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YourObserver.com 7A Longboat observerTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012

SARASOTA | 7557 S. TAMIAMI TR. 941-894-3090

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The St. Armands Business Improvement District (BID) Board of Directors wants a 10-year extension of the organization in an attempt to further enhance the Circle.

The BID’s goals for the next decade in-clude gathering funds for a parking garage on the Circle, creating public bathrooms, burying power lines, enhancing the land-scaping and creating Circle entrance signs for motorists.

The BID is a special taxing district that St. Armands Circle property owners voted to create to help pay for improvements on the Circle. The BID, which imposes a 2-mill tax on nearly 80 properties, expires in 2013.

But the BID doesn’t intend to move forward with the 10-year extension and a $15,000 referendum effort until it can clarify some issues with the city of Saraso-ta. At its Tuesday meeting, the BID agreed to engage a law firm to begin discussions with the city attorney’s office on some pro-posed changes to the BID prior to moving forward.

That’s because in May 2009, after bal-lots for a referendum to extend the dis-trict were mailed out, the BID became aware that two St. Armands merchants had challenged the interpretation of the state statue under which the BID was formed. Rappaport said the challenge was an attempt for Circle merchants to gain more representation on the board. The referendum ulti-mately failed.

At the time, deputy city at-torney Mike Connolly conclud-ed the statute wasn’t definitive as to who was eligible to serve on the board.

Currently, the BID consists of a merchant landowner and two landowner investors. Rappaport is worried that if a majority of the three-member board was mer-chants or merchant landowners, the board could then choose to use the BID monies to fund special merchant events and pay for a BID executive director salary instead of funding capital-improvement projects.

Currently, the BID doesn’t have an execu-tive director and Rappaport said that 100% of the funds collected are poured back into the Circle for capital improvement proj-ects, advertising, enhanced maintenance and minor BID expenses.

Rappaport presented the desired chang-es for BID board requirements at Tues-day’s BID meeting. The changes mandate a board member must be an owner and taxpayer of property within the district. To avoid conflicts of interest, Rappaport also suggests no two board members can serve if they share ownership on one or more properties within the district.

And to ensure the BID remains a land-owners association, Rappaport proposes that there can never be more than one board member who is both a landowner and a merchant within the district.

Without those changes, Rappaport said the BID does not have the support of the Circle landowners for a simple majority vote of district members to approve an ex-tension of the BID.

“If we don’t get a clear-cut interpreta-tion, it’s not going to go through,” Rappa-port said.

What created tensions between Circle merchants and landowners in 2009 was Connolly’s interpretation that the Sara-sota City Commission could change the requirements of the board members at any time.

“The landowners are wrestling with this bone in their throat that the rug can be pulled out from under them at any time,” Rappaport said.

The board unanimously agreed to move

forward with city discussions in an attempt to garner support for the changes and hold a future discussion with the commission.

Rappaport, meanwhile, suggested the BID, the merchants and the Circle resi-dents must all work together with the city to discuss a future Circle parking garage.

Rappaport and St. Armands Circle As-sociation Executive Director Diana Corri-gan said the Circle’s landowners and mer-chants are working well together right now and agreed that all future discussions re-garding the garage should occur at future Circle Association meetings and not at BID meetings until more input from all parties can be received.

In the meantime, the BID agreed the last 10 years of taxing its Circle property owners an extra 2 mills has been benefi-cial, funding a dozen projects and helping to create more than $2.5 million worth of improvements over the past 10 years (see sidebar).

“It (the BID) could not have worked out better with what we have been able to ac-complish so far,” said DID board member Michael Valentino.

Rappaport said the garage and future projects could take the Circle “to the next level,” and Corrigan said that there’s now a waiting list for “A-level” retailers that are waiting for space to open up on a Circle that’s completely leased out. She said the Circle is having its best season since 2007.

st. armands circle by Kurt schultheis | City Editor

BID board proposes 10-year extension

Making an iMpactThe St. Armands Business Improvement District (BID) has made the following improvements to St. Armands Circle in the past 10 years: • New street lighting with outdoor music provisions• New and repaired sidewalks• Installation of 122 Bose outdoor speakers for music and emergency public address system• Funded a city-approved St. Armands Master Plan• Constructed new neck-out medians and brick-paved crosswalks• Partnered with the city to provide path lights in center park• Partnered with the city to obtain an easement for angled parking

Donated John Ringling statue• Partnered with the city to provide needed benches and trash containers• Partnered with the city to remove newspaper racks and

replace with new models• Sponsored a Circle study that was pre-sented to merchants by a planner

• Renovated all four medians with

a park-like setting that provided curbs, sidewalks, sitting areas, new lighting and enhanced land-scaping• Participated in work-shops to create storm-water improvements to

correct Circle street flooding • Provided financial assistance for the installation of Christmas decorations• Worked with city staff to amend outdoor dining requirements and cre-ate signs and wayfinding signs• Worked with city officials and down-town merchants to help create the Downtown Improvement District (DID)

St. Armands Business Improvement District Chairman Marty Rappaport is proposing a 10-year extension of the BID more than two years after a referendum for such a measure failed.

YourObserver.com 11A EAST COUNTY ObSErvErTHURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012

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At Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, each patient is treated with compassion and dignity by caring professionals whose main focus is YOU.

For more information on emergency services at Lakewood Ranch, call 941-782-2200.

8330 Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Bradenton, FL 34202www.lakewoodranchmedicalcenter.com

Physicians are on the medical staff of Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, but, with limited exceptions, are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Lakewood Ranch Medical

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From a Fractured Femur to the Flu …Lakewood Ranch Medical Center’s Emergency Department is here to help.

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MANATEE COUNTY — East County businesswoman Roe Hyer will never forget her childhood days wondering when her family’s next meal would come or why the heat was cut off — again.

So when the former ballroom dance in-structor, who now owns N2U Salon & Spa, learned about Mooseheart Kids, a residen-tial childcare program led by the Moose International organization, it seemed to be the perfect fit for her charitable ambitions.

“I was such a broke kid,” Nyer said. “If it wasn’t for the VFW or (organizations such as Moose) that came to my house and brought food, we wouldn’t have eaten.

“I want to raise as much money as we can for the kids (in need),” she said.

As a member of the local Moose Lodge 1223, Hyer is organizing the “Dancing For Our Kids” dinner and show fundraiser at 6 p.m. March 31, at the Moose Lodge, 310 44th Ave. E. Proceeds will benefit Moose-heart Child City & School, a childcare fa-cility in Chicago for children nationwide whose families are unable to care for them.

Dinner and dancing will start the eve-ning, followed by an amateur dance com-petition, a professional dance show and open dancing. Tickets cost $45 per person, $80 per couple or $320 for a table of eight. Space is limited to the first 200 guests.

For the amateur competitions, guests can vote for the “most entertaining danc-er” or “best dancer in costume” by paying $1 per vote. There also will be a drawing and a silent auction.

Hyer said she and her ex-husband held several similar dance show fundraisers for charity back in Oklahoma, and the events

quickly expanded. Hyer said she hopes “Dancing For Our Kids” will become an annual event here, as well.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

Salon entrepreneur organizingdance show for Mooseheart kidsN2U Salon & Spa owner Roe Hyer, with the support of Moose Lodge 1123, is organizing a dance show fundraiser March 31, for children who cannot be cared for by their families.

fUNDRAiSeR by Pam Eubanks | News editor

if YoU goDANCiNg FOr OUr KiDSWHEN: 6 p.m. March 31WHErE: Moose Lodge 1223, 310 44th Ave. e., BradentonCOST: $45 per person, $80 per cou-ple or $320 per table of eight. Tables must be paid in full by March 10.bENEFiTS: Mooseheart//Mooseheart Child City & SchoolTiCKETS: Debbie, 727-1515

Pam eubanks

roe Hyer, owner of N2U Salon & Spa and former ballroom dance instructor, hopes to make the dance show fund-raiser an annual event.

Diversions ■ 9 THUrsDAY, MArCH 8, 2012 ■ YourObserver.com

SARASOTA | 7522 SOUTH TAMIAMI TRAIL 941-924-7886

HOuRS | Mon. – Sat. 10AM-6PM Closed Sunday for Worship & Rest


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Plant of the MonthHaving completed my research i wanted to try a little bamboo in

my own landscape. Because i had recently cut some tall old Buford hollies way back on the south side of my house, i was thinking of planting something to re-establish my pri-vacy. My choice (because i am a shameless control freak) was Bambusa Multiplex, the Fernleaf variety. Two nice features of this species are an ultimate height of only 12 feet and the possibility of pruning the canes into a pleasing, hedgelike shape. After a year of growing and spreading, it has pro-vided an attractive, feathery screen that has been most satisfactory.

Bamboo comes in two types: running and clumping.

Bamboo stalks are known for the notches from which the leaves sprout.

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DiveRsiOns ■ 11 THURsDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 ■ YourObserver.com





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This horse sculpture hangs in the master bath and is a carved element from China.

Right: The first level of the home features a glass floor that looks down onto a reflecting pond on the plaza space.

These paintings are by artist Johniene Papandreas, who owns a gallery studio in Province Town, Mass., as well as a studio in st. Petersburg.

This limited-production glass vase adorns the dining table.

Vincent Mastracco’s works are characterized by heavy applications of paint in an organized pattern.

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Diversions ■ 11 THUrsDAY, APriL 12, 2012 ■ YourObserver.com





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organic tomatoes are grown in the veg-etable garden throughout the year. Crinum lily

A view of the home and garden from the end of the driveway.seedpods of the scarlet milkweed

Butterflies and humming-birds enjoy the nectar from the wide variety of plants in the garden.

A pergola, custom-built by Michael Coons, is covered with queen’s wreath in bloom.

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Photos by rachel s. o’Hara

The backyard pool area features lounge chairs, bottle palms and an infinity pool over-looking the Gulf of Mexico.

Blue plumbago Cape honeysuckle

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Bacon's Furniture ad campaign