Mayor Castor Talks Tampa At Local Coffee Shop

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor speaks to a packed house at Coffee Speaks & Tea Talks on Jan. 27.

The night before Tampa Mayor Jane Castor had to fight off a band of pirates looking to take over the city during the annual Gasparilla invasion, she decided to relax at a New Tampa coffee shop.

At the appropriately named Coffee Speaks & Tea Talks coffee shop in the Pebble Creek Collection, Castor told a standing-room- only crowd of 50-60 people that despite the impending invasion, all was well in Tampa.

She touted some of her achievements during her nearly four years in office, and assured the crowd that she was charging forward on improving two of the city’s most pressing issues — transportation woes and the lack of affordable housing in the city.

“We aren’t going to stop,” Castor said. “We are going to find a solution.”

(LThe crowd included Clark Elementary 4th grader Makenna Reel (with microphone) who asked the mayor if she’d join her club at school and help pick up trash in the local neighborhoods. (Photos: Charmaine George)

The Jan. 27 appearance wasn’t as New Tampa-centric as some of her other appearances in the area, but the audience did touch on some HART busing issues, and Castor did say the repaving of Tampa Palms Blvd. is set to begin in the next week or so.

The event lasted just over an hour. Along the way, Castor even committed to helping clean up New Tampa, thanks to the youngest questioner at the event.

Makenna Reel, a 4th grader at Clark Elementary, asked Castor — who told the audience that litter is one of her pet peeves –— that she had started a club at her school dedicated to picking up trash in the local neighborhoods. 

Reel asked if Castor would like to join her later this month when her club gets together to pick up trash along Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. — and the mayor agreed.

The New Tampa stop was part of the “Coffee With Castor” tour, with the mayor dropping in on small local businesses for some good old campaigning, even though the event was held in the unincorporated part of New Tampa (which doesn’t vote in the city’s upcoming election, which will be held on Tuesday, March 7). 

Castor is running for a second term against long-time New Tampa resident and write-in candidate Dr. Belinda Noah (see story on previous page).

Noah, 68, most recently ran in Aug. 2022 for a seat on Florida’s 13th Circuit Court, losing to Wesley Tibbals, despite garnering nearly 88,000 votes countywide.

Speaking Of Elections…

In other city election news, Hunter’s Green resident and District 7 City Council member Luis Viera has already secured a third term after no one stepped up to run against him.

Viera was one of seven Council members up for re-election this year, but was the only incumbent who didn’t draw an opponent. He originally won the District 7 seat by just 65 votes (out of 5,120 cast) over fellow New Tampa resident Dr. Jim Davison in 2016, but beat Quentin Robinson 76%-24% in 2019. 

Districts 3 and 6 each have five candidates running for the seats, Districts 1 and 2 have four, District 5 has three and District 4 has two. Districts 1-3 are elected citywide.

“Citywide, about two dozen candidates qualified for Tampa City Council in a very politically acute time,” Viera said. “The fact that I was re-elected without an opponent in this environment is something I am proud of. I thank my constituents for the opportunity to serve.” — JCC

PopStroke Ready To Open!

Video screen grab (PopStroke)

Tiger Woods has made it official — PopStroke Wesley Chapel/Tampa is opening at noon on Friday, Feb. 17.

The golf legend announced the opening via his Twitter account Thursday morning.

Located just north and east of the intersection of S.R. 56 and Wesley Chapel Blvd., PopStroke is co-owned by Woods and Craig Bartoli. TGR Design, which is Woods’ golf course design company.

The Wesley Chapel location will feature two 18-hole courses — one will be harder than the other — featuring synthetic turf greens designed to mimic putting on real golf courses. The courses lack the usual mini-golf obstacles, instead focusing on a more realistic experience with undulated greens designed to challenge golfers of all ages, as well as fairways and sand traps.

The mini-golf is complemented by a 10,000-sq.-ft. restaurant and kid’s playground. The restaurant will feature premium food and drinks, as well as 24 different flavors of ice cream. Golfers can see their scores displayed on a large scoreboard, and even order drinks, via an app, that will be delivered to them on the course. 

“It’s one of the only concepts I know of anywhere in world, really, where you can find a 3-, 8-. 27- and 80-year-old enjoying it to the same extent,” Bartoli said at the February 2022 groundbreaking.

New Tampa Teen Is Area’s First Stars & Stripes Award Recipient

Jenna McLaughlin, a senior at Wharton High, is the 43rd recipient of the Stars & Stripes award in the state of Florida, and the 980th overall recipient in the 27-year history of the American Heritage Girls organization. (Photos: Karl Greeson)

Jenna McLaughlin recently became the first girl in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area to earn the highest award that can be achieved from American Heritage Girls (AHG), a faith-based, scouting type organization.

Jenna is an 18-year-old senior who will graduate from Wharton High this spring. She also attends dual enrollment classes full time at Hillsborough Community College.

She is just the 43rd recipient in the state of Florida, and the 980th recipient in the 27-year history of the organization, to win the Stars & Stripes award. To qualify for the award, girls are required to earn 16 specific life skills badges in categories such as outdoor skills, science and technology and personal well being. They also must hold a leadership position in their troop for a minimum of six months, write a resume and essay about their personal spiritual journey, present at least three letters of reference, pass a Board of Review, and plan, develop and lead others in a service project that requires a minimum of 100 hours and makes a lasting impact on the community.

For Jenna’s project, she built a large stone fire pit (see photo) at St. James United Methodist Church in Tampa Palms, which hosts her AHG troop. The fire pit was completed last fall and has already been used by different ministries both in and outside of the church for outdoor gatherings.

“I’m so grateful for all the support I received from my troop members, leaders and other volunteers,” says Jenna. “It was really rewarding to see it go from an idea in my head to an actual fire pit people can enjoy.”

Jenna’s mother Celeste is a troop coordinator and little sister Rylie is also in American Heritage Girls.

While the project represents one of the final steps to earn the award, Stars & Stripes is about much more than just the project. It is the pinnacle of the journey that aims to teach girls life skills, leadership, and a heart for service.

“I have had so many experiences that I wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for AHG,” Jenna says. She recalls going on a trip to earn the snow skiing badge, and spending a week living on a sailboat off the coast of Maine, learning about sailing and helping with many of the on-board tasks, from steering the boat to pulling up the anchor and preparing meals.

American Heritage Girls was founded in 1995 by parents looking for an organization that would embrace Christian values and encourage family involvement.

Founder Patti Garibay today serves as the executive director of the organization, which currently has troops in all 50 states and more than 50,000 girl members.

“Jenna, you joined AHG in 2013 as a Tenderheart and now you have achieved the highest accomplishment in this program, the Stars & Stripes Award,” said Garibay in a congratulatory video that was shared with the audience at Jenna’s award ceremony on Jan. 23. “All of us at American Heritage Girls — the staff, the board, and the volunteers — are so very proud of you.”

Jenna is one of 40 girls in her troop, which was founded five years ago by a leadership team that includes her mom Celeste, who is a writer for the Neighborhood News. Girls range in age from six to 18.

For more information about  American Heritage Girls, go to AmericanHeritageGirls.org. To connect with the New Tampa or Wesley Chapel AHG troops, use the “Find A Troop” button on that website.

New School Boundaries Could Bring Big Changes 

No matter which scenario proposed by the School District is adopted, Liberty 
Middle School is expected to lose hundreds of it current students to other schools for the 2023-24 school year. (Photos: John C. Cotey) 

 The long process of finalizing controversial school boundary changes proposed by the Hillsborough County School District is going to take just a little bit longer.

In an email to parents on Jan. 25, Superintendent of Schools Addison Davis wrote that his recommendations, after weeks of community meetings, would not be presented to the School Board on Jan. 31, as expected, and would instead be provided to the parents and the Board at a workshop now scheduled for Monday, February 13 at 10 a.m.

Please note that no public comment is permitted at School Board workshops.

The Board also will hold special meetings on Tuesday, February 28, and Thursday, March 9.

The email also said that between the workshop and the special meetings, five new community meetings would be held. The closest to New Tampa, which isn’t impacted as much as other parts of the District, would be held on Monday, February 20, 6 p.m., at King High on N. 56th St.

The School District, which paid New York architectural firm WXY Studio $567,000 to help with the new boundaries, has developed three scenarios, and as many as 24,000 students throughout Hillsborough County could be shifted to new schools. More than 100 of the District’s 303 schools could be affected by a process designed to save millions of dollars by improving efficiency, addressing imbalances in enrollment — some schools are overcrowded while others are so far below capacity that they may have to be repurposed — and reducing travel.

“When we look at schools that are being overutilized, those are (schools) operating at 110% (of their capacities) or greater,” Davis said. “Underutilized is 60% or under, and we have 24 schools that must be addressed.”

Many schools in New Tampa could be affected, although none are in danger of being repurposed.

In all three scenarios proposed by the District, for example, 133 students at Heritage Elementary and 49 students at Pride Elementary would be moved to Hunter’s Green Elementary. 

Pride is currently at 124 percent utilization, though losing 49 students would still keep it over capacity, at 119 percent. Heritage currently is at 111 percent, but after losing students to Hunter’s Green, would be at a more desirable 95 percent.

Hunter’s Green is currently at 84%, and the influx of new students would put it at 101% of its capacity.

Each scenario means different things for different schools. The only New Tampa public schools not affected in some way are Clark and Tampa Palms Elementary schools.

In Scenario 1, Heritage, Pride, Hunter’s Green, Chiles Elementary and Liberty Middle School would be affected by losing or gaining students.

In Scenario 2, Wharton, Liberty, Benito Middle School, Turner/Bartels K-8 School, Heritage, Hunter’s Green, Chiles and Pride elementaries are affected.

In Scenario 3, the most aggressive of the three proposals, nearly 1,000 students combined at Pride, Hunter’s Green, Heritage, Wharton, Freedom, Chiles and Liberty would be affected.

On paper, it looks as if many students that are bused into New Tampa schools would remain closer to their neighborhood schools instead, saving on travel costs during a time when the district has a bus driver shortage. Changes like Wharton losing 423 students to King (Scenario 2), Chiles losing 112 to Mort (all three scenarios) and Liberty losing 329 to Buchanan (Scenario 1) or 329 to Adams (Scenario 2) middle schools appears to point towards a reduction in bused students, as opposed to moving New Tampa residents.  

Hunter’s Green Elementary takes on students from Heritage and Pride in every scenario.

All of the numbers presented so far can change, as Davis takes into account all of the public feedback — 15,000 people have attended community meetings (including the one held at Wharton on Jan. 13), and the district’s website (HCPS-boundary.org/home) has had more than 335,000 page views, 126,000 address searches and 15,500 comments on the interactive map.

“The School Board will make the final decision, and they could take any recommendations (by Davis) and make changes to those,” said Hillsborough Schools spokesperson Erin Maloney. “There’s still a lot of stuff to work out, and none of the numbers you are looking at are final.”

The delay means parents like Dawn Eagle will have to wait a little longer to find out the fate of their children for the 2023-24 school year. She was one of roughly 100 parents to attend the Jan. 13 community meeting at Wharton, hoping to learn her options.

Scenario 2 would move 163 kids from Benito, including Eagle’s daughter, 6th grader Jessica, to Turner-Bartels.

Eagle already has put her sons, who are now at Wharton, through Heritage Elementary and Benito, and would like Jessica to follow the same path.

“It’s closer to our home and all we’ve ever known,” she said. “We know the administration, we know the teachers. We’ve had a great experience and we don’t want to disrupt that.”

But Eagle’s concerns go further than that. Jessica is in the orchestra at Benito, and Turner-Bartels doesn’t offer orchestra. Also, driving from their home in K-Bar Ranch to Turner-Bartels in Live Oak Preserve would be far more inconvenient.

The Eagles have options, like school choice or magnet schools, and Dawn hopes if Scenario 2 or some version of it is chosen, she would be able to use school choice so her daughter could stay at Benito. 

“I do appreciate trying to set up these scenarios and having discussions so the community can be heard,” Eagle says. “I appreciate the effort being made. I understand they’re trying to do a job and everything comes down to money. That’s unfortunate but I get the reality. But logistically, this restructuring for our neighborhood doesn’t make sense.”