Welcome to Venice, a city that lures not only tourists and new residents but urban planners, who come to see the results of the much revered original 1920s plan by John Nolen, one of the nation’s first urban planners. Nolen, an urban planner before there was such a specialty, learned from his association with Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect who designed New York’s Central Park, about features that make cities “livable.”
Today, Venice is known for its friendly, small-town feel, its quaint shopping center of low-rise buildings that are primarily in a Mediterranean style, and its lovely boulevard shaded by giant live oaks that extends from downtown to the beckoning beach. The beach, starting at the northern edge of the city where the Venice jetties open a passage from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico, extends for miles. Much of it is undeveloped and merges into Sarasota County’s Caspersen Beach Park. Prehistoric sharks' teeth (there is no problem with sharks) are found on the beaches at Venice and Caspersen. Venice has been called the “Shark’s Tooth Capital of the World.”
In addition to the lovely beach, a central park along Venice's main street, Venice Avenue, is the site of concerts, arts and craft shows, and various special events. Throughout the city are neighborhood green spaces and parks, many design features of which inspired architects and city planners working on what is called the "New Villages” concept of city planning.
The most common response of people who move here or who return each year to visit, is, “When we drove down Venice Avenue past the shops and parks and saw the beach, we knew this was where we wanted to be.” I invite you to see for yourself.
Ed Martin, Mayor |
