and accuracy testing of the county’s voting and tabulating equipment to be used in the November 6, 2007 , Sarasota County Special Referenda, City of Venice General, and City of Sarasota Special elections. The testing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. in the office of the supervisor of elections in the Terrace Building at 2001 Adams Lane, Sarasota, Florida. Florida law requires the supervisor of elections to test the county’s voting and tabulation machines prior to each election to ensure that they are operating and recording accurately. Logic and accuracy testing is performed on a random sampling of all the voting machines that will be

Some highlights of the October 9th General Meeting, which saw some new faces: Residents are encouraged to attend a Traffic Advisory Board Meeting to support the effort to slow down the cars, trucks and schoolbusses - that's right - racing along Mauna Loa. The meeting will be on Monday Nov. 5th, 2 p.m. at the County Commission Chambers on Ringling Blvd. The more folks who turn out, the better our chances. The front median is due to have a new flagpole, and shortly thereafter there will be a planting day to landscape it. Residents voted at tonight's meeting to do it ourselves - stay tuned. Citizens Patrol has tentatively set a training session for Tuesday Oct. 23, 7 p.m. at the same meeting room in Sarasota Baptist where our general meetings are held. George Morgan is also looking for people to talk about the program to their neighbors. Speaking of crime, did you know you can get daily updates from the Sheriff's Office? We also drafted a version of some Articles of Incorpora

A growing number of websites are focusing on one or another aspect of Sarasota County - here are a few you might find interesting: SCOPE Sarasota Neighborhoods Natural Capitalism Sarasota Save Our Sarasota SCOPE Community Report Card Blog

TOMORROW - OCTOBER 9 7 - 8:30 PM SARASOTA BAPTIST CHURCH Room #100 TOPICS: CURRENT BEAUTIFICATION PROJECTS TRAFFIC CALMING UPDATE FORMING AS A "NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION" NEXT CITIZEN'S PATROL TRAINING: 10/23 TUESDAY 7 PM @ CHURCH YARDS OF the MONTH DRAWING WANTED: MORE OF US We have positive, hard working people in this group, with a lot of great ideas for improving the beauty, safety and sense of community in Lake Sarasota. There just needs to be more of us. It's certainly more difficult to make changes when "going it alone", yet when we work together, it's more fun, we meet new friends, and we reap the rewards of our efforts. Please consider being part of our community group. We don't want to form as an official "organization" (which will allow us to apply for tax id #, have a checking account to more properly ac

Another meeting is just around the corner - October 9th @ 7 pm - 8:30 at Sarasota Baptist Church. We'll discuss the Articles of Incorporation and Officers / Directors, current Beautification Committee efforts, and whatever else the attendees would like to discuss. CITIZEN'S PATROL: Next training has been re-scheduled for OCTOBER 23 @ 7 PM at the church. Thank You :) Laura Mathis Lake Sarasota Community Group

From one of our residents: We rescued 6 black lab (mix) puppies out of the middle of the road on Saturday. PLEASE help me find t hem homes - otherwise, it's Animal Control - which means they only have 5 days. We've bathed them, sprayed them for fleas and wormed them....but we can't keep them. They are currently in a kennel in my basement since I don't have a fence. I've lost count of the number of rescue groups that I've contacted, only to be turned down due to no room. Please check with every dog person you know to see if they need a puppy. Contact: Sioux, 920-6765, or (m) 695-5235