Five Things We Learned on Patch this Week

 Today is the last day for the St. Pete Beach Connector Trolley. That means the roughly 600 weekly riders who use the connector trolley will have to find an alternate route to and from St. Pete Beach and Gulfport starting Saturday, October 1.

Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce proclaims on the cover of its visitor's guide, “The Beach is our Business.” Barrier Island's main cash cow continues to be the reason beach officials and businesses feel compelled to band together to support it.

 Pinellas County will be changing the way that parking is paid for at Sand Key Park early next month, according to a story from the St. Petersburg Times. Instead of the hourly rate of $1, parking will instead cost a flat $5 for a day of parking.

Treasure Island's Board of Commissioners called a special workshop Sept. 21st to review issues with special event parking.  The meeting started off with a clarification of some of the terms used in their Codes, while hearing the suggestions made by the Local Planning Agency (LPA).  While the Board did eventually decide on adopting the LPA's suggestions, it was as close to a split vote as a board of five could come.  With a consistent 3-2 split dividing the Board.

 More than 210 citizen divers and reef specialists participated in a half day diving event to help clean up Three Mile Reef - just off the Clearwater coast Saturday (Sept. 24).