Most of the top basketball players grow up dreaming of college offers from powerhouses like Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.
One of those calls may still come for longtime West Meadows resident Varun Ajjarapu, but his first one won’t.
That honor goes to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT.
Regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious universities, MIT called the Ajjarapu house two weeks ago and offered the 14-year-old Varun, who everyone knows as “V”, the chance to play his college basketball in Cambridge, MA.
“Unless Varun chooses to fall off the face of the earth, we’ll be watching him,’’ his mother, Sandhya, says MIT head coach Larry Anderson told her.
The Engineers (fitting, right?) were 21-7 last year at the Division III level, but it’s not the name that typically rolls off a recruit’s lips or makes it onto recruiting websites.
But academically, the school is superior to most, which makes it attractive for V, a straight-A student who attended Chiles Elementary and Williams Middle School. And anyone who has played basketball at the New Tampa YMCA or taken part in the Wharton summer basketball camp has probably seen V in action.
He is now at Berkeley Prep, where he will be entering his sophomore year. But at a recent AAU tournament in Atlanta, he earned MVP honors, and caught the eye of MIT coaches at another basketball event at Yale.
V is a ways off from having to choose which college he will attend, but an offer from MIT at age 14 isn’t a bad way to start the recruiting process.
The Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Segment A widening projecting, for months just a long procession of work trucks, dirt and orange barrels, is now steamrolling towards completion, as drivers begin to notice the new lanes expected to relieve traffic on New Tampa’s congested main thoroughfare.
Segment A, which extends 3.5 miles from Bearss Ave. to Palm Springs Blvd. and has included the widening of bridges over Cypress Creek, is taking shape. The two additional lanes on each side of the road are now visible north and southbound, primarily between Cypress Preserve Dr. and Tampa Palms Blvd. in Tampa Palms (see pictures).
Drivers can now experience all four lanes of BBD northbound from Tampa Palms Blvd.
South of Tampa Palms Blvd., the widening is still taking form as the new lanes-to-be are visible but unpavedjust, although local businesses may soon be rejoicing. And, while there is still construction all along BBD, driveways into restaurants like Acropolis and Mr. Dunderbak’s and further north at businesses like Panda Hugs Child Care Learning Center which have been obstructed or closed for some of the last 10 months, are all but completed.
“There appears to be a light at the tunnel now,’’ said Panda Hugs’ Tom Driscoll. “It’s getting easier day by day. Now, they open it up for a week or two, then block it again. I have no reason other than my gut feeling to say this, but hopefully by the end of June it will be pretty much done.”
The $55.8-million segment is still on target for completion in August, says Jason Boulnois of the Hillsborough County Public Works Dept. Hillsborough’s largest current transportation project, BBD has required 33,000 feet of storm pipe and drainage inlets, 66,000 feet of curb and gutter, 24,600 linear feet of sidewalk, 3,450 feet of water main with 15 fire hydrants and 18,400 feet of wastewater pipe to date.
The remaining work in Segment A to be completed is finishing construction of the median and southbound inside lanes, landscaping, final grading and signs and pavement markings.
Segment D Update
With Segments B and C already completed, the final segment to wrap up the project to convert BBD from a four- and six-lane divided roadway to an eight-lane divided roadway to relieve the area’s infamous traffic congestion is Segment D, a 1.44-mile section stretching from Pebble Creek Blvd. to County Line Rd.
The least expensive portion of BBD to expand, Segment D is a $24.7-million project that is expected to be completed by July 2018 by Prince Construction, LLC.
The first major work has recently begun in the Wharton High area, installing the main stormwater culverts, which are the large cement tubes visible to travelers on BBD.
Now that school is out for the summer, workers may have an easier time with construction. But, the work schedule is unaffected by the school schedule. “Unfortunately, there is limited ability to change the sequence of operations for the work near the high school,’’ Boulnois says. “However, we are in constant contact with the school administration and will schedule work that interferes with traffic with minimal impact to school traffic.”
He adds that the next several months will focus on the installation of underground drainage and utilities. After that, construction of the new southbound lanes will begin, and will begin to show visible progress to BBD travelers.
Saladino Award winner Drew Ehrhard (with trophy), is joined by ((l. to r.) Wharton assistant coach Joe Fernandez, his mom Shannon, his brother Zack, dad Rodney, Wharton head coach Scott Hoffman, Tony Saladino and Wharton assistant coach Wade Boggs.
Rodney Ehrhard was supposed to talk about how proud he was of his son. How it had been great teaching young Drew how to play the game of baseball. How terrific his son’s senior season had been, and about how special it was to see him chosen as Hillsborough County’s best baseball player.
But he couldn’t. Not yet.
Overcome with emotion, Rodney could only stick a napkin in his eyes and walk outside to compose himself.
It was an emotional ceremony in the living room of Tony Saladino, the patriarch of one of Hillsborough County’s most prominent baseball families and the namesake of a popular spring break baseball tournament, as the 80-year-old host awarded Wharton High’s Drew Ehrhard the 47th Saladino Award, presented each year to the top high school senior baseball player in the county.
Drew led the Wildcats in hits (35), average (.422), RBI (24), doubles (9) and homeruns (4) this season, helping Wharton to a Class 8A, District 4 district title, two thrilling come-from-behind playoff wins and a spot in the Regional championship, where his team lost 2-0 to the eventual state champions from Tallahassee Lincoln High.
He became the first player in Wharton’s 20-year existence to ever win the prestigious award, which is voted on by the county’s coaches, and said he was shocked to win it.
“I didn’t think I would win it, to be honest,’’ Drew said. “I had always hoped I would, but I knew there was some good competition.”
He joins an impressive list of past winners of the award, including past major leaguers like Mike Heath (Hillsborough, 1973), Dave Magadan (Jesuit, 1980), Tino Martinez (Jefferson, 1985), Gary Sheffield (Hillsborough, 1986), as well as current Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers (Jesuit, 2012) and Chicago White Sox pitcher Tyler Danish (Durant, 2013).
“I’ve looked at the list, and it’s unbelievable to be a part of that crowd,’’ Drew said. “I have no words for it.”
Some Hall Of Fame Help
One major leaguer who played in Hillsborough County but never won the award, former Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Devil Rays third baseman and Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, played a big hand in helping Drew win it this year.
An assistant baseball coach at Wharton the past 17 years, Boggs — who teased Saladino about getting passed over for the award in favor of Brandon’s Sammy Spence in 1976 — said he remembers hitting ground ball after ground ball to Drew his freshman year as the youngster was converting from second base to shortstop.
Drew Ehrhard
Despite being undersized and having to adapt to making a longer throw to first base, Drew made the transition seamlessly and ended up, rather remarkably, playing every inning of every game in his high school career.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog,’’ Boggs said, proudly.
Boggs, along with head coach Scott Hoffman, also helped get Drew to the Saladino home in Brandon while keeping the award a surprise.
“He told me some story about how there were some reporters down from Boston for coach Boggs, and we had to go to dinner to meet them,’’ Drew said.
The coaches managed to get Drew into Saladino’s home, even though he had to step over a Saladino Tournament doormat to enter — “I didn’t even see it,’’ Drew laughed — before it finally dawned on him that he, and not Boggs, was the evening’s actual guest of honor.
“I was kind of confused when I got inside,’’ Drew said. “I had always heard stories about being in Coach Saladino’s house and seeing all the memorabilia on the wall…I was like, ‘whose house am I in?” Then I realized, oh, this makes sense now.”
Drew found a large crowd waiting for him, including his brother Zack, who will be a freshman at Wharton next year, his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and baseball coaches.
While Boggs compared Drew to current Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, others see a more apt comparison to Rodney, who was a high school standout as an outfielder at Plant City High who was drafted as a catcher and went on to play in the New York Yankees minor league system, making it as far as Double-A.
At Plant City, many considered Rodney Ehrhard the best player on a team that included future major league pitcher Kenny Rogers. Rodney went on to star at the University of Tampa, and was inducted into the Spartan Hall of Fame last year.
When it came to playing ball, Drew also chose the Spartans. Like father, like son.
“I hear his family make that comparison a lot,’’ said Shannon, Drew’s mother.
“Both of them hit well, they always started and they always worked hard,’’ said Rodney’s father, George. “I followed Rodney around when he was at Tampa, and I’ve got some more following around to do now with Drew.”
His napkin gripped tightly in his right hand, Rodney finally spoke proudly of Drew, who was given a stuffed baseball and bat when he was only three years old. He never put them down, his parents say. Soft stuffing gave way to cowhide and aluminum, but Drew’s grip, his father said, never wavered. He watched his son grow into the player he is today, relying more on hard work and determination than on God-given ability, as the two spent countless hours sharing their passion.
“He’s always been smaller than everybody, but he’s always been really good,’’ Rodney said. “But, he made up for that in hard work. He never stopped trying to get better.”
Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera hosted a town hall meeting at the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms that attracted roughly 75 local residents who came to discuss a number of issues., especially those related to the traffic in our area.
Town hall meetings are all the rage this days, with the operative word, in too many cases, being rage. Constituents are demanding answers from their representatives, especially regarding healthcare issues, and the disruptions and anger make national news on a seemingly weekly basis.
A New Tampa town hall, organized by District 7 City Councilman Luis Viera and held June 5 at the New Tampa Recreation Center, however, couldn’t have gone any smoother.
“It really shows that people are engaged,’’ Viera said. “The next one we have will probably be even bigger.”
Here are five takeaways:
1. This Was A Good Idea
If you’ve ever wondered what is really bothering people in New Tampa, the town hall, which attracted roughly 75 local residents, including many of the area’s Homeowner’s Association presidents, was a good place to find out.
Outside of the usual complaints about taxes and transportation, those who attended raised a number of issues like trash on Cross Creek Blvd, local commercial buildings looking run down, bank foreclosed property causing a blight in otherwise well-kept neighborhoods and even concerns about the ability of ethnic minorities to worship safely.
This is exactly what Viera says he had hoped for when he scheduled the event. With code enforcement inspector Fred George and Tampa Police Department District 2 shift commander Kevin Schoolmeesters in attendance, some of the simpler questions raised will undoubtedly be answered. Most important, Viera said, was that a majority of those who raised concerns seemed to be satisfied with the answers.
For the bigger, more complicated issues, like transportation and the city budget, it was a step in the direction of creating a unified front when it comes to lobbying city hall for changes. Viera has already formed the New Tampa Council with this idea in mind.
“We need a collective and unified voice,’’ Viera said.
Although Mayor Bob Buckhorn couldn’t make it, his chief of staff, Dennis Rogero, did attend. And, while he didn’t really have any concrete answers for those asking questions, he was certainly enlightening and honest, even if it meant telling people things they didn’t want to hear.
More on that later.
2. The Big Issue
To quote Bob Parker of Heritage Isles, the biggest issue in New Tampa is “transportation, transportation, transportation.”
While Pasco and Hillsborough counties remain at loggerheads over connecting the two at various points between Meadow Pointe and the K-Bar Ranch, traffic is a real concern for local residents along Cross Creek Blvd.
Bob Parker of Heritage Isles tells Luis Viera that trafiic, traffic and traffic are the big issues facing New Tampa.
The City Council recently okayed plans for 400 more homes to be built by M/I Homes in the K-Bar Ranch area. “You should be ashamed,’’ Parker scolded, considering there’s only two two-lane roads in and out of the area.
“I feel like I live on an island,’’ Parker added, “and there are two causeways, Bruce B. Downs (BBD) and Morris Bridge Rd.”
That lack of options is preventing people from getting to hospitals, and making the long drives to work in Tampa unbearable. “It’s killing New Tampa,’’ he said.
Rogero said the city is well aware of the issue. “You are right, you might as well live on an ocean,’’ Rogero said. “We hear the horror stories. That’s one of the reasons I live in South Tampa. We looked here. It’s beautiful up here. But, I didn’t want to add a couple of hours in commute time to my schedule.”
That might be unsettling— to hear the mayor’s Chief of Staff confess to avoiding our area because of the traffic — but Rogero was honest and admitted he didn’t have any answers.
Viera didn’t expect answers. But the Hunter’s Green resident is advocating for some “incremental” changes.
One that should sound good to residents of Cross Creek “Island,” is a third left-hand turn signal onto Bruce B. Downs at the very busy intersection that Viera said he will propose.
Another possibility that was raised: Putting the controversial East-West Connector back in the MPO.
Jim Davison, who narrowly lost to Viera in the City Council runoff in December, applauded his former opponent for the town hall and the New Tampa Council, and suggested a second town hall, perhaps with a more narrow focus on one topic, like transportation.
Viera said he hopes to hold another one in December.
3. Getting The Short Shrift
Rogero got an earful from local attorney Tracy Falkowitz, who lives in Tampa Palms, about the plight of the New Tampa Rec Center.
Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Chief of Staff Dennis Rogero explained that the New Tampa Recreation Center expansion isn’t high enough on the city’s priority list to receive funding, while Tampa Palms’ Tracy Falkowitz argued that it should be, due to the amount of money the area provides the city in property taxes.
For the second time in five years last year, the City Council voted to provide funds for a different project – the Cuscaden Park pool in Ybor City – instead of the rec center, even though a $1.5-million, 14,000-sq.ft. expansion of the facility was originally included in recent budget drafts.
Despite spending $3.2 million on renovating the Cuscaden Park pool and re-opening it last August, it was closed again in April for more repairs. It has since re-opened.
“This area has been short-shrifted every year,’’ Falkowitz said. “That money needs to come back. This amazing facility does so much with so little. We want our expansion. Every year that money allocated for here gets sent somewhere else, and it’s my understanding that this year it’s not even included in the budget.
She added, “It constantly sends the message: New Tampa, just send us your money, then sit down and shut up. That’s what we’re all being told. So as the budget guy, what are you doing to make sure the community gets what it deserves and was supposed to be given to us six years ago.” That statement drew the night’s loudest round of applause.
Rogero said, however, that it is a misconception that what an area pays in property taxes, it will get back in enhancements. It is a misconception, in fact, shared by quite a few residents.
“We allocate one big pot of general funding for the priorities of the city, city-wide,’’ Rogero said. “We don’t necessarily try to return dollar for dollar to any particular area. That’s simply not the way property taxation is set up.”
Rogero admitted that there is a need in New Tampa for the expansion — the dance and gymnastics programs have roughly 800 students and the waiting list’s cup runneth over — but as each priority is paid off, “by the time we get to the New Tampa Rec Center on the list, we’re out of money.”
Viera said he wasn’t surprised at all that people remain angry about the rec center. “It’s the reason we held the town hall there,’’ he said. “I think it’s symbolic.”
4. Did Someone Say Secession?
Falkowitz ended her comments by mentioning that instances like the rec center expansion being cut out of the budget is why the subject of New Tampa de-annexing from the City of Tampa came up in the last election (and continues to come up). “What would the city do without the funds from (New Tampa),’’ Falkowitz said, which got at least two people in attendance to clap. “We are very, very unhappy with how we have been treated by city of Tampa.’’
“From the city’s perspective,” Rogero replied, “we don’t feel that we’re mistreating New Tampa.’’
There were a few people in the room who didn’t agree with Rogero, including former City Councilman Joseph Caetano, a longtime proponent of New Tampa’s secession.
Viera is strongly opposed to the idea. “I’ve never thought that was a good idea,’’ he said, adding that if people knew what that entailed, they would be opposed, too.
5. Organize & Be Heard
Brad Van Rooyen, who is on the New Tampa Council, and Davison asked a simple question in regards to tax monies – how can New Tampa get the city to pay attention to its needs and to increases services to the area.
Rogero echoed what Viera has been saying, and really, the reason for town halls like this – make your voices heard.
“I have to tell you, it could be that some of you have shown up to the budget meetings,but I can guarantee all of you haven’t,’’ Rogero said, “because there’s typically less than a dozen people there. I appreciate your emails, and your phone calls, but when it’s a billion-dollar budget and another half billion of capital improvement projects, your city council is looking at an empty room. I can’t tell you what prioritization comes to their minds. I can almost guarantee you, though, it won’t be yours.”
Talk of taxes, transportation, budgets and secession aside, most in attendance seemed to be looking for answers to simple problems, like beautifying Bruce B. Downs – Viera is already talking to officials about getting mowers out to New Tampa more frequently — and local commercial buildings and taking care of bank-foreclosed homes.
George, who admits his code enforcement department is understaffed, encouraged people to call in complaints to (813)-274-5545, because he can’t see everything.
Others remain concerned about the county’s plans to stop courtesy buses for students who live within two miles of their school, which will result in students having to cross over BBD by foot. (Walking pedestrian bridge, anyone?)
Residents seemed pleased with the TPD, and were complimentary about the service they receive, like the visits you can get from officers when you are on vacation just by calling (813) 931-6500. And code enforcement and police requests while on vacation can also be filed via TampaGov.net, the city’s website.
Anthony Homer (left) and Richard Blalock of RADDSPORTS, with WCCC CEO Hope Allen. (Photo: OurTownFla.com)
Richard Blalock is eager to get shovels in the ground and the long–awaited indoor/outdoor sports complex in Wiregrass Ranch built. He says that these days, it’s just a waiting game.
However, when Pasco County is ready to issue the permits and get the ball — or, in this case, basketballs — rolling, Blalock assured local business leaders on May 25, at the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Economic Development Briefing, that his team is ready to go.
“We’re hoping to get it all papered up in August,’’ said Blalock, the CEO & Founder of RADDSPORTS, the Sarasota-based company that will build and run the Wiregrass Sports Complex (WSC) at Pasco County, as he said it is currently called. “We are 30 percent into drawings, 40 percent into civil design, and it will be 18 months to build, but we think we might be able to get it in 12 or 14.”
That would mean a spring 2019 opening for the $44-million WSC, which is planned for part of a 224-acre parcel located northeast of the Shops at Wiregrass.
“We’re excited for it,’’ said WCCC CEO Hope Allen. “We’ve been waiting.”
Blalock and RADDSPORTS VP of development Anthony Homer showed some new designs and news to the monthly WCCC gathering at the Pebble Creek Golf Club in New Tampa.
In conjunction with Mainsail Development, the sports complex will have one of the first full-service Marriott-branded Residence Inns, a 120-room hotel that will now be L-shaped to create a courtyard at the entrance to the WSC, with a sports theme and rooftop bar overlooking the complex, which also will have an amphitheater for concerts and seven soccer fields.
Blalock also showed plans for ponds and a trail system through the complex, in an effort that could appease the older, more country-minded Wesley Chapel residents.
“We’ll be marketing this complex nationwide as kind of an ‘old Florida’ theme,’’ Blalock said. “We want to keep the natural sites, and the ponds….we’d like to tell the basketball teams and volleyball teams up in New York to come down and see a gator. We want to keep that whole theme of nature; that’s what the community is looking for.”
As for the programming, Blalock said it’s too early to determine if the 98,000-sq.ft. indoor facility will be something residents can just walk in off the street and use, but the focus will clearly be on drawing the top youth sports tournaments and athletes not only from around the state, but also from around the country, for tournaments that will fill hotel rooms and restaurant seats and make an economic impact.
Blalock said an intensive youth program will focus on different levels (recreational, competitive and elite) of five primary sports —cheerleading, basketball, volleyball, soccer and lacrosse. The plan is to develop and promote players, like a minor league would do, while also developing the athletes into good citizens.
“The youth sports industry needs a culture change,’’ he said.
Blalock also said the indoor facility will offer educational and tutoring labs, coaching programs for kids who are not inclined to play sports competitively, concession stands and meeting spaces.
“The flexibility is huge,’’ Blalock said.
The indoor complex will co-market with the hotel, much in the way Disney Sports ties in athletic events to its Disney resorts. Homer said they have 38 events already planned for the first year, but he expects to “blow that number out of the water.”
Despite the on-site presence of the Residence Inn, Homer said there will still be plenty of rooms to go around. A volleyball event, for example, could attract 128 teams, resulting in a need for 800-900 hotel rooms.
“Our 120 rooms won’t even put a dent in it,’’ Homer said. “It will fill up not only our hotel, but the others in the area.”
The county says the sports complex is expected to generate 27,000 room nights per year.
Blalock said RADDSPORTS has already secured U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitting, and is now just waiting on the county.
There is still one obstacle to get over — getting the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) raised in order to help finance the complex. The WSC will be built with $11-million previously set aside by the Board of County Commissioners ($8.5-million in tourist tax funds and $2.5 million in excess bond proceeds from a prior half-cent sales tax bond), a county-backed loan of $14,253,700, plus $18,750,000 from Mainsail Development.
The proposed two-percent increase in the TDT is expected to generate $1.2 million annually, which will help by paying down the loan, along with the revenue RADDSPORTS says the WSC will generate. A super majority vote (four of the five BCC commissioners) is required to officially pass the TDT increase. A vote will be held at a future meeting, following a public hearing.
Most of the top basketball players grow up dreaming of college offers from powerhouses like Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.
