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VOL 24 No. 31
March 27, 2024
AMI Moose Lodge hosts kids’ Easter party Rainy weather didn’t dampen the AMI Moose Lodge’s annual Easter party. BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com
BRADENTON BEACH – Due to rainy weather, Saturday morning’s Easter egg hunt at the Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge took place inside the lodge. The annual event usually features hundreds of brightly colored plastic eggs buried in the beach sand between Moose Lodge #2188 and the Gulf of Mexico. Separated into two age groups, the youngsters then make a mad dash for buried eggs and the hunt is over within a few minutes. The rain that fell Friday night and early Saturday morning forced the Women of the Moose to improvise and bring the event inside. Upon arrival at 10 a.m., and accompanied by parents and grandparents, the 99 youngsters who preregistered for the free March 23 event were greeted by Moose volunteers who handed them activity sheets that included a word puzzle and images to be colored.
SEE EASTER, PAGE 33
JOE HENDRICKS | SUN
From left, Easter egg hunters Brady Kolanowski, Scarlett Cody, Morgan Clemens and Cooper Henderson found the golden eggs with the bunnies inside.
Commissioners deny bids for paid parking Commissioners are considering city-managed paid parking lots citywide. BY LESLIE LAKE SUN CORRESPONDENT | llake@amisun.com
BRADENTON BEACH – Rather than partnering with an outside vendor as planned, commissioners are now considering city-managed paid parking lots throughout Bradenton Beach. The city had put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) on Feb. 9 to “Provide the City with a complete parking management and enforcement system that is capable of handling the current parking environment at six (6) municipal locations, a public street, and a future 7th site.” Two bidders - Beach to Bay Investments and SP Municipal Parking
- submitted proposals to the city by the Feb. 29 due date. Representatives from both entities laid out their cases for approval at a March 19 city commission work meeting. A decision was deferred to the March 21 commission meeting where a choice between the two was expected to be made. Instead, neither one of them was chosen. On March 21, Mayor John Chappie recommended having the city oversee paid parking without a vendor. “The more I looked over two really impressive applications - each with a lot of plusses - I thought why have that third person? We’re talking about 75 parking spaces. I’m recommending we deny both of these and look at doing it in-house,” Chappie said.
SEE PARKING, PAGE 11
Kruse talks beach parking, Island consolidation
Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse didn’t shy away from speaking out on the hard questions at a recent town hall meeting. BY KRISTIN SWAIN SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
HOLMES BEACH – About two dozen people came out on March 20 to meet with Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse, bringing their questions for the candidate, who is seeking re-election in November. Kruse held a town hall meeting at the Island Branch Library where he answered every question posed, discussing everything from parking and traffic to the possible consolidation of the three Anna Maria Island cities.
THERE'S A NEW commissioner in Bradenton Beach. 3
SEE TOWN HALL, PAGE 39
OPPOSITION GROWS to extending
multi-use path. 14
ANOTHER WASTEWATER SPILL at
Piney Point. 8
Page 39 Anna Maria Island, Florida
On the subject of traffic and making the Island trolley service more efficient during peak times, Kruse said that if there’s traffic, the trolley is stuck in it the same as any other motor vehicle. He did say that he would look into the possibility of adding additional trolleys during peak times, such as over holiday weekends and spring break to help reduce the amount of time spent waiting for transportation that may be too full to accept more riders. When the new Cortez and Manatee bridges are built, Kruse said he hopes that there will be an express lane - a third lane for emergency and transit vehicles. “You’re not going to reduce the want of people to go to the beach, you have to get them out of their cars,” he said, adding that with the
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