1287 First Street, home of the Bijou Cafe
Well, well! The City of Sarasota on Monday afternoon at 2:30 will hopefully decide to go ahead with plans to give a face lift to parts of Downtown. While Main Street has seen many improvements over the years, little old First Street has been ignored and allowed to become somewhat the worse for wear. This is quite astonishing as First Street is the gateway from the Ritz Carlton to the heart of Downtown.
The rusty old lamp posts that date from the 50’s will be replaced with ornamental lighting, matching the rest of the lamp posts in town. The cracked and heaving concrete sidewalks will be replaced with new brick accented walk ways making it less likely that a Ritz Carlton guest heading for downtown will suffer a broken ankle.
Curbs and crosswalks will be enhanced and landscaping will be freshened up. All these improvements are intended to lure people downtown convincing them to park their cars and stroll about shopping, dining, and just having fun. Ironically this is exactly the opposite point of view the City seemed to have when the parking meters went in. The now defunct meter system said in no uncertain words: “Don’t you dare come downtown! We will make your life difficult, charge you money and punish you”! Good riddance you mean old meters!
So thank you Sarasota. We have waited patiently for this moment to arrive. Now we will be able to offer the Bijou Café guests a more pleasant, friendly and safer route to the restaurant. We look forward to working with the City and our wonderful neighbors, Florida Studio Theatre, enhancing our neighborhood.
Please come to City Hall on Monday May 21st at 2:30 and help us convince the City Commissioners to go ahead with these most appropriate plans. Read more about this here.
