Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/124273
Sarasota News Leader April 26, 2013 Page 100 Siesta Seen When I asked for more details, Stublen called. "They haven't really done anything," he said of FDOT engineers in Sarasota County. "It's just like a water-cooler-type deal" at this time, he added. No studies have been undertaken yet of the possibility. Smith added for verification that he has seen Championship's invoice. "Hopefully, in our lifetime, we'll get [a pole] back," he said. SPEAKING OF SPEEDING DRIVERS … He promised to let me know if the situation During the April 4 Siesta Key Association changes. meeting, Ryan Montague from the county's Traffic/Mobility Office reported on data from THAT LIGHT POLE the radar signs the county installed on Siesta On a not-so-happy note from my discussion Key about 18 months ago at the urging of the with Mark Smith: Regular readers of this col- SKA. umn will recall that shortly after Championship took over the Village maintenance last He explained that the signs were set in "stealth mode" at the outset, to create a baseline for year, a driver knocked down the light pole the information they would record about drivnear Siesta Beach Resort & Suites, located at ers' speeds. In that "stealth mode," he pointed 5311 Ocean Blvd. out, they were on but not flashing speeds as An allegedly drunken female driver was at vehicles passed them. fault, Smith has explained in past Siesta Key During that initial period, Montague said, Village Association meetings, and Sarasota traffic heading west near Siesta Public Beach County staff has been pursuing payment for drove an average of 32 mph, while eastbound a new pole from the driver's insurance com- traffic registered an average of 30 mph. pany. The speed limit on that portion of Beach Road During the SKVA meeting on April 2, Smith is 30 mph. noted the pole "is currently missing in action." For Ocean Boulevard: traffic headed northWhen I asked for an update on that status last bound out of Siesta Village had an average week, he replied, "The light pole [situation] speed of 34 mph in the 35 mph zone, and has just been a fiasco. … I feel like it's being northbound traffic on Midnight Pass Road had held hostage by the company that has [the an average speed of 51 mph in the 40 mph pole]." zone. The latest news, Smith said, is that Champion- SKA members long had complained of trafship has paid about $2,600 for the new pole, fic moving rather fast on the long straight stretch of Midnight Pass Road near the Higel but "it just hasn't been shipped."