SARASOTA – It is 6:54 a.m. when the sun wakes Jesse Biter as it peeks through the windows of his four-bedroom penthouse. Within minutes, his two girls, ages 10 and 11, scamper through the $3.85 million Marina Tower condominium downtown. Biter cooks them breakfast; it reminds him of his own childhood. Driving the girls to…
When the Gainesville City Commission bought the vacant Mom’s Kitchen restaurant in 2009, there were a number of reasons to question the purchase. The city was dealing with a $1 million budget deficit at the time and the project wasn’t on a list of priorities for redevelopment. Yet the commission voted 4-3 to pay $165,000…
Generosity toward homeless causing eyesore downtown Tate Clair’s nightmare for the past three months has been a mountain of black trash bags near his restaurant.Clair, who owns The Lunchbox at 104 SE First Ave., said he has noticed more people coming to the Bo Diddley Plaza next to his restaurant and leaving bags or boxes…