Lido Shores Graduation Party Turns Raucous

Graffiti discovered inside Pavilion after wild weekend

A graduation party got out of hand Saturday afternoon, June 1 at our LSPOA beach access and Pavilion.  Sarasota Police were eventually called to break-up the raucous gathering late that afternoon.

Beach Access Director Katie Best says she was first contacted by the Barzman's, Stu and Gail, 1070 Westway Drive, who live across from the Beach gate entrance.  They reported a large number of young people and cars parking outside the gate and along the easement.  Katie responded and asked a number of the teens to move their cars.  She says they were polite and complied.

A short time later,  dozens more teens began arriving, some dropped off by Uber, so the police were called.  Before police arrived,  Stu Barzman watched as teens swarmed over the gate, then were able to prop the gate open.  Stu said they were once again parking all along the easement between the two gates, and beer cans were strewn all about.  Cars also blocked his driveway.

A check of the Westway gate security log showed the main beach entrance gate was opened at least 75-times by a clicker belonging to Carl and Svetlana Janglin of 1199 Westway Drive.  It turns out it was their son who invited three friends over, but one of the girls sent out a city-wide message on social media about a Lido Shores beach party. This attracted kids from all over Sarasota (most of whom didn't even know who was throwing the party). The party soon swelled out of control and 80+ underaged kids gained access to LSPOA private property.

When police arrived, the partiers began to scatter, leaving towels, flip flops and beer cans behind as they fled police down the beach.  Police found the Pavilion "trashed", and notified the Janglins.  Mrs. Janglin says she was unaware of the party, and according to LSPOA President Lynn Carvel was mortified with the situation and turned their son over to them who was very apologetic to the police and Lynn.

Mark and Tammy Flannagan were trying to enjoy the beach when all this occurred and Tammy was kind enough to go get trash bags for the remaining kids to clean up. Lynn, Tammy and the police remained at the Pavilion until it was all cleaned up.

On Monday,  Janet Minker discovered on her morning walk that graffiti had been painted inside the Pavilion over the weekend and a great deal of sand covered the floor.  While it's unlikely that the graffiti (painted on with water soluble paint) was not a result of the Saturday party (since no graffiti was present when Lynn oversaw the trash pick-up) the abundant sand on the floor was from the party. Regardless,  Lynn had the Janglin's son remove all of the graffiti and clean the Pavilion.

There are a number of lessons to glean from all of this.  First, and foremost, we have a legal duty to protect our beach easement.  The  right-of-way was vigorously fought for and won in a contentious 1999 court battle, and governs to this day our precious neighborhood asset.

That court ruling settled a lawsuit filed by former Lido Shores resident Laurence Saslaw against Lido Shores Property Owners Association, Inc.  A court order by Sarasota County Circuit Judge Lee Haworth approved a settlement that affirmed LSPOA the owner of the 20-foot easement providing enduring beach access to property owners in good standing and their guests.

We have 14-Easement Rules in our By-Laws (see Rules at lido-shores.com).  We share responsibilities with Thomas and Paula McInerney, who live next to the main gate at 1067 Westway Drive and own both lots to the south of the easement.  It's our duty as LSPOA to make sure those rules are followed and we can loss the right to our beach access if not followed.

Secondly, there are a large number of renters visiting Lido Shores right now and throughout the summer.  In separate incidents, police were also called to 1406 Westway Drive twice this week for loud partying.   It's the responsibility of of our homeowners who rent to make sure their guests are familiar with the LSPOA Easement rules, and to respect that they are just that, guests, in a residential neighborhood.

As we again fought for so valiantly at City Hall just this past year, we as an Association do not want to see Lido Shores turn into a haven for Air BnB's.  Our By-Laws now require 30-day minimum rentals in order to be LSPOA members. If you are renting your home out for fewer than 30-days and allowing renters access to our private beach, your beach fobs will be deactivated and your LSPOA membership revoked! 

 If you see homes where the LSPOA By-Laws are being violated, please contact a Board member to let them know.

~BT
bthill@icloud.com