Restored Ringling Bros. circus sleeper car moved to Venice Historic Train Depot
VENICE – A restored sleeping car that once belonged to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was moved last week to the 1927 Historic Venice Train Depot, joining a restored caboose and statue of Gunther Gebel-Williams as part of a campus that pays homage to the city’s connection with the fabled circus.
To ensure safety, the move was not publicized and volunteers helped detour cyclists on the Legacy Trail to create a clear path as it made the half-mile trip from Uni-Glide Trailer Co. on Seaboard Avenue north and then west in the eastbound lane of the East Venice Avenue access road, underneath the Venice Avenue Bridge, then north through the Venice Marine Park parking lot and onto the tracks at 303 E. Venice Avenue.
By Donal O Shea
HIGHER LEARNING
Our legislators are grappling with a $3.3 billion projected revenue shortfall over the next two fiscal years. New College is joining the State University System (SUS) of Florida in examining everything we do.
New College students receive an Ivy League education at a public school price and with top-ranked quality. Thanks to our legislators, taxpayers and community supporters, New College - in particular does well on both price and quality. The challenges Florida confronts require that we do even better.
Florida keeps tuition and fees at our state universities relatively low. The total cost of attendance (which includes tuition, fees, room, board, travel, incidentals) for a student at New College is $21,500, approximately the same as at the other state universities. However, the average cost to New College students is a little less than $8,000 per year because of scholarships and financial aid.
PARRISH – At 6:30 each morning, Katrina Perkins’ alarm goes off.
By 7 a.m., she is searching for deliveries to make through the grocery-delivery app Instacart. By 10 a.m., she opens the DoorDash app to find work there as well. She picks up and delivers orders through Uber Eats throughout the day, too.
For 12 hours a day, seven days a week, Perkins scrolls through, refreshing the three apps on her phone, looking for orders that will be worth the time and money.
But more often than not, Perkins said, those are difficult to find.
On a recent afternoon, Perkins opened one of the apps and took a look. There was an order, but it was in Tampa, about a 40-minute drive away. As much as she needs the income, she said, with time and gas expenses taken into account: “It doesn’t do me no good. It’s there [the work] but it is not worth it.”
Living alone during the coronavirus pandemic has been less than ideal for many, but for 33-year-old Aaron Dent, the seclusion has fostered a sense of pride.
After having lived with his parents for nearly two years, Dent moved out to his own one-bedroom apartment in Sarasota in October, the first time he has lived on his own without roommates.
That milestone is one Dent said he could not have reached without the $800 assistance he received from Season of Sharing in November.
“Before this, I never actually lived on my own. So living by myself, it was all on me,” Dent said. “Coming home, it’s a relief or a sense of pride that I am making it work.”