A pair of COVID-19 vaccine pop-up clinics in Lakewood Ranch and Charlotte County are drawing complaints of political favoritism, with the issue roiling the Manatee County Commission on Tuesday as officials complained that residents in two ZIP codes were given preferential treatment.
The Lakewood Ranch clinic kicks off Wednesday, lasts for three days and is limited to residents in two ZIP codes in wealthier, whiter and strongly Republican areas of Manatee County. Those ZIP codes include communities developed by the politically connected Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and represented by GOP commission Chairwoman Vanessa Baugh, who is closely aligned with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The rest of the mall is owned by O’Connor Capital Partners, a real estate development, investment and management firm with offices in New York, Palm Beach and Mexico City.
Aldi has been on a rapid expansion path over the past few years. The grocer plans to be the third-largest U.S. grocery retailer by the end of 2022. That will involve opening one more Sarasota County store that we know of in the near future – in Venice’s Jacaranda Plaza, which is also owned by Benderson.
“We are proud of our continued expansion,” Matt Thon, Haines City division vice president at Aldi, said in a statement. “Opening new stores allows us to provide even more shoppers convenient access to fresh, high-quality groceries at unbeatable prices. We look forward to serving the Sarasota community at our newest location for many years to come.”
Shopping mall spectacular under Obsidian control
Thursday, 14 January 2021
The University Town Centre Mall holiday light show (photo: Stancil Entertainment)
USA - The Mall at University Town Centre in Sarasota, Florida, has over 100 stores and 20 dining options that attract multitudes of patrons year round. This past holiday season, the mall retired its smaller Christmas experience from years past and debuted a spectacular new holiday light show as incentive for customers to forego stay-at-home shopping and visit the mall instead. Justin Stancil of Stancil Entertainment was contacted to design the lighting spectacular and turned to the ONYX platform from Obsidian Control Systems to control the massive system. “The client called saying they had a vision to do a big light show but had no idea how to achieve it,” Stancil shares. “I got the call in August and we designed a complete system - advanced pixels, intelligent lighting, control, hardlined and wireless networking, a
Spectacular Christmas light show at Florida shopping mall under Obsidian control USA – The Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota, Florida, is a shopping paradise with over 100 stores and 20 dining options that attracts multitudes of patrons year round. This past holiday season, the mall retired its smaller Christmas experience from years past and debuted a spectacular new holiday light show as incentive for customers to forego stay-at-home shopping and visit the mall instead.
Justin Stancil of Stancil Entertainment was contacted to design the lighting spectacular and turned to the ONYX platform from Obsidian Control Systems to control the massive system. “The client called saying they had a vision to do a big light show but had no idea how to achieve it,” Stancil shares. “I got the call in August and we designed a complete system: advanced pixels, intelligent lighting, control, hard-lined and wireless networking and automation.”