Siesta Seen
With collections reported through June 30,
Siesta accounted for 31.67 percent of the
total, which equaled $4,006,473.87. As it has
for the past few months, the City of Sarasota
remained in second place, with 28.9 percent,
or $3,655,935.02. Sarasota County was in third
place, with 17.48 percent, or $2,211,299.41.
A SPEED LIMIT ISSUE
In a July 2 email from County Commissioner
Patterson to the county's chief engineer,
James K. Harriott Jr., Patterson reported that
she had had a visit from a Siesta resident "who
finds it unfair and perhaps in violation of state
rules" that drivers entering Ocean Boulevard
from side streets may not be aware that the
speed limit on Ocean is 20 mph.
The man said he felt that a sign should be
erected on each side street just before its
intersection with Ocean, she continued, so
drivers will be aware of the situation. She
added that she expressed to him her concern
that such signs would imply the speed limit
on each of those side streets also was 20 mph.
Further, Patterson wrote, while 20 mph signs
could be put up on Ocean near its intersec-
tions with side streets, "you would need a lot
of them" because of the number of streets
connecting with Ocean.
Her visitor, she pointed out, had told her that
deputies sometimes ticket people for driving
faster than the posted speed on Ocean, even
though the driver might not have gone past
a 20 mph sign before the deputy signaled for
him to stop.
Patterson told Harriott she would like to dis-
cuss the matter with him and wondered how
other jurisdictions handle such a situation.
SPEAKING OF VILLAGE
TRAFFIC ISSUES …
Ever since the county put up the four-way
stop signs years ago at Ocean Boulevard's
intersection with Avenida Messina and Canal
Road, drivers regularly fail to come to a halt.
According to discussion at the July 1 Siesta
Key Village Association meeting, tourists also
evidently are confused about the traffic pat-
tern at that spot.
Kay Kouvatsos, co-owner of Village Café,
pointed out that "people … still try to make
a circle around that four-way stop," which is
adjacent to the gazebo.
Although one can pull in and out of the park-
ing area for Beach Bazaar on the south side
of the gazebo, the road does not make a loop
there. %
SHARE
Sarasota News Leader July 18, 2014 Page 66
