Passing Through - Mote Aquarium Bus Stop - Artistic Seating on Waymarking.com

Located at the bus stop by Mote Marine Aquarium this is but one of about 60 benches painted by artists for Sarasota County's "Beauty and the Bench" project.

For want of a bus bench:
(by Keith Backhaus, an elder advocate with Senior Friendship Centers-Venice. Printed in the Venice Sun)

For want of a bus bench, the rider was lost.

For want of the rider, the bus stop was lost.

For want of the bus stop, the bus was lost.

For want of a bus, our independence was lost.

To the original writer of this nursery rhyme, my apologies.

Every time I ask a group of older adults what is important to them as they age, the answer is, remaining independent.

At the top of the list in remaining independent is transportation. In my own family we are now facing the issue of how one maintains one’s dignity and independence when one decides it’s time to stop driving? Should we expect our elders to hang onto the bus stop pole, or provide them a bench?

For some time potential riders of our public bus system have stated they are unwilling to ride the bus because there are so few benches.

Standing is too much for many of our older adult riders, to say nothing about moms, dads and the kids.

An investigation revealed that SCAT needs many hundreds of benches throughout the county, but it is a low-priority budget item. Now, with recent budget cuts, the priority is only lower. What can we as a community do?

A presentation to the Seniors Advisory Council kicked off a new model of community partnership, which includes county and city government, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individual citizens.

Grants were received from the Roberta Leventhal Sudakoff Foundation to purchase the initial benches. Artists submitted proposed designs and were judged; special protective coatings have gone on each bench to give them long life. SCAT will install them.

Now it is up to us to donate $1,000 per bench. Benches can be sponsored individually, by a business, organization, civic group or as a memorial. Get your friends together to sponsor a bench.

We help those riding the bus.

We encourage bus ridership.

We enhance the reputation of our community as an arts leader.

The artists get paid for their work.

We buy another bench to start the cycle all over.

Soon we will have benches where we need them. This is “Beauty and the Bench” — a grassroots solution to an old problem.

Artist: Anita Sarno Date Placed: July 2007 Materials Used: Wood and Concrete

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/10/2012 petendot visited it