BRADENTON BEACH – A monthly pier team meeting on June 26 at city hall covered a host of topics including feedback about the Gulf Island Ferry, the installation of cameras on the city pier, road closures for the upcoming Sundown Get Down street party and an update on the floating dock.
“We’re getting a lot of positive feedback from people coming in on the ferry. They absolutely love to hop off that ferry and be right in the middle of Bridge Street and Bradenton Beach,” John Horne, owner of Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar (AMOB), said during the concessionaire report. “I think it’s tremendous.”
Police Chief John Cosby gave an update on the security cameras to be installed on the city pier.
“I’m still waiting,” Cosby said. “I think they started installing some of the equipment. The last I talked to them, they’re waiting for the insulating conduit.”
Other business included the concessionaire report, a dock update, public works and building departments reports and a facilitator report.
Cosby, who is also serving as interim Public Works Director, said regarding trash pickup on the pier, “I don’t really want to hire any new positions until we know what’s happening with OPPAGA (the potential consolidation of Island cities), if anything. We do have a budgeted person for the CRA district and that will be for Saturdays and Sundays so that will be seven days.”
Three days a week, the public works crew will remove trash from Bridge Street.
“In the past, the street was only getting a half of days’ worth of service basically so now there’s two people on it,” Cosby said. “Every Thursday, as long as it’s not raining, they blow out all the dust from the sidewalks and the curb area and out into the roadway for the street sweeper.”
For the upcoming Sundown Get Down street party on Bridge Street, which begins on Thursday, July 18 at 4 p.m., Cosby said the road will be closed to traffic at noon.
“We’ll move traffic out before it actually starts,” he said. “This won’t affect the parking at the pier unless I have to shut the circle down. This is the first time, so it’s a learning curve to see where the crowd is going and if it looks like it’s going to expand then we’ll do exactly the same closure that we do for the Christmas event.”
Cosby said barricades will be in place, but they won’t be used unless needed.
“I don’t want to shut things down that don’t need to be,” Cosby said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Cosby said many people are planning to arrive for the street party by the Gulf Island Ferry and tickets are sold out.
“As far as the floating dock, everything’s been fixed that we requested to be fixed,” Cosby said.
