Economic development at FLC
To: Sarasota City Manager Karie Friling
Karie, I believe this is a vendor that presented at FLC conference several years ago. I’ve been widely sharing her slides since then (Much better info than we’ve gotten from the consultant we’ve been paying for economic development plans). Sharing this email just in case you want to stop by their booth.
Debbie Trice
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Economic development at FLC
To: Sarasota City Mayor Debbie Trice
I saw where the Sarasota Downtown Improvement District recently put an emphasis on retail in downtown and placemaking, I believe they are bringing a survey to council but since it looks like we will both be at FLC this week I thought I would reach out to see if we can connect at the conference.
Retail Strategies provides retail recruitment, placemaking and small business support services to communities like Winter Garden, Hollywood, Apopka, Tavares, Pensacola, and many others. Through our efforts, we have created over 1,100 new jobs to our Florida partners.
If you are interested, I will go ahead and pull a retail leakage analysis for us to discuss at the show.
Sarah Beth Stewart
VP Community Partnerships, Retail Strategies
Sarasota
Economic development at FLC
To: Sarasota City Executive Assistant Brianna Delgado
Looking at my calendar, Sept 9 at 1 or October 15 at 3 would be good for me — assuming maximum 1 hour. Is that a valid assumption?
Debbie Trice
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
To: Sarasota City Mayor Debbie Trice
Just wanted to follow up and see if you would like to speak at one of Watergate’s Zoom meetings.
Brianna Delgado
Executive Assistant
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
To: Sarasota City Mayor Debbie Trice
Please see the details below regarding a speaker for a Zoom meeting.
Suggested dates:
Sept 8 or 9: 10 a.m. or 1 p.m., 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.
Oct. 15: same times as above
If you would like to speak, please let Christina and me know, and we will get an event form filled out with additional details.
Brianna Delgado
Executive Assistant
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
To: Sarasota City Executive Assistant Brianna Delgado
I will defer to the Mayor first, but happy to set in if needed.
Karie Friling
City Manager
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
To: Sarasota City Manager Karie Friling
Please see the request below and advise if either of you would like to attend. Looks like October 15 would be the most doable for both of you. Or I can reach out and see if Mayor Trice would like to do one or both.
Brianna Delgado
Executive Assistant
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
To: Sarasota City Executive Assistant Brianna Delgado
Good news: They’re flexible, whatever will fit into calendars!
Suggested dates:
Sept 8 or 9: 10 a.m. or 1 p.m., 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.
Oct. 15: same times as above.
Ideally, they’d like two dates with one presentation in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Again, they’re open to what’s available.
Jan Thornburg
Communications General Manager
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
What are the dates? I see Aug., Sept., or the week of Oct. 11th, but Karie and Jennifer will need to know what day so we can review their schedules.
Brianna Delgado
Executive Assistant
City of Sarasota
Speaker request: Amendment 3 – One Watergate Association
To: Sarasota City Executive Assistant Brianna Delgado
Please see the request below for a staff member to speak via Zoom to the One Watergate Association in Aug./Sept. and/or the week of Oct. 11.
Jan Thornburg
Communications General Manager
City of Sarasota
Property Tax
To: Sarasota City Communications General Manager Jan Thornburg
Don’t know if this is possible, but we would like to have 2 presentations for our association. One at or towards the end of Aug or beginning of Sept. The other week of Oct 11th. If only 1 definitely in Oct. Some of the owners would be back in the building by then. We would do a zoom meeting to those at their summer home. Thanks for your help with this.
Patti Schimmel
Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Sarasota City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch
Pick up yesterday was a breeze – 13 minutes no blockage. This morning they did a delivery of all prefabs at 7:30 but it didn’t really cause a ruckus. Thank you for all that you do!
Tara Tahmosh
Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Tara Tahmosh
I wanted to check in to see how yesterday’s pickup line went. Let me know when you can!
Jen Ahearn-Koch
City Commissioner At-Large
City of Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Sarasota City manager Karie Friling
Thank you Ms. Friling! Much appreciated!
Jen Ahearn-Koch
City Commissioner
City of Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Tarah Tahmosh, Sarasota City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch
Staff will be out this morning from the SPD to ensure the road is not blocked for buses.
Karie Friling
City Manager
City of Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Sarasota City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch
Thank you all for trying- that’s all that matters. And always being available. First day was great- kids were happy!
Tara Tahmosh
Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Tara Tahmosh
Thanks but let’s see what we can do to communicate this to the folks who need to be reminded that we all need to work together to make our City work for everyone.
Our City Manger Ms. Friling has been on top of these issues, thankfully, so I am hopeful something can be done to avoid the situation tomorrow. Have a great second day of school!
Jen Ahearn-Koch
City Commissioner
City of Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Sarasota City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch
You are, as usual, amazing! Thank you in advance for whatever you guys can be do. I only need twenty minutes a day.
Tara Tahmosh
Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Tara Tahmosh
Wow! First day of school and this happens! Fun. I’ve copied the City Manager and Deputy City Manager on this email and they will make sure that this is directed to the appropriate person to help you communicate with the construction manager so this is not happening again tomorrow. Please copy me on the communications.
Jen Ahearn-Koch
City Commissioner
City of Sarasota
Bayside project on Florida
To: Sarasota City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch
Hey Jen, I’m just requesting some advice regarding a city project on Florida Avenue city side is doing their stage two Bayside condominiums. I wrote to the construction manager letting him know when school is out just so that he does not take up the entire north side of Florida both lanes he did not reply and then they took up the entire both sides of Florida directly at 3 PM. Our school buses couldn’t pull in. Our parents couldn’t drive north so they had to only turn between Bayside and Seaside was their only option towards coconut trying to be a good neighbor here do you have advice on who I can speak to?
Tara Tahmosh
Sarasota
Parking enforcement
To: Sarasota City Commission
Several of you have been contacted by various members of the community regarding the city’s parking enforcement activities. Based upon the direction of the City Commission at your August 3rd meeting, enforcement of the extended hours of parking that was previously approved by the Commission in May were immediately suspended. However, as I explained during that meeting, the update of software for the machines would take some time to complete. These software updates were fully completed on August 6th. Please note that all other enforcement activities (not tied to the approved motion made at your 8/3/26 meeting) are still operational and on-going.
There is a lot of chatter on social media about overly aggressive enforcement, which is unfair. Our employees are doing the job they were hired to do and conduct themselves in a very professional manner. While I understand no one likes to receive citations, vilifying our staff is simply unacceptable. If any of our constituents believe they have unfairly received a citation, they should reach out to the parking enforcement division to file their concern/complaint.
Karie Friling
City Manager
City of Sarasota
Parking enforcement
To: Sarasota City Manager Karie Friling
Thank you. I suspect that many of the anecdotes are about non-City parking facilities. This might be something to clarify at the beginning of the Open House. (We have a problem with predatory enforcement in private lots – tow truck hooking up car the minute the meter flips over.)
Debbie Trice
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Another unintended consequence: Parking News
To: Sarasota City Mayor Debbie Trice
That is not true, our enforcement is the same. We have not been enforcing since the Commission voted to roll back the extended hours. However, we are still enforcing other parking restrictions, such as 2-hour limitations, etc. that were in place prior to the changes. It is unfair to single out our staff, who are only doing their jobs. Please let me know if you have any other additional questions or need more information.
KarieFriling
City Manager
City of Sarasota
Another unintended consequence: Parking News
To: Sarasota City Manager Karie Friling
Karie, I’m meeting with Katherine Hermes this afternoon. A problem that she and many others bring up is aggressive parking enforcement, implying that the enforcement process changed when we extended the enforcement hours. Could that be true? I suspect that it’s coincidental that the enforcement officer’s schedule sometimes coincides with an individual’s time limit.
Another concern is continued enforcement during the extended hours. Did we roll back the extended hours effective immediately?
Any information you can provide before my 1:30 would be appreciated.
Debbie Trice
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Another unintended consequence: Parking News
To: Sarasota City Commission
I am sharing this as it was shared to me. The strict enforcement of 2-hour time limits is causing its own set of problems in Southside Village. This is a retail boutique warning clients about the significantly more aggressive enforcement caused by the improved technology (same thing we are seeing downtown).
Maybe 2 hours is too short? Maybe we need to look at 3 hours free on street parking?
These computers in the new parking cars “ping” the meter folks as they drive to inform them of cars that have overstayed. Do the cars employ satellite technology? How are they on everybody so fast?
People who want to shop then seek alternate parking options and this is the result. Private free lots are towing because people are looking for options. I will be bringing this up at our meeting on Aug 12 and the 24th as well.
Katherine Hermes
Sarasota
A Message to Our Valued Customers About Parking in Southside Village
To: Sarasota residents
After 20 years of being part of Southside Village, we have never experienced anything quite like what is happening with parking behind our boutique and the Veronica Restaurant property.
We want to make sure our customers know about a recent change that could affect you when you come to shop, dine, and support our small businesses.
The owner of the parking lot property has recently authorized Fastway Towing to begin towing vehicles from the lot. According to what we have witnessed, the towing company is actively watching the parking lot and determining which businesses people visit. If your destination is not one of the businesses identified on the parking signs, your vehicle will be towed.
This is new. It has never been an issue during our 20 years in business.
Unfortunately, one of our own employees had her car towed on the very first day this began. She also reported that her vehicle was dented during the towing process. When she raised the issue with the owner of the towing company, she says he denied causing the damage and referred to her as a “crazy lady.”
We are sharing this because we do not want one of our customers to have the same experience.
We love Southside Village. For decades, we have encouraged our customers to come to the Village, shop at our locally owned stores, enjoy our restaurants, and support the wonderful small-business community that makes this area special. But we also understand how frustrating parking has become.
The City currently limits street parking in the Village to two hours, while the largest parking lot in the Village is now subject to aggressive towing enforcement. That makes it increasingly difficult for customers who want to spend an afternoon shopping, have lunch, visit several businesses, or simply enjoy everything Southside Village has to offer.
If you park in the lot behind our boutique, read every parking sign carefully and make sure the business you are visiting is one of the businesses authorized for that lot.
We would much rather warn you now than have you come out after shopping or dining to discover that your car has been towed.
Most importantly, please don’t stop coming to Southside Village.
Our small businesses need you. We have invested decades of our lives in this community, and we want Southside Village to remain a place where people come to shop, eat, gather, and enjoy themselves. We simply want our customers to be able to do that without the fear of unexpectedly losing their vehicle to a tow truck.
Thank you for continuing to support our boutique and all of the locally owned businesses in Southside Village. Your support truly means everything to us.
Cheryl Burke
Sea Cup And Up
Sarasota
Hiring
To: Sarasota City Manager Karie Friling
This email below appears to be from a Sarasota resident who unsuccessfully applied for a City job picking up solid waste — he suspects because of his criminal record. I believe that we do hire for some positions despite criminal records (Of course, everything is different during our hiring freeze). Anyway, if it is possible to follow up with him regarding why he wasn’t hired, that might help him to decide what path to follow next.
Debbie Trice
Mayor
City of Sarasota
Hiring
To: Sarasota City Mayor Debbie Trice
Hey my name is Minister James Brown, and I will like to share some things with you. I promise I will make it short. Well first off, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read my message.
I was born and raised in the City of Sarasota, Florida and I love my city and respect authority figures that are in office represent each district as a commissioner regardless of what their political party may be. Also, I just want to share this short personal history about myself. I graduated high school here at Oak Park School. I went to Bible college and successfully completed Bible college with both a bachelor’s degree in Christian leadership and also a master’s degree in theology. I am correctly a minister and this Sunday I will have to make a decision if I’m going to accept the role as senior pastor at a church in Arcadia, Florida. I don’t want to work full time in ministry because this church been through a lot. I will like to share with you that back in 2005 I was arrested for a robbery crime that I had committed in the City of Sarasota. I have served 5 years in the Florida department of correction from that case. However, I was released from the Florida Department of Correction back to the city of Sarasota and I serve a little over three years in Sarasota. Upon my release I had returned back to the ministry and I have hold the offices as assistant pastor and also senior pastor. On February 11, 2013 I was falsely arrested for another robbery case that I have not committed. I am not holding grudges and I’m not mad or upset that I was falsely arrested and matter of fact I left all that behind me and I’m trying to move forward with my life and with my calling as a ministry to help God’s people. But also want to serve the city of Sarasota. I had applied for many positions with the city of Sarasota but however I became very unsuccessful with attaining a job with the City of Sarasota. I am reaching out to you because I desire to have a job with the waste department as a waste helper, a person who rides on the back of the garbage truck and assists the driver. I don’t know if I was unsuccessful because of my criminal background but if you could give me a chance and assist me with receiving a job with the city of Sarasota as it waste helper. I promise you that I will not let you down and that I really appreciate your help and support. I feel as a man that this is one of the ways that I could give back to my community and to the people that I love. I am not asking you to overrule human resources but I’m asking that you please speak with someone within the human resource and even the waste department director about me. Thank you for your time and may God bless you.
James Brown
Sarasota
