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Down in the nick of time – Bakery Building toppled hours before Idalia winds and rain came

Written by Marcy Shortuse on . Posted in News.

Kevin Kelley couldn’t have come at a better time. When he was hired to take over the demolition effort at the old Bakery Building on E. Railroad Avenue, he didn’t waste a moment. Kelley and his crew started on Monday, Aug. 28. He told everyone he hoped to have the second floor of the collapsed building taken down by lunch time … but in fact it was before 11 a.m. when it was down below the roof line of The Barnichol. By the end of the day, it was just about down altogether.
Getting the building down became an urgent priority when the feeder bands of Hurricane Idalia were expected to start hitting the island on Tuesday afternoon. Had the building been left the way it was, who knows what would have happened?

Toll revenue and bridge openings down at GIBA; 2024 budget at $3.8 million

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in News.

The Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority (GIBA) adopted a 2024 budget of $3,827,064 at their Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023 quarterly meeting, which also included drainage issues, salary and investments.
Board Chairman Ginger Watkins began the meeting by moving up a public comment from a customer regarding the expiration of her toll account funds. Non-agenda public comment is traditionally at the end of the meeting. After the comment, Watkins reminded that all 7,700 accounts and customers are treated exactly the same, and thanked the customer for coming. (Toll passes expire after one year.)
Executive Director Kathy Banson presented members with updated traffic and revenue figures for the first nine months of the 2023 fiscal year. Toll revenue was down by comparison with last year by 3 percent for discount passes and 12 percent in cash nondiscounted tolls. Overall traffic was down by 5 percent. Bridge openings were down 21 percent.

Boca Grande zip beats Nantucket for priciest real estate … but not Fisher Island

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Community, News.

The Boca Grande zip code 33921 is one of the top 50 highest-valued real estate zip codes in the U.S., according to new data from Zillow that measured typical home value, akin to a median value.

At 46th on the list, Boca Grande ranks just ahead of resort towns like Aspen’s 81611 at $2,848549, the Hamptons’ Quogue zip 11959 at $2,765,902 and Apple headquarters zip 95014 in Cupertino, Calif, which is 56th on the list, and had an average house value of $2,616,572.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Shorebird and sea turtle presentation to be held in September at Port Charlotte location

Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.

To the Editor: Charlotte County Environmental Specialist Suzanne Derheimer will host a presentation on Charlotte County beach nesting species from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16 at Harold Avenue Regional Park Recreation Center in Port Charlotte. It is located at 23400 Harold Ave.  The presentation will focus on sea turtles and shorebirds and […]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: BIPS to hold golf tournament to benefit the Gasparilla Island Lighthouse

Written by Boca Beacon Reader on . Posted in Letters to the Editor.

To the Editor: Save the date! Barrier Island Parks Society (BIPS) will host the Light Keeper’s Open on Monday, Oct. 30 at the exclusive Coral Creek Club to benefit the historic Gasparilla Island Lighthouse.  BIPS is calling all golfers to join in the festivities at the charity benefit tournament, featuring a continental breakfast, scramble format, […]

Environmental and manmade problems plaguing local seagrass leave manatees and other aquatic wildlife in dire straits

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Sports & Outdoors.

After a massive hurricane and a year of drought, the status of seagrass in Charlotte Harbor could perhaps be characterized by experts as “not better, in fact marginally worse.” 
“We have lost massive amounts of seagrass,” said Dr. Richard Whitman, who heads up the nonprofit environmental charity Heal our Harbor. The group looks regularly at the water quality in Charlotte Harbor and its tributaries, enlisting volunteers in monitoring and educating about the importance of our water.
Observations are often anecdotal and micro-observations, and not all seagrass is the same. Whitman likens the question to how the stock market is doing. Are you asking about how it is doing this week, this year or over decades?

Heather Gilligan, on tour in Florida, finds stranded manatee in island waters

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in News, Sports & Outdoors.

A beached manatee, later found to be safe, was the highlight of a Boca Grande visit for Columbus, Ohio resident Heather Gilligan on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

“This morning my original plan of going to Key Largo was canceled,” said Gillian. “So I just felt led by God to come out here.” 

She had heard about Gasparilla Island from a friend, Lucy, who had been here in March. 

“She finds the coolest places to go,” said Gilligan. “She just said it was really beautiful, really peaceful, and one of the safest places she had ever been.”

Coastal Living ‘discovers’ a secret island called Gasparilla. Who knew?

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Community, News.

The magazine Coastal Living has “discovered” a new secret island, Gasparilla.

The new fall edition of the magazine put Gasparilla on its front cover with the caption “Florida’s Secret Island. The Old-School Charm of Gasparilla.” Boca Grande, however, did not make the actual cover photo; that honor was reserved for the Reethi Rah resort in the Maldives. 

Writer Tracey Minkin cited the “affinity for blue-blood Northeasterners” as an island that grew with a “sporting forward generation” that discovered “wily, hard-fighting tarpon.” Dressing is described as where “Salt Life criss-crosses with dressing for dinner.”

Feds help island with north end iguanas

Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in News.

If you’ve been seeing a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) truck out on the Boca Grande Causeway lately, it’s because it’s prime season for iguana hunting.

While the Lee County portion of the island uses trapper George Cera, who has been on the job for about 16 years, the Municipal Service Benefit Unit (MSBU) takes care of the iguana issue in the Charlotte County part of the island. They hired the USDA about 10 years ago.