SIGNS of life

One person’s good fortune may come from another’s bad luck. Those in the real estate industry say the bad news scenario right now is the fact that home prices have reached an all-time low. On the other hand, that’s the good news for real estate buyers.

According to a newsletter published online by Island Real Estate Agent Al Galletto, from Jan. 1 to May 31, the average price of a single-family home sold on the Island dropped from $817,102 in 2008 to $567,477 in 2009, and the median price of a single-family home dropped from $625,000 in 2008 to $450,000 this year. More...

Tidemark project has new owners

HOLMES BEACH – Mainsail Development, of Tampa, hopes to breathe life into the stalled Tidemark and Beach Inn projects with the help of Pine Avenue Restoration (PAR).

The company purchased the stalled projects, which were in foreclosure, last week and took on the Island-based PAR group as a limited partner. More...

Third fireworks display added

All three Chiles Group restaurants, the Sandbar, BeachHouse and Mar Vista, will host fireworks shows this upcoming holiday weekend with opportunities to watch from the beach or bay or enjoy a party inside before watching the show.

The celebration starts the day before, July 3, with a fireworks extravaganza at the BeachHouse restaurant, 200 Gulf Drive N., Bradenton Beach. VIP party packages are available and there will be music and dancing. This is the music and dancing. This is the 16th year for this event at the BeachHouse. More...

Seashells by the seashore

ANNA MARIA — A city pier project begun more than five years ago is a giant step closer to becoming reality as a result of an agreement between the city and Manatee County.

Attorneys for both governmental bodies are working on the contract for the county to serve as the contractor.

City officials have said the project should greatly enhance the base of the city pier with a boardwalk, benches and Florida native landscaping. More...

Long ride for parasailors

For Holmes Beach resident Jean BRADENTON BEACH – The Calacci family got more than the usual 15-minute parasail trip on Wednesday when high winds kept a father and son up in the air for more than three hours.

The Chicago family of six, who were vacationing on Lido Key, ventured into the Gulf of Mexico with Fun & Sun Parasail, of Bradenton Beach around 1 p.m. More...

Sand negotiations under way

Manatee County and Port Dolphin Energy are negotiating an agreement to remove sand from the company’s proposed natural gas pipeline path in the Gulf and use it in an early beach renourishment, officials have announced.

Port Dolphin is applying for permits to build a natural gas port off Anna Maria Island that would be connected by an underwater pipeline to Port Manatee. More...

Public beach concessions to go to bid

BRADENTON – Manatee County commissioners voted last week to seek requests for proposals (RFP) for an operator for the concessions at the Coquina and Manatee public beaches.

"It was shocking," Dee Percifield-Schaefer said. "We were expecting the last five years. It should have been automatic."

Percifield-Schaefer and her husband, Gene Schaefer, as P.S. Beach Associates, have had the concessions since 1992 and had a five-year extension that could have been approved by the county. However, the request to seek RFPs was placed on the consent agenda for the board’s June 23 meeting. More...

Police to confiscate illegal fireworks on the Fourth

Island police plan to confiscate illegal fireworks on the Fourth of July and will advertise that fact on roadside signs leading to and on the Island.

"We’ll do what we did last year," Bradenton Beach Chief Sam Speciale said. "Our guys will be out on the beach, and if people are blatant with their fireworks, we’ll confiscate them."

Sgt. Dave Turner, of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Anna Maria substation, said he personally delivered flyers regarding the sale and use of fireworks to residences and businesses prior to the holiday. More...

It will be a great holiday for May

BRADENTON BEACH – The Fourth of July is a purely American holiday and this year, Island resident Saowalux "May" Karthip will celebrate the Fourth as an American for the first time.

That’s because the Thai born BeachHouse restaurant employee will become a citizen in a ceremony at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando on Tuesday, July 3. She will spend the rest of the day and the Fourth of July with her four-year-old daughter, Irada, touring another amusement park. The extra day’s hotel stay and Magic Kingdom tickets are a gift from her employer.

Getting her citizenship is the result of some good luck and a lot of hard work on the part of Karthip and her boss, BeachHouse manager Mike Shannon. More...

Anna Maria home to top fishing guides in state

Their experience and expertise are eagerly sought out by doctors, lawyers, newspaper publishers, restaurateurs, carpenters, brick layers and captains of industry alike. They have led anglers of modest means and advanced techniques to high adventure and excitement and left them with memories that will last a lifetime.

On the waters around Anna Maria Island they are the modern day equivalent of Lewis and Clarke, Magellan and Columbus, leading anglers in search of the high jumping snook, the awe inspiring tarpon and the wily redfish. They are the area’s top practitioners of their trade, combining their years of experience and observation on the water to divine the tides, moon phases and subtle rhythms of the Gulf and bays. More...

Is home ownership an inalienable right?

Back in May, before the summer heat started to take away my ambition to do anything that didn’t constitute moving from the sand to the water, I cleaned my office. I ruthlessly plowed through reams of ancient newspaper clippings, magazines, receipts and paid bills. But my resolve wavered when I came across a college term paper from 1977 titled, "A Generation of Homeowners," particularly interesting since I wrote it 10 years before I acquired my first real estate license. More...

Bear market rally or new bull market?

A great debate is raging over the recent 30 to 40 percent rally in most major stock indexes since the lows set back in March. Those who are pessimistic maintain that the recent rise in stock prices is doomed to reverse course soon and that prices will decline again, perhaps to levels even lower than before. This scenario is called a bear market rally – an unsustainable rise in prices contained within a larger downward trend. More...

First turtle nests due to hatch any day

This is the time during turtle nesting season that volunteers love. The turtles are coming and going in near record numbers, so Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch volunteers are out on the beach at the crack of dawn finding nests that were laid during the night, and they are beginning to keep their eyes on nests that were laid earlier in the season, which runs from May 1 to Oct. 1.

"The volunteers call their coordinators when they find a nest," said AMITW Director Suzi Fox. "We verify the nest, stake it off and try to be off the beach by 7:30." More...