Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/161733
THAT'S A WRAP! Plans call for the Siesta trolley to make stops at Southgate Mall, where Sarasota County Area Transit already has a stop. Photo by Rachel Hackney THE COUNTY COMMISSION OPTS TO PROCEED WITH PLANS FOR TROLLEY SERVICE TO SIESTA KEY, STARTING IN THE SUMMER OF 2014, INSTEAD OF FUNDING A NEW UNIVERSITY PARKWAY ROUTE RIGHT NOW By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor With perpetual concerns about parking on Siesta Key, the Sarasota County Commission this week moved ahead on a plan to implement trolley service — in the form of a regular bus with appropriate decal "wrapping" to make it resemble a trolley — starting after July 2014. The unanimous vote came at the end of a discussion that pitted the Siesta route against new service for University Parkway — including service at the forthcoming University Town Center and the Benderson Park rowing venue. What won the day was the ongoing worry about the county's future budgets. While Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) has a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to cover half of the Siesta It beats not having a parking trolley's operating explace, which is a complaint that I penses for three years, constantly get. no money is available right now for the proNora Patterson Commissioner posed University ParkSarasota County way route.