The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

A good attendance at the special January meeting of the Lake Sarasota Community Group - largely due to the effectiveness of NEXTDOOR , the community communication tool that has shown itself to be quite useful. If you have not already signed up and you live in Lake Sarasota, go to https://lakesarasota.nextdoor.com/ and so long as you live within the community, you will be welcome. In brief: 1. Ellie says the Group's treasury amounts to $329, with $29 coming from contributions from participants in the last Garage Sale. (Good thing we're an all-volunteer organization). 2. The Next Community Garage Sale will be March 7. 3. Reports of teens on golf carts vandalizing property at the dead-end of Mauna Loa raised concerns. It is unclear how the golf carts are accessing Lake Sarasota, if in fact they are coming, as some have reported, from Bent Tree. After some discussion, these solutions were suggested: Resurrect Citizens Patrol and have one of its foci be the area a...

"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.

Ted Cover, who leads Citizen Patrol, says the trends call for increased Patrols: We need patrol team volunteers for the remaining weeks of March, all of April, and all of May. I've been lax in getting patrols on the street. My fault. It's time to get serious about the patrol. We've seen a decrease in reported incidents in Lake Sarasota for last February. Even so, there is a disturbing trend--we're having more burglaries and break-ins. While a patrol most likely will not be in on an arrest, the patrol's visible presence is a deterrent. The sight of a patrol vehicle may convince someone contemplating a theft or break-in that it might be a better idea to go somewhere else. Most of the incidents over the past year have occurred during the daylight hours. Nighttime incidents are rare--maybe one or two a year. With Daylight Savings Time now in effect, patrolling in the early evening hours might result in greater visibility. Please take a look at your calendar ove...

Several items of interest came up. (I was unable to attend, and this is pieced together from those there (thanks!). If anything else of importance is not here, please let me know (lakesarasota @ gmail.com)) Crime is up UPDATE: Ted provided actual stats from the August crime report, see below: I got the August '10 Sheriff's Dept. report in time to present it at the meeting. Here it is in summary. There were 19 incidents reported for the month: 3 vandalism incidents, 6 burglaries, 9 thefts (mostly auto), and one juvenile disturbance. Sixteen reported incidents occurred during two time periods: eight between the 11th and the 19th, and eight between the 23rd and 28th. By day of the week: Monday-2, Tuesday-3, Wednesday-7, Thursday-2, Friday-3, Saturday-1, and Sunday-1. By street: Allen-1, Berkshire-2, Bikini-2, Jarvis-1, Java-1, Lago-1, Lancaster-5, Mauna Loa-1, Palau-2, Samoa-1, Tarawa-1, and Westminster-1. The Lancaster incidents consisted of four thefts and one ...

The Lake Sarasota Community Group meets Thursday at 7 p.m., at Sarasota Alliance Church. Besides the usual items, there will be some planning of future events, including the Neighborhood November Garage Sale. Try to make the meeting. Also, Ted needs volunteers for Citizens Patrol for this week and next. 941 379-075.

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...

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 Lake Sarasota Community Group met Thursday evening at a new location that everyone seemed pretty happy with, Sarasota Alliance Church , 7221 Bee Ridge Rd. The group decided to hold its meeting there next month, again on the second Thursday, April 8. Highlights: 1. Citizens Patrol is more necessary than ever. Incidents doubled from January to February. A particular crime hot spot is 4100 block of Lancaster. There was also a break-in on Luwanna - Ted was still waiting to receive the latest Sheriff's report. Ted has requested more Sheriff's patrols here, especially between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., and says the Sheriff says they'll do that. "We do need folks to volunteer for Citizens Patrol," said Ted. Call him ( 379-0758) or email him at  TCover6161@aol.com . 2. Yard of the Month signs keep disappearing - three new signs will be ordered, for a total of $75. People are also checking on costs of obtaining new meeting signs. 3. Sue Whetzel from County Parks an...

If you received a flyer announcing the December meeting on Dec. 8 or 9, ignore it -- for various reasons the meeting was held Tuesday night, Dec. 2. We tried to get the word out, however, due to very low turnout, the drawing for the $50 gift certificate has been rescheduled for the January 12th meeting (see below for more details). Crime update : There were eight incidents in Lake Sarasota in October, according to the Sheriff's report. That's down from 20 per month during the summer (but up from four in Sept.) Ted is looking for help with Citizens patro l - please call him (941 379-0758) or email him at TCover6161@aol.com. Training for the patrol is brief, easy and available - contact Ted and he'll set it up. Three more homes were awarded Yard of the Month and will be hearing from Renee. Sandy is working on lining up the annual Santa on a fire truck -- please check this space for an update, but tentatively it's Sunday, Dec. 20th. Confirmation and time TBA. Sandy colle...

To Residents of Lake Sarasota: We had a very interesting meeting last night. We had guests, Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Palmer who gave a very informative presentation on waste management and recycling. They explained what things are and are not recycleable and what to do with things that cannot be put out for recycling. We are going to try and get a copy of their power point presentation to post on our blog so that anyone who is interested can see the presentation. We had a report on the Citizen's Patrol from Ted Cover. While we have not gotten the numbers for June yet, Ted explained that the number of crimes reported in May were down. We certainly hope that this trend continues. We are in need of volunteers to patrol for the rest of this month and for August. Please contact Ted if you can volunteer for patrol duty ( TCover6161@aol.com ). We had a treasury report by Ellie Himes, who informed us that we have $1346.54 in our account. We decided to buy fertilizer for the palm t...

The community group meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the usual Sarasota Baptist location. Some likely agenda items: Mauna Loa Entrance - flagpole, plantings Upcoming events - July Clean-up, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Lakeview Park - pump. A member of the Sheriff's Office may be present. Yard of the Month, Citizens Patrol, Treasurer's report.

Residents of Lake Sarasota:   We had a very interesting and informative meeting Tuesday evening.   The meeting was attended by a high ranking officer from the sheriff's department.  Captain Pelfery attended and took the time to explain some of the things that his office is doing to help decrease crime in Lake Sarasota.   The 2 biggest problems we have are vehicle burglaries and home burglaries.  Captain Pelfery strongly suggests that we do not leave our cars unlocked and that we do not leave anything visible in our cars.  When thieves see something they can steal and sell, it only takes them a few seconds to break into our cars and steal our possessions.  He also stressed the importance of keeping our garage doors closed when we are not in the garage.   OPEN GARAGE DOORS ARE AN INVITATION TO BURGLARS!!!   Captain Pelfery commited to having an officer at our next meeting, (June 9th) to listen to our concerns and explain what the sheriff's department is doing about them.   PLEASE...

A representative from the Sheriff's Office will be on hand at tonight's meeting to field questions about recent upticks in the incidence of crime in the neighborhood - burglaries, suspected drug dealing, etc. Ted Cover from Citizens Patrol will also talk about recent auto and house break-ins - three on one recent afternoon. Sandy expects to have the Business Directory  all done, and an accounting of costs. A vote will be necessary on whether to go ahead with plans for stamped brick at the Mauna Loa entrance. Here is an image of herringbone pattern stamped brick: It's all happening tonight, Tuesday, May 12, 7 p.m., at Sarasota Baptist, Room 100. Other items on the agenda: Park restoration, Yard of the month, Lakeview update, future events (Thanksgiving, Park celebration,) etc.

A new burglary incident has been reported: Burglary at 3990 Hina Dr. occuring some time between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Among items stolen was a big screen TV. The house was unoccupied at the time of the burglary. The break-in and burglary was discovered by one of the children on returning home from school. The house was locked and garage door down at the time of the break-in. Either the house did not have a security alarm, or it was not activated. Citizens Patrol organizer Ted Cover said: "This very serious incident illustrates the audacity of the perpetrators, and the importance of having a working security alarm and setting it on leaving the house."

Two reports of burglar activity came in over the weekend. In one case, a man was spotted crawling into a garage that had its door open. The homeowner said: Just want to alert everyone that this happened - in the bright light of the day, while we were all home.  And, I have a window in my door from the house to the garage - which is probably why he was crawling.  My garage door will now stay shut.     I never saw his face, but from his size, body and clothing, my best guess is he appeared to be anywhere from 15-20 years old??  He was wearing tan colored shorts (to about his knees) and a white tank top and sneakers. In the second report, the burglar(s) came through a small window (cutting the screen) on the screened porch facing the street, and seems to have had plenty of time to go through the home, leaving no fingerprints. The owner says: It was such a beautiful day to open the windows and let that great breeze in yesterday.I do not share this story with you to scare you as I will n...

A significant update to the home invasion story: SARASOTA - Police believe a series of  home invasions  targeting middle-aged and older women has climbed from two to five. Last week,  Sarasota police  officials confirmed two attacks, now detectives have added a rape a month ago, a violent robbery in  Manatee County  and a fifth attack  last Saturday night  in a Phillippi  Creek neighborhood  in  Sarasota County  to the list. More details here . A news story from Sunday, March 15: String of Home Invasions in Sarasota County May All be Connected SARASOTA - Another home invasion happened Saturday night in Sarasota County.  Sheriff's deputies say they believe this isn't the first time the robber has struck.  It happened last night around 11:30pm.  A woman was inside her home in the River Forest subdivision. Detectives say the man entered her house, tied her up and took off with cash, credit cards and small TV.  Deputies say the woman survived the attack, but neighbors say that sho...

Tonight's meeting generated a lot of news, including updates on the next Garage Sale, the next Park Clean-up, changes to our entrance, the business directory and more. The treasury now has $1201.92 in the bank all of the difference from the last report due to revenue from the Business Directory (see more on it below). The group approved paying to renew our incorporation with the State. A brief training session for Citizens Patrol will be held at Ted's house Wed. evening, March 11. Contact him for more information if interested at 941 379-0758. Three new homes were chosen for Yard of the Month - Renee will be delivering signs. ============ Work will soon begin on adding a lane to the front Mauna Loa entrance. Anyone who wishes to help save the plants and possibly the trees in the first median is invited to meet at the flagpole this Saturday, March 14, at noon . Hawthorne and other plants will be saved possibly to be replanted around either this entrance or the one at Westminste...

Come to the next general meeting on Tuesday, March 10, 7 pm at Sarasota Baptist. Among the action items: - Planning Lakeview Park clean-up , tentatively set for Saturday, April 4th . [Note: this is changed from earlier posting that indicated April 5]. One action item being considered: producing a single page announcement to go to homes in Lake Sarasota to get more people involved. - Mauna Loa entrance reconfiguration - where things stand with the plans - Lake Sarasota Business Directory - Regular items (Citizens patrol, YOTM, Treasury, etc.) - New Business

A brief summary of tonight's meeting: 1. Treasury: Ellie reports a total of $907, which include $260 received for local residents who wish to be in the business directory. 2. Renee will be visiting three more Yards of the Month. 3. Ted has four new volunteers and will be holding a 30-minute Citizens Patrol training session at his house within the next week or two. Email him if you wish to join. 4. Changes to the Mauna Loa entrance brought several responses: Tisha asked whether the county will move the trees and Ligustrum that are in the first median. She is willing to move and take care of the small plants until a place for them is found. Ray and Connie noted that there is a proposal to extend Mauna Loa North to connect with Welch Road, which in turn would connect with Porter. This has implications for more traffic at the intersection, they noted. Those in attendance expressed the hope that the proposed concrete separator can be made to look attractive through the use of planti...