Bradenton Times News Articles

At Monday's 4:30 workshop, commissioners viewed assorted maps suggesting different Ward boundaries for redistricting and settled on Map A, which is little to no change from the current map boundaries. Commissioners will vote on Map A on March 19, 2012.    

It's a busy week for local governments. The County Commission will be off, but the planning commission meets Thursday. The School board convenes for a budget workshop on Tuesday and the Palmetto City Commission is back for a second meeting in a row on Monday.

At Thursday's land use meeting, four items were continued, leaving just one applicant with two items on the agenda. Yet the meeting still went from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The applicant was Mosaic Mining and they were back in full force to get their Wingate Extension phosphate mining land use permit. Mosaic goes home with a slim win.

The Central Community Redevelopment Agency is expected to provide $750,000 in incentives for a developer to open a Save-A-Lot grocery adjacent to Oasis Middle School. As the agreement goes through various departments, one member of the city commission is strongly opposed to the plans. Council member Bemis Smith feels that opening a Save-A-Lot could take away from other local businesses. 

At Tuesday's BOCC meeting, Robert Sullivan was appointed the new Planning Commissioner, replacing Marilyn Stasica who had resigned, while Michelle Kastner was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Manatee County Historical Commission. A Dollar General store in Myakka got approval, while an application for a new charter school was continued. Secondhand dealers and recyclers have a new ordinance to keep thieves at check. Commissioners can now vote from afar, but only two at a time.

A new boat ramp is on the drawing board for the city of Palmetto and so are the long-awaited ballfields. Police Chief Wells has computers ready for squad cars and the roundabout has traffic going one way. Palmetto is moving like a well-greased wheel.

It's a busy week for local governments. The County Commission will have a regular meeting Tuesday and a land use meeting on Thursday. On Monday, both the City of Palmetto and school board will convene for regular meetings and the Bradenton City Council has a workshop on Wednesday morning.

The Bradenton City Commission voted (4-0, councilman Gene Gallo was absent) to ban all open glass bottles from any public right of way or public parking lot at Wednesday night’s meeting. All alcohol must now be contained in a can, aluminum bottle or plastic cup. The vote was a response to recent events where broken glass had become a safety issue.

At Wednesday night’s Bradenton City Council meeting, members approved a ban on glass bottles on public right of ways. They also amended the city sign ordinance, approved two public events, Canes on Main, which will take place on March 24 and Jingle Bell Run at Rossi Park, which is scheduled for December 7. The council also discussed revising the city election requirements; those modifications will be discussed at the next meeting. Gene Gallo was absent from the meeting.

There's nothing like a good report card. They just seem to make you try harder, and when feeling good and saving money are the rewards, it's better still. At Tuesday's BOCC Healthcare workshop, they laid out all of the nuts and bolts as to why Manatee County residents are healthier and able to save more. In many ways, we are raising the bar in taking care of our own.