The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

Just a Reminder that Lake Sarasota's annual big dumpster Clean-Up is coming up July 23 - that's a Saturday, and it will take place from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Dumpsters will be at the Fire House and near the dog park.

July Nature Events are listed here.

The County has assembled a set of resources to help you be prepared for emergencies and what happens after them.

The latest FOSCP (Friends of Sarasota County Parks) Newsletter is out - read it here , and subscribe!

The workday that had been scheduled for Sat. June 25 - to plant trees in the medians - has been postponed. Some details remain to be worked out with grant monies, watering schedules, etc. When a new date is known, we'll post it here and on our Facebook Page.

Sarasota County News Update June 17, 2011 Greetings! We hope that you will share this eNewsletter with family, friends and neighbors. Contact us if you have questions, ideas for featured articles, or feedback on the system at e-mail pubcom@scgov.net . Sarasota County names Terry Lewis interim administrator Terry Lewis, former North Port police chief, has been named interim Sarasota County administrator. Lewis also served as interim North Port city manager. Lewis replaces Jim Ley, whose contract as county administrator for the county ended May 25. View Mr. Lewis' agreement here. ( MORE ) SCAT fare increases proposed A proposed Sarasota County Area Transit increase in fares was brought forward by the Sarasota County Commission at its budget workshop June 14. SCAT is proposing to increase the regular fare from 75 cents per trip to $1.25. Rate increases are also being proposed for the SCAT DAY, 7-Day Pass, 30-Day Pass and fixed-route fares for seniors and persons with disabili...

JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER SELECTS VAN WEZEL FOR STUDENT EDUCATION PROGRAM Sarasota, FL: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has chosen Sarasota, Florida as the sixth partner city for Any Given Child, a program that creates a long-range arts education plan for students in grades K-8. The program will incorporate existing resources of the Sarasota Public Schools system, along with those of local arts organizations and the Kennedy Center to create a plan for arts education specific to the city. The city joins partnerships in Sacramento, California; Springfield, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Any Given Child seeks to bring access, balance, and equity to each child's arts education, using an affordable model that combines the resources of the school district, local arts groups, and the Kennedy Center. With the assistance of expert consultation services provided by Kennedy Center staff and other professionals, community leaders develop a l...

An update on recent home sales in Lake Sarasota from Sandy Allen: We didn't get a chance to talk about what's going on in LS with real estate so I thought I would email it too you in case you wanted it for the blog. There are currently 16 homes for sale in Lake Sarasota from $75,000 to $195,000. Of those, 11 are short sales. The average cost per square foot under air is $93.02. There are 13 homes pending sale (have contracts on them to buy). Twelve of those are short sales. Twenty-four homes have sold in the past 3 months. Two were REOs and 9 were short sales. Those sales ranged from $55,000 to $159,900 and averaged $81.08 per square foot under air. If you would like to find out an average of what your home would sell for in todays market, take your homes air conditioned space and multiply it by the average. If you're not sure how many square feet you have, you can look it up at http://www.sarasotaproperty. net .-- Just in case anyone is interested:) Sandy ...

If you're looking to be useful, here's a site with volunteer opportunities within 25 miles of 34241.

Enjoy parks? You might enjoy our story of a recent morning at the Celery Fields .

Save energy and money with FPL rebates on solar panels Sarasota County officials are encouraging local Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) customers to take advantage of limited-time rebates on energy-saving photovoltaic solar panels. FPL is offering an annual total of $15.5 million in rebates under five programs. ( MORE ) Sarasota County celhebrates 90th anniversary The Sarasota County Commission this year is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Sarasota County. A commission proclamation notes that the anniversary is an opportunity for citizens to "celebrate the role of history in our lives and the contributions made by dedicated individuals and groups to help preserve the heritage that has shaped us as a community and as a progressive county." Free and low-cost health services provided at 16 Sarasota County sites The Sarasota County Health Department's Health In Motion Mobile Medical Unit staff will provide free and low-cost health services at ...

"We have to get serious about Citizens Patrol," said Ted Cover. He was speaking at the June 9, 2011 meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group (LSCG). Ted should know, he's been getting the crime reports for the neighborhood from the Sheriff's Office for several years. Last month the number of incidents in Lake Sarasota spiked - and it was serious -- six burglaries, along with 5 thefts, and a report of vandalism. Three of the burglaries were on Mauna Loa, and were reported in daytime hours. Three more -- two on Lanai and one on Lago -- occurred in the evening (one was reported at 10:45 pm). Most of the rest of the incidents were reported between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. These included some car break-ins. One person at the meeting noted that there's been a pattern of cars being struck by eggs. "We should be patrolling," Ted said. Those at the meeting agreed. Ted will be calling everyone who ever signed up for Citizens Patrol, and he'll be organizing a sche...

The Lake Sarasota Community Group will hold its quarterly meeting this Thursday, June 9, at Sarasota Alliance Church, on Bee Ridge Road. There has been a flurry of interest surrounding the dead and dying trees in the median - a few options for removing and replacing are being explored. Care to join in? Have some suggestions? Join us. Other business might include: update on the Bee Ridge Road widening, Ted's report on crime patterns, and whatever else comes up. ***UPDATE:*** Ted will report on latest data from Sheriff's Office showing a marked increase in daytime break-ins.

A while back we learned that a number of kids in our neighborhood were big BMX fans and riders. They might be interested in seeing what's coming to Sarasota in September: SCVB BMX Video from Creative Motion Inc. on Vimeo . These are pre-Olympic qualifying races - there will be racers from all over the world, and TV coverage. Tell the kids!

Have you patched yet? Sarasota Patch - the Sarasota node of the AOL-based system of highly localized sites that bridge the space between news and social media. They have news updates, features, a very useful event calendar, readers' comments, and now, your humble editor is blogging there . Our first post went live today - it's about tubing down Rainbow River and Social Media. If you have a react, I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts.

'Hunger Games' wins landslide victory in 'One Book' vote "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins is the winning title for the 2011 "One Book, One Community" program for Sarasota County Libraries and its partner organizations. A young-adult science fiction novel, "The Hunger Games" received 84 percent of the 4,667 votes. The best-selling novel has remarkable cross-over appeal with adults and is the first book in a trilogy. The popularity of the book has led to a movie set for release in 2012. ( MORE ) Training session set June 8 for volunteers in disasters Sarasota County Emergency Management, in conjunction with the Friendship Volunteer Center, is looking for people to coordinate the work of community volunteers during emergencies such as hurricanes. Training will be offered on managing new volunteers and placing them in the community. ( MORE ) Green training offered for home energy efficiency Building professionals, architects, enginee...

Sarasota Hurricane Shelter Info - this will be a permalink in the right-hand column.