August 7, 2009
THE FINE PRINT: Published online since 2005 by the City of Treasure Island Public Information Office for exactly 1241 savvy and urbane online subscribers. For more sublime reading pleasure, back issues available here.

TI NEWS CLIPS | TI COMMISSION MEETING 8/18/09 | HURRICANE PREP

Oh, sure, a few people at Wednesday's Sunset Beach "Solutions Workshop" went off-topic (similar to an old uncle telling "we-had-it-tough" stories of his daily "nine-mile mule ride to school" ... hey, we endured a daily nine-mile bus ride to school with nothing but AM radio) but by-and-large, constructive ideas were put out there to deal with the "endless spring break" problems at the south end of the city. So ... what are some of the solutions residents want considered? Let's get to the authoritative bullet points straight away:

• Permit and one-side-of-the-street parking in Sunset Beach
• Banning beer kegs
• More beach trash cans
• More frequent weekend beach trash collection
• Eye-catching signs explaining beach do's and don'ts
• Raising parking and traffic violation fines
• Absolutely NO elderly mule-riding uncles

The last bullet point was to see if you're paying attention. There are more workshops to come, so click the clicky here and bookmark the commission agendas page so you'll know when ordinances are developed and discussed. 

An island haven of marsh grass and oysters
Yes, green shoots everywhere, enviro-dudes and dudettes! Bob Dowling (former TI Commissioner, dynasty family, Tampa Bay Watch member, founder of Island Community Theatre ) toured Elnor Island (the mangrove island in John's Pass) with folks from Tampa Bay Watch a few weeks back. Why? Simple island pleasure? Nope, scouting for new oyster bed locations. Years before the '93 oil spill, oyster beds and marsh grass ringed - yes, absolutely ringed - the island. Today - not so much. They chose about 5 new bed locations. Permitting is next, then the actual oyster condos will be installed. We'll need volunteers for this, so we ask you and your old uncle to help out. Marsh grass gets planted at the hurricane hole in the center of the island to help filter the stagnant water and promote re-growth of natural habitat. We'll use animated gifs (or whatever it takes) to pester you to volunteer with Elnor Island restoration.

Beach Graffiti

BEACH SCAVENGER HUNT: This Sunday, Sunset Beach resident Eric Corson puts his finger on the fun button and whips up the first-ever Sunset Beach Trash Scavenger Hunt. Yes, you read correctly. Are there prizes? Could be, perhaps, maybe so. Meet at 6:30pm, Sunday, August 9th at the picnic tables south of Caddy's ... IT TAKES THREE HOURS TO WATCH, A BIT LONGER TO PONDER: This past week's "Solutions Workshop" will be continuously replayed on TITV615 all this weekend. DVD's of the workshop are available for repeated viewing enkoyment for $6 at the City Hall front desk ... LIBERACE WOULD BE VERY HAPPY:  Oh, how he loved his fountains! It's OK again to run whatever grand outdoor fountains you may have, so say the Water Restrictions People, who eased up the water rules a bit last week. Once-a-week do-it-yourself car washing is OK again, too (although we were getting used to using the Water Restrictions People as an excuse for our sloth-like car washing. Darn.) Pressure washing is allowed again, too ... Next e*ti: August 20th.

- Jeff Jensen, Editor
webmaster@mytreasureisland.org