News Briefs 12.10.09

+ Former merchant leader closes store
Downtown Sarasota has lost another store.

After two years in business, Jake’s Downtown shut its doors last weekend, because of lagging sales.
Andrea Rankin, past president of the Downtown Merchants Association, owns the casual-clothing shop, and she said sales were down 30% in October.

“We wanted to close (before the holidays) so our employees could find Christmas work,” she said.
Rankin is also closing her second location in Naples, which opened in February.


+ Farmers Market manager rehired
Phil Pagano, a vendor who had previously managed the Downtown Sarasota Farmers Market for about two years, is once again filling that role. His first market day was Dec. 5.

The Downtown Partnership, which ran the market until the City Commission handed control to the vendors in September, fired Pagano last spring because it said he failed to collect rent from some vendors and was behind on his own rent.

The move caused a rift between the Partnership and the vendors, because Pagano had a lot of support among the vendors.

“It makes me feel great,” said Pagano about being re-appointed.


+ SCVB honored with three awards
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International will recognize the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau with three awards.

HSMAI will present one silver and two bronze Adrian Awards for advertising and Web-marketing excellence.

The Adrian Awards competition is billed as the world’s largest and most prestigious travel-marketing competition.
 

+ Meetings & Agendas
• Spring-training stadium informational meeting — 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10, at Ed Smith Stadium Clubhouse, 1090 N. Euclid Ave.
• Police Advisory Panel — 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at the City Commission Chambers, City Hall, 1565 First St.
• Greenspace Policy Committee — 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, in Room 112, City Hall, 1565 First St., Sarasota