Celebrating My 30 Years Of Neighborhood News! 

On February 25, I will be celebrating my 30th anniversary of owning the Neighborhood News. I bought (with a former partner) an 11-month old monthly publication that had little more than stories about advertisers written by those advertisers themselves. 

I published the 12th monthly issue in April 1994 (photo), which we considered to be the first issue of the publication’s second year in business. That’s why this issue is Issue 1 of Volume 32 of the Neighborhood News, rather than Issue 1 of Volume 31. 

When we purchased the publication in February of 1994, the total direct-mail circulation of the Neighborhood News was 6,500 homes, apartments and businesses — all of which (unbeknownst to me) were located in New Tampa’s 33647 zip code and which included the existing subdivisions in Pebble Creek, Tampa Palms, Hunter’s Green and the first two communities (closest to Bruce B. Downs Blvd., or BBD) of Cross Creek. 

Although my predecessor claimed to also be mailing to Wesley Chapel, it turned out that all he was doing was dropping about 500 copies each month at the Meadow Pointe I clubhouse. So, as soon as I took over, I added about 2,500 total addresses in Meadow Pointe I, Williamsburg and, a few issues later, an additional 500-700 or so single-family homes and condominium units located in the community around Saddlebrook Resort, where I was living with my family at the time. We began mailing new issues every two weeks, to all of those households, before the end of 1994 and didn’t split into separate New Tampa and Wesley Chapel issues until 2005, when Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes had zoomed past 10,000 residential units, as New Tampa was closing in on 20,000 units of its own. 

Although I always knew how many units were approved for Wesley Chapel, I had no idea that it would catch up to, and pass, New Tampa in terms of the number of units and people living in them by sometime in 2021. 

From those first 10,000 total homes (and less than 30,000 total people) in May 1994, our all-direct-mail circulation is now 34,000+ homes, apartments and businesses (and more than 90,000 total people) in Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes (33543, 33544 & 33545) and 29,000 residences and businesses (and about 80,000 people), almost all of which is located in New Tampa’s 33647 zip code — although we do also directly mail to the 750 residential units in the Lake Forest subdivision off BBD (south of Tampa Palms), which has a Lutz zip code (33559). 

That means our total circulation has grown, with our communities, by at least 600% in 30 years — or by nearly 1,000% if you use the 6,500 units I inherited from my predecessor as our starting point. 

But for me, this is much more than just a numbers game. I have given everything I could to the communities of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, and although many outstanding people have come and gone from our ranks, I am proud to say that I have been the publication’s one constant these last 30 years. 

The growth of electronic media throughout the world — did you foresee most people getting their news and information from their mobile phones 30 years ago? — has meant that we have had to change the ways we cover the news of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, but nothing has stopped or even deterred me from continuing to provide more news and information about the communities we serve than any other local medium, print, broadcast and/or electronic. 

Although I would be lying if I said that being the big media “fish” in a relatively tiny little pond was a lifelong dream of mine — my degree from the University of Florida was in Broadcast News and I always hoped to own and program a radio and/or TV station and write and produce TV programming — serving as the editor of the Neighborhood News the last 30 years has been one of the absolute joys of my life. And, while I don’t think anyone else would hire me at my age, despite my decades of experience, if I didn’t still love what I do I would definitely try to find some other way to make a living. Although I love singing and acting, anyone who has heard me sing karaoke or seen my stand-up comedy act at the Tampa Improv or Sidesplitters will tell you that I never had a future in those fields. 

Another thing people who know me will tell you about me is that I love to throw a party — my 25th anniversary event five years ago at Bayscape Bistro on Cross Creek Blvd. was a blast, as was the “Grease” cast party I threw last year at Joe Whiskey’s on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel — and I am planning a doozy for my 30th anniversary celebration. 

And yes, there will be an opportunity for at least some of you wonderful readers to attend and share in that celebration. After all, although I owe my livelihood to the thousands of advertisers who have supported my business these last 30 years, I owe a large portion of my happiness to all of you who have been reading and responding to my work since I first took the reins at this publication. Stay tuned for more info! 

Update: Roush Family Lays John To Rest 

The Neighborhood News was on hand when (l.-r.) Robert, Laura, Donald and John Roush celebrated the twins’ seventh birthday outside their home in July of 2022. (Photo by Charmaine George) 

On Wednesday, January 3, a Celebration of Life was held for eight-year-old John Roush at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Plant City. The informal ceremony was hosted by his parents, Robert and Laura Roush, and John’s twin brother Donald and was attended mainly by the Roush family and their friends, as well as the entire USF men’s basketball team (of which John was an honorary member). 

Shiloh Pastor Joe Bowles, John’s teachers from Quail Hollow Elementary, one of his uncles and USF head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim (and one of his players) all spoke about John’s sweetness, his intelligence, his tenacity, his courage as he fought what appeared to be a successful two-year battle against leukemia before he passed away suddenly and especially, his amazing hugs. Haught Funeral Home director David Wolf released a single white dove following the service. 

I only ever met Laura and Robert Roush and their 8-year-old twin sons Donald and John twice, but I would be lying if I said the family didn’t have a profound impact on me. 

The first time I met the Roush family, photographer Charmaine George and I attended the twins’ drive-by seventh birthday party outside their Wesley Chapel home in 2022. 

John, who had suffered a recent bout with leukemia, couldn’t have a lot of people around him, because of his chemotherapy-weakened immune system. A fairly large number of people dropped off a number of presents and, knowing that children are much more likely to survive any number of cancers, I was hopeful that John would soon be given a clean bill of health and be able to go back to enjoying his much-deserved childhood. 

It wasn’t too long after that when Jannah and I attended a fund raiser for the family at Chuck Lager America’s Tavern in the Shops at Wiregrass. As anyone who has had a family member suffer from cancer knows, the costs can and usually are astronomical, so Jannah and I were happy to help, especially if it meant that John would be one of the fortunate ones to be able ro survive this unforgiving scourge. 

John Roush (2015-2023) 
Photos courtesy of the Roush Family 

Tragically, it wasn’t meant to be. Now just a little more than eight years old, Donald will now be missing his twin and Laura and Robert will forever be missing half their hearts, as John passed away a few days before we went to press with this issue. And, even though we didn’t know the family well, Jannah and I planned to attend John’s funeral, which had not yet been announced at our press time. 

No, we didn’t know the Roushes well, but John and Donald’s ever-present smiles the two times I met them reminded me of my own two sons — who aren’t twins but are as close as brothers can be. It’s hard for me, who has gotten to see both of my boys grow into amazing young men — both now with families of their own (three boys between them, as of today), careers and their own wonderful lives — to not feel tremendous sadness that Laura and Robert have been denied the feeling I have every time I’m with Jared, Jake and their families. 

I honestly can’t even imagine how Laura, Robert and especially Donald are feeling, I just know that I am willing to do whatever I can to help them. I’m starting with a small donation of my own and, even though I’ve never really been successful raising money for worthwhile causes, I’m also sharing the GoFundMe link so anyone who feels equally affected by the loss of this sweet child can do the same. That link is: https://gofund.me/7f286217. 

No matter what your religious beliefs may be, there’s no doubt that the loss of a precious child is one of the most difficult things in life for anyone to deal with, especially at this time of year. And, the bottom line is that even the most faithful of parents has to understand and feel the magnitude of this loss. 

So, soar high, John. Just know that not only does your family love and miss you, those of us who were only briefly acquainted with you know the genuine beauty of your smile and your deserving soul. Rest in peace. 

We’ll have more of the story in the January 23 issue of Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

Is Bally Sports The Worst Of All Streaming Services? 

Although I also loved Major League Baseball, NFL football and NCAA basketball growing up on Lawn Guyland, New Yawk, I definitely was a major NHL hockey fan. 

Since my dad never really enjoyed watching sports on TV, I consumed as many games as I could get on our three network TV stations (ABC, CBS & NBC) and the two local stations that carried NY Yankees and Mets home games (Channels 9 & 11), and had to pick my own favorite teams in each sport since he could care less about any of them. 

My favorite NHL team when I was a kid was the Montreal Canadiens, because they were not only the biggest team, but somehow, also the best skating team. Oh, and they also just happened to win 10 Stanley Cups between the mid-1960s and late 1970s, when I became a hockey fan. Even when the New York Islanders, who played their home games only 15-20 minutes from where I grew up, began their run of four Cups in a row between 1980-83, my love for “Les Habitants” never wavered. 

That is, until I moved to Wesley Chapel in June 1993, when the Tampa Bay Lightning had just completed the team’s inaugural season in the league. I promised myself that I would no longer cheer for the Canadiens and would bring my young sons to as many Lightning games as I could — which wasn’t difficult during those early lean years, because great tickets at the Bolts’ original arena at the Florida State Fairgrounds went for like $10 apiece (or so). 

Three years later, I even took Jared and Jake to both of the Lightning’s first-ever home playoff games at what was then called the Thunderdome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, including the franchise’s first-ever home playoff win — a thrilling 5-4 overtime squeaker over the Philadelphia Flyers in 1996. The Bolts lost that series 4 games to 2, but both of my sons (including then-4-year-old Jake) got a legitimate taste of what playoff hockey is all about. In fact, after Tampa Bay won its first of now-three Stanley Cups in 2004, both of my boys gave up other sports to play high school hockey for Wharton High. 

Unfortunately, the apartment complex where Jannah and I currently live only has Frontier cable and we stopped being able to watch Lightning games at home in the middle of the season a couple of years ago — during the Bolts’ run towards the team’s third Cup in 2021— when Bally Sports (which was then called Bally Sports Sun, or maybe Fox Sports Sun) and Frontier couldn’t come to an agreement over carriage fees. Jannah — who is now a full-on Lightning fan, too — and I had to go to local bars with Spectrum cable or satellite to watch the Bolts’ run to the 2021 Cup, as we could only afford tickets to one of those playoff games. 

It wasn’t until sometime in 2022, when someone told us that we could now stream Bally on our Roku device, that we were able to resume watching our favorite team at home again — and we also became partial season ticket holders the same year. And, even though the Bolts didn’t get to hoist Lord Stanley’s goblet a third year in a row, we loved both attending games and watching the others as often as possible in the comfort of our own living room. 

And, while I have never really jumped on or fully embraced the Tampa Bay Rays bandwagon after hockey ends each year, since Jannah isn’t a baseball fan at all, we kept paying for Bally during last year’s hockey offseason, mainly because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of having to sign up again when the 2023-24 hockey season began a few weeks ago. 

All was right with our hockey world as the new season began, but sometime in late October, it appeared that we somehow got locked out of our log-in for Bally. It felt like 2021 all over again. My ever-resourceful wife got on her “Tampa Bay Lightning Fans” Facebook page and saw other people complaining about having the same problem. Had Bally decided to lock out those who were streaming — and paying $29.99 a month for the privilege — its “service?” If so, what could we do about it? 

As it turned out, no, that wasn’t the case. Although we never got any notice about it — or Heaven help us, will we see any kind of refund for the three or four Bolts games we missed because of it — Bally simply had some kind of outage on its own end. That outage lasted more than a week and here’s the kicker — none of the barrage of emails I had received from Bally as our streaming subscriber ever mentioned the outage or even offered a customer service phone number for me to call to complain. 

Instead, I had to find a customer service phone number for Bally on Google and when I called, during the first period of the Bolts’ 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 4, I agreed to the option of being called back, instead of continuing to wait on hold, after the first period ended. Big mistake! Instead of calling me back before the game ended, I finally got a call back from Bally (at 12:35 a.m.) and the polite customer service rep asked me if I was watching Bally at the time. 

“The game ended three hours ago,” I said, “I’ve actually been asleep, so no, I’m not watching my TV now.” 

Well, I decided to go to my TV so the rep could get me hooked back up, so I guess “All’s well that ends well.” I asked the rep if there was a survey I could take after the call ended, “because I’ve got a doozy for you.” When she said I would have to hang up and call back to do so, I decided that telling this story in these pages might be a better way for me to express my…let’s say dissatisfaction…with Bally. 

The Hub At Lexington Will Offer Another Opportunity To Stay Local 

The buzz words are “downtown,” “neo-traditional” and even Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman’s own term, “Eatertainment,” but more and more large developments in the Wesley Chapel area are offering residents the opportunity to live, work, play and eat in or adjacent to their home communities. 

We currently have The Grove at Wesley Chapel and its KRATE Container Park being surrounded by new apartment units, the Downtown Avalon Park Wesley Chapel area will begin opening its first building — with locally owned restaurants and businesses on the ground floor and rental apartment units on the upper floors — by the early part of 2024 and the Wiregrass Ranch development will likely begin developing its long-planned Town Center area sometime sooner than later. 

But, the concept of being able to eat and be entertained in your own backyard will soon not be limited to those new large-scale developments, as The Hub At Lexington will bring 40,000 square feet of “Experiential Dining & Entertainment,” including restaurants, retail shops and at what appears to be Shanks Indoor Golf & Bar (see pg. 18), to the northwest corner of Wesley Chapel Blvd. and Lexington Oaks Blvd. (see sign below), in front of the Sentosa apartments and is expected to begin building by a day or so after this issue reached your mailbox. 

According to leasing agent Courtney Bissett- Hayes of Bissett McGrath Properties, The Hub at Lexington will include 15-20 local and regional restaurants in six buildings and an as-yet unknown entertainment venue, all with access to covered outdoor seating with 12 large artificial trees providing shade. It’s being developed by Center Connect Development, which already has opened its The Hub at Bexley (but not yet with all of its businesses open) on S.R. 54 at Bexley Village Dr./Northpointe Pkwy., in front of the Bexley community near the Suncoast Pkwy. As shown on the sign below, the developer prides itself on providing “Live, Work & Play” opportunities. 

Jannah and I visited The Hub at Bexley (top photos) during its weekly Friday evening street fair and while it’s reminiscent of The Village at The Grove, the covered area provides great relief from our Florida heat and includes the now-open Grain & Berry and Thirsty Buffalo brewery, plus The Poke Company, The Blend Coffee & Cocktails, Taco Bus and downtown St. Pete favorite Bella Brava, as well as Duckweed Liquors, a fitness location and more coming soon. 

Bissett-Hayes says that The Hub at Lexington is larger and will have twice as many artificial shade trees (12 vs. 6) as The Hub at Bexley. 

For leasing information at The Hub at Lexington, call Courtney Bissett-Hayes at (813) 340-7936. 

New Challenges Don’t Usually Faze Me, But This One Took A Toll 

Over the past nearly 30 years, the Neighborhood News has faced more challenges than I even care to remember — including new competition, the growth of online communities, paper shortages, Covid-19 and many more. 

When you’ve been doing what I have done for as long as I have, there also are likely to be at least a few health-related issues, but I’m appreciative I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to deal with any long-term complications. 

A few weeks before the Covid pandemic shut everything down, I had the second of two cataract surgeries at the St. Luke’s Eye Center in Tarpon Springs. On my follow-up appointment with my optometrist, David Scamard , O.D., of Excellence in Eye Care, a few months later, Dr. Dave asked me if I was having any “floaters” in either of my surgically-repaired eyes and I emphatically and happily told him “No.” 

That response continued to be true until less than four weeks before this issue was supposed to go to press, when I finally understood what he meant by “floaters.” I visited Dr. Dave at the Costco south of S.R. 56, where he took digital photos of my eyes and said he saw the likely source of my floaters. He told me to come back a few days later for a full eye exam. 

It was at that appointment, at about 11 a.m., with my vision in my left eye suddenly blurry, that he determined that I had a detached retina. He immediately set up an appointment for 2-1/2 hours later with retinal specialist Alfred White, M.D., of Retina Vitreous Associates of Florida, which has an office on the north side of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel. 

Dr. White, who combines a great bedside manner with being super matter-of-factly about what I was about to go through, confirmed the detached retina and scheduled me for emergency reattachment surgery the next day. I had two questions about this — could I hold off the surgery for a week or two so Jannah and I could go to North Carolina to visit her daughter and her family and see a concert we had been planning to attend for more than six months, and of course, how would I get the Oct 3 Wesley Chapel issue done if I had to keep my head in a face-down position in a massage chair donut hole for 45 minutes of every hour after surgery for at least the next 5-7 days? 

Dr. White told me that if I didn’t have the surgery, my detached retina could get worse and make the recovery from the surgery more difficult. And, whether I had it or not, the pressure in that eye could get so bad that the plane we planned to fly in to NC could have had to have made an emergency landing on my behalf. 

So of course, I had the surgery the next day. And, while keeping my head down for that many hours and that many days — and having to sleep face-down until my follow-up appointment a week later — was anything but easy, Jannah did everything for me to make sure I got through these difficulties by driving and doing most everything else for me during my recovery. 

For the few minutes each hour that I wasn’t looking down, I was at my computer working to finish that Oct 3 issue, which went to press just three days after our usual deadline — and arrived in mailboxes just two days after its planned Oct. 3 cover date. I was so thankful it wasn’t any more delayed than that. 

I also am sorry that we don’t have quite as many news stories in this New Tampa issue as we usually do. I was so far behind with the Wesley Chapel issue that I couldn’t get as many stories researched and done for this Oct. 17 issue. 

Even so, I appreciate the efforts of not only Drs. White and Scamard, but also of our editorial research specialist Joel Provenzano, who helped me get as much info as possible for the story on pages 12-14 of this issue about the two different approaches to determining the boundaries of Wesley Chapel; to our amazing primary graphic designer Valerie Wegeman, for getting the maps for that story and all of our ads done; and especially, to Jannah for doing pretty much everything else that I normally do to complete an issue and for making sure both editions are chock full of ads so I had less space to fill than usual. 

I also am equally appreciative for all of you — our amazing readers — who continue to give me a reason to do what I have done for nearly three decades. 

As to what caused my retinal detachment, Dr. White said that people who have been extremely nearsighted for most of their lives — as I was until I had my cataract surgeries in 2020 — are more prone to this problem because being nearsighted constantly stretches your retinas as you age. Other possible causes are actually having had cataract surgeries (but that would normally have happened sooner), being diabetic (which I’m not), injuries to the eye (which I haven’t had) and, as often as not, bad luck. 

So, while getting a detached retina may just have been bad luck, I am going to recover my eyesight, which actually makes me feel pretty lucky.