Vol. 13 No. 46 - September 11, 2013

news

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryPaid parking foes seek alternatives

HOLMES BEACH – Some members of the Island Congestion Committee, as well as a couple of residents, put the brakes on a plan to promote permits for residents and paid parking at the public beach.

“Saying no to parking and not inviting people is not how we all got here,” committee member Peggi Davenport stressed at Thursday’s meeting. “Slamming that door on people’s faces is rude.” More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryAgreement reached on Mainsail project

HOLMES BEACH – Those who said this wouldn’t happen until hell freezes over better get out their parkas because the two opposing parties came to an agreement on the Mainsail issue at last last Wednesday’s mediation hearing.

The main concessions made by Mainsail Development Company’s representatives to city officials were the removal of Building D, which is the proposed unit nearest Sunrise Lane, and parking requirements. More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryRenourishment may be delayed

Sandy has left her mark on our beaches as they await the arrival of more sand.

Hurricane Sandy hit the northeastern United States in 2012 causing damage to private and public property. The damage was so widespread, renourishment firms are still trying to rebuild the beaches there, and that might delay the scheduled renourishment on Anna Maria Island, according to Manatee County Department of Natural Resources Director Charlie Hunsicker. More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryBeachHouse renovation launched

BRADENTON BEACH – The rustic, wooden BeachHouse restaurant will be transformed into a sleek, two-story version of itself in a renovation set to begin this month.

Improvements will include a new kitchen, bathrooms, dining room, bar and furnishings in phase one, Chiles Group spokeswoman Caryn Hodge said. More...

Public input sought on parking plan

BRADENTON BEACH – Commissioner Ric Gatehouse has requested public comment on his parking plan, detailed in The Sun’s Wednesday, Aug. 28, edition, at a department heads meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 9 a.m. at city hall.

Elements of the plan include paid parking, timed parking, permit parking, off-Island parking, the use of Coquina Beach for overflow parking and new parking spaces on Cortez Beach. More...

Mayor receives ‘hate mail’

HOLMES BEACH – At a meeting of the Island Congestion Committee, Mayor Carmel Monti said he has received what he called “hate mail” as the result of newspaper reports of remarks he made recently regarding paid parking and visitors to the Island.

“I made a general response to the e-mails,” he said, but I personalized some responses depending on the subject. My words were definitely taken out of context. More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryTwo vie for city pier restaurant

BRADENTON BEACH – Two entrepreneurs made bids to operate the empty restaurant at the Bridge Street Pier, vacated in May by Rotten Ralph’s owner Dave Russell, and the empty harbormaster’s office and bait shop buildings next door.

Calling his restaurant Fisherman Joe’s after a downtown Bradenton restaurant he used to operate, Joe McDonald came in higher than the city’s minimum bid, offering $6,000 a month in rent for the first year of operation and $6,500 a month for the second year. The offer for the 110-seat, 1,900-sqaure-foot restaurant also included $750 a month for two years for the 214-square-foot bait shop and $550 a month for two years for the 160-square-foot harbormaster’s office, City Clerk Nora Idso said at the opening of the sealed bids on Monday afternoon.More...

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryMore boat trailer parking proposed

BRADENTON BEACH – More parking for boat trailers is one of the upgrades proposed for the South Coquina boat ramp on the Intracoastal Waterway just north of Longboat Pass.

The expansion will increase the number of parking spaces for boat trailers from 18 to 49, and will provide 13 parking spaces for vehicles without trailers, including one handicap space, adjacent to the ramp, according to a plan presented by Manatee County staff at a public information session last week at the site, 2651 Gulf Drive S. More...



features

Sure is hot

There is hot. There is Florida hot, but the hottest and most soul-sucking of all the hots is September hot.

By the time we hit September hot we are out of patience with heat.

This September I am out of patience with the farm to table marketeers.

The farm to table marketeers would have you believe that growing food on farms and taking it to tables is a new idea. They would also have you believe that right now there is produce from local farms in abundance in their kitchens. More...



OUTDOORS

Anna Maria Island Sun News StorySun protection – it’s the cool thing to do

If you’ve been on the water over the last few years, you’ve noticed anglers covered head to toe even on the hottest and sunniest days. They’re wearing long pants, long sleeved shirts, gloves, face protection and hats. Years ago anglers were limited to hats, long heavy cotton clothing and greasy lotions that reflected the sun’s harmful rays. The damaging effects of sun exposure are one of the most important things for an angler to understand.

Sunlight is primarily composed of infrared, visible and ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light (UV) is potentially harmful and is the wavelength that causes sunburn. Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that results from exposure to this property of light. Symptoms of overexposure in humans consist of red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch and can include general fatigue and mild dizziness. An excess of UV radiation can be life-threatening in extreme cases. More...



real estate

Interest rates and housing

Everybody loves real estate, especially when values are going up. We pour over the ads, go on house tours and generally pat ourselves on the back for being so savvy. But there is one thing we don’t like to talk about when they go up – interest rates.

Mortgage interest rates have been quietly going up since June. A three-month analysis by Bankrate.com shows an increase in a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate going from a low of 4.12 percent on June 19 to a high of 4.74 percent on Aug. 21 and then dropping back slightly to 4.62 percent on Aug. 28. Fifteen-year fixed rates are also up from 3.3 percent in June to 3.66 percent in August, with adjustable rates only slightly lower than 15-year fixed making them a non-contender. More...



business

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

The value of a financial plan

Investment Corner

In a recent magazine targeting those of us in the financial services industry, the author of one article pointed out how representatives of the larger wirehouse brokerage firms like Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley were moving to become more like independent advisors and to provide more broad financial planning advice. The article went on to say that many clients of these firms were paying $4,000 or more for the financial plan.

This caught my attention because $4,000 isn’t an inconsequential amount to most of us. I’ll be the first to say that spending a few thousand on a financial plan might be the best investment you could make in yourself for the future benefit of your family – if it is a good plan, and if you actually follow the plan. More...



turtles

Turtle pair saved at Sandbar

In a discouraging turtle season in which visitors turned two sea turtle nests into party venues, disorienting the nests, and harassed a nesting mother turtle by petting her and taking flash photographs, turtle volunteers were uplifted last week by staff at the Sandbar restaurant.

Two earlybird kitchen employees found a sea turtle hatchling in the parking lot and placed it in one’s apron while they searched for more hatchlings, according to Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteers Bill and Marilyn George. More...



SPORTS

Anna Maria Island Sun News StoryIsland Gourmet Rays
Softball World Series Champions

The Anna Maria Island Community Center held the first annual 2013 adult co-ed softball World Series Friday night. The Island Gourmet Rays team squared off against the Tyler’s Ice Cream Twins team for the chance to be crowned champions.

In the top of the first inning, the visiting-team, Tyler’s Ice Cream Twins, sent eight batters to the plate. Troy Shonk led off with a double and later scored; Rob Manderine hit a homerun. Rob Alderson hit a triple and later scored, and Erin Vogal hit an RBI single to give the twins a 3 to 0 start. More...

Facebook – the ultimate people finder

Feasting on Fitness

It was 1980. I was a lowly reporter at the NBC affiliate TV station in Miami. I loved it, but had just accepted a job doubling my salary in my hometown of St. Louis.

The progressive news director, who was destined for the network where we all wanted to work eventually, was hiring the best in the business. He promised me a staff to head up an investigative/consumer reporting unit. Miami paid in sunshine, as the saying went. All of my family was still in St. Louis, and as so many hometowners say, “It seemed like a good place to raise a family.” More...


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