Since we are having an election soon (and lots of candidates) there should be lots of questions floating around...

Dear Candidates:

Do you think all new / renovation construction projects built with City money should have to meet a minimum level of "greenness" LEED certified maybe... (what about the police station and baseball stadium???)

Should the City fleet only have "green" vehicles?

What will you do to make US 41 calmer so the bayfront and downtown neighborhoods are not cut in half?

How will you make mass transit work better?

The US Conference of Mayors are discussing these topics...

Mote Marines aquaculture project was in the news today. With the opening of Roy's in Sarasota famous chef Roy Yamaguchi was at the mote research facility out on Fruitville Road.

Learn more on the Mote website and read about the Research Center

Aquaculture Research & Development

Dr. Kevan L. Main, Center DirectorCENTER MISSION

The mission of Mote's Center for Aquaculture Research and Development is to develop new, innovative, and cost-effective systems and husbandry techniques to produce high-value marine and freshwater fishes and invertebrates. 

The goal of this research center is to advance the aquaculture industry and to support and expand stock enhancement research in Florida and worldwide. The majority of our research activities are located at Mote Aquaculture Park in eastern Sarasota County, Florida. We also conduct marine research at Mote Marine Laboratory's main campus and at Mote's field stations in the Florida Keys.

Payne Park is under construction. I hope it goes fast... guess where I got these pictures from. I need to find my pictures from a few years ago -- yes I have pictures of the old trailer park that was on this land.

Here is the skate park and off to the left is the "Scotty's Property" that is moving through the development process.

It is a very big park. A nice walking trail and lots of trees will be great.

Before I moved to Sarasota I had a solar hot water system that I designed and built. It provided about 98% of my hot water use over the course of a year (it was near Gainesville). We had the luxury of almost unlimited hot water most of the time.

I know it works well... since I am older and lazy I want to buy a system. Now is the time. Do you know of a good dealer / installer?

There is a 30% federal tax credit and Florida is about to offer a partial rebate ...

Read more about the rebate in this press release

Go visit the Florida Energy Office

I didn't post anything last week. I was out of town on a sorely needed vacation. Even then I had to worry about "big city" problems...

I was stuck in traffic

I found the car I want ...seems Cruise Car a Sarasota based company has lots of cool electrics including a small trolley type that would be great for Main St.

Looks easy to park and you just plug in for power. Sustainable Sarasota did a good job putting this together. I was there sort of early I hope more people showed up...

I heard a good band while I was there got their CD StitchCraft

One of the sessions I attended at the Manasota Regional Neighborhoods Program was ...

Rob Wright of Sarasota County leading a team of speakers discussing what your neighborhood can do to begin to understand it's environment and understand how to make it better using a "NEST" -- Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team

We heard stories about Florida Yards and neighborhoods saving millions of gallons of water used for irrigation. I really want to learn where "my" stormwater runoff goes. Amber a New College student told us about the Bay Neighbor Program where they are doing that around the Indian Beach Sapphire Shores Neighborhood.

Some of the programs discussed included:

University of Florida/IFAS Sarasota County Extension

Florida Yards & Neighborhoods

Some other resources include:
Florida Native Plant Society

Florida Wild Flower Council