Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/223368
Sarasota News Leader December 6, 2013 Page 113 Siesta Seen "We actually didn't need him there at all," Smith replied. However, more help would have been preferable at the beach, Smith noted. "[T]he buses had a great deal of difficulty getting into the parking lot [at Siesta Public Beach]." The biggest problem was the number of beachgoers loading and unloading passengers in the area closest to the beach, Smith said. If deputies had patrolled that section of the parking lot, he continued, "That would have helped tremendously." No matter how often deputies advise drivers to make their drop-offs as quickly as possible and move on, McGregor pointed out, when one driver heads away, "there's four more to take [his] place. … With the new beach lot, we tried to get a drop-off lane-type thing put in." "Didn't the county nix that?" SKVA Vice President Kay Kouvatsos asked. "Yes," McGregor told her. After the meeting, I contacted Carolyn Brown, the county's director of Parks and Recreation, "Definitely easier said than done," McGregor to ask her about that. Brown responded in an responded of keeping that lane open. In his email, "[T]he final park design (for the future) many years of beach duty, he explained, traf- includes a drop-off area." fic management has been one of the biggest Kouvatsos, McGregor and Brown were referheadaches. ring to Sarasota County plans to implement Without a dedicated area for drivers to drop off passengers, Sarasota County deputies say it can be difficult to keep traffic moving smoothly through the Siesta Public Beach parking lot. File photo