Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/277189
The board, which has only three members, levies a property tax on commercial land on and around St. Armands Circle. Under the aegis of the district's enabling ordinance, all members of the governing board must be commercial property owners. "I have spoken with some of the larger land- owners," Rappaport said. "Their concern was to have somebody [in the chairman's seat] with the background and knowledge and … a large investment in the circle," said Rappaport. "I got the support from a majority of the land- owners before making this recommendation." The district proved so successful after its establishment that a group of commercial property owners in downtown Sarasota cre- ated a similar tax-collecting body called the Downtown Improvement District. EXOTICS — PEOPLE AND PLANTS A woman dressed in a nun's summer habit continues to generate complaints from mer- chants on St. Armands Circle. "She's setting up at the Edward Jones elevator [entrance]. She knows it's closed on Saturday and Sundays," said Diana Corrigan, the executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association. "She has stationary signs. I don't know what to tell our merchants, why she can do this and they can't. We've spent millions upgrading St. Armands." When the topic came up a month ago, the BID board was told by city police representatives that the woman is exercising her constitu- tional right to free speech. The woman says she is raising money for children in Haiti. In January, St. Armands Circle merchants began complaining that a woman purporting to be a nun was soliciting money from shoppers. Image courtesy St. Armands Business Improvement District Sarasota News Leader March 14, 2014 Page 59