City to convert police headquarters into homeless shelter →  APRIL FOOLS — Plans are in the works to turn the Sarasota Police Department into a state-of-the-art homeless shelter. A scratchy blanket and stiff pillow might have worked for Sarasota’s down-and-out population in the past, but city officials say they want the homeless to be able to live comfortably. With the Sarasota Police Department being axed and the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office taking over policing efforts throughout the city, there are many options for the two-year-old, two-story police headquarters with its floor-to-ceiling [...]

Kirsten’s in the know on where to go for great music, awesome food (ribs and cheese, mm-mmm!) and incredible entertainment. Check back next week for the fabulous photo recap! For more details on Kirsten’s mentionables, visit the links below: – Sailor Circus – La Fete du Fromage at The Polo Grill, https://www.facebook.com/events/264700316895787/ www.gwiz.org – The Rusty Hook – 9th Annual Firefighters Rib Cook-off  – Clothesline Grand Opening, https://www.facebook.com/events/237950869628174/ – Duct Tape Prom at Shamrock – Colossus Apparel, http://www.compoundboardshop.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/VTownSurfandSkate2

Arcadia is a part of our Narrative Film Competition. It is a richly observed family drama that you will long remember. The film takes on the question of whether or not one can really run from one’s problems and it does so through the eyes of young Greta and her siblings Caroline and Nat as their father spirits them away in their family station wagon for a cross-country trip to their new home in Arcadia. But Greta, balancing on the razor’s edge between adolescence and adulthood, senses something odd in her father’s behavior and in her mother’s absence [...]

He says, “Springtime, spring break—makes me think of our fabulous beach and of course fabulous beach houses.” She says, “This is my favorite time of year in Sarasota—so, what’s really great on Siesta?” He says, “I just love Sandy Cove.” More popular than ever thanks to winning the #1 spot on Dr. Beach’s “10 Best Beaches in America,” Siesta Key is getting reams of attention. For this Deal of the Week we picked two in Sandy Cove on Siesta Key. Sandy Cove is hidden behind a wall of pine trees [...]

Laurel Park residents divided → Some Laurel Park residents want more input on nearby future development, while others believe the extra input would deter future development. The downtown historic Laurel Park neighborhood is in the midst of an ongoing dispute over future development just outside its boundaries. The community of more than 270 homes and small businesses that sits in the heart of downtown is wrestling both with how the community should be preserved moving forward and whether it should be more involved in the planning of future developments that [...]

This article was originally published March 27 on yourobserver.com and is shared here courtesy of Observer Staff. The Observer is made up of journalists who provide you with hyperlocal community coverage about you, your neighbors and your neighborhood. But The Observer realized the one thing it was lacking in the new digital world of media was a good community contributor network, which is another way of saying a good group of bloggers. One of the hot trends in the newspaper business is changing the culture in which the newsroom dictates what [...]