Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/260020
preparing now. "That's 22 new opportunities for public art," he pointed out. Kafi Benz, Warner's associate on the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) advisory board, gave the art committee a primer on what is required for objects to be placed in the centers of roundabouts. "To put a sculpture there, you need to put a platform in the center," she said. "It's important to have objects that do not attract people to it, to look more carefully, or be photographed in front of it." Sarasota already has one of those objects. The sailor's VJ-Day kiss memorialized in alu- minum — Unconditional Surrender — has proved a huge "Kodak moment" for visitors to the city's bayfront. Having it at the center of a busy roundabout would be an invitation to catastrophe. Warner said any sculpture would need to be built to withstand hurricane-force winds, but such art also needs to be "a tall, vertical ele- ment." The issue for the public Art Committee, he said, is timing. "There are 10 [roundabouts planned for] U.S. 41 and University Parkway. They are spaced regularly down the corridor," said Warner. "And we just filed with the MPO to add a roundabout at Ringling [Boulevard] and 41." A map shows the locations of roundabouts planned along the U.S. 41 corridor in Sarasota County. Image courtesy City of Sarasota Sarasota News Leader February 14, 2014 Page 46