The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

From Chairman Bill: Hello neighbors and Happy New Year one and all!   We will be planting plants and flowers at Hina Point Park (corner of Hina & Palau) Saturday morning, January 3rd at 8:30 AM .  We are in need of volunteers to help with the plantings.  If you can help us out, please be there at 8:30AM.  If you have gloves and small hand tools (spade, shovel, etc,) please bring them with you.   It is exciting that all of the work that went in to creating the park is coming to fruition.  We all should look forward this improvement in our community.   We hope that all of you can attend our next meeting.  It will be January 13th, 2009 at 7:00 PM at the Sarasota Baptist Church.  This will be an important meeting since we will be planning things for the new year.  Please try and make this meeting!   As previously announced, we are going to start putting together a directory of services provided by residents of our community.  If you are interested in being in the directory, you need ...

The picture below reflects the triangle at the intersection of Hina Dr. and Palau Dr. which is about to become a pocket park, thanks to the energies and efforts of several of our residents and to the folks at Neighborhood Services of Sarasota County. In fact, you can help make that transformation happen. Bushes and benches have been ordered (thanks to the grant from the county), and we'll be doing some plantings at the site this Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009, at 8:30 AM . Anyone who enjoys a bit of outdoor exercise and community participation is invited to join in . Things to bring: water big shovels post hole diggers some gardening gloves a tool or two  In a follow-up email, Faith explained the need for post hole diggers and more: . . . we need big shovels and if any post hole diggers laying in a garage. We have several holes to dig for the boundry fencing and do have 1 power auger but only for a few hours. The garden area is a 12 foot circle which we need to totally dig out and till t...

Thanks Tisha!

Thanks Santa! And thanks to Sarasota's Firefighters and Squad 8 for visiting Lake Sarasota!

Santa Claus will be making his Second Annual Firetruck Tour of Lake Sarasota on Sunday, Dec. 21, shortly after 2 p.m. We hope to have a map of his route before the event. Also, plans are underway to repeat last year's caroling -- a walk through the neighborhood with songs and perhaps some candy canes for the kids. Santa plans to take this route through Lake Sarasota: Santa will enter Lake Sarasota at Mauna Loa, go all the way down Mauna Loa and make a left on Berkshire. Then he'll wind around and make a left on Brentford, a left on Marlborough, a right on Friendship, a left on Mauna Loa, a right on Lanai and a left on Jarvis. Click here for a map of the route Santa will take. View Larger Map Here's a bit more from Bill: Hello everyone!  We are pleased to announce that Santa Claus has consented to make an appearance in Lake Sarasota on December 21st at approximately 2:00PM.  He has decided to ride on a fire truck so that his reindeer will be rested and strong for Christmas E...

About the recent Yard Sale and more: First I would like to say that I think Sandy did a fantastic job! There are a lot of good ideas here and we need to talk about them while it's still fresh in our minds and implement them. However, until we get participation from all the homeowners with a wish list, the few people that actually show up and do the work won't be able to fulfill those wishes. If homeowners of Lake Sarasota want a better community, then it's time to stand up and be counted. If we want a safer community, then we need to keep Ted Cover 's phone (379-0758) ringing [or keep his email pinging] so he can set up a Citizens Patrol schedule that will let vandals and thieves know we are serious about keeping them out of here! He is doing a superb job of forwarding information from the sheriff's office to our community and needs everyone's help. This program is way too massive for 5 or 6 people to accomplish. If you want outside people to want to buy some ...

For anyone interested in neighborhood preparedness, some of the key county people involved with emergency management and public safety will be on hand at a meeting scheduled for this Thursday, December 11 from 1:30pm-3:00pm.   The meeting  will be at the Sarasota County Government Administration Center,  Emergency Operations Center, located at 1660 Ringling Blvd in downtown Sarasota on the 6th floor of the Administration Building. Here's an agenda: * Welcome and Introductions   * Emergency Services Neighborhood Public Safety Program     --Firewise Program presented by Assistant Fire Chief Dillon     --AED Program presented by Assistant Fire Chief Dezzi     --Stormwise Program presented by Emergency Management Chief McCrane     --Water Safety Program presented by Lifeguard Operations Chief Ayers     --CERT Program presented by Recovery Chief Scott Montgomery    * Foreclosed homes project   * Review of 2008 Hurricane Season and what is forecasted for the 2009 ...

More from the Harwood Public Innovators home page: If you're interested in deeply exploring community rhythms consider attending the  Harwood Public Innovators Lab.  At the Lab you'll learn about Community Rhythms, the 3A's of Public Life and other key tools and frameworks to help accelerate change in your community.  Click here  for a set of questions to help you determine your community's stage click here  Click here  for a description of the five different stages of community  Click here  to learn what efforts fit with which stage. Thanks to April at SCOPE for the link.

We respectfully invite you to join us at the third annual Sustainable Communities workshop on Friday, Dec. 12 and Saturday, Dec. 13. We scheduled the two day workshop to include a Saturday this year to allow more attendance from homeowners and residents that often can't attend our weekday workshops. The agenda will be relevant for residents, neighborhood representatives, and members of the business community, providing updates on the latest policies and technology innovations and hands on strategies for saving energy and water in your homes and businesses.  Please share this notice with members of your neighborhood and other contacts.  Thank you! Dec. 12-13, 2008 The POWER to lea r n, the POWER to lead, the POWER to change. Searcy S. Koen Regional Campus for Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida 4780 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota Dec. 12-13, 2008 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Information and Registration at: http://www.scgov.net/ sustainablecommunities/ or call 941-861-5000 This two-day interactive ...