Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/360116
underground drainage and replanting the sec- tion with shade trees. There is money in the construction account, all the drawings have been done and everything was ready to start. Enter Jono Miller. He wants to save the palms, some of which he says are 90 years old. Others were relocated to the site when the Bay Plaza condominium was built in the late 1950s. "I agree the flooding problem must be solved," said Miller. "The whole area needs to be re-graded." But Miller's deep environmental sensitivi- ties were rankled by the plan to pull out the trees — old and "new" —to fix an equally old drainage issue. "These may be the oldest deliberately planted landscape trees in the city," he pointed out. In the end the project will move forward, but the cabbage palms will be transplanted to "another historic site," according to DID member Eileen Hampshire's amendment to the motion to proceed as planned. The likely receiving location would be the area around the newly restored Mabel Ringling Fountain at the junction of U.S. 301 and the Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. MERCHANTS LAUD FOOT PATROLS As the 2013 streetscape project was wind- ing down, the DID turned its attention to complaints of vagrancy and homelessness downtown. At its August 2013 meeting, the board members considered hiring private security guards to augment Sarasota police patrols. A year later, a plan to actually hire private security was shelved because city police have increased their presence downtown. "We reallocated our forces on July 14," said Lt. Kevin Stiff. Now two officers are spend- ing their entire 12-hour shifts downtown on foot, from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (with 30 minutes for daily paperwork). The Street Crimes Unit picks up patrol — in uniform and in mufti — on the weekends from 6 p.m. until midnight. However, Stiff said the new deployment is scheduled to end on Aug. 14. He added that he will recommend the Police Department continue the daytime foot patrols, in addition to the normal "zone officer" assignment to the area. And he said he has recommended overtime be paid for the Friday and Saturday night patrols. During a hard rain, North Palm Ave. sidewalks can flood because the ground between the curb and sidewalk is higher than the sidewalk, turning it into a gutter. The cabbage palms can be seen in the upper right corner. Photo courtesy City of Sarasota Sarasota News Leader August 8 & 15, 2014 Page 32