SRQ DAILY Apr 5, 2021
Monday Business Edition
"We love Venice, and we want Shark Tooth Vodka to be a tribute to all those who live and visit here in search of that perfect tooth."
The potential for a collapse in a water storage pond at the Piney Point industrial site has local, state and federal officials mobilizing together. Officials feel confident all efforts are in motion to try and prevent millions of gallons of nutrient-polluted water from flooding from a breach in one of three ponds, and Department of Environmental Protection officials are pumping water into Port Manatee rapidly to release pressure.
John Truitt, deputy DEP director, noted in the case of the pond, much of the water originated in those waters, brought to the site when a Port Manatee berth was dredged in 2011. But for the moment, there remain more than 300 homes under evacuation for fear of flash floods with water walls more than 20 feet high.
U.S Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, said the federal Environmental Protection Agency has boots on the ground at the site, with a regulator monitoring the situation to see if a broader problem erupts. “I called the EPA to make sure all hands are on deck to deal with this emerging threat at the abandoned fertilizer plant,” he said. “The EPA's regional water division director assured me: ‘I understand your concern, I understand the urgency, I am very concerned myself.’ We need all the assistance we can get now that state officials have warned a breach of the holding pond containing millions of gallons of contaminated water is imminent. This has become a full-blown emergency and we need to take every step possible to protect public health and reduce the impact on homes, businesses and the environment.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis at a briefing in Manatee stressed the greatest threat remains flooding. State officials rebuffed media reports the water leaking being injected into Tampa Bay now had excess radiation. It does, however, have high levels of phosphorous and nitrogen and high pH levels, increasing the risk of algal blooms.
State lawmakers have already started to discuss long-term solutions. State Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, and Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton, have filed appropriations requests for $6 million, to be matched with $6 million in local spending to research the best way to dispose of the water stacks permanently.
“Once we deal with the water and the imminent danger and worries, I’m optimistic we will get right on it,” said Boyd, who said the one benefit of being on the brink of disaster has been statewide recognition this site poses an environmental threat. Local lawmakers for more than a decade sought the heavy investment required to address the issue.
Both Boyd and Robinson say the water could be put underground through use of a deep well injection in a place where it won’t contaminate the Floridan aquifer.
Robinson said he’s confident money can be found, but also knows the complete filling in of the ponds could take years and far more money. We wants the state or federal government to find a way to cap onds so they don't simply fill up with water again, but that could cost tens or millions. "And all of this is under the umbrella it's on private property," Robinson said.
Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby, D-St. Petersburg said she’s also talking with scientists about other ways to try and decontaminate the property, which has posed a risk to the region for years. “There’s a bevy of information I have received on how to deal with it, including something with hemp that can address it, as well as other ways,” she said. “I’m in the process of setting up a meeting with the University of Florida and with other environmentalists to see what is the best way to address this.” 
Photo from Will Robinson: Emergency release of the water from Piney Point stack.
As charitable giving continues to fuel its mission, Jewish Family and Children’s Service (JFCS) of the Suncoast has appointed Christa Mannarino as their new Chief Development Officer. In this role, she will raise funds to address the unmet needs of our community, deepen the organization’s commitment to its current supporters, and expand JFCS’s base of support for programs it provides to youth, families, seniors and veterans.
As supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine continue to become more readily available, Sarasota Memorial is hoping to dispel the myths surrounding the vaccine, and encourage those people who are currently hesitant to go ahead and make their appointments to get the shot. During the interview Manuel Gordillo, MD, Medical Director of SMH Infection Prevention and Control, addressed many of the common concerns/myths circulating amongst those declining the vaccine.
Perrone Construction is proud to announce that the American Institute of Architecture Gulf Coast Chapter recently honored Richard Perrone, founder and CEO of Perrone Construction Inc. of Sarasota, Florida as AIA 2020-2021 Gulf Coast Builder of the Year. This prestigious recognition follows an iconic forty-year history of building Sarasota’s most notable custom waterfront homes.
After four successful years at the Market at UTC, husband and wife team Matt and Chelsea Sluizer have moved their Bows and Arrows boutique across University Blvd to the District at UTC. Located on the southeast corner of University Town Center, the boutique now neighbors Jeni's Ice Cream, Shake Shack, and Bento.
Children's Book Fair on Saturday, April 17, 2021 from 9am to 2pm at
3rd Avenue and Main Street in Downtown Bradenton. The 2021 book fair will feature book signings by local authors and illustrators of children’s books from ABC Artisans of Books for Children and Adults. Children will also receive a take home kit full of fun literary activities.
NAMI is pleased to welcome Sarah Kenniff to our Board of Directors. Sarah currently works for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office where she is responsible for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s law enforcement accreditation process. She has expertise in corrections and 9-1-1 center accreditation, traveling throughout the state assessing the protocols of police departments, jail facilities and communications centers.
Manatee Memorial Hospital has earned platinum level and national recognition for their work and dedication in support of organ, eye and tissue donation and public health for the sixth year, from The Workplace Partnership for Life Program. Staff from their Surgery Center, Intensive Care Unit, Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, Stroke Unit, and Emergency Department, were recently presented the Workplace Partnership for Life Program Award from LifeLink of Florida.
Three months into the effort, Manatee County Public Safety Department and the Department of Health Manatee County have vaccinated the 100,000th patient. The new milestone comes nearly a month after the 50,000th patient was vaccinated.
Manatee County Commissioners confirmed Dr. Scott Hopes as acting County Administrator. Dr. Hopes currently serves on the Manatee County School Board and will remain on the School Board while the Governor determines who will fill his School Board seat.
The winning entry in the month-long naming contest for the new environmental turtle sculpture at Venice Beach is “Speckles.” Submitted by 12-year-old Val Kappelmann, the name was one of more than 250 proposed to Gulf Coast Community Foundation for the larger-than-life sea turtle that greets beachgoers and educates them about the value of recycling. A sign will be installed nearby to identify the turtle by its new moniker, and Gulf Coast will make a grant in Val’s honor to the environmental organization of her choice—Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.
Nya, a dedicated inner-city public high school teacher, is desperate to give her only son Omari, opportunities her students will never have. When a controversial incident at his private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. Pipeline, running from March 3 until Apil 11, 2021 at 2pm and 7:30pm, is an unforgettable story of a mother's fight to give her son a future - without turning her back on their community.
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 North Orange Avenue
Dabbert Gallery presents "Spring's Promise" Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm March through April, 2021. As winter gives way to natures renewal, nine Gallery Artists explore the wonder of Spring's Promise. Featured artists include Kasia Bruniany, Arnold Desmarais, Bill Farnsworth, James Griffin, Candace Knapp, Barbara Krupp, Joe Palmerio, William Suys, and Tom Swimm.
Join us for BEER YOGA outside at Big Top Brewing Co, in the beer garden from February 24 through May 2 from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. $10/ Yoga + 1 beer (or cider). Approachable for ALL levels. BYOM: Bring Your Own Mat & any props you desire. Enjoy your (1 included) tasty Big Top Beer before, after, or during class. If you choose to have it during class, we will use it! Be prepared to raise your beer to the sky in Triangle Pose or maybe take a sip as you balance in Dancer Pose. Each class, Tara offers a fun yoga routine designed to provide a well-balanced practice. Modifications are always offered to make asanas more approachable or more challenging for a student at any level. Yoga with Tara Garland. Space is limited, so sign up today.
Join us this spring for Endless Oceans: Conservation in the Community. This semester-long course kicks off the first week of March and you do not want to miss it. Designed to give lifelong learners the opportunity to discover and explore the Gulf Coast's vibrant community of environmental conservation organizations, each class will feature Mote research and guest experts from local organizations working to promote environmental conservation. Students will complete a semester-long project on an environmental topic of their choosing. For this semester, we are once again all-virtual for classes (via interactive Zoom Meetings) and we have added an exciting option for local participants, 3 in-person, fresh air field trips. The semester runs from March 4 through April 15 and will take place from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, registration closes on March 3 and space is limited.
The spring semester features 50 classes and other programs covering a wide variety of topics. Highlights include Alzheimer’s Talks, a two-part series exploring 10 ways to love your brain; Only Hope: My Mother and the Holocaust Brought To Light, about a woman’s internment in Polish ghettos and two Nazi concentration camps; and From Public Health To Public Enemy: What Happens When Public Sentiment Obstructs Public Health. Classes and lectures are offered using a hybrid model—in-person on the Ringling College Museum Campus and online via the Zoom platform. Registration is now open for the spring 2021 semester at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College (OLLI at Ringling College), which runs March 8 through April 30, 2021. The semester features dozens of classes and programs covering a wide variety of topics. Classes are offered using a hybrid model—in-person on the Ringling College Museum Campus and online via the Zoom platform. Classes cover a rich diversity of topics, including art and music appreciation, health and well-being, global issues, philosophy, religion, culture and travel, and science. When offered in-person, classes will be held at the Ringling College Museum Campus (1001 South Tamiami Trail); masks and physical distancing will be required.
An ArtCenter Manatee curated exhibition featuring master watercolor artists from around the world from March 9 through April 9 at the Kellogg Gallery. The International Watercolor Society has chapters in over 110 countries, and gathers together one of the largest and most diverse group of watercolor artists and art lovers alike. Being of many nations, cultures, and backgrounds, it provides a platform for the continual development, learning, and sharing of the art of watercolor. In addition to the exchange of ideas between artists in the field and industry, it advocates and supports the next generation of artists with the events and exhibitions that are difficult to come by for many. This is the inaugural exhibition of the recently formed IWS Florida USA Chapter at ArtCenter Manatee.
Choral Artists of Sarasota’s 42nd season, entitled “Rise Up!” continues with “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which features” uplifting songs from Broadway musicals. Through adversity, many characters of the Broadway musical “rise up” and successfully confront life challenges, inspiring and ennobling us by their courage. This uplifting Broadway revue features selections from Les Misérables, Carousel, A Chorus Line, Sound of Music, Man of La Mancha, and Sweet Charity—characters that inspire us through their perseverance. Guest soloist for this performance is renowned Broadway star Ann Morrison. Originally designed to be part of the Garden Music Series presented by Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the live performance for patrons has been re-imagined as a virtual experience. With the Choral Artists Chamber Chorus; Michael Stewart, piano; and Joseph Holt, piano and conductor. Filmed onsite at Selby Gardens, this virtual concert will be available on demand March 11 through April 9; tickets are $15. The “Concert Insight” for this concert is live-streamed Thursday, February 18, at 10am and available on demand through March 19. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.ChoralArtistsSarasota.org or call 941-387-4900.
Shoreline Rhythm opens Friday, March 12 and goes through April 7. Move to the beat of waves crashing on the beach, captured in oil paint. Shoreline Rhythm features three Sarasota-based artists Katie Cassidy, Linda Richichi, and Bettina Sego and is inspired by movement of water in artwork, capturing Florida’s coastal feel. We will have new arrivals by Katie Cassidy. For artwork that brings bold, bright color, enjoy abstract mixed-media works by Bettina Sego. She often finishes her paintings with a coat of resin, further capturing the reflective qualities of the water. Bettina has been a beloved gallery artist since opening their doors back in 2009.
The Ringling is pleased to announce a new exhibition of the work of Sam Gilliam. The exhibition, which is being drawn primarily from local collections and features work from the early 1970s to 2010, will run February 21, 2021 through August 15, 2021. Sam Gilliam is one of the most important abstract artists working today. He will have a career retrospective, at the age of 87, in 2022 at the Smithsonian Institution Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Known for his experimental exploration of materials and constant invention, Gilliam first came to critical attention in the 1960s as a later member of the Washington Color School artists. To emancipate his art from constraints, Gilliam infused his appreciation of blues and jazz improvisation to be conceptualized in abstraction. His radical freedom to express spontaneity when working with materials created the first of his important "drape" paintings in the late 1960s that he would continue to explore throughout his career. By removing the canvas from the traditional stretcher, Gilliam created innovative work that was both painting and sculpture. His installation of the "drape" works filled galleries with painted canvases suspended off the walls or from the ceilings and often draped over objects such as sawhorses or ladders. These pieces encouraged improvisation because they could not be hung in the same manner twice.
This exhibition showcases the legendary Pop artist's screen prints based on Monet's world-famous paintings of waterlilies and haystacks from February 13 until June 27, 10am to 5pm. Lichtenstein's rarely seen Water Lilies and Haystacks provide an unexpected homage to a staple of the public imagination - Monet's paintings of his garden and home at Giverny that inspired them. The display of Lichtenstein's art in the midst of a horticultural evocation of Giverny creates a unique experience for more than 100,000 garden visitors. Selby Gardens, transformed into Monet's famed gardens at Giverny through the Pop Art lens of Roy Lichtenstein, includes iconic elements of Monet's garden such as the green Japanese bridge, trellises, and benches. This conjuring of Lichtenstein's world also serves as the dynamic backdrop to the lush plantings and mixed borders for which Monet's paintings were renowned. An avid gardener, Monet once said, "My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece." Marie Selby Botanical Gardens evokes this crowning achievement with a surprising Pop Art twist.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is pleased to present Saito Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening. The exhibition will open Mar 14, 2021 and run through Aug 15, 2021 in the Ringling’s Searing galleries. Comprised of recent donations of artworks by Saitō from Charles and Robyn Citrin to The Ringling and other collections, Saito Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening is the first comprehensive exhibition of this artist’s work in the United States. The exhibition focuses on prints Saito created in the 1940s and 50s, arguably the most vibrant period of his career, and includes several rare, early designs. Saito Kiyoshi’s (Japanese 1907–1997) keen sense of design, superb technique, and engagement with an appealing variety of themes made him one of the best known and most popular Japanese print artists of the twentieth century. Dr. Rhiannon Paget, Curator of Asian Art said, “Visitors to the exhibition will see many of the imaginative designs that made Saito Kiyoshi one of Japan’s most beloved printmakers, especially in the United States. Saito’s corpus encompasses urban and natural landscapes, female subjects, theater, architecture, and cats that reveal his curious mind, sensitive eye, and playful sense of humor.” The exhibition is accompanied by a 200-page illustrated catalogue edited by Rhiannon Paget and with essays by Paul Binnie, Noriko Kuwahara, Rhiannon Paget, and Judith A. Stubbs, and published by Scala.
SARTQ, an area-based artist collective was founded in 2008 by Tim Jaeger and Joseph Arnegger, begun informally, the group quickly grew, exhibiting around the region and state, including at Art Basel Miami. After a hiatus of two years, SARTQ has now resumed creating artistic experiences throughout the community. This exhibit features work from the personal collections of eight members. This exhibition will take place from March 18 through April 16.
The Pops Orchestra is proud to present a “High Five Pop Up Concert Series” featuring the String Quartet, Woodwind Quintet, and Brass Quintet from The Pops performing in various outdoor settings around the Suncoast region at 5:30pm. Conductor Robyn Bell will lead you through a 60-minute show full of laughs, stories, and, of course, wonderful light classical, Broadway, film, and other popular music performed by the chamber music groups. It’s just what your soul has been seeking. Due to Covid restrictions, you won’t actually be able to give anybody a “high five” See you at the safe show. You have three opportunities to catch the Pops Orchestra's Chamber Groups in concert: on Saturday, March 20 at 5:30pm at Marie Selby Gardens, on Sunday, April 11 at 5:30pm at Historic Spanish Point (and help Robyn celebrate her birthday on this date), and on Saturday, May 15 at 5:30pm at Nathan Benderson Park.
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