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Siesta Seen (Keeping the key beautiful is one of Shay's keen interests.) The organization worked with its usual Adopt-A-Road partners, the Siesta Key Village Association and Bay Island-Siesta Key to clean Siesta Key Public Beach from Point of Rocks north to Beach Access 2, as well as the beach accesses on that stretch; Ocean Boulevard from Beach Road north to Higel Avenue; and Higel from Ocean Boulevard to the north Siesta Key bridge. The volunteers spent 146 hours in the pro- cess, Shay noted. "SKA wants to thank [Keep Sarasota County Beautiful] and Wendi Crisp for organizing this very worthwhile event and a special thank you to all the volunteers who donated their time and energy to help KEEP SIESTA KEY BEAUTIFUL," he added in an email. HOMELESSNESS ISSUES Although downtown Sarasota seems to be the primary focus of homelessness in the com- munity, Sgt. Osborne has pointed out that the key usually sees an uptick in the number of homeless people during season. During his early morning walk through Siesta Village (about 5:30 a.m.) on Wednesday, March 26, SKA President Shay let me know in an email that he "noticed a 'vagrant' sleeping under the bench right outside the front gates at 5011 Ocean Blvd.," the former home of the Pelican Press. That was the same bench used in the past by Lance, the fellow in the wheelchair who is well known on the north end of the island, Shay added. The individual in that spot on Wednesday "had beige sheets and a throw pillow," Shay wrote. In response to the email Shay sent him about the incident, Osborne said he was forwarding Shay's information to his deputies and Patrol Division officers so they would keep an eye out for such activity. A representative of the firm that manages the building at 5011 Ocean Blvd., Lofino Lambco Properties, told Shay she had noticed "a sig- nificant increase of homeless" on Siesta since the Sarasota Police Department began trying to move people out of homeless camps in the city. The firm's maintenance manager, she added, "is going to construct a barrier under Linda LaVoie and new SKA Director Paul Wilkinson pause during the Great American Cleanup on Siesta Key Saturday morning. Contributed photo Sarasota News Leader March 28, 2014 Page 104