Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/127088
Sarasota News Leader May 3, 2013 OPINION Page 68 rants on her street often keep the travel lanes blocked up for overly long periods, creating headaches for residents trying to reach their homes. Furthermore, when one of the more recent suggestions focused on the lot for sale at the intersection of Treasure Boat Way and Ocean Boulevard — on the north end of the Village — residents of that neighborhood warned they Both Merkle and Erne spoke about the dan- would fight any move to place a county-owned gerous conditions traffic has created for peo- parking facility there: Too much noise, they ple who call Siesta home. said. Yet other residents have complained about And as the County Commission this week neighbors "selling" spaces in yards for $10 or waded through a long list of unfunded projmore, even though that is a violation of the ects, it is quite clear it does not have a few excounty code. tra tens of millions of dollars lying around to For that matter, one long-time resident of Siesta recently told The Sarasota News Leader that during season, he stopped driving into Siesta Village from his home in a condominium complex on Midnight Pass Road. He feared he would be unable to find a "safe" parking place — in other words, he did not want to have his evening ruined by finding his vehicle had been towed. In the years right before the recession hit, it seemed the local news media was awash with stories about cars being towed away from businesses in Siesta Village, even when shops were closed and spaces sat empty at night. Obviously, those towing fears have been fully revived with the influx of folks this season. Yet, in times past, regular attendees at Siesta Key Association meetings will recall that Commissioner Nora Patterson — who lives on the island — has shot down ideas about the county's building a parking deck on the outskirts of Siesta Village: Too expensive, she has maintained. buy a parcel on the island and put up a parking garage. Patterson also has never hesitated to shoot down the idea of the county's charging people to park at Siesta Public Beach, to raise funds that could pay for the purchase and construction of a parking deck somewhere on the island. Our belief, though, is that the parking issue has come to the proverbial point of "critical mass." This, after all, is the age of social media. Could postings on Facebook or Twitter, fueled by angry drivers, start warning people away from Siesta Key because there is no place to park? Yes, it has been lovely to use the Siesta Public Beach lot for free — when you could find a space. Just last week, the County Commission approved a change in an ordinance to make it illegal for a person to block a vehicle from entering a parking space in a county park in an effort to save the space for friends or family members. The Sarasota County Sheriff's