Beaches notebook

By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 24, 2002

Replacing bridge to be discussed

The Florida Department of Transportation will sponsor a public meeting Tuesday to accept comments about the replacement for John's Pass Bridge.

The meeting will be from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Treasure Island Community Center, 1 Park Place.

The DOT is proposing a 21-foot drawbridge to replace the existing bridge, which is the same height. The Treasure Island and Madeira Beach city commissions, which want a bridge with a 29-foot clearance so it doesn't have to open as often.

Gulfport

The city will have two public meetings to get input on its 49th Street Corridor Community Redevelopment Plan.

City officials and an architectural firm will receive input into a planned redesign of the area bounded by 49th Street on the east, from the northern city boundary at the Pinellas Trail south to Gulfport Boulevard, 52nd Street to the west, and Tangerine Avenue between 54th and 49th streets, including city property at 117 49th St. S.

The meetings will be at 5:15 p.m. May 15 and 8:30 a.m. May 18 in the cafeteria of Hamilton Disston School, 5125 11th Ave. S. For more details, call Susanne Hicks in the city public services department at 893-1086.

The annual A Brighter Day golf tournament will be at 1 p.m. May 11 at Pasadena Yacht and Country Club, 6300 Pasadena Point Blvd. The format is a four-person best-ball scramble. Entry fee is $100 per person and includes cart fee and an awards banquet with refreshments and prizes. Sponsorships are available from $250 to $2,500. Proceeds will benefit A Brighter Day, a non-profit organization that provides services to homeless families with children. For information, call 381-5103.

Treasure Island

The American Master Cup Competition for sand sculptors will be May 17-19 at the County Park, 104th Avenue and Gulf Boulevard. The times are from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday; from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday; and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Hosts for the event will be Dan Doubleday and Meredith Corson, current world doubles champions and owners of Sanding Ovations, a local sand sculpting company.

St. Pete Beach

City residents are invited to participate in a two-day visioning session.

The meetings will be from 6 to 8 p.m. May 3 and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 4 in the city's gymnasium at 7701 Boca Ciega Drive. The discussion sessions will be led by James A. Moore, a design principal with Tampa based HDR, who recently helped Madeira Beach in a similar process.

The Friday session will focus on community design and its applications in other cities nationwide. The Saturday session will be an interactive discussion that tries to build a consensus on establishing a vision for St. Pete Beach.

The city will provide a light lunch and refreshments Saturday; anyone planning to attend that session is asked to call 367-2735 so the city knows how many people to expect.

The meetings will be the first step in a year-long process of developing a master plan for the city.

St. Pete Beach will dedicate its new City Hall at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the new building, 155 Corey Ave.

Self-guided tours will be permitted after the ceremony. Refreshments will be served. For information, call City Hall at 367-2735.

St. Pete Beach will have its annual Hurricane Forum on May 1.

Scheduled are a discussion on hurricane safety, fire and police department displays, hurricane-related vendors demonstrating hurricane safety products, disaster preparedness and home safety information, as well as evacuation maps and information on sand bag locations.

There will be door prizes and free hot dogs and sodas. The forum will be from 6 to 9 p.m. in the city gymnasium, 7701 Boca Ciega Drive. For information, call the St. Pete Beach Fire Department at 363-9206.

Redington Shores

The town will sponsor a townwide garage sale May 3, 4 and 5. All residents are invited to participate.

The next weekend, on May 11, residents may discard the items that didn't sell in the garage sale by leaving them on the curb during the Annual Town Cleanup.

Everything will be picked up except hazardous waste materials, 55-gallon drums, tires and car batteries. The town encourages residents to place items on the curb the evening of May 10 for early morning pickup the next day.

Indian Rocks Beach

The city is planning a Flag Day ceremony at noon June 14 that will include an opportunity for people to properly dispose of American flags.

The ceremony was originally planned for Memorial Day but was moved because veterans' organizations already have Memorial Day plans.

At the brief ceremony, the city will turn in old and tattered flags to VFW Post 10094, which later will incinerate the flags at Bay Pines Veterans Hospital.

Because so many people have been flying flags since Sept. 11, Mayor Bob DiNicola said, many flags are tattered and need to be replaced.

Anyone who has an old flag can bring it to City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays until June 13. Non-residents are invited to drop off flags and participate, City Manager Tom Brobeil said.

Applications are available for the Beach Art Center's summer Creative Arts Camp. The camp will run from June 10 to July 26, except for the week of July 4.

Children 8 to 12 years old will explore American art history. Activities will include drawing, painting, three-dimensional art, fiber art, sculpture and more.

The program runs from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays. The fee is $70 per week including all materials and a snack. Children may attend one week or more.

In addition to the Creative Arts Camp children's pottery classes will be offered from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Students will learn various hand-building techniques with clay. The fee is $24 per week plus a $7 materials fee to cover clay, glazes and firing.

Phone 596-4331 for applications, registration and information. Enrollment is limited. The Beach Art Center is at 1515 Bay Palm Blvd., next to City Hall, in Indian Rocks Beach.

The city will sponsor a dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting for the Indian Rocks Beach Nature Preserve at 1 p.m. April 21.

A cookout will follow the ceremony. The park is at 903 Gulf Blvd.

-- Compiled by staff writer Amy Wimmer. To submit items to the beaches notebook, e-mail wimmer@sptimes.com.

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