CENTER FACING ‘CRISIS’

ANNA MARIA – The Island Community Center board of directors has called an emergency meeting of the community on Wednesday, June 4, at 6:30 p.m. to help Save the Center.

“It’s a crisis situation that could result in the loss of the Community Center for the community,” Executive Director Dawn Stiles stressed. “We are reaching out to the community to say we need to come together. More...

Fee hike sparks outrage

BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners recently approved a 15 percent stormwater fee increase that left some Bradenton Beach property owners very unhappy.

Commissioners also agreed to do away with the stormwater credits that for the past 10 years have provided significant discounts for property owners who took additional steps to retain and mitigate water on their property, as opposed to allowing it to run into the city system or nearby waterways.

When annual stormwater assessment bills are mailed out this summer, the owner of a single family home will receive a rate increase from $100 to $115, with an additional $11.50 charged for an impervious paved driveway, a tennis court and/or a pool with decking. More...

Four rescued from Gulf

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued four men from the Gulf of Mexico Sunday about 20 nautical miles from Anna Maria Island after their 28-foot boat capsized. One of the men contacted Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector in St. Petersburg via VHF-FM channel 16 to say the boat was taking on water with four people aboard. Everyone had a life jacket. After the initial contact, Watchstanders lost communication with the boaters and issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast. More...

Tiki Bar site plan set for June vote

HOLMES BEACH –The months-long saga for Nicole Heslop’s attempt to obtain city approval for her Barefoot Tiki Bar and Café may soon be coming to a conclusion.

City Planner Bill Brisson recommended approval of the site plan, and city commissioners said they plan to vote on it June 24.

“I heard there would be a special exception given for the outdoor dining and entertainment, but there’s nothing in your code that provides for that, so I’m suggesting that we approve it as part of the site plan,” Brisson told the board. More...

Paid parking discussion cont06-04-14/inues

ANNA MARIA – Commissioners reached consensus on some basic elements of a proposed citywide paid parking program, but last week’s special commission work session also left many questions still unanswered.

Based on these preliminary decisions, city staff has been asked to create a draft version of a parking ordinance that will serve as a starting point while additional details are ironed out. More...

Residents also chime in

ANNA MARIA – Last week’s special commission work session provided Anna Maria residents an opportunity to share their views on a proposed paid parking program.

Marsha Lindsey encouraged the commission to push the Manatee County Tourist Development Council for funding assistance.

“Since the TDC sold Anna Maria so well, why are we not holding somebody’s feet to the fire here to get some help?” she said. More...

Parking concepts meet with speculation

City exonerated in Sunshine complaint

HOLMES BEACH –The Bradenton Police Department (BPD) has recommended that city commissioners and attorneys be exonerated of allegations that they violated Florida’s Sunshine Law.

Last fall, attorney David Levin, representing tree house owners Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen, said a shade meeting the city commissioners and attorneys held to discuss litigation strategy on the appeal of the code enforcement board’s order regarding the tree house was a violation of the Sunshine Law. More...

Second firm joins pier bid protest

BRADENTON BEACH – Tampa Bay Marine Inc. has joined Pac Comm in protesting the city commission’s decision to award the city pier reconstruction project to Sarasota-based Duncan Seawall & Dock.

Last week, the city received a letter from Tampa Bay Marine General Manager Chris Theriot.

“Article 6.03 states that the bid will be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. I believe we were the lowest responsible bidder,” his letter states. More...

Fishing the Toccoa River

Although Georgia isn’t known as a premier destination for freshwater trout, fly anglers can find some excellent fishing for rainbow, brown and brook trout in the state’s northern waters. I’ve fished the area near Helen on several occasions and had some excellent days on both private and public waters.

Earlier this month I fished the Toccoa River near Blue Ridge with Bob Seeger. Seeger and his wife, Judy, moved to the area from Longboat Key several years ago. On a previous trip to the area, I had treated Seeger to a day of fishing on the Chattahoochee River and on this visit Seeger was returning the favor. More...

Prepare for hurricane season

Nantucket Island, Mass., has an expression for residents who were not actually born on the island. These poor people, no matter how many millions of dollars they spend on island homes and no matter how many years they live on the island, are still referred to as “wash-ashores.” The majority of Anna Maria Island residents are also wash-ashores, and we’re all happy to have them, but the one wash-ashore that we’re never happy to have is the hurricane that annually threatens to wash ashore.

Every year on June 1, when the official start of hurricane season begins those of us who live in a flood hazard area, which is all of Anna Maria Island as well as the mainland shoreline, collectively hold our breath until November. This year, according to all of the hurricane forecasters, is predicted to be a quiet one. This comes on the heels of the 2013 season, which was one of the quietest hurricane seasons in decades. More...

Warren Buffett likes indexing

The most often quoted investor of our time, Warren Buffett, recently made a statement that if he pre-deceased his wife he would recommend that she put 90 percent of her inheritance in an S&P 500 index fund and 10 percent in a short term government bond index fund.

This remark caught the attention of many since Mr. Buffett has become famous for his active and concentrated investment approach which has soundly beaten the S&P 500 over the last 30 years. The idea of passively indexing an investment portfolio is not a bad one, but brings challenges for the average investor. More...

Tournament Time!

The end of another school year is quickly approaching and with it comes youth basketball tournament time at the Anna Maria Island Community Center. All three youth divisions will be concluding their seasons on Friday night in the Center’s gym.

The tournament started on Saturday afternoon and some teams have been eliminated already. In the 11-to-13-year-old division, the number two seeded Bridge Tender Inn defeated the number three seeded Sandbar restaurant team by a score of 32 to 16. More...