The Olympics will be over and we'll be stuck in the hootenanny of political conventions (and we'd rather watch 24 hours of C-SPAN hearings of the Senate Committee on Lies for Campaign Reform than five minutes of either political convention) when August 28th rolls around, the day Publix opens its new supermarket on Treasure Island. Our hearts beat faster (no, not like an Olympian - we were going to say like a Santana record played at 78rpm) at the thought of a brand new Publix on Treasure Island. Our shopping list for the first day of business includes:

• Leaf and lawn bags for yard waste (the city will haul away up to 14 bags at no extra charge)
• 12-pack of beer (to lure friends to help bag yard waste)
• Bag of ice (friends don't let friends drink warm beer)

Record-setting sea oats planting
It rained pretty hard last Saturday morning and then the skies cleared. About 70 volunteers, armed with shovels and determination, headed out to the beach and planted 12,600 sea oat seedlings in 2 1/2 hours! There were about four "hotspots" planted where the dune line had broken. Thanks once more to the volunteers of Treasure Island, the Beach Stewardship Committee, Nature Matters, Tampa Bay Watch and especially Dr. Nicole Elko, our Pinellas County Coastal Coordinator, who has provided Treasure Island with over 70,000 FREE sea oats seedlings since 2004.

TI on "Highway 18" September 2nd
Highway 18 is the name of the Golf Channel series that mixes golf skills with challenges that require speed and problem-solving skills. Back in April, Highway 18 taped an episode in Treasure Island which will air on Tuesday, September 2nd at 10pm. Therefore, we've thoughtfully moved the Commission meeting that week from Tuesday to Wednesday, September 3rd.

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