The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

This just in: I have a quick question, have you heard of anyone missing a kitten? We have a little gray kitten, I think it is a female who comes around at night. She is very tiny, mostly gray with bits of pale orange around her face. She has no tail, either a Manx or lost it. She has her front paws declawed. She is so small, and weak. It looks like she hasn’t eaten in a while. I have been giving her some milk and a bit of food. If you hear of anyone, would you let me know? Thanks, Sarah If you are or know the owner, please email the blog: Lakesarasota@gmail.com

George Morgan won't be able to continue heading this up. Need some 'new blood' to take over: scheduling volunteers (making phone calls) and qtrly training sessions. Call George to discuss if you'd like to help out ~ 377-4437 THANK YOU GEORGE!!

[Update: Not on May 12 meeting agenda ] The next traffic advisory meeting will not have Mauna Loa stop signs on the agenda. We are going back, possibly in June to try again to get more stop signs on Mauna Loa to slow the traffic. We are going to ask for two more and hope to get one. Here's the question for you: Where do we want the signs? Please pick two from these choices: Mauna Loa & Luzon or Mauna Loa & Fiji or Mauna Loa & Suva. We need at least one sign placed between the one on Friendship and the next one on Luawana, in order to shorten the distance between signs that allows drivers to pick up speed. If we can make a decision at the upcoming meeting I will compose a letter that includes our request for the stop sign placement to present to the board at the next meeting. If you wish to e mail the Traffic Advisory meeting with your concerns on this issue it would be helpful. Thanks for your help. See you at the next meeting. Respectfully, ...

When: 8:00 a.m. Saturday, April 25th What: We'll be sprucing up the entrance with at least new mulch, removing some weeds, and trimming back the dead leaves on Areca palms. Chances for rain are slim, so we're still debating on new plants. If possible, bring: We could use another weedeater and big containers of water for plants. Thank You :) Laura Mathis ~on behalf of LSCG Beautification Committee

The first Summit Action Committees meeting will be held on Monday, April 28th, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at College Hall, New College, 351 College Drive in Sarasota. This meeting is the first follow-up to the Summit for Environmental Action, with the purpose of forming committees to take action on the five ideas stemming from the Summit. All interested community members are invited to take part in one or more committees. Each of the five committees will focus on one of the "Top 5 Ideas" from the Summit. The topics are: • Develop rainwater, stormwater, greywater and reuse as alternate water sources. • Require low impact development techniques for new development and incentives to retrofit existing development. • Fifty percent of Sarasota County buildings with solar hot water heaters in five years. • Attract sustainable/green manufacturing to the local area. • Redesign transit system in conjunction with targeted mixed-use redevelopment zones. "Great Transit connecting Great...

Landscaping around Mauna Loa entrance signs and flag: ~Had planned on working on it this weekend, but we're all too busy and wore out :( ~Planning on next Saturday morning early. So if anyone can help out or get us a discount on some plants, let me know :) Thank You :) Laura Mathis ~LSCG

Sarasota celebrates Earth Week April 21-25 Sarasota County is partnering with the City of Sarasota and several community organizations to present a series of events during the week of Earth Day. From April 21-25, city and county staff will join representatives from Mote Marine Research Laboratory, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Sarasota Network for Climate Action and the University of Florida to present free, public workshops on everything from watershed management to the social and economic impact of trees. The workshops will take place at City of Sarasota Commission Chambers, Bay Haven School of Basics Plus, Selby Public Library and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Project contacts: Lee Hayes Byron, 941-256-4811, lhbyron@scgov.net ; Michele Mician, City of Sarasota Neighborhood Partnership Office, 941-954-2670, Michele.mician@sarasotagov.com Sarasota Events Sustainability Links Also: Free Workshop - CLEAN UP 101 - How to Organize your Neighborhood for Environmental Action! RSVP Please ...

Sarasota County seeks to jump start local economy with stimulus program On Tuesday , May 6, Sarasota County will seek voter approval to issue a series of bonds up to $300 million to help fast-track several surtax infrastructure projects approved by voters in November 2007. More here.

Say that three times fast. The neighborhood would like to extend a warm thanks to the determined resident who took median matters into his own hands and mowed the Mauna Loa medians all by himself over the weekend. Approached by a member of the Beautification Committee as he was working, the man, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that "he was tired of looking at the grass." Asked if he needed help, he said no. "He did a great job and we are very grateful," our committee member added. According to the Beautification Committee, the County has responsility for the medians, and has been called numerous times. It seems their guidelines are that the GRASS has to be nine inches tall, at which time, notes a committee member, the weeds would have been two feet tall. The contact number for the county: 861-5000.

"People are desperate for social connections" - Matt Leighninger The Manasota Regional Neighborhoods Summit held at MCC at Lakewood Ranch on Sat., April 12, brought representatives from many Sarasota and Manatee County communities together to explore themes having to do with connection -- within and between not only communities, but generations. Your Lake Sarasota representatives presented some of what we've been doing -- Renee explained Yard of the Month, Laura offered an overview of many efforts, Tom talked about communications through blogging and the newsgroup. Renee: Some of the crowd: Sarasota Commissioners Joe Barbetta and Shannon Staub: The keynote of the Conference was a talk by Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium. Leighninger's recent book is The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule Is Giving Way to Shared Governance -- and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same. Part of the problem with communal activities today according to Leighning...

Lane closures on Honore Avenue and Cattlemen Road HERALD STAFF REPORT SARASOTA - Motorists will experience intermittent lane closures on Honore Avenue between Bee Ridge and Proctor roads through Thursday. The lane closures will occur on south Honore Avenue for tree maintenance in the medians, according to a county press release. Cattlemen Road in Sarasota will also experience temporary, one-lane closures this week on the southern portion of the roadway. Road work is under way in the medians from Proctor Road north to just beyond Colonial Oaks. The work is expected to continue through this month. From Cattlemen to McIntosh roads on Bahia Vista Street, road work will continue this week as crews reconstruct and widen the two-lane roadway. The 1.8-mile road project includes the addition of bike lanes, sidewalks, streetlights, stormwater management and the installation of a new vacuum sewer. Construction is expected to be completed in July. The Honore Avenue and Bahia Vista ...

Growth and financing issues on May 6 ballot debated at April 14 CONA meeting CONA’s April 14 meeting, 7 PM at the Sarasota Garden Club, is your chance to hear all about the two May 6 special election ballot issues from a panel of experts. County Commissioner Shannon Staub , Chamber of Commerce Chair and planner Pam Truitt , and Citizens for Sensible Growth Chair Bill Zoller will discuss and answer questions on the two measures dealing with controlling future growth and bonding to expedite the building of new community facilities such as libraries, schools and roads. The meeting will be at The Sarasota Garden Club, 131 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota (Corner of US 41 and Blvd of the Arts) at 7 PM on April 14. Please visit CONA’s web site for detailed directions: www.conasarasota.org

It was a short meeting, and here are the highlights.... Beautification: We ARE getting the new trees in medians sooner than expected! County is back on track for doing this "as soon as possible" instead of waiting till end of summer. Guess they like us :) April 19 in the morning: Will work on landscaping around the entrance signs. S ending another email out next week with more details and to recruit help (and I'll be sure you get paid just as much as all of us who helped last weekend... pure satisfaction of helping community). Still looking for someone with heavy equipment and time to help us get some boulders from county site, if you know of anyone. Crime: Petty theft, annoying mischief, rude neighbors who like to destroy property and a few drug houses... Please be aware that we ALL can make a difference. If a pleasant request to neighbor isn't working, be persistent with reporting to police. "Squeeky wheel gets the grease...

George Morgan won't be able to continue heading this up. Need some 'new blood' to take over: ~ scheduling volunteers (making phone calls) and qtrly training sessions. Call George to discuss if you'd like to help out ~ 377-4437 THANK YOU GEORGE!!

I think we had around 12-15 people helping out Saturday morning to clean up the medians, trim palm fronds, pick up remnants, put up the "Do Not Litter" signs in 2 medians and paint the message board (did the primer coat and plan to paint in the teal color when we have more sunshine - and time :) Many thanks to the following residents: Robert Steele (who I know got a nasty 'war wound' from a palm spike and was up at 7:15 a.m. to work on the signs) Kim Davis (who organized this and put together the "Adopt-A-Road" project, a much needed endeavor) Sandy Allen (probably haven't thanked her enough for all she did to make the Community Yard Sale happen) Ray & Connie Bresciani with family (who also helped out many long hours on the Community Yard Sale day grilling burgers and dogs) Tom Matrullo (our excellent webmaster - hey, no more pictures when my hair's a mess! Ha ha) Sarah Lansky (great to finally meet you face to face!) Bill Pit...

Lake Sarasota's finest turned out to spruce up Mauna Loa on Saturday: The main drag of Lake Sarasota got a good going over. Ray noticed that the cigarette butts were all smoked down to their filters -- which says something about the state of the economy, or at least about the price of cigarettes. Someone has been driving their vehicle over the second median: Truckprint: Thanks to Ray, Joshua, Kim, Laura and all who gave their time and energies.

Median Clean-up: Saturday morning @ 9 a.m. Meet by the bulletin board on Mauna Loa w/ your gloves and a smile. We'll have bags and cold water. Will also bring the few remaining Lake Sarasota T-shirts if anyone wants to purchase. General meeting: Tuesday, April 8th @ 7 pm Will spend some time on the usuals: Beautification / Traffic Calming / Citizen's Patrol / Yard of Month What else would you like to talk about? The Manasota Regional Neighborhoods Summit is coming up on Saturday, April 12, 8-11:30 a.m.: And....If anyone is interested: The City of Tallahassee is proud to host the 12th Annual Florida Neighborhoods Conference to be held June 26-28, 2008. on-line registration is ready to use. It will accept conference, individual events, and exhibitor registrations. http://fnc.imarcsgroup.com /home/ Thank You :) Laura Mathis