College Football Championship Game Fans Helped Fill New Tampa’s Hotels

Clemson fans were in the majority in our area for the National Championship game, which helped fill our local hotels, including the Holiday Inn Express in New Tampa.

The total economic impact of the recent College Football Playoff National Championship game between Clemson and Alabama at Raymond James Stadium is debatable, but there is no disputing that even though the game was held nearly 20 miles away, New Tampa felt some of the effect.

While certainly no Super Bowl, whose impact is larger and usually stretches more than a week in areas where it is held, Holiday Inn Express & Suites general manager George Sandona said the Tigers’ thrilling victory over the defending national champion Crimson Tide on Jan. 9 helped fill all of the rooms the day before and night of the game at his hotel, located on Galbraith Rd. off Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. in New Tampa.

“It was particularly good that it was a Sunday and Monday night, because, in the world of hotels, those do not typically sell out,’’ he said.

Sandona said that all 100 rooms at his Holiday Inn Express & Suites were booked Sunday and Monday, and he estimates that at least 60-70 of those rooms were occupied by Clemson and Alabama football fans.

And, at the Spring Hill Suites on Primrose Lake Cir. in Tampa Palms, rooms also were packed with football fans, but not the ones general manager Barbara Scott says she initially anticipated.

According to Scott, as many as 25 rooms had been booked months in advance by Ohio State supporters. But, when the Buckeyes were beaten by Clemson 31-0 on New Year’s Eve, those rooms were cancelled.

Most of them, she says, were filled by Clemson fans, the rest by Alabama fans.

Scott said her hotel (which will be undergoing a transformation this summer) was nearly sold out on Sunday, the day before the game, but all 127 suites were filled Monday night, with 50 percent of those bookings by football visitors.

“Was it lucrative? Yes,’’ Scott says. “Was it as lucrative as we thought, with people booking six months out? No.”

The Clemson fans, Scott said, were a delight. She said the big group took it easy on the breakfast tables of Alabama fans, who had, “their heads in their plates” the morning after the Tigers’ 35-31 victory.

“They (Clemson) are a lovely travel team,’’ Scott says.

The college football championship game was a pleasant economic boost during what can be a slow time for area hotels. This year’s DICK’s Lacrosse Tournament in nearby Wesley Chapel (see pg. 54) had 20 fewer teams than last year, so the usual infusion of visitors for that event didn’t materialize in New Tampa.

But, the Tiger and Tide faithful made up for it.

“2017 is starting out well,’’ said Sandona, who anticipates the success to continue as the Florida Hospital Center Ice hockey facility opens, even though there is another Holiday Inn Express opening directly adjacent to the hotel off S.R. 56. FHCI already has booked almost half of its year with events that are sure to fill more local hotel rooms.

Jackie Ramos, who has been the general manager at the 84-room La Quinta Inn on Doña Michelle Dr. for three years, said that hotel didn’t sell out for the championship game, but hit definitely received a large increase in bookings due to the game.

“We certainly did,’’ she said. “Mostly Clemson fans.”

The Tampa Bay Business Journal said the number of out-of-town visitors for the game was estimated at 75,000-100,000, with more than half of those booking hotel rooms. Southern Hillsborough and Pinellas County, which are closer to the beaches, were expected to receive the lion’s share of that total.

Tampa Bay Sports Commission executive director Rob Higgins estimated that the economic impact to the Tampa Bay area was roughly $300 million.

Last year’s championship game — also played between Alabama and Clemson — was played at the University of Phoenix Stadium and, according to Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, generated $273.6-million from out-of-state visitors. That was the highest total ever reported for a national championship game.

Scott says Tampa came off great on television and seemed to be a hit with visitors, adding that measuring the success of the event by that standard reaps more benefits than the final financial figures. “The success can not be tethered to dollars,’’ said Scott, who has been with the SpringHill Suites since 2013. “We got some great press, and these things help put (Tampa) on the road to being the next great city.”

While final economic impact figures for Tampa Bay aren’t yet available, Sandona says these events definitely provide a boost to local businesses, and not just his own.

He said his staff fielded dozens of inquiries from fans looking for things to do locally, with the most common question being — where are the best restaurants?

“It was great for local restaurants, and it probably had a positive impact on Busch Gardens attendance,” Sandona said. “Most people had already done a lot of research about the events at the (downtown Tampa) RiverWalk near the stadium. And, everyone tries to include a beach day in their trip.”

Sandona has been the general manager at the Holiday Inn Express since 2010 (and before that, also held the position from 2003-07), and has worked through a few Super Bowls, which booked his hotel full for 4-5 days at a time.

Sandona only wishes the event had more staying power. Clemson and Alabama didn’t win their semifinal games until Dec. 31, so fans couldn’t plan too far ahead, creating some special booking process requirements.

And, because the game was held on a Monday night, that meant, at most, only a likely weekend stay.

However, Sandona said it was a friendly, festive crowd that filled his rooms over the weekend. He said even the Alabama fans remained upbeat after the loss, confident their team would return to the championship game next year.

But they don’t win the award for most faithful fan at the hotel.

“One of my favorite interactions was with a Clemson fan who booked his rooms on June 1, 2016,’’ Sandona says. “I spoke to him a week before the game and told him he gets my ‘Boatload of Faith’ award. He told me he just figured the best thing to do was stay positive.”

Freedom’s Megan Clark Determined To Be The Best

Freedom senior Megan Clark scores two of her game-high 26 in the Patriots’ 78-0 win over Leto.

Basketball is always on the mind of Freedom High guard Megan Clark. It occupies her thoughts, her dreams, virtually every hour of her life, awake or asleep. She’s just as intense in a hard-fought, cross-town rivalry game against Wharton as she is in a 78-0 blowout of Leto (see story, next page).

“She never takes a play off, she will not take a play off,” Patriots head coach Laurie Pacholke says. “She goes 32 minutes, all out. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. She’s put herself in shape to go all out for 32 minutes.”

The level of dedication Clark exhibits is uncommon.

“People don’t realize that those are the little things that will help you be successful at the next level,” Pacholke says.

Clark’s level of dedication can be chalked up as obsession.

She wakes up before dawn, most days of the week, to hit the New Tampa YMCA for a 5 a.m. shoot around and practice session. She is almost always the first player to arrive at team practice, and the last to leave.

“She bought the WNBA TV package with her own money, if that doesn’t tell you something,” Pacholke says. “She just has a love for the game. I’ve seen that growth in her (more than in any other player) over the years.”

It wasn’t always that way for Clark.

In sixth grade, while at Liberty Middle School, she decided to try out for every sport she could, just to get an idea of what she liked. She played youth soccer but stepped up to track, volleyball, soccer and basketball that year. “I was bad, awful at basketball in middle school,” Clark said. “I just really liked playing it and thought I’d get better at it.”

And yes, she did.

Clark made the Freedom varsity team her freshman year, a significant feat considering the Patriots the year before made the State semifinals.

Pacholke remembers Clark coming to a game with her father and the post-game discussion revolved around how Clark might see the floor by her junior year.

Clark sped up her coach’s timetable. If she wasn’t at the YMCA in the morning, she was draining buckets at the local outdoor court in Tampa Palms’ Compton Park neighborhood.

When she stayed until the lights went out, she’d come home and shoot at the hoop in her driveway. She not only made the varsity team her freshman year, she scored 18 points in the third game that season.

“She’s a student of the game,” Pacholke says. “She has passion, athletic ability and that really sets her up. I knew then (after the 18-point game) that in her four years at Freedom, her growth was going to be even greater.”

Clark went from averaging 7.3 points per game as a freshman, to 9.7 as a sophomore, 14.7 as a junior and as of the Leto game, she’s averaging 23.6 points per game, third-best in Class 8A, this season.

“I’d say that in a span of four years, Megan has probably improved more than any other kid I’ve coached,” Pacholke says.

Playing At The Next Level

The hard work and dedication have paid off. Clark went to a summer camp at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. There, she said that she had one of the best camps of her life and that she loved the facility, the players and the coaches.

She came away from that 2016 camp with her heart set on where she wanted to continue her career. The call came a week later. Clarke was taking a walk in her neighborhood when the phone rang. She recognized the number — because she had saved it in her cell phone— it was Tennessee Tech head coach Kim Rosamond.

“I knew it was Coach Rosamond,” Clark says. “She told me pretty quickly in the conversation that they wanted to offer me a scholarship and I (verbally) committed right there.”

Clark signed her letter of intent this past November and entered into a final phase of her prep career, one that few high school athletes get to enjoy.

“Those few months after a player has signed are really the first time in their lives they are playing for fun,” Pacholke says. “When you find the right place (to go to college), you’re going to know, and I don’t think Megan could have found a better fit than Tennessee Tech.”

Rosamond and Clark should develop nicely together. The current season is Rosamond’s first as head coach of the Division I program, which competes in the Ohio Valley Conference and is 6-12 overall. Clark is Rosamond’s first recruit.

With Clark’s team-first mentality and dogged determination, the future is bright for both athlete and program.

“If she (Clark) improved that much over the four years here at Freedom, I can only imagine how much she’ll improve over four years with a collegiate program,” Pacholke says.

78-0? Really?

Pacholke found herself in an unusual position during a game on Jan. 17 against Leto.

She was rooting for the Falcons to score a basket. Any basket.

Alas, it did not happen.

Final score: Freedom 78, Leto 0.

That is not a typo.

“I felt bad,’’ said Pacholke, who has coached in her fair share of routs in her eight years at Freedom, but last week’s shutout was a first.

“We were saying ‘Please shot go in, please shot go in, please shot go in’ in the fourth quarter,’’ Pacholke said. “We wanted them to get on the board. We definitely weren’t playing for a shutout.”

Pacholke said she was able, however, to use the game as a teaching moment for her players, who she felt had given up late in their previous game, a loss to Plant.

Leto may not have scored, but they kept coming.

“They had fight in them,’’ Pacholke said. “I think a lot of times that gets lost, but those kids, they never gave up.”

Leto has had a rough time of it against New Tampa teams. The Falcons previous worst loss was a 50-1 defeat against Wharton on Jan. 4.

“It’s such a tough situation,’’ Pacholke said. “Do you just stop playing? Do you not play? I look at it from my perspective, and I’m a very competitive person, so if I’m in that kind of situation, I’d be insulted if the other team just stopped playing.”

In retrospect, Pacholke says she wishes she had called up some junior varsity players for the game, but didn’t think of it.

But, she says she played her starters as little as she could with her small roster, and the team did not press or run the ball up the floor on every possession.

And, while it was the first time one of  her teams ever shut out an opponent, she says she hopes it is the last.

Do You Have Sleep Apnea? Call Dr. Jay Nelson Of Nelson Dentistry!

Jay Nelson, DMD (center), and his amazing staff at Nelson Dentistry on S.R. 54 in Lutz.

There are a lot of good dentists out there, but few combine the ability to maintain your oral health and improve your ability to sleep without snoring like Dr. Jay Nelson, D.M.D (Doctor of Dental Medicine) and his Nelson Dentistry & Dental Sleep Medicine.

Dr. Nelson’s practice, located in the Highland Oaks Medical Center off S.R. 54 (west of Livingston Rd.) provides an extensive list of services that has grown over his 35-year career, as dental research and technology have created more patient options and his expertise to deliver them has grown.
Building on what he learned while earning his D.M.D. (Doctor of Medical Dentistry) degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in Philadelphia, Dr. Nelson earned advanced certifications from professional organizations such as the Academy of Laser Dentistry (ALD), Academy of Comprehensive Esthetics (ACE) and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM). Dr. Nelson says his practice is the only AADSM-accredited facility in Florida.
Nelson Dentistry is a full-service dental practice, offering procedures that can help you have attractive, healthy teeth that are capable of chewing and grinding food. General dental services include teeth cleanings, fillings, root canals, periodontal therapy, dentures, veneers, whitening and even full-mouth reconstruction.
Dental Sleep Medicine
Dr. Nelson says that just because someone spends eight hours a night in sleep mode, it doesn’t guarantee their body is getting the rest it needs to be recharged for the waking hours to follow. Dental sleep medicine is a practice area that addresses some of the health issues affecting sleep quality, such as obstructive sleep apnea (a condition whereby sleep-time breathing is interrupted, depriving the body of a steady flow of oxygen), and it’s one way Dr. Nelson says he can deliver a higher level of patient benefit.
According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, “moderate-to-severe sleep apnea is independently associated with a large increased risk of all-cause mortality, incident stroke, and cancer incidence and mortality.”
“In general dentistry, we’re saving teeth and helping people get healthier,” Dr. Nelson says. “With dental sleep medicine, we’re saving lives.”
Dental sleep medicine uses FDA-approved oral appliance technology and dental expertise to relieve sleep-disturbing problems like snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Nelson says the severity is wide-ranging in terms of how often a sleeper’s breathing pauses.
“People with sleep apnea stop breathing in their sleep from five to one hundred times an hour,” he says.
Which would you rather wear to help with your snoring — the traditional CPAP or the oral appliance pictured above?

According to Dr. Nelson, obstructive sleep apnea can contribute to developing high blood pressure and heart disease and can increase your risk of having a stroke. He also says that besides the risk of chronic disease, people who don’t get enough quality sleep are less alert and increase their risk of injury from car or work-related accidents.

Snoring is sometimes a symptom of or a precursor to obstructive sleep apnea and can disturb the sleep of others. Dr. Nelson says dental sleep medicine offers a way to help bring relief not only to the person snoring, but also those who are sleeping within hearing distance of the noise.
“Someone snoring doesn’t just affect them, it affects their bed partner,” Dr. Nelson says. “We’re saving marriages, allowing couples to sleep in the same bed.”
Obstructive sleep apnea is a medical condition that requires a physician’s diagnosis. Patients become candidates for treatment by American Board of Sleep Medicine-certified Sleep Medicine specialists after undergoing an evaluation at a sleep testing center. “There are two ways a patient might enter our (dental sleep medicine) practice,” says Dr. Nelson. “One is referral by a physician, or we sometimes have patients (with other issues) and refer them for a sleep study, where a sleep medicine physician would evaluate them.”
The standard treatment for obstructive sleep apnea has been to pump a continuous stream of air into a patient’s nose or mouth while sleeping. This method — using a Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) system — is effective but many people find the CPAPs ugly and uncomfortable to use, Dr. Nelson says, resulting a high failure rate usually due to patient non-compliance.
Instead of the unwieldy, scary-looking CPAP machine, today’s dental sleep medicine uses an FDA approved oral appliance that is adjusted to position the tongue and jaw to allow greater airflow to the lungs while sleeping. Treatment effectiveness is evaluated and adjustments are made, if necessary.
“Many people find the oral appliances more comfortable than the CPAP,” Dr. Nelson says. “People with mild to moderate sleep apnea often prefer an oral appliance to using a CPAP.”
Dental sleep medicine professionals have only been using oral appliances to treat obstructive sleep apnea for about 10 years and Dr. Nelson has been doing so for seven years. It is another dimension to his practice, which has served the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel communities from his Lutz office since 1987.
“It’s just something different, to help people in a different way than I usually do,” says Dr. Nelson, who is a New Tampa resident.
Whether he is easing the pain and discomfort of a patient with a dental cavity, or helping someone get more restful sleep, Dr. Nelson abides by the same guiding principle: “We treat everyone as an individual, with respect, and do the best we can.”
Some Glowing Reviews
A survey of online Google reviews suggests Dr. Nelson’s dental practice has a lot of satisfied patients, with 38 reviews unanimously giving the office 5 out of 5 stars.
“Dr. Nelson and his staff are great,” wrote patient Traci Jurek. “I have been going there for over 10 years and really appreciate the professional and personal way they treat you.”
Joyce Miguel echoes those sentiments: “Dr Nelson and his entire team know how to create a positive experience for their patients,” Miguel writes. “ Their caring and compassion are evident in all they do.”
And, sleep apnea treatment reviewer Rosemarie Rohatgi writes, “Dr. Jay Nelson is a genius at helping people solve their sleep problems. Not only that, he is absolutely tenacious in making sure you get what you need. I highly recommend him.”
Nelson Dentistry also received 5 out of 5 stars from 148 reviewers at HealthGrades.com, which scores medical practitioners on items ranging from level of trust to waiting times.
Dr. Jay Nelson’s Nelson Dentistry & Dental Sleep Medicine is located at 1928 Highland Oaks Blvd. in Lutz. For additional information, visit DrJayNelson.com or SleepBetterFlorida.com, or call 333-9265.

The Legacy At Highwoods Preserve Provides Quality Care For Your Loved Ones

The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve has been open since the summer of 2015, offering top-quality assisted living and memory care in New Tampa, less than two miles off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy.

It is now both owned and managed by PinPoint Commercial, based in Houston. PinPoint was the community’s original developer, and recently established its own company to manage The Legacy and its other properties, called LifeWell Senior Living.

The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve offers spacious rooms, an extensive array of facilities and amenities, expansive views over a nature preserve outside and even a putting green at the center of one of the facility’s courtyards.

With 82 private suites and a license to house up to 88 residents, The Legacy offers five floor plans, from 330-sq.-ft. studios to 525-sq.-ft. deluxe suites. There are 60 suites for assisted living, as well 22 suites in the secured memory care wing of the building.

As part of The Legacy’s all-inclusive package, residents are served three meals a day at the Palm Pavilion, with menus and fine linens. They also can grab a snack from the Key Lime Bistro any time of the day or night. There’s even a sports bar, a private dining room that can be reserved for visiting family, a full-service salon, game room, theater, library, grand piano and fitness center.

Residents’ medical needs are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), with oversight from Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs).

And, it’s not just the building itself that community relations directors Lilly Gonzalez and Taylor Penvose want you to know about The Legacy, however. They really want to share how The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve helps seniors live a, “connected, active, safe, and purposeful life,” which is the philosophy of LifeWell Senior Living.

“We’re not a nursing home or a cold facility,” says Lilly. “We’re truly a community.”

For example, the residents have frequent outings to locations such as the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. “They have weekly lunches at Ruby Tuesday or Burger 21, or even Bahama Breeze on the (Courtney Campbell) Causeway,” says Lilly. “Recently, they went to visit Tarpon Springs and the residents couldn’t wait to go put their feet in the sand.”

She says another favorite activity among residents is dominoes with The Legacy’s executive director, Janis Stovall. “Our residents love dominoes with Janis,” says Lilly. She adds that Janis is one of the reasons The Legacy is unlike any other assisted living facility.

“She’s truly a resident advocate who is always looking to connect one-on-one with our residents,” Lilly says.

Making Residents Feel At Home

Lilly and Taylor also explain that the building has been designed to encourage interaction among the residents. “Each suite is private, but the whole building is home,” explains Lilly. “Our common areas are very purpose-driven, because we don’t want residents isolated in their rooms.”

The staff is intentional about extending its community to the residents’ families, too. There’s an air hockey table that kids enjoy, for example, or families can bring a movie to watch together in the theater room.

Marsha Wolf, a Cory Lake Isles resident whose husband Harvey moved into a memory care residence at The Legacy this summer, says the community feels like a family to her. “Everyone here does everything,” says Marsha. “If someone needs help, they all work together. Janis is just the best and goes out of her way to do things to accommodate the residents. I’m thankful I found a place that I feel like he’s safe and I don’t have to worry.”

Hunter’s Green resident Constance Salters moved her great aunt, Ruby Smith, into The Legacy last March. She agrees with Marsha that her aunt has been well cared for at The Legacy.

Constance says Ruby had been at another care facility, where she had a fall, and ended up in the hospital, then rehab. That’s when Constance decided to move her closer to home.

“When she came in, she was using a feeding tube and wheelchair,” explains Constance. “Now she’s up, and thinks she runs the place.”

Constance says The Legacy has given her peace of mind.

“I don’t have to worry about her,” she says. “The staff communicates with me very well, gives me lots of updates, and there are tons of activities so she’s always entertained. They even text me pictures of her dancing, so I feel included in what she’s doing.”

Constance says The Legacy feels like one big family. “She’s home, and I feel totally comfortable that I don’t have to do surprise visits or monitor her. Everyone treats the residents like their own family. I definitely recommend it.”

Using Technology

The Legacy incorporates the latest technological advances to offer its residents the best in health and safety, such as QuietCare technology. “QuietCare allows us to be proactive, instead of reactive,” says Taylor. The technology uses motion and heat sensors, combined with software analytics, to learn the behaviors and patterns of residents. If something is out of character — such as a resident getting up more often at night, or maybe staying in the bathroom an unusually long time — the system alerts the care staff so they can check on them.

Every resident wears a radio-frequency ID wristband that provides access to their private suite. The wristbands also are used in the fitness center, where residents can use state-of-the-art equipment, designed especially for seniors, to alert the machines to the user’s preferences and goals. With no weights or chains to struggle with, this equipment minimizes falls and injuries, and the wristband technology tracks the workout.

“If a doctor is concerned that a patient needs to exercise more, we can actually give the resident a printout of all of their workouts to show the doctor,” Taylor says.

Residents also wear a pendant that can alert caregivers on staff instantly, plus there are pull cords in every bedroom and bathroom. “Our staff is held accountable for how quickly they respond when they receive an alert,” says Lilly.

Anyone entering the building, whether they are family members, third party providers or doctors, is checked out by Accushield, a digital sign-in kiosk that verifies providers’ credentials, time spent in the building, and even criminal and health backgrounds.

Respite Care, Too

For people who are providing care to loved ones at home and may need a break, The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve also offers respite care.

“If you’re taking care of a loved one and need time to go to a wedding or graduation or family vacation, we have one residence available in both assisted living and memory care for this purpose,” Lilly says. There is a minimum stay of seven days, where the person you care for will have access to all of the community’s amenities and activities. “It’s like your loved one gets a vacation, as well,” Lilly adds. “If you think, ‘I want to go away, but I can’t,’ we’ll help you make that happen.”

The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve is located at 18600 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. For info, call 375-9858, see the ad on pg. 38 or visit LegacyatHighwoodsPreserve.com. Walk-ins are welcome seven days a week, from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., but appointments are preferred for tours.

Nearly 500 New Tampa Students To Lose ‘Courtesy Busing’ Next School Year

Starting next school year, Alex Evison, center, and the other kids in his Cross Creek neighborhood will no longer have a bus to ride to school. His mom, Lisa, says most of these kids’ parents can’t drive their kids to school because the hours fall within the work day and the walk isn’t safe.

In December, the Hillsborough County School Board voted to end what they call “courtesy busing” for middle and high school students who live within two miles of their respective schools.

In New Tampa, this will affect nearly 500 students, mostly at Louis Benito Middle School and Paul R. Wharton High School, where more than 400 students will no longer have bus transportation provided (see chart). At other New Tampa schools combined, including Freedom High, Liberty Middle, and Tuner/Bartels K-8, another 50 students are affected.

According to records made available by the School Board, Benito currently provides bus transportation to 629 of the 1,058 students who attend school there. Of those students, 265 will not have bus transportation starting with the 2017-18 school year, because they live within two miles of the school.

“Courtesy busing was not supposed to be a permanent thing,” explains school district spokesperson Tanya Arja. “It was designed for temporary uses, such as road hazards during construction, and there should have been a process to remove it when those factors were gone.”

She explains that the majority of students throughout Hillsborough County are responsible for their own transportation to and from school, saying that of 214,000 students countywide, only 90,000 are bused.

Arja also says the decision was made in December to give parents plenty of time to plan for next school year, such as by arranging carpools or their work schedules.

For some local parents, the decision is upsetting. Lisa Evison, who lives in Cross Creek, is trying to rally parents to object to the decision, as other communities — such as Lutz and FishHawk Ranch in south Hillsborough County — have done.

Evison says with the never ending traffic, potential child predators and other dangers, she doesn’t feel that it’s safe for her seventh grade son, Alex, to walk to Benito from her neighborhood in Cross Creek, nearly two miles away. “The Tampa Bay area as a whole has a horrendous — and deserved — reputation for pedestrian fatalities,” she says. “How many kids have to die walking to school before we say it’s enough?”

Statistics compiled by the Tampa Bay Times show that in 2016, there were 39 pedestrian fatalities in Hillsborough County, and another 12 bicycle fatalities. This is down from a record year in 2015, where there were a combined 59 fatalities.

In 2012, Evison says she was riding a bike in front of Benito and a car made a right turn on red and hit her.

“I’m an adult, I have a light on my bike, and he drove over me and didn’t see me. People are distracted, in a rush, and not paying attention. I see it all the time! I don’t know why I would expose my children to that — never mind the long walk with his 22-pound backpack.”

The principals at both Benito and Wharton say it remains to be seen exactly what the impact on schools will be.

“We already have families who have busing available to them who don’t take advantage of it because they would rather drop their kid off at 7:00 than have them catch the bus at 6:30,” says Wharton principal Brad Woods. He says he’s in close contact with the county transportation department to closely monitor the construction on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., as the road is being expanded from four to six lanes.

“If Bruce B. Downs meets the state statutes for hazardous road conditions, they would have to put the transportation back,” he says.

Meanwhile, Benito principal John Sanders says the school is preparing for an increase in the number of students walking and biking to school.

“My primary concern is the intersection of Kinnan St. and Cross Creek Blvd.,” says Sanders. “We’ll do everything we can to make that intersection safer for our families. We’ve requested a crossing guard, we will ask our school resource officer to be at that intersection and we will educate our kids to cross the road safely.”

Affected students recently received a letter from the school board explaining the cuts and providing a “Parent/Guardian Hazardous Walking Concern Review Request” for any parent who feels that the walking path for their child is unsafe.

Arja says community meetings will be planned to help connect parents to resources for carpooling and safe walking and biking, including HART, TBARTA, Safe Routes to School, and St. Joseph’s Hospital. Woods says one such meeting is expected to be held at Wharton, but no date had been set at our press time.

Evison also has a child at Hunter’s Green Elementary and is concerned about the future, as the School Board is expected to cut courtesy busing to elementary schools for the following school year, 2018-19.

Evison says parents who want to ask the Board to reconsider their decision should join a Facebook group started by FishHawk-area parents called “Safe Bus For Us.” Evison was part of a group of parents who attended the last school board meeting to express their concerns about ending the program.

Additional information from Hillsborough County Public Schools can be found online at SDHC.k12.fl.us/doc/1787/courtesybusinformation.