THURSDAY May 26, 7 pm  AVNA: Alta Vista Neighborhood Association meeting.  At CORE SRQ (the "Y" at corner of Euclid & Bahia Vista).  See the AVNA MeetUp website for more details .  
May Meeting Agenda:  Public Schools discussion, also Hatton Street Traffic Calming. See also Traffic Calming
City rep will present Hatton Street traffic calming options (Striping and signage, chicane, speed table) to be decided by meeting participants, after which resident signatures will be required to move forward.

Monday May 23, 3 - 7pm, City Hall Annex Media Studio:  public educational open house about Complete Streets.  Specific to two upcoming Complete Street projects in planning for Boulevard of the Arts.  3pm - 4:30pm section west of US41, 5:30pm Boulevard of the Arts and 10th Street east of US41.   Also, see our  Ringling Trail page for more details about our neighborhood's local Complete Street project, or go to this open house for general info about Complete Streets (other than details specific to  Ringling Blvd project).

2022 ongoing:  Save Pink Floyd  "Pink Floyd" is a great old live oak, one of several, in neighboring area Arlington Park, on Floyd Street just east of Shade Avenue.  It's on a private lot that has recently been sold and is slated for several new houses. Including destruction of these trees.  Neighbors are investigating ways of that not happening, of saving these beautiful grand trees. The City has lately been working on revising the tree protection ordinance, yet even that, & County & State rules, will not protect this grand tree.  We in Alta Vista neighborhood have lost much of our large, old trees, but it's not too late to save some nearby.  Latest:  community action has resulted in the developer saying they will save (expect for pruning one major limb) this tree.  For more info see the  Arlington Park neighborhood website.

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Extension of the  Legacy Trail  is now open in our neighborhood (March 2022)!!!  Ride or stroll down to Pinecraft, or even to Venice!  New road crossings with signage and flashers have been installed on Shade Ave plus two places on School Ave, one south of Payne Park Village and one north of PPV (where the old "blinking light" used to be).
Drivers:  watch for the new pedestrian/bicycle crossings!  Please be careful not to kill pedestrians and cyclists. And needless to say, bikers and peds, watch out for cars, they can hurt you.

March 3, 2022, 9am, celebration of opening of trail at Payne Park

Jan 2022  Have you wondered about that new Construction Site at Hatton & Shade?  Actually, they're using the land as a remote work site (materials, equipment, etc) for a streetlights project down on Bee Ridge.  Nothing's actually being constructed on the Hatton/Shade lot, not right now, at any rate.

Feb 28 AVNA meeting, where candidacies for AVNA Board were to be accepted, was cancelled at the last moment, because no-one had RSVPed to AVNA via their MeetUp page.  Consequently, incumbents remain on Board by default.

Feb 22 (Tuesday) City Commission meeting, City Hall, starting 9am.  Tree Protection Ordinance on the agenda. (This was to be scheduled for a Special meeting, but I was told -- by the City Clerk's office on Feb 15 -- that it was the Commission's call to include it in (another) regular Commission meeting).  For a bit of background on this issue see Tree Protection Ordinance page .

Feb 17 (Thurs), 5pm, City Hall Media Studio, Public Meeting on Recreational Trails Program. Presentation & Q&A about Legacy Trail, Payne Park connections, Alderman MURT...  For a bit more info & links, see Legacy Trail Extension .

Fri & Sat Feb 4 & 5, Concordia's legendary RUMMAGE SALE, Concordia Lutheran Church on Wood Street at School Ave. This is always One Good Rummage Sale!!!

Sarasota Orchestra in Payne Park 3.1:  NOT!   Sept 9 Observer article reports that Sarasota Orchestra definitively will not be looking to build in Payne Park.  (Read about the history of this issue.)

Summer - 2021 Sewer Mains/Laterals Lining   You may see trucks about, and fresh green marking paint on manhole covers. The City is continuing its project of relining (instead of digging/replacing) a lot of the old sewer lines, many dating to the 1950s, now in our neighborhood.  The process, sequentially:  first they jet the lines (like power washing), then run a camera through them to see what they need to see, then they re-line the old pipes.  (No, they don't do the pipes that run between the street and each house.)  See www.sarasotafl.gov/government/utilities/utility-construction-projects

2021 Sarasota High School construction.  They've totally redone the football field: new drainage and artificial turf, and a big new state-of-the-art video scoreboard.  Also, they plan to be replacing the asphalt track with improved, rubberized surface.   (A little editorial footnote: Once upon a time the School District offered to let local residents use these athletic facilities during summer break; however, with modern security concerns plus alleged constant, year-round school activities, this offer of sharing with the taxpayers has fallen by the wayside.)  Also, six new portable classrooms have been put in to accommodate increased number of students. 

Summer 2021  Big Drone Sightings!  No, not alien spaceships.  Rather, FPL is having a contractor survey their overhead electric lines, using drone camera technology, in our neighborhood to see where they need to do tree trimming again.