Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/90018
Sarasota News Leader October 26, 2012 here, and, frankly, much longer than my ten- ure here, at trying to maintain a balance in Siesta Key Village that keeps the harmony … between residents and commercial [opera- tions]," Thaxton said. "I'm not a big fan of imposing on that very delicate balance something that could disrupt [it]," he added. "I sincerely hope that there is another location that the truck can find." "I hate to step on a business enterprise and obviously some nice people with a business plan that probably would work for them," said Patterson, a resident of the island. However, "Siesta Key is a tight little area," she added. "To me, this just opens a whole new door that I would have trouble with …" Vice Chairwoman Carolyn Mason also weighed in: "I, like Commissioner Thaxton, think food trucks are great, but in the right location, and I don't think the Village is the right location for this, unlike just down the street from us." Page 43 Mason was referring to the food truck picnic location on Ringling Boulevard that became popular early this year, during season. Although three major Siesta Key organiza- tions — the Siesta Key Village Association, the Siesta Key Association and the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce — had come out in opposition to his and his wife's plans, Tony Bonasto told the commission the couple want- ed to operate during hours when restaurants in the Village were closed, after 10 p.m. People who stay later than that in the Village, he added, generally are customers of bars. The truck would offer them an opportunity "so food can be consumed before driving." However, in his remarks to the commission, Russell Matthes, co-owner of the Daiquiri Deck and Daiquiri Deck Raw Bar and presi- dent of the SKVA, pointed out, "A lot of restau- rants do serve until 2 a.m.; it's required by law based on their liquor license, and there's a lot of food business after 10 p.m." Russell Matthes, Daiquiri Deck co-owner and president of the Siesta Key Village Association, asks the commission to deny the request for a food truck business in the Village. Photo by Norman Schimmel