Dan Giguere, a physical education teacher at Sarasota School of Arts & Sciences, has an innovative method of helping middle school students learn—he gives them a skateboard.
Sarasota School of Arts & Sciences: Education with a Kick Flip?
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Slow Sarasota?
Today is Cittaslow Sunday, the First International Day of Good Slow Living. How are you planning to celebrate?
Cittaslow, or Slow City, is an organization that celebrates and promotes a human-speed, human-scale alternative to unchecked speed and limitless growth. A couple decades ago some folks in Italy decided they didn’t want fast food chains in their towns, so they created the Slow Food movement to celebrate the culture, tradition, and joy of growing, harvesting, cooking, and sharing local food. Slow Food spread to Slow City, and Cittaslow International now counts more than 130 towns worldwide as part of its network. Sonoma, California, became the first Slow City in the United States in 2009.
So, what is a Slow City? and why should I care?
Escape to Margaritaville Without Leaving SRQ
There are just those days when all you want to do is have a drink with some friends, eat some fresh fish, and watch the sun sink into the ocean while a steel drum band taps out a friendly rhythm. Thankfully, you don’t need to go to Kokomo or even Key West to get away from it all. Nestled on the southern edge of Island Park just a stone’s throw from Marina Jack, O’Leary’s Bar & Grille is Sarasota’s local tiki-hut ticket to paradise, a favorite haunt of residents and visitors alike.
Sarasota’s Evolving Downtown North: A Follow-Up
On the heels of last week’s post about Gillespie Park, we’d like to share an article on the area from SRQ Magazine. Downtown Sarasota—including Main Street, Laurel Park, Gillespie Park, the Rosemary District, and all the surrounding neighborhoods—has been in flux for decades. After it boomed it busted, and just twenty years ago it seemed our deserted downtown core might be down for the count. But a number of determined locals refused to let it die, and downtown Sarasota today is a beautiful (and increasingly bustling) place to live, work, and play.
We at LPM understand that change of any sort is never easy, and that all too often changes in neighborhoods (particularly when made by developers) pave the way for gentrification and price out the very people who remained committed to those neighborhoods through the tough times. Change of this sort can line the pockets of a few, but it rarely makes a neighborhood a truly better place.
That said, change is inevitable, everywhere and always, and can be a tremendously positive thing. After all, it wasn’t long ago that our charming Historic Laurel Park neighborhood was less than savory. Gillespie Park and the Rosemary District are vital downtown neighborhoods with their own distinct mix of characteristics and their own distinct futures. Just imagine what they can be—not as imitations of Laurel Park, but as the best and most fully realized versions of themselves!
Is Adaptability More Important Than Art in Architecture?
There are all sorts of debates about architecture. Should houses in a neighborhood all look similar to give the area a sense of cohesion? Is a diversity of styles more desirable? Is the architecture of the past best? Should architecture be more concerned with the future instead? Is architecture about art? Functionality? A building’s relationship to its surrounding environment? Its climate? All of the above?
Sarasota residents love to engage in hearty debates about our fair town/city, and issues surrounding architecture and development are always hot button. Our own neighborhood, Laurel Park, has seen sweeping changes over the past several decades, and is constantly working to find the right balance of development and preservation, of urbanism and village life, of past and future.
Sarasota’s Roadmap to Sustainability
With words like “green” and “sustainability” being thrown around so much these days, we at Laurel Park Management thought it might be good to take a look at what Sarasota is actually doing to become increasingly “green” and “sustainable.” The following is from the official Sarasota County government website:
Sarasota County acknowledges that sustainability is an interlocking network comprised of everything a community touches. Its Roadmap to Sustainability holistically integrates environmental, societal and economic initiatives, fundamentally shifting the role that governance can play in building a sustainable community and transforming its identity. County Administrator Jim Ley presented his Roadmap to Sustainability to the County Commission on Oct. 22, 2006, as an overview of Sarasota County’s direction.
Selby Library: More than Just Books!
Summer is the slow season here in Southwest Florida. The heat and humidity can make napping on the hammock seem like a full day’s work. But for those not lulled into a heat coma until the snowbirds return Selby Library and its sister branches have plenty of activities lined up. On today’s schedule:
Things We Take For Granted and Probably Shouldn’t: Selby Botanical Gardens
Walking through the numerous themed gardens at Selby is like taking a trip through the looking glass into nature’s wonderland. We live in a fertile part of the world…Selby Gardens provides an opportunity to leave our hectic lives behind for an hour or two and let our senses reconnect with thousands of varieties of local flora.
How to Make Sarasota More Bike-Friendly
It’s flat, the weather is amazing, it has plenty of public bike racks…so why aren’t more Sarasotans riding bikes? Bicycles can play a huge role in the livability of a place. They provide mobility to citizens of all ages and income, keep people fit, promote social connections, and don’t require a drop of gasoline. Cities and towns around the world are realizing that the more their people are on bikes the healthier, happier, and safer they’ll be. Research even confirms that cities that prioritize bikes reap economic benefits.
Oil Vigil Recap
The oil vigil held in Ken Thompson park earlier this month was a great success, connecting Sarasota with hundreds of other communities around the country in support of clean energy. We here in Laurel Park and the rest of Sarasota are fortunate to have year round access to white sand beaches and turquoise waters. The deepwater horizon tragedy has reminded us all how fragile these gifts really are.