Thursday, June 19, 2008
College students lament loss of communal home - The end of the 47th Street Saga continues
By Carol E. Lee
Published Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 12:27 p.m.
SARASOTA — The north Sarasota house where New College students have lived communally since 1992 was sold in a public auction Wednesday morning for $100.
The buyer was HSBC Bank USA, which held the mortgage that the home's owner failed to pay. There were no other bidders for the house.
The tenants at "The 47th Street House," as it is called, vowed to again attempt to buy the home, even as they were told they had 10 days to move out. Six of them sat in the front row of the courtroom during the foreclosure sale of their residence, an anticlimactic event that took just minutes.
"I wish we could have done something," tenant and New College graduate Sarah Kell, 28, said after the sale.
"I felt a mixture of anger and frustration," added tenant April Doner, 25. "I really hope we can save the house."
The renters said they tried to buy the house after learning in January that their landlord had not used their $2,075-per-month rent to pay her mortgage.
They said the bank rejected their offer to buy the house.
The 47th Street House was built by New College student Al Leonard in 1992 with yellow pine and cypress lumber from local sawmills. His goal was to create an off-campus residence where New College students could live in a communal atmosphere.
The house has served that purpose ever since. Chores are divided evenly among the tenants, and they hold potluck dinners and house meetings every other week at their kitchen table. The tradition became threatened when Leonard, now 53 and living in Vermont, sold the home to Carmen Palomino for $190,000 in 2006.
Palomino said in an interview this week that she could not afford her mortgage after her homeowners' insurance increased.
"Heartbreaking," tenant Lynn Jacobsen, 26, said of the situation with the house. "It's part of our life."
Published Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 12:27 p.m.
SARASOTA — The north Sarasota house where New College students have lived communally since 1992 was sold in a public auction Wednesday morning for $100.
The buyer was HSBC Bank USA, which held the mortgage that the home's owner failed to pay. There were no other bidders for the house.
The tenants at "The 47th Street House," as it is called, vowed to again attempt to buy the home, even as they were told they had 10 days to move out. Six of them sat in the front row of the courtroom during the foreclosure sale of their residence, an anticlimactic event that took just minutes.
"I wish we could have done something," tenant and New College graduate Sarah Kell, 28, said after the sale.
"I felt a mixture of anger and frustration," added tenant April Doner, 25. "I really hope we can save the house."
The renters said they tried to buy the house after learning in January that their landlord had not used their $2,075-per-month rent to pay her mortgage.
They said the bank rejected their offer to buy the house.
The 47th Street House was built by New College student Al Leonard in 1992 with yellow pine and cypress lumber from local sawmills. His goal was to create an off-campus residence where New College students could live in a communal atmosphere.
The house has served that purpose ever since. Chores are divided evenly among the tenants, and they hold potluck dinners and house meetings every other week at their kitchen table. The tradition became threatened when Leonard, now 53 and living in Vermont, sold the home to Carmen Palomino for $190,000 in 2006.
Palomino said in an interview this week that she could not afford her mortgage after her homeowners' insurance increased.
"Heartbreaking," tenant Lynn Jacobsen, 26, said of the situation with the house. "It's part of our life."
Average Shoppers Are Willing To Pay A Premium For Locally Produced Food
ScienceDaily (Jun. 8, 2008) — New research suggests that the average supermarket shopper is willing to pay a premium price for locally produced foods, providing some farmers an attractive option to enter a niche market that could boost their revenues.
The study also showed that shoppers at farm markets are willing to pay almost twice as much extra as retail grocery shoppers for the same locally produced foods. Both kinds of shoppers also will pay more for guaranteed fresh produce and tend to favor buying food produced by small farms over what they perceive as corporate operations, according to the study.
“Our conclusion is that if a farmer wants to consider producing food for local distribution and marketing it locally, there are people who are willing to pay more for it,” said Marvin Batte, a co-author of the study and the Fred N. VanBuren professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State University. “We are not saying that we should be producing all of our foods locally, just that this may be a viable, profitable activity for farmers.”
And what’s good for farmers also benefits consumers in this case, said Batte, director of the research project.
“This is an indication that certain groups out there value locally produced food and if farmers deliver that, it makes these consumers happier, so it’s good for them, too,” he said.
Click here to read entire article at Science Daily.com
The study also showed that shoppers at farm markets are willing to pay almost twice as much extra as retail grocery shoppers for the same locally produced foods. Both kinds of shoppers also will pay more for guaranteed fresh produce and tend to favor buying food produced by small farms over what they perceive as corporate operations, according to the study.
“Our conclusion is that if a farmer wants to consider producing food for local distribution and marketing it locally, there are people who are willing to pay more for it,” said Marvin Batte, a co-author of the study and the Fred N. VanBuren professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State University. “We are not saying that we should be producing all of our foods locally, just that this may be a viable, profitable activity for farmers.”
And what’s good for farmers also benefits consumers in this case, said Batte, director of the research project.
“This is an indication that certain groups out there value locally produced food and if farmers deliver that, it makes these consumers happier, so it’s good for them, too,” he said.
Click here to read entire article at Science Daily.com
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
NEW: 47th Street House sells for $100
Carol E. Lee
Published Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:43 a.m.
Last updated Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:47 a.m.
SARASOTA — The north Sarasota house where New College students have lived communally since 1992 sold in a public auction this morning for $100.
The buyer was HSBC Bank USA, which held the mortgage that the home’s owner failed to pay.
The tenants at “The 47th Street House,” as it is called, vowed to again attempt to purchase the home, even as they were told they have ten days to move out.
Six of them sat front row in the courtroom during the foreclosure sale of their residence, an anticlimactic purchase that took just minutes.
“I wish we could have done something,” tenant and New College graduate Sarah Kell, 28, said after the sale.
“I felt a mixture of anger and frustration,” added tenant April Doner, 25. “I really hope we can save the house.”
The renters said they tried to buy the house after learning in January that their landlord had not used their $2,075-a-month rent to pay her mortgage.
They said the bank denied their offer.
The 47th Street House was built by New College student Al Leonard in 1992 with yellow pine and cypress lumber from local sawmills. His goal was to create an off-campus residence where New College students could live in a communal atmosphere.
The house has served that purpose ever since: Chores are divided evenly among the tenants; they hold potluck dinners and house meetings every other week at their kitchen table.
The tradition became threatened when Leonard, now 53 and living in Vermont, sold the home to Carmen Palomino for $190,000 in 2006.
Palomino said in an interview this week that she could not afford her mortgage after her homeowners’ insurance increased.
“Heartbreaking,” tenant Lynn Jacobsen, 26, said of the situation with the house. “It’s part of our life.”
Published Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:43 a.m.
Last updated Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:47 a.m.
SARASOTA — The north Sarasota house where New College students have lived communally since 1992 sold in a public auction this morning for $100.
The buyer was HSBC Bank USA, which held the mortgage that the home’s owner failed to pay.
The tenants at “The 47th Street House,” as it is called, vowed to again attempt to purchase the home, even as they were told they have ten days to move out.
Six of them sat front row in the courtroom during the foreclosure sale of their residence, an anticlimactic purchase that took just minutes.
“I wish we could have done something,” tenant and New College graduate Sarah Kell, 28, said after the sale.
“I felt a mixture of anger and frustration,” added tenant April Doner, 25. “I really hope we can save the house.”
The renters said they tried to buy the house after learning in January that their landlord had not used their $2,075-a-month rent to pay her mortgage.
They said the bank denied their offer.
The 47th Street House was built by New College student Al Leonard in 1992 with yellow pine and cypress lumber from local sawmills. His goal was to create an off-campus residence where New College students could live in a communal atmosphere.
The house has served that purpose ever since: Chores are divided evenly among the tenants; they hold potluck dinners and house meetings every other week at their kitchen table.
The tradition became threatened when Leonard, now 53 and living in Vermont, sold the home to Carmen Palomino for $190,000 in 2006.
Palomino said in an interview this week that she could not afford her mortgage after her homeowners’ insurance increased.
“Heartbreaking,” tenant Lynn Jacobsen, 26, said of the situation with the house. “It’s part of our life.”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Class finishes habitat for tigers
By THERESE HOUNSELL CORRESPONDENT
Published Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 2:40 a.m.
Kay Rosaire stands outside the big cat exercise habitat, where Casey Altier's waterfall project is near completion, and speaks warmly of the girl who spent much of last year fundraising and coordinating material and labor costs to create something that brings pleasure to the tigers both women love so much.
Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary, a sprawling maze of chain-link-fenced pens, exotic animal habitats and circus performer and big-tent detritus, is hidden in plain sight.
The exotic animal sanctuary is just off Palmer Avenue in Sarasota, where Rosaire has operated the nonprofit since 1987, mostly from a cramped but well-cooled on-site trailer that serves as office and home.
She recalls meeting Altier last year and thinking there was much more to the Pine View School teenager than her focused concern for wildlife.
"Other kids have come out here and offered to build habitats," Rosaire said. "One kid wanted to construct an alligator pen, which we thought was great because so many people come to Florida and never see an alligator."
But plans for that project fell through, and for the last year the economy has pinched off financial support from some of the Habitat's corporate sponsors. Survival is not just a struggle in the wild, Rosaire said.
So when Altier came visiting last year at the encouragement of her Girl Scout leader, both women felt they found something special. "It was perfect," Altier recalled from her hospital bed at All Children's Hospital where the 18-year-old was taking her last round of chemotherapy the last week of May.
Click here to read entire article at Herald Tribune.com
Published Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 2:40 a.m.
Kay Rosaire stands outside the big cat exercise habitat, where Casey Altier's waterfall project is near completion, and speaks warmly of the girl who spent much of last year fundraising and coordinating material and labor costs to create something that brings pleasure to the tigers both women love so much.
Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary, a sprawling maze of chain-link-fenced pens, exotic animal habitats and circus performer and big-tent detritus, is hidden in plain sight.
The exotic animal sanctuary is just off Palmer Avenue in Sarasota, where Rosaire has operated the nonprofit since 1987, mostly from a cramped but well-cooled on-site trailer that serves as office and home.
She recalls meeting Altier last year and thinking there was much more to the Pine View School teenager than her focused concern for wildlife.
"Other kids have come out here and offered to build habitats," Rosaire said. "One kid wanted to construct an alligator pen, which we thought was great because so many people come to Florida and never see an alligator."
But plans for that project fell through, and for the last year the economy has pinched off financial support from some of the Habitat's corporate sponsors. Survival is not just a struggle in the wild, Rosaire said.
So when Altier came visiting last year at the encouragement of her Girl Scout leader, both women felt they found something special. "It was perfect," Altier recalled from her hospital bed at All Children's Hospital where the 18-year-old was taking her last round of chemotherapy the last week of May.
Click here to read entire article at Herald Tribune.com
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Local Company Harvest Cycle in New York Times Article "Salad Days for the Internet"
Here's the blurb about SRQ's local organic produce delivery service, Harvest Cycle, in the New York Times Style section. The article discusses the trend of purchasing food and groceries on the internet.*************
Some online delivery sites go even further to save energy. In Sarasota, Fla., for instance, the owner of a tiny new company called Harvestcycle.com relies on bicycles alone (pedaled by himself and his sister) to deliver DeSoto Lakes organic produce from a nearby farm to eight customers in a nine-mile radius.
“We’re not business people, we don’t have any money, we don’t have a $30,000 car to take care of or to gas up at a cost of 50 cents a mile,” said Andrew Noune, the founder of Harvestcycle.com, which started in February. “I work in the fields, and one day my friend had this idea I should deliver produce on my way home. My friend said, ‘Dude, you should totally set up a Web site and have people shop online.’ ”
Like many services, Harvestcycle.com also sells a broader selection of products distributed through an organic wholesaler, but allows customers to micro-manage orders to a degree unheard of even a few years ago. Customers can order only what’s local (loosely defined as having been grown or raised within a day’s drive) or only what’s in season or only organic — or a mix adjusted each week.
********Click here to read entire article at the New York Times online
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