Spotlight On Luis Viera! 

Now Running For The State Legislature, New Tampa’s City Councilman Is Still Out There Working For You! 

District 7 Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera has announced his plans to run for the State Legislature in 2026 but, in the meantime, he’s still out there working for New Tampa! (Photo by Charmaine George) 

 For those of you who don’t know the story, District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and I had never met prior to his first run for his City Council seat back in 2016. 

Viera was running against Dr. Jim Davison, who was my neighbor in the same subdivision in Hunter’s Green for more than a decade (until I moved out in 2006). I also knew Dr. Jim from attending many City of Tampa and Hillsborough County governmental meetings with him, especially on transportation issues. 

I was the moderator for the debate between Dr. Jim and Luis, the top two finishers in the special election in November 2016 (Davison was first, by nearly 2,500 votes; Luis was second). They both advanced to the runoff election in December because neither one received 50% of the Nov. vote. 

During that debate, I asked a question about whether or not the candidates would support New Tampa seceding from the City of Tampa and incorporating as its own city, an idea originally floated by former Dist. 7 Councilman (and Tampa Palms resident) Joseph Caetano. 

While Viera said “Absolutely not. I’m running for Tampa City Council,” Davison said that although he wasn’t in favor of the idea, he didn’t think seceding from the city should be taken off the table. The Tampa Bay Times wrote an unfavorable editorial about Davison’s comments following the debate and Viera won the Dec. runoff — where fewer total votes were cast than either candidate received in Nov. — by 65 votes. 

Since then, Viera has kept his promise to be a hard-working councilman who builds bridges across political aisles. He also finally got the city to fund the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms and build the city’s first All-Abilities Park on the Rec Center property. Viera also is still fighting for a Tampa Fire Rescue station in K-Bar Ranch on or near Morris Bridge Rd., in order to improve response times in that community, since response times from TFR Station No. 23 on Cross Creek Blvd. (more than two miles away from the entrance to K-Bar) are too slow. 

But, fighting for New Tampa (and North Tampa, the other part of his district) is nothing new for Viera. He says he will continue to fight for our area if he wins his next election in Nov. 2026 — for the District 67 State House seat currently occupied by his friend (and State House Minority Leader) Fentrice Driskell, who is term-limited in 2026. 

Unlike many elected officials, who really only make pubic appearances when they are actively running for office, Viera has hosted more community meetings/Town Halls — around 85 — in his tenure as a City Council member than pretty much any “politician” I’ve met in my 31 years as the editor of this publication. 

His most recent community meeting was at Easton Park on Apr. 15, where Viera said the #1 issue for most of the residents was “Morris Bridge (MB) Rd. People were just expressing frustration over Morris Bridge, with the main idea being that there’s so much construction and development that’s happened and yet, the road hasn’t really kept up with that, so there’s a lot of concern there.” 

Viera says he told those in attendance about the county’s plans to improve MB Rd., as we reported in our last issue, “And people were very, very happy about that. $2 million is great but my main issue I stress to people is that I want to put Morris Bridge on the radar of the City of Tampa, because even though it’s a county road, it affects our [city] residents. A lot of times, we defer exclusively to the county on Morris Bridge. I’m not calling out Hillsborough or Pasco, I’m actually saying that the City of Tampa needs to step up and be collaborative on this road for our constituents because it does have an effect on our city residents.” 

In addition, Viera said that many city residents who attend Cypress Pointe or Heritage Baptist Church, the Islamic Society of New Tampa Mosque or the Sikh Gurdwara of Tampa Bay on the road, “have an interest in seeing Morris Bridge Rd. widened and made safer.” 

He added that the residents in attendance at the Easton Park meeting said they feel that MB Rd. is, “very unsafe. They want to see incremental and structural changes — like short-term impact and long-term evaluation changes. So, they were very happy with the short-term changes that the county is doing and I, of course, shared those changes with them in detail.” 

He said that long-term, however, several of the residents wondered what can be done long-term “to transform Morris Bridge Rd. from the ‘rural’ road it still is today to a more modern road. And, those are questions that transportation engineers and professionals have got to answer.” 

He also noted that one of the most important things the city can do is, “continue to have law enforcement presence out there, because a lot of the problems out there are caused by bad actors — speeding, distracted driving, unsafe passing — if we can take care of that, we can take care of a lot of the issues. But, the truth is that we can’t just blame individuals. We’ve got to look at the road itself and be prepared for people who are bad actors.” 

Viera also said that he is going to propose composing a letter from the city to the county asking, “if it’s feasible to build a sidewalk from Easton Park to the Mosque and to Cypress Pointe Church. That is very important because a lot of people walk to their house of worship. It’s not my jurisdiction, but we can at least request that to the county. I believe we’re all on the same team. We all want to protect our constituents.” 

In addition to MB Rd., Viera said that several people at the Easton Park meeting were interested in Viera’s efforts to get some sort of emergency vehicle somewhere near the connection of MB Rd. and K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. to try to get better response times for the K-Bar and Easton Park communities. “They were very interested in that,” Viera says. “I actually texted [Tampa Fire rescue] Chief [Barbara] Tripp about that re-zoning we approved almost a year ago to get a status update on whether that ‘safety connection’ you guys reported about will be made.” 

“We also had Tampa Police Department officers (photo) on hand at the meeting to talk about crime. People always are happy to get updates from the police on that.” 

One issue Viera knows he has to deal with is that, now that he’s announced he’s going to run for a different office, how does he continue to see his pet projects and ideas through to fruition? 

“Well, I do have another year and a half or so on City Council, so I’ve got plenty of time to get things done,” he said. “But of course, we will have an election for my seat and many of the things I’ve been fighting for, including Morris Bridge Rd., are real issues so it’s important for my constituents to talk to these candidates and make sure New Tampa’s issues are on the minds of the candidates.” 

In addition to Morris Bridge., Viera says he has had constituents come to him about, “stormwater issues, getting a [city] pool for New Tampa and others,” he says. “These are issues that I can work on now, to a degree, but some of them will have to be done or followed up by the next councilman. So, it’s important for these candidates to have these issues stressed to them by residents.” 

And, speaking of elections, Viera said that several of the residents were interested in getting more involved in city politics. 

“I said, ‘Good!,” Viera says. “Take a look at the voting record in New Tampa in city elections. The numbers aren’t very good. New Tampa needs to get involved in city elections.” 

Viera admits that he has, “wielded a very big hammer on behalf of New Tampa, but we need to have a bigger voice from the people. We vote OK in even-year elections (county and state) but not in odd-year city elections.” 

His proposal to move city elections to even-numbered years, which he says would save the city “about a million dollars every four years per election, got one vote — mine. It’s one of those fights I’ve fought where I’ve said, ‘We fought the good fight, but we don’t got it.” 

As for his announcement about seeking Leader Driskell’s seat, Viera says the reaction so far has been, “Very positive. A ton of elected officials have given me their support. State Legislators haven’t been able to endorse yet, because they’re in session in Tallahassee, but I will keep everyone updated on my supporters as we go through the process. It seems that a lot of people were happy to hear that although I’m term-limited out of City Council, that I’m not planning to leave politics.” 

He added, “Look, a lot of politicians, when they run for office, they step it up — going to community events and such. But, I do that in the course of my work in office. I’m always meeting with constituents. This is how I’m built. I’m the son of Cuban immigrants, so I work hard and that’s what I’m going to do, God-willing, in Tallahassee, with the support of people in the New and North Tampa areas.” 

One of the issues he didn’t have to fight for was that Viera made a motion to rename the New Tampa All Abilities Park in honor of Harrison Boonstoppel, the 20-year-old innocent bystander who was fatally shot in an Ybor City gunfight on Oct. 29, 2023, after a fight broke out. Harrison and his friends had just arrived in Ybor City minutes before the shots rang out. In all, 16 people were injured and another 14-year-old youngster also was killed. 

On Mar. 28, Viera made the motion to rename the All Abilities Park for Harrison, whose life was, “a testament to resilience and determination, exemplifying the power of hard work, along with the support of his family. Despite facing many physical and developmental challenges, Harrison overcame many obstacles with unwavering perseverance. He graduated from Pepin Academies in 2022, a remarkable achievement. Honorably remembering Harrison shows that with hard work, support and positive outlook, one can overcome much adversity.” 

Harrison, who was born premature and barely survived his first few months in the neonatal ICU, needed a feeding tube until he was three years old. He developed a hearing disorder and would wear a cochlear implant at age 5. He began middle school weighing only 60 pounds and was developmentally delayed at school. 

Viera, who has gotten to know Harrison’s mother Brucie and his twin sister Ava, has a developmentally disabled brother Juan, so, “This is very near and dear to my heart.” 

New Tampa’s Winn-Dixie To Become Another Aldi

As previously announced, the last remaining New Tampa Winn-Dixie supermarket, located at 6425 County Line Rd. (in the same plaza as LA Fitness), closed on Dec. 8 and is in the process of being converted to the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area’s third ALDI grocery store. 

We were told that it would be several months before the new ALDI would open, but this Germany-based international brand already has nearly 2,500 U.S. supermarkets and more than 200 stores in Florida, including at 18002 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. in New Tampa and at 2215 Sun Vista Dr. in Lutz (in front of Costco). 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the still-open (at least at our press time) Winn-Dixie in the Towne Center of Wesley Chapel plaza on Wesley Chapel Blvd. told us there are no plans to close that store. — GN 

2024 In The Rear View — Downtowns, Chicken Places, Kelly Gilroy & More!

There’s no doubt that 2024 was an amazing and crazy year in Wesley Chapel. One supposed “downtown” began building early in the year, while another just got approval to begin building near the end of the year. A seemingly never ending supply of hot chicken sandwich places either opened or were ready to open as the year ended. New road projects finally got started and Wesley Chapel continued to see explosive growth — much of which was chronicled not only in these pages, but in the seemingly magical Pasco County Development & Growth Updates Facebook page. But, its usual leader, Kelly Gilroy, admitted to yours truly that she hasn’t been using her real name on her wildly popular Facebook page. So, here are some highlights of the year that was, 2024 in Wesley Chapel:

Road Projects — With both Old Pasco Rd. and Wesley Chapel Blvd. beginning to be widened, the traffic will get worse for two or three (or more) years on each before it gets better.

Chicken Wars — It’s hard for some of us who aren’t big fans of spicy chicken to believe we really need ten or more of these chains (the left photo above is the ribbon cutting of the Wesley Chapel Hangry Joe’s chicken), but we’re still getting them anyway! It looks like Raising Cane’s will be the last to open, in January (Chicken Guy! should be open as you’re reading this), and when it does, the Neighborhood News will sponsor a contest to find the favorite of them all, as selected by a panel of hot chicken lovers — and no, I won’t be one of those judges!

Dueling Downtowns — Avalon Park Wesley Chapel developer Beat Kahli believes that the opening of his first mixed-use downtown building in Sept. (center photo) was the official launch of Wesley Chapel’s official downtown. But, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter says his Legacy Downtown, which just had its development plan approved earlier this month, will prove to be The Chap’s true downtown when it begins building next year.

Kilroy, er Gilroy, Was Here! — Taking all of Pasco County, but especially Wesley Chapel, by storm in 2024 was the Pasco County Development & Growth Updates Facebook page, which went from 0 to tens of thousands of ardent admirers in just a few months. Page admin Kelly Gilroy has become something of a cult figure, even though it seems a large percentage of the people who respond to the page’s literally hundreds of posts only want to make jokes about car washes and storage facilities. The fact that Ms. Gilroy has gotten some Pasco officials to question whether or not she’s a real person is reason enough for me to name her Wesley Chapel’s “Person of the Year.” Will we ever find out her real name? Do we even want to know it?

And Then There’s…Some of the incredible and sometimes unexpected things that happened in our area in 2024 include: the opening in November of Cooper’s Hawk; the announcement in October that Cheesecake Factory was coming to a portion of the already stressed parking lot at the Tampa Premium Outlets; the new Publix at Innovation Springs
(in front of Epperson on Curley Rd.) included a beer-and-wine bar; the long-awaited Whole Foods announced it was coming to Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Meadow Pointe, then took it back and said it wasn’t, then re-announced that it was; people on every Wesley Chapel community Facebook page complained vehemently about the Pasco Board of County Commissioners and vowed to vote them all out, but all four running for reelection won by landslides; Orlando Health began building Wesley Chapel’s third hospital and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital officially announced that it will build a children’s hospital near Overpass Rd.; and finally, two New Tampa kids stunned the world, as 12-year-old Bruhat Soma won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in June and 16-year-old Adwaith Praveen who achieved perfect scores on the PSAT, SAT and ACT exams! We’ll tell you what to expect in 2025 in Wesley Chapel in our next issue!

Check out “Avalon Aglow” at Avalon Park Wesley Chapel!

Avalon Park Wesley Chapel (4424 Friendly Way) is hosting its annual “Avalon Aglow” celebration, with FREE, fun family-friendly activities all afternoon & evening, including a “Bounce Park,” food trucks, vendors, a “real” snow slide, community performances, pictures with Santa and fireworks beginning at 9 p.m. Note – You do NOT have to be an Avalon Park resident to attend this FREE event! 

For more information, visit AvalonParkWesleyChapel.com or call (813) 783-1515. 

2024 Dining Survey & Contest – Wesley Chapel Top-25 

(l-r) Coopers Hawk Churrasco Steak and Azteca D’Oro Taquito

Meanwhile, Wesley Chapel is where chain eateries continue to dominate the landscape, as well as our voting (despite my best efforts to get our readers to vote for non-chains). 

But, while Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant did mistakenly appear on the ballots for the first issue of the voting, it was so dominant in the voting after it came off the ballots that it would still have been #1 “Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel” without that one-issue advantage. Anyone who has been to the place on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, when it is still on a wait throughout its dinner hours, can understand how Cooper’s Hawk took home this year’s top prize in WC in its first year of eligibility. 

Azteca D’Oro and Grillsmith repeated as our readers’ #2 and #3 Favorites in WC, while last year’s first-place finisher, Noble Crust, dropped to #4 this year. New to this year’s top-10 were Vallarta’s at #5 (up from #12), Mac’s Custom Meats & Deli at #7, Florida Ave. Brewing Co. at #8 (up from #16) and Chuck Lager at #9. Dropping out of this year’s top-10 were Zukku-San (down from #5 to #11), Bubba’s 33 (down from #10 to #19), Bonefish, BJ’s Brewhouse and Bahama Breeze (down from #8 to #17). The last four of these are all chains that weren’t on the ballots. — GN

1. Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant 

2. Azteca D’Oro 

3. Grillsmith 

4. Noble Crust 

5. Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant 

6. The Living Room 

7. Mac’s Custom Meats & Deli 

8. Florida Ave. Brewing Co. 

9. Chuck Lager America’s Tavern 

10. Ford’s Garage 

11. Zukku-San Sushi & Grill 

12. Falabella Family Bistro 

13. PizzaMania 

14. SeĂąor Tequila 

15. Glory Days Grill 

16. Umu Japanese & Thai 

17. Bahama Breeze 

18. Yamato Japanese Restaurant 

19. Bubba’s 33 

20. EggTown 

21. Amici Pizza & CafĂŠ 

22. The Hungry Greek 

23. First Watch 

24. Arroy Thai 

25. Crazy Sushi 

1. Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant 

28963 S.R. 56, Wiregrass Ranch 

(813) 755-4445 • CHWinery.com 

If everyone in Wesley Chapel is so sick of chain restaurants, then how and why did Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant dominate the voting in this year’s Reader Dining Survey & Contest? 

The answer to that rhetorical question is that all of you are tired of mediocre chains and although Cooper’s Hawk isn’t Fleming’s, Charley’s or Ruth’s Chris, it is definitely a step up from most of the other chains in the “Chap.” It boasts a solid menu of very good steaks, good seafood, pretty decent pasta and a nice variety of starters, lunch and brunch menu items. 

When you add to that the novelty of getting to taste an ever-changing array of palate-pleasing wines in Cooper’s Hawk’s wine bar (although I wish there were seats in it, or at least allowed), it’s easy to understand why locals are fighting for tables there every night. We’ll see how long the party lasts, but so far, so good. 

2. Azteca D’Oro Mexican Restaurant 

2000 Piazza Ave., #170, The Shops at Wiregrass 

(813) 527-6033 • AztecaDOro.com 

It’s clear that last year’s top-vote-getting newcomer did not suffer a sophomore jinx with our readers this year, as Azteca D’Oro repeated as your #2 overall Favorite Restaurant in Wesley Chapel and again won Favorite Mexican Restaurant in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel, albeit by a much smaller margin than last year. 

With tasty menu items like chicken taquitos (top), plus a huge variety (above pic from DoorDash) of authentic Mexican favorites like fajitas, molcajete, burritos, tacos and quesadillas, plus beautiful indoor & outdoor bar areas with great Happy Hour specials, Azteca D’Oro also features a private room that is the perfect place to host your holiday party with its lively music and festive atmosphere. 

3. Grillsmith 

2000 Piazza Ave., #100, Shops at Wiregrass 

(813) 907-1900 • Grillsmith.com 


Grillsmith is always among our readers’ favorites every year and repeated last year’s #3 “Favorite in Wesley Chapel” finish again this year. This five-unit mini-chain continues to serve quality fresh fish (photo), plus assortments of flatbreads, salads, steaks, burgers, chicken and pasta options that keep our readers coming back for more. It also is a popular weekend brunch spot with everything from bananas Foster French toast to chicken & waffles Benedict. 

4. Noble Crust 

28330 Paseo Dr., Shops at Wiregrass 

(813) 703-2602 • Noble-Crust.com 


Even though it was bumped down to #4 Favorite this year by our readers after a two-year run in the top spot, Noble Crust’s “Deep South Italian” fare continues to garner lots of attention, as well as votes (even though it fell short of making this year’s “Favorite Pizza” list). With unusual entrées like bronzed salmon (photo), chicken fried chicken parm, bucatini & meatballs & Cajun shrimp risotto, Noble Crust also claims to feature the “Best Brunch in Wesley Chapel.” 

5. Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant 

5335 Wesley Chapel Village Market 

(813) 907-5161 • VallartasMexican.com 

Whenever you see people in a local online community ask for recommendations for a great Mexican restaurant, roughly half the people highly recommend Vallarta’s, while the other half say “it’s gross.” 

Those who love it point to the restaurant’s huge menu with even bigger portions (like the burrito shown here) at the best prices of any true Mexican restaurant in Wesley Chapel. We guess those folks helped Vallarta’s jump from #12 “Favorite WC Restaurant” with our readers last year to #5 Fave in 2024. 

6. The Living Room 

2001 Piazza Ave., #100, Shops at Wiregrass 

(813) 934-7911 • TLR.Restaurant.com 

Although a lot of online community members complain vehemently about its 20% service charge, our readers still kept The Living Room in the same #6 “Favorite in Wesley Chapel” spot it occupied last year. 

That means that a lot of our readers care more about dishes like the Bobby Boucher pasta shown here, sautĂŠed red grouper, “You Bet…Churrasco” and adobo braised pork osso bucco than they do about having to pay the service fee. The Living Room also is another local brunch favorite. 

7. Mac’s Custom Meats & Deli 

26316 Wesley Chapel Blvd., Grand Oaks Plaza, Lutz 

(813)428-6573 

It seems like there’s at least one restaurant that seems to come out of nowhere to crack the top-10 with our readers every year. 

This year’s surprise is Mac’s Custom Meats & Deli. Although we also enjoy Mac’s quality sandwiches (photo), it’s still really more of a meat market than a restaurant, but whether it made this year’s list because of ballot-stuffing or because enough people really love it this much likely won’t be known until next year’s Reader Survey. 

8. Florida Avenue Brewing Co. 

2029 Arrowgrass Dr. (at S.R. 56), Wesley Chapel 

(813) 452-6333 • FloridaAveBrewing.com 

Jumping up eight places from #16 last year is Florida Avenue Brewing Co., which has changed its food menu so often it’s hard to keep up with all the new items to go with its crowd-pleasing variety of house-brewed beers, hard ciders and seltzers. Of course, you can’t go wrong with Florida Ave.’s wings (photo), cheesesteak egg rolls, smash burgers and chimichurri-style Argentine flatbread. Also ask about the Express Lunch menu and about becoming a Brew Perks member. 

9. Chuck Lager America’s Tavern 

2001 Piazza Ave., #175, Shops at Wiregrass 

(813) 820-4500 • ChuckLager.com 

Another mini-chain making a big jump with our readers this year is Chuck Lager America’s Tavern, which narrowly missed the top-25 last year to jump up to #9 this time — giving The Shops at Wiregrass five of this year’s top-10 Favorites in Wesley Chapel! 

Now with three locations and another coming soon to Ft. Myers, Chuck Lager continues to serve tasty giant pretzels, flatbreads, sliders (all in photo), as well as everything from Chuck’s citrus salmon to NY strip steak and Italian specialties like chicken parmesan and Fabio’s meatball sub. 

10. Ford’s Garage 

25526 Sierra Center Blvd. (at S.R. 56), Lutz 

(813) 540-3673 • FordsGarageUSA.com 

Meanwhile, Ford’s Garage, located across from the Tampa Premium Outlets, dropped one spot from #9 last year to #10 this year, but still garnered plenty of attention from our readers for its popular sports bar-style fare, like the Giant Funnel Tower of Jumbo Piston Onion Rings, Famous Firestone Shrimp, BBQ pork ribs, chicken mac & cheese, smoked brisket burnt ends melt and especially, its Burgers of Fame (photo). 

Plus, Motor Club members get 25% Off every 4th visit, a free birthday appetizer, exclusive news & events and more.