The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

 The 14th Annual Florida Neighborhoods Conference will be held in St. Petersburg from July 8-10, 2010. All info here .

Family Disaster Plan It’s important to have a disaster plan for your family. Make sure your family  knows  the plan in case of a disaster. Discuss the type of hazards that could affect your family. Know your home’s vulnerability to storm surge, flooding and wind. Locate a safe room or the safest areas in your home for each hurricane or weather related hazard. Sometimes the safest areas may not be your home but within your community. Have an escape route from your home and designate places to meet. Consider the distance that everyone has to travel to get to the meeting place. Always have one or two alternative meeting places. Have an out-of-state friend as a family contact. This allows family members a single point of contact with someone out of affected area. Make plans now for your pets in case of evacuation. Post emergency telephone numbers near your phones and make sure children know how and when to call 9-1-1. Review your insurance coverage. Flood damage may no...

From Sandy: We are currently putting together the business directory to be delivered and I need help.  If you can help put them together, please let me know. Also, I still need people to deliver them to the streets below.  If your street is listed or you se another street you can deliver to, please let me know. Street names are followed by the number of homes to deliver to.  The Directory is a large element of our annual budget, and it's free to all residents. Please contact Sandy if you can help:   sallen11@comcast.ne t, or  321-5582. Berkshire 88 Bikini 36 Chaucer 19 Coleridge 18 Eton 19 Fiji 6 Honolulu 25 Jarvis Rd. 156 Lanai 33 Luzon 6 Marlborough 10 Maui 3 Mauna Loa 168 Paota 9 Ponea 22 Samoa 56 Tarawa 47 Tema 23 Timor 21 Tonga 32 Tora 5 Vana 54 Waikiki 33 Wake 34

Word came today that Jasmin Spees has been found and she is safe. CHIP - Community Health Improvement Partnership  Jasmin Spees, a 14 year old resident of Newtown, has been missing for the past 2 days. Height: 5', Weight: 135 lbs, Eyes: Brown. Call 941.565.4636 or 941.356.3330 if you have information. Correction & Update: Jasmin is a Manatee County resident with ties to Newtown. She has been missing since Tuesday. She called her mother to pick her up, but when mom arrived Jasmin was not there and has not been heard from since. Please help to spread the word. Mary S. Mack Newtown Front Porch, Chair Amaryllis Park Neighborhood Assoc., Inc. - Prez (941) 266-2461

SCAT Summer Student Pass provides 'ticket to ride'   The popular Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) Summer Student Pass will be available Friday, May 28, at five locations around the county. The $10 pass - previously limited to youths up to 19 years old - can be used by anyone who has a valid student identification card. It allows students unlimited ridership on SCAT buses from June 1-Aug. 31.   Click here for more.

Disaster Preparedness Training for neighborhoods and faith-based organizations    Now is the time to prepare your church or neighborhood association for the 2010 hurricane season which begins June 1. The most valuable, life saving tool you can have is accurate information! Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Ed McCrane will share tips on creating a disaster preparedness kit, how to get up to date information and planning ahead for the safety of your family and your property. Join us 3:30-5 p.m., Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at the Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center. May 18, 2010 3:30-6 p.m. EOC, 6th floor, 1660 Ringling Blvd. Please RSVP by e-mail to  pwilson@friendshipcenters.org   or call the Friendship Volunteer Center at 953-5963.

There's a new urgency in the call for volunteers to help with the Beach Bash -- this from the organizers who are with Friends of Sarasota County Parks: We are putting out another plea for help on Sunday. One of the Sertoma members suddenly passed away, and his funeral is on Sunday. Sertoma cannot help us with their volunteers. We desperately need help from 5 to 8. If you can spare some time, please let me know. Contact Ray at 371-1180 Nokomis Beach is at 101 Casey Key Rd . Here are the directions: Take I-75 toward Naples Exit 200 toward Venice Merge onto Tamiami Trail (41 south) via exit on left toward Venice/Gulf Beaches, turn RT onto Albee Rd W/CR789W turn RT on Casey Key Rd. Nokomis Beach is on the left.

Much of the May 13th meeting at Sarasota Alliance Church was devoted to hearing developer Richard Fischer's idea for turning a 23-acre parcel of land at the west end of lake Sarasota -- between the edge of the development and I-75 -- into a nature sanctuary, park, or other amenity. Such a plan might tie in with the upgrading of Bee Ridge Road - even be a natural "front end" to a widened Bee Ridge corridor that would contain buffered borders including trees, bicycle lanes, meandering sidewalks and retention ponds. To fund the purchase of the land, Lake Sarasota could petition to create a special taxing district. Before this could go forward, 67% of Lake Sarasota's property owners would have to agree. More details to come. Treasurer Ellie said sales of the local LSCG business directory have brought our funds to $1,482.74. Those present approved a $40 payment to renew the Group's post box for another year. We still have $1,200 in county grant monies , said Deb...

Our new plants at the entrances are in need of water. If you have a few minutes and a bucket, stop by and them drink. Thanks for keeping our neighborhood beautiful!

Ted will host a patrol training gathering at his house on Wednesday, May 19, at 7 p.m. He has new recruits on his list -- anyone else interested is invited. Anyone already trained is also invited--an opportunity for a refresher course. The course is taught by someone from the Sheriff's Office and generally takes about a half-hour. To RSVP, contact Ted at 941 379-0758 or at TCover6161@aol.com .

The next regular meeting takes place at 7 p.m. this Thursday, May 13th, at Sarasota Alliance Church, Bee Ridge Road. Treasurer's Report Business Directory, Events, Speakers Update of Lakeview Park - A word about the Census - Citizens Patrol and Sheriff's Report - Yard of the Month Developer Richard Fischer is set to return to continue the conversation about Lake Sarasota becoming a special tax district to enable Sarasota to purchase the land between its western boundary and I-75.

Sign up for Master Gardener training   Do you have a green thumb or gardening skills that make others envy your landscaping? Or would you like to learn about gardening in Florida?   The Sarasota County Master Gardener program is accepting applications for its next session, which begins Sept. 3. The application deadline is Friday, June 11. An introductory class on the Master Gardner program will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 2, at the Sarasota County Extension Service office at Twin Lakes Park, 6700 Clark Road, Sarasota.

Gov. Charlie Crist today expanded an executive order declaring a state of emergency in the Panhandle to include all counties on Florida's west coast as far south as Sarasota. Crist says officials do not yet have an estimate of what it is going to cost to clean up Florida's shorelines if a massive oil spill reaches the state. Crist, though, said that Florida would send the bill to the “responsible party" — BP PLC, the oil company that leased the drilling rig that exploded and continues to leak oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The governor said he shared the frustration of local officials who are worried about not having enough floating booms to protect their beaches. Mote Marine's site offers info on beach conditions around the state. It now has info on oil spills. Click here to see it. And see below for info on Tallahassee's Emergency Operations Center Hotline - click to enlarge: