Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/289950
The City of Sarasota wants to build a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge from the Ringling Causeway to Coon Key, where the Sarasota Yacht Club stands. Photo by Norman Schimmel put the proposed roundabout at U.S. 41 and Ringling Boulevard on the MPO's list as well. The Ringling roundabout — if approved by the MPO and the Florida Department of Transportation — would join six already in the funding plan. They will be at 10th Street, 14th Street, Fruitville Road, Gulfstream Avenue (the Ringling causeway), Main Street and Orange Avenue. PROMOTING HUMANE BEHAVIOR On March 30, the 11th annual Embracing Our Differences public art exhibit opened in Sarasota's Island Park and along Bradenton's Riverwalk. (See the related story in this issue.) It is a juried show of billboard-sized pieces created by local, national and interna- tional artists of all ages to promote tolerance. As the City Commission's evening session begins, that exhibit's theme will be reflected by three reminders of the importance of tempering human behavior with compassion. The com- mission will present two proclamations. The first recognizes April as Child Abuse Prevention Month; the second notes that April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. Sarasota is home to shelters for abused women and children. But abuse in the community is not limited to women and children. After the proclamations are read and bestowed, the commissioners will hear a presentation by one woman work- ing to revive the lives and hopes of former modern slaves — the victims of human traf- ficking. Every year, thousands of immigrants are forced into sexual bondage and impressed labor in Florida. Brooke Bello is an author, activist and founder of More Too Life, which offers rehabilitation to the victims of trafficking. "Some are sex- slaved minors, some adults, some forced into prostitution, some women in prostitution that were trafficked as children and have now been cast aside as homeless, addicts and so on, in addition to farm and domestic servi- tude," she writes. In addition to her work in Sarasota and Tampa, Bello is a fellow at the Skinner Institute in Washington, D.C., and she works internation- ally to fight the horrors of human trafficking. The trade in people is estimated by the U.S. Department of State to rank third — following drugs and arms — in the amount of world- wide profits it produces. % Sarasota News Leader April 4, 2014 Page 60