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VOL 23 No. 17
February 1, 2023
Sienna sundown CINDY LANE | SUN
Winter skies were cloudy all day until just before sunset time, when the sun peeked out from the gray and turned them burnt orange over Anna Maria Island.
Mayor proposes negotiation, not war, with state legislators Mayor Dan Murphy arranged for the Island mayors to meet with State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. and State Sen. Jim Boyd. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy proposes communicating rather than waging war with state legislators over parking garages and the potential consolidation or elimination of Anna Maria Island’s three city governments. During the Jan. 26 Anna Maria City Commission meeting, Murphy discussed his approach in reaction to State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. and other members of
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the Manatee County legislative delegation recently expressing a shared desire for state legislation that could allow Manatee County to preempt the city of Holmes Beach’s building regulations in order to build a public parking garage for beachgoers. The local delegation of state legislators also seeks a state-funded study regarding the potential consolidation or dissolution of the three Island cities and city governments. Murphy referenced headlines that ran on the front pages of local newspapers. One read, “AMI fights back against state representatives.” The other read, “Holmes Beach readies options for counterattack.” Murphy, who served in the U.S. SEE MAYOR, PAGE 17
Island officials unite to preserve home rule The Island’s elected officials are planning to work together to counter new threats to home rule. BY KRISTIN SWAIN SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Island’s elected officials are uniting to preserve home rule in the face of recent attempts by state legislators to circumvent local parking ordinances and fund a study to determine if the Island’s three cities should be dissolved. Not only the central city on the Island, but also the one central to a debate at the state level, Holmes Beach has a prohibition against parking ga-
rages that state legislators have threatened to overturn. City leaders took a few moments during a Jan. 24 city commission meeting to address that issue and that of dissolving the Island cities. It was standing room only in city hall chambers as residents, property owners and other stakeholders came out to show their support to Mayor Judy Titsworth and city commissioners. More joined the meeting online through Zoom. Titsworth thanked everyone in attendance for their “outpouring of support” and vowed to do everything possible to fight back against the state’s encroachment into home rule of the Island, the ability of local governments to govern themselves. SEE OFFICIALS, PAGE 27
SEE WHAT THE NEW CORTEZ
CORTEZ COMMERCIAL
bridge will look like online. 4
CONFEDERATE monument
Anna Maria Island, Florida
Fishing Festival coming soon. 9 relocation discussion delayed. 8
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