New Venice Museum exhibit celebrates Sarasota County centennial

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/venice 

Earle Kimel Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Sarasota City Commission first met in the Hoover Arcade, which was built in 1913 at the foot of Main Street.  It was purchased by the city in 1917

PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE VENICE MUSEUM

VENICE – A new photo exhibit that opens Tuesday at the Venice Museum, “Celebrating a Centennial: The Origins of Sarasota County,” looks back at the era when Sarasota County split off from Manatee County, with a decidedly Venice twist.

“The Venice district was the only district that did not vote to separate from Manatee County,” noted Venice Historical Resources Manager Harry Klinkhamer.

The June 1921 vote passed overwhelmingly, 508 to 154, but in Venice, it failed with a tally of 22 votes for and 30 against, according to the front page of the Sarasota County Times. The county’s official founding date is July 1, 2021.

“Keep in mind it’s 1921; there weren't a whole lot of people out there,” said Klinkhamer, who added that only male property owners voted.

Back then, the name Venice referred to the area now known as Nokomis, and the district extended from Nokomis to the Myakka River area, with Sarasota, Osprey, Englewood, Miakka and Manasota the other available districts.

Englewood voters logged in with a unanimous 25-0 approval of the measure.

“There were enough votes in the city of Sarasota alone to make it happen,” Klinkhamer said.

In the city of Sarasota, the vote was 406-118 for creation of the new county.

The Venice Museum is in the Triangle Inn at 351 Nassau St. S., on the Venice Cultural Campus, and is generally open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, though it is closed Jan. 18 for the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

More featured events highlighting Sarasota County’s centennial can be found at sarasotacountycentennial.com.

Kinkhamer said the exhibit in Venice mostly comprises historical photos with extended captions.

Venice voters were worried about Sarasota County’s ability to succeed on its own.

“There had been meetings over at the old Pollyanna Inn; that was the hotel built by Dr. Albee in Nokomis,” Klinkhamer said.

Dr. Fred Albee, a wealthy orthopedic surgeon, would later buy 2,916 acres of what is now the island of Venice in 1925 and hired urban planner John Nolen to design the city.

Before working on the Venice plan, Nolen designed Sarasota.

Albee later sold Venice to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which retained Nolen.

The first street in Venice opened in June 1926. The city itself was incorporated in 1927 and will be gearing up for its centennial celebration in 2027.

Though Venice’s founding fathers had worried about the success of Sarasota County, heirs of Bertha Honore Palmer, who had bought more than 80,000 acres in and around Sarasota, made a pitch to bring the county seat to the area.

“The Palmer family offered up land and money to build a courthouse, and they got turned down on a technicality,” Klinkhamer said.

Scaffolding surrounds the east wing of Sarasota County’s historic courthouse in June 12, 2017. By then, workers restoring the building had completed the roof and tower and were starting on restoring ironwork, stripping old paint and repainting the exterior of the east wing.

The first Sarasota County Commission, which was appointed by the governor, operated out of rented space in the Hover Arcade in the city of Sarasota.

The now historic Sarasota County Courthouse was built in 1927.

The exhibit in the Venice Museum will be available through Jan. 12, 2022.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

Golf cart rules in West Villages explained at Wednesday meeting

 By CRAIG GARRETT Staff Writer Jan 17, 2021

https://www.yoursun.com/northport/news/golf-cart-rules-in-west-villages-explained-at-wednesday-meeting/

NORTH PORT — Rules of the road get discussed Wednesday at the West Villages.

But not for motorists. Rather, this discussion focuses on golf cart operators, particularly kids and their parents. Neighbors had complained that children and teens on golf carts within the West Villages had been sometimes reckless, were often underage.

Others are confused about which type of golf cart is allowed where, including operators crisscrossing Tamiami Trail at the busy West Villages Parkway intersection.

North Port police, the town’s mayor and others will log into a Wednesday Zoom meeting to explain precise rules for operating a golf cart and how to modify one to make it street legal. Citywide laws get explained, as well, specifically in the West Villages, where buyers are sold the idea that golf carts are accepted transportation. But the rules were sometimes enforced, sometimes not.

Wednesday’s meeting will clear the air.

“We’re looking at this (meeting) as a safety issue. Get the information … and know,” said William Crosley, district manager for the West Villages Improvement District, the governing body within that sprawling series of neighborhoods and communities.

North Port in the last year had tweaked its golf cart rules. Some owners that included police and public officials, in fact, had plied local streets on the vehicles, some out of compliance with safety rules or with underage operators at the wheel.

North Port police interpreted the rules as not allowing basic golf carts on streets, the ones designed to haul a couple of guys and their clubs down 300-yard fairways.

Everything else was fair game, though. You could, for instance, operate modified golf carts with state-approved upgrades such as lighting, turn signals, licenses, seat belts and insurance.

And one odd rule was that a North Port golf cart dealer couldn’t rent his products. In the backdrop of all of this, some North Port retail centers had been built with designated golf cart parking spots, meaning the carts had to somehow get there.

Operating rules to reflect Florida laws were introduced. A final reading of new North Port standards is pending.

Wednesday’s virtual meeting is to explain the rules and to provide options for upgrading a golf cart. It is open to the public at westvillagesid.org.

Some in West Villages had reported kids on golf carts acting recklessly, some well under age 14, the legal limit for a regular golf cart. That and explaining the rules prompted Wednesday’s meeting, said Jill Luke, North Port’s mayor.

“Rules (for years) were not enforced,” she said. “Now there’s so much activity, this has come up.”

West Villager and golf cart owner John Meisel said kids sometimes scorn driving rules, pull one another on skateboards, race around and act … like children.

“Is it my place to police parents? No,” he said. “But most people are pretty good about it.”

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

P.A.W.S. celebrating a decade of service

 https://www.yoursun.com/venice/p-a-w-s-celebrating-a-decade-of-service/article_7f988b22-4319-11eb-b8cc-f357f0c0ba30.html

Staff Report Jan 2, 2021

Photo Provided by Rachel Duke  

Pet Advocates Working in the Suncoast Child Protection Center is celebrating it's 10th Anniversary.

SARASOTA - The Children Protection Center is celebrating a decade of its program Pet Advocates Working in the Suncoast.

Known as P.A.W.S., it uses "nationally certified pet therapy dogs whose handlers are volunteers who have received training on mandatory reporting of child abuse and dynamics that surround child sexual abuse," it said in an email. 

"P.A.W.S. dogs have been utilized in the following capacity: stress relief for clients and staff, the State Attorney’s Office for pre-filing interviews, depositions and trial, YMCA Youth Shelter, Ringling College students, state and national presentations with the Florida Network of Children’s Advocacy Center and the National Child Protection Training Center."

It was founded by Danielle Hughes.

Hughes is a team coordinator of the Child Protection Team and 2020’s Child Advocate of the Year. Her dog, Harley Duke, inspired the program "to benefit children in the traumatic and stressful situations that occur after child abuse," the email noted. 

For more information about assisting the Child Protection Center, contact Sheila Miller 941-365-1277 Ext. 111

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179