Realize Bradenton launches afternoon concerts on the courthouse lawn

Who says all of the good stuff happens during Snowbird season?

Starting Wednesday Realize Bradenton will  host a series of free concerts on the courthouse lawn. The courthouse concerts will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Wednesday in May.

Concert goers are welcome to bring a picnic to the courthouse lawn. Bradenton is partnering with the Food Bank of Manatee during the events, so picnickers are asked to add a non-perishable item to their picnic baskets to be donated to the food bank. For those who don't want to pack their own picnics, Renaissance on 9th will offer boxed lunches for sale.

Wednesday's inaugural concert will feature the State College of Florida Jazz Ensemble.

Other concerts to follow are:

  

·         May 11:  Michael Mac (Acoustic, blues, jazz)

·         May 18:  Henry Lawrence (Blues, R&B)

·         May 25:  Atlantico Tropical (Folk, dance music with Caribbean influence)

 

Laura McKeithen, who leads creative services and community building for Realize Bradenton, said she got to idea for lunchtime concerts from popular events in other towns. DeCatur, Ga. features the concerts and they are the city's most popular events. 

McKeithen wanted to feature local talent and diverse music in the afternoon concerts. She envisions business people networking, moms pushing strollers and seniors enjoying the music on the courthouse lawn. The concerts will be a regular event every spring and fall she said. 

The will start this month even though the courthouse is still under construction. McKeithen said she hopes that by starting now, once the construction is complete, word-of-mouth will spread about the quality of the events. She plans a huge concert kick-off next April when the courthouse construction is scheduled to be completed.

"I think it's an event that will really grow," she said. "It's a great thing for seniors to come to in the afternoon and it's great for people who work downtown."

She wants to feature all kinds of music from Caribbean and Latin to Classical and Jazz.

"I want to highlight local talent, support businesses and give people an opportunity to have a great time in the middle of the afternoon," McKeithen said.

Manatee County employee saves taxpayers' cash

"It's always my pleasure to save money," Regina Worley,  mail services coordinator for the county's property management department, told county commissioners Tuesday.

She must have gotten a real rush recently when her suggestion to the county led to nearly $25,000 in savings for taxpayers.

When she transferred into the job of mail services coordinator, Worley met with mail courier professionals to find out what the best practices were for handling mail. During that meeting she discovered several things the county could easily change that would save money.

The biggest single savings comes from switching to e-certified mail. The county sends out 13,000 pieces of certified mail and by getting confirmation of service electronically instead of by those little green postcards, the county could save $1.20 each piece, for a total savings of about $15,600 a year. She also learned that certified mail could be sent out at a pre-sort rate, saving the county another .026 cents per piece.

Other savings come by checking standard delivery for Federal Express, which is an overnight delivery of 3 p.m. rather than a 10:30 a.m. delivery. That saves the county $2.25 on each Fed Ex delivery.

Using regular envelopes, which can be mailed at the pre-sort rate, rather than large manila envelopes saves the county as much as 44 cents per piece. Using typed address labels or typing addresses on envelopes, rather than having hand-written addresses, allows mail services to use the pre-sort rate, saving .026 cents for each piece.

Worley realized it all adds up pretty quickly and made her suggestions to the county, earning her a PRIDE award for innovative and dedicated employees.

Bradenton in centerfield when the Rays play the Marlins June 18

It's a chance to show off the city and county: Bradenton Community Night with the Tampa Bay Rays.

In its fifth year, Bradenton night with the Rays is one of the most popular nights for professional baseball among Bradenton residents. And it's a hit with the Rays, too, because Bradenton residents come out in full force.

Residents get a deal on tickets and  the city is featured throughout the game -- from the first pitch (either a local dignitary or local hero gets the honor of throwing out the first ball) to the seventh-inning stretch in which a Bradenton resident can lead the crowd in song.

"This is a chance to highlight Bradenton," said Dan Newhart, a group sales account executive for the Rays. "Before the game we put on a promotional video from the city, the mayor gets to welcome the crowd to Bradenton Night with the Rays and the groups that come out get their names on the board."

Tickets are already on sale at City Hall for the June 18 game, when the Rays play the Florida Marlins at 7:10 p.m. Residents have two seating options: for $10 they can get seats in the upper level overhang in left field, where previous Bradenton night seats have been sold, or for $17 seats in the lower level of the left field are available. The city has 300 seats available in each section.

Tickets are available at City Hall by contacting Tim McCann at 941-932-9497 or e-mailing tim.mccann@cityofbradenton.com. Credit card sales are not available.

Manatee County officials respond to Bayshore Garden residents' pleas

Bayshore Gardens residents are not afraid to voice their opinions. The folks living in this community built in the late 1950s want to see it preserved. They believe that it can regain its former glory with some tender loving care, tough regulations and some attention from the county.

The residents have been working to provide the TLC, the county is drafting new land development regulations that could provide the teeth residents want to keep older properties from deteriorating. And after listening to residents' concerns last week about houses burned in a series of arson fires, which I reported here on Friday, the county staff has found some grant money to begin demolishing those houses.

John Barnott, the county's building and development services director, said the county plans to use neighborhood stabilization grants to demolish one of the houses that was the target of arson.

Response to arsons shows community spirit still alive in Bayshore Gardens

Their neighborhood is showing its age in some disturbing ways, but the community spirit is still alive in many residents of Bayshore Gardens in Bradenton.

Thursday night, neighborhood residents met with Manatee County officials to share their concerns, and at the top of their list was a rash of apparent arson fires over the past 18 months and the effect they are having in Bayshore Gardens.

Life wasn't always so tough in Bayshore Gardens, as Herald staff writer Vin Mannix learned last year when he profiled the neighborhood:

Ray Omlor looked on as his wife, Roberta, made lemonade the old fashioned way, a homemaker’s ritual she’s performed in that cozy kitchen for a long, long time.

Try 50 years.

She used a juicer for their children and their friends.

Now she uses one for their grandchildren and guests who keep coming back for more.

Her secret?

“Sugar, water and lots of lemons,” said Omlor, 72.

Homegrown lemons, that is.

Grown in her backyard along with grapefruit, peaches and pineapples, as well as celery, lettuce and tomatoes.
“It’s fun to go out and pick your own,” Omlor said. “You know where they came from.”

Right there in Bayshore Gardens, where most of the streets were named by the developers after colleges and universities — i.e., Auburn, Dartmouth, Emory, Harvard, Rollins, Tulane, Wellesley. It is part of the old neighborhood charm that surrounds the Omlors, one of 1,400-plus families who live in the working-class community south of 60th Avenue West between U.S. 41 and Sarasota Bay.

Lying on their dining room table nearby was a brochure, yellowed with age, that offered a fascinating glimpse back into another time:

“Bayshore Gardens. On Sarasota Bay. The Utmost in Florida Living.”

It was from the late 1950s and depicted scenes of families boating, golfing and fishing — like something straight out of the old “Ozzie and Harriet Show.”

Especially the price of a ranch-style home back then.

There were several models offered, and the Bird of Paradise was the priciest at $15,490.

The Omlors’ three-bedroom home, the Century, cost $11,590.

“We splurged and paid another $250 for terrazzo floors,” she said with a laugh.

After life in Philadelphia, Bayshore Gardens was paradise.

Read the whole thing here

Save twice: Manatee County residents can avoid the gas pumps and get a free bus ride

Come on and get a free ride: Edgar Winter said it first, but Manatee County Area Transit (MCAT) means it -- at least for a day.

In celebration of Transit Day on Tuesday, April 19, MCAT is offering free rides all day long. So commuters can avoid the high gas prices at the pumps and even save $1.25 on the bus fare.

Now try to get that tune out of your head.

Volunteer board positions open for Myakka City Fire Control District

The Manatee County Commission is accepting applications for three vacancies at the Myakka City Fire Control District which operates  fire stations on Wauchula Road in Myakka and on State Road 70 near Verna Bethany.

The board controls the fire district, with the authority to spend money, incur debt, and hire and fire personnel. The board meets once a month. The volunteer position is for a four-year term.

The Myakka City Fire Control District was established in 1986 by a special act of the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners.  The Fire District is located east of County Road 675 and extends easterly to the Desoto and Hardee County lines.  The district responds to more than 500 emergency calls annually, covering an area of 230 square miles.  

All Myakka residents are eligible to apply, but each seat has residency requirements. To learn more, contact Myakka City Fire Chief Dan Cacchiotti at (941) 322-6525 or e-mail him at dpacchiotti@myakkafire.org. To get an application go to www.mymanatee.org/advisory_boards.

Applications are due May 15.

Neighbors want say in design of 44th Avenue East

Highland Ridge homeowners are meeting with County Commissioner Robin DiSabatino tonight to discuss "the stark reality" of the 44th Avenue extension that will soon pass their neighborhood.

The extension is a planned east -west thoroughfare that was designed as an evacuation route in the case of a hurricane. It has been in the works for decades, but somehow the people who bought into the newly developed community 10 years ago never got word of the new four-lane road.

Residents recently told commissioners that they are concerned that a wide road running past their community will create noise, increase traffic and will be a huge safety concern.

In deference to their concerns, commissioners asked the county's staff to examine several options that might make the new road less imposing. those suggestions included, narrowing the road from four lanes to two along the neighborhood corridor, which stretches less than two miles; slowing traffic from 45 mph to 35 mph in that corridor and determining the best buffering for the neighborhoods.

DiSabatino will meet with Highland Ridge homeowners to answer their questions and to discuss whether such measures address all of the neighborhoods' concerns.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. overlooking the proposed expansion site. Residents should meet in the backyard at 3102 43rd Ave. E..

Welcome to "Off the Agenda"

Welcome to "Off the Agenda."