Wesley Chapel’s newest high school — the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation (KRAI), which opens this month to 9th and 10th graders for the 2022-23 school year — held its inaugural student orientation, known as the “Navigator Kickoff,” on July 29.
Although we weren’t on hand for the kickoff, we wanted to welcome Wesley Chapel’s fourth high school to the community. Although KRAI isn’t a charter school, it is a Pasco school choice magnet school, and students have to apply for attendance by lottery.
The school, which is located north of the entrance to the Watergrass community (and south of the Innovation Prep K-7 charter school) at 32555 Innovation Dr., off Curley Rd., “was built to provide students with an educational opportunity unlike any other,” according to its website (krai.pasco.k12.fl.us). Every year after this year’s inaugural school year, KRAI will add a grade level until becoming a full-fledged 9-12 high school.
Kirkland Ranch offers ten in-demand and innovative programs structured to include an integrated business curriculum that offers a diverse learning experience focused on helping students develop dynamic skillsets that lead to high-paying careers. The ten programs are: Automotive (Diesel), Biomedical Sciences, Building Trades & Construction Technology, Cybersecurity, Digital Media, Electricity, Engineering & Applied Robotics, Patient Care Technology and Welding Technology Fundamentals. If you want to be ready for college, career, and life right out of high school, KRAI is the place to be!
KRAI’s principal is DeeDee Johnson, who previously was the principal at Wesley Chapel High and most recently Pasco Middle School in Dade City, before transitioning to oversee the opening of KRAI.
“I am most excited about the opportunities that it’s going to bring students in the District,” she says, “whether it’s college, career, or preparing them for life.”
She emphasizes that while the school can provide a pathway to an in-demand, high-paying job right after high school, it’s also a great choice for college-focused students.
“There are industry certifications, but also Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses,” says Johnson. “It’s going to give students a leg up by having connections with business and community partners.”
New signs and crossings will bring added safety to the Compton Dr. intersection with Tampa Palms Blvd., one of Tampa Palms’ most dangerous, according to the City of Tampa.
The City of Tampa may have had some grander plans for Tampa Palms Blvd., but after some back and forth with residents, the road to getting the project completed appears to be…well…paved.
A second online presentation by the city went better than the first and, barring any major changes, the plans for repaving and adding safety enhancements to Tampa Palms Blvd. should be ready by October. If the city can settle on two contractors — bids are in, so it should be a timely process — for the roadwork, the $3-million-plus project should begin sometime in the first half of 2023, if not sooner, and will be completed by the end of next year.
One full-depth reclamation project contractor will be hired to basically churn up the base material, take out all of the old asphalt and repack it, while a paving contractor will “come in and makes it look all pretty,” said Cal Hardie, the City of Tampa’s capital projects manager, who added that the repaving should only take roughly three months.
“The good news is that Mayor Jane Castor has put some ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act Grant Program) money into the project, so we’re able to expedite the repaving,” Hardie told those participating in the online presentation. “It’s a high priority.”
The repaving of Tampa Palms Blvd. will go forward in two segments — the south loop (or Segment 1), which runs from the north intersection of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to the south intersection through Tampa Palms Area 3, and the north loop, or Segment 2, which runs from the south intersection of BBD to Ebensburg Dr. in Tampa Palms Area 2.
Not only will the road — which is showing its nearly-40-year-old (in some sections) age and has been labeled “failed” by a few city officials — be repaved, a number of enhancements will be added in the hopes of addressing a number of concerns, including speeding, intersection safety, pedestrian access and school pick-ups and drop-offs.
The multimodal paths, used by pedestrians, skaters, bikers and even golf carts, will not be reconditioned as part of the project.
“We only have the budget for inside the curbs,” Hardie said. “I’m reserving funds because construction costs are skyrocketing. Even though we have a healthy budget, I’m actually a little nervous about being able to fund everything once the bids come in. There is no extra money.”
The city is proposing narrowing the width of the four road lanes to 10 feet each, making room for 2-foot striped buffer on the outside of each lane (curb and median sides).
And, while residents previously shot down the idea of losing a lane which would have made room for a dedicated bike path, there will be shared lane markings added to the outside lanes as a reminder to drivers that bicyclists also may use the lanes.
Hardie said the biggest and most common complaints the city receives about Tampa Palms Blvd. is speeding. The speed limits in various parts of the 4-mile loop are 35 and 40 miles per hour, and the city is recommending a 35 mph speed limit throughout.
There likely will be speed tables or removable street cushions placed at key locations. The removable street cushions are rubber speed tables that are uniquely spaced to allow emergency vehicles (with their wider wheel base) and bikes to pass through unimpeded. If it is determined they would be effective in a different area, they can be easily transferred, unlike your typical cement speed table.
Hardie said enhanced crossings will be added throughout the road at key points. He showed a map that had four marked crossings, and two marked crossings with Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons, or RRFBs, at Compton Dr. (southern intersection) and Tampa Palms Trail (the TECO easement). However, since the trail at the TECO easement is not an official road and is on private property, a few residents suggested moving the RRFB to another location, with which Hardie said he agreed.
RRFBs are pedestrian-activated, and Hardie said St. Petersburg installed quite a few of them and found that they were effective in increasing the numbers of cars yielding for pedestrians.
“They (RRFBs) do work very well,” Hardie said.
RRFBs will be a good option at Compton Dr. and Tampa Palms Blvd., which Hardie says is the most dangerous intersection along the roadway. A roundabout was suggested by a few residents.
“A roundabout is not off the table,” Hardie said, “but, with safety needs across the city, we’d have to have a crash history study to fund a roundabout because they are quite expensive. We’re not saying no, but they are not a part of this project.”
The residents online for the presentation, which was followed by a Q-n-A session, seemed in favor of most of what Hardie had to say, a far cry from the first online presentation in September 2021. At that presentation, Hardie pitched the idea to convert the four-lane Tampa Palms Blvd. into two lanes — one in each direction — as a traffic-calming measure. That concept, however, was soundly rejected by residents, who sent more than 100 emails of displeasure to the city.
Congratulations go out to The Fat Rabbit Pub, located at 16029 Tampa Palms Blvd. W. (in the City Plaza at Tampa Palms shopping center) for celebrating its fifth anniversary. Always near the top of the New Tampa rankings in both our Reader Survey and with yours truly, Jannah and I visited Fat Rabbit for its anniversary celebration on July 16.
Executive chef Cole McBride, who has been coming up with the Fat Rabbit’s unique better-than-bar-food dishes from Day One, offered a number of specials for the day, including those top-rated wings topped with “Apocalypse” wing sauce (which has earned an 8/10 on the “heat” scale), a red velvet cake/cheesecake dessert special (photo, bottom, shown with the Rabbit lager special served in a 5-Year Anniversary glass, while supplies last) and a new burger that Cole says is being added to the menu: “The Rabbit 13 (photo below),” which is a short rib and brisket patty topped with tortilla strips, roasted poblano peppers, pepper jack cheese and pico de gallo (shown on the side), topped with a creamy queso cheese sauce and served with your choice of the greatest tater tots in our area, crispy fries or the awesome, super-crisp onion rings shown here for just $1 more.
Perhaps best of all (at least for me) is that Cole says he should soon be bringing back his weekly fresh fish specials. So good!
For more info, call (813) 252-3004 or visit FatRabbitPub.com. — GN
Congressional District 15 candidate and Grand Hampton resident Alan Cohn with his family (l.-r.) wife Patricia, daughter Ann and son Aaron.
If you’re looking for a political candidate that you can trust to stand up for what is right for you, your family and your neighbor’s family, Alan Cohn says he’s that guy.
The long-time Grand Hampton resident is running for the redrawn U.S. Congressional District (CD) 15, which covers parts of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, and Cohn thinks the voters’ familiarity with his work as a former investigative reporter with ABC News in Tampa (and Sarasota) shows the kind of member of Congress he would be.
“What people have seen from me, from my work on ABC in Tampa, is a guy who has gone out and uncovered political corruption by both Democrats and Republicans,” Cohn says. “While people are skeptical (of politicians), they find in me a candidate who has called it out on both sides and has worked to make the community a better place already.”
This will be Cohn’s third attempt at winning a Congressional seat. He lost in 2014 to incumbent Republican Dennis Ross (60.3 percent to 39.7 percent) and in 2020 defeated Adam Hattersly in the Democratic primary before losing to Scott Franklin (R-Lakeland) 55.5%-44.6%.
However, the new congressional map for this election shifted CD 15 more towards Cohn’s favor as a Democratic candidate, while Franklin is now running in Florida’ 18th Congressional District. The new map doesn’t change CD 15 from being a Republican-favored seat but it’s closer to a 50-50 split than it was in 2020 and encompasses more of Cohn’s home turf.
“This is not the same Congressional District,” says Cohn, who was the last Democrat to enter the five-candidate field. “I waited for the maps to be final and looked very hard at this District. There’s only about 1,000 voters that separate Democrats and Republicans. This is a swing District.”
According to the Cook Political Report’s 2022 Partisan Voting Index (PVI), it also will be Florida’s closest, with whoever the Republican representative ends up being to be a 4-point favorite. The Republican field includes some well-known names in GOP circles, including former Secretary of State Laurel Lee, Sen. Kelli Stargel and Rep. Jackie Toledo and political newcomers Demetries Grimes and Kevin McGovern.
Cohn is running against four others in the Democratic primary — comedian Eddie Geller, political consultant Gavin Brown, third-generation Army veteran Cesar Ramirez and 30-year postal service veteran Bill VanHorn.
The heart of the new CD 15, Cohn says, is New Tampa, where he and wife Patty have raised their family. Their children, Ann and Aaron, graduated from Wharton High; Aaron is now pitching with Class A Stockton in the Oakland A’s organization.
Not only is Cohn recognizable from his time as a television reporter, but he has been a familiar face around New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
“This is where we are ingrained in our community,” Cohn says. “Most people have seen me on the ballfields. Patty and I have been so involved with the community. It’s such an incredible opportunity to serve now.”
Upon entering the race, Cohn quickly collected several big endorsements from the likes of former Governor and current gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, former State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, former Florida Education Commissioner and USF president Betty Castor and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the co-chair of the Florida Congressional Delegation who also is the co-chair of candidate recruitment for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Cohn told FloridaPolitics.com he raised more than $100,000 in the first 14 days after filing to run on June 16.
“We have worked in this community and have voted in this community and will win because, in the short time I’ve been in the race, I have raised the resources to reach the voters that we need to reach,” Cohn says.
And, he says, those need-to-reach voters are predominantly independents. According to Cohn, how those with no party affiliation break in their voting, especially in CD 15, could determine the results of the upcoming election.
“That’s really our key,” Cohn says.
The Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, August 23, and the general Election will be held on Tuesday, November 8.
“We have been working with people who are interested in candidates who do reach across the aisle, who are problem solvers. That’s what I aspire to be,” Cohn says. “The fact of the matter is the last 9-10 months I’ve doing a lot of writing on the national level and here in Florida and calling out both parties when it’s been needed to be done.”
Cohn has a number of issues he is focused on, such as lowering taxes, fighting against rising prescription drug costs, veterans’ issues, investing in education and much-needed improvements to our transportation infrastructure.
And, he thinks he can get other members of Congress on board as well. Despite the frayed nature of this country’s political discourse these days, where sides are taken based solely on political affiliation, and working with the opposition is frowned upon by the fringes of both parties, Cohn thinks his record shows an ability to reach across the aisle to get things done. And, Congress has to be fixed, he believes.
“If we fail, the country is in danger,” he says.
As one example, Cohn cites his work with District 12 Republican Congressman Gus Bilirakis in 2010, when Cohn exposed companies charging veterans large illegal fees. The law, however, had no teeth, and Bilirakis saw the report and filed a bill to give the law more of a bite, via criminal penalties.
Cohn, a 1985 graduated of Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, has a won a number of awards for his investigative reporting, most notably the prestigious 2007 Peabody Award for uncovering that defective parts had been installed on U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.
“My record stands apart from anyone else’s,” Cohn says. “If you are a Republican, a Democrat or an independent, you’re frustrated and understandably cynical. And I’m a guy who not only wants to get results but has gotten results. Voters are tired of the nonsense they see on TV and read in the newspapers. I’m the guy who they remember getting solutions to real problems in this community, and I think that stands above anything.”
Zach Feinstein, the co-owner of The Feinstein Group, which has opened three successful restaurants in Dunedin (including the original Living Room on Main St.) since the group was established in 2014, says “The Living Room should be open in Wesley Chapel by the first week in August.”
Zach and his wife Christina (pictured above), who took over The Black Pearl on Main St. together when they were just dating (“My friends told me I was crazy,” says Christina. “But obviously, it’s all worked out.”), are not only the proud owners of The Living Room and The Black Pearl, but also the Sonder Social Club, located on Douglas Ave. (off Main St.), and all three restaurants are completely different from each other.
The Sonder Social Club is primarily a cocktail lounge featuring, according to Zach, “some of the best craft cocktails in the Tampa Bay area,” although it does have a few food items, including charcuterie boards and cauliflower-crusted artisan pizzas.
The Black Pearl, which Zach says he and Christina have “greatly upgraded” since taking it over, is the most upscale of the three, with starters like escargot en croute and white truffle lobster risotto and entrées like Hereford filet mignon, Chilean sea bass Lyonnaise and Maple Leaf Farms seared duck breast. The Black Pearl is ranked #1 of 133 restaurants in Dunedin on Tripadvisor.
But, the Feinsteins say, The Living Room is the most “mainstream” of their three eateries, which Tripadvisor ranks #10 of 133 restaurants in Dunedin. “We’re perfect for a ‘Big Night Out’ or date night,” Zach says, “but our menu pricing is very fair, so we’ll also be a great place to meet your friends for a craft cocktail and some appetizers anytime throughout the week.”
Zach and Christina, who got married in 2017, say they looked at South Tampa and other locations to open their fourth restaurant before they decided to bring The Living Room to Wesley Chapel. “With all of the growth out here near the mall,,” Zach says, “we felt that Wesley Chapel was our best option.”
Although Zach adds that the menu will be similar to the Dunedin location, which has starters like flash fried pork dumplings, beef tenderloin empanadas and tuna poké, shareables such as a smoked salmon flatbread and Korean BBQ lettuce wraps, and entrées like brown butter diver scallops (photo to the right), sautéed red grouper and a spicy pork chop, “our Executive Chef Joshua Rhynes will have a few new surprises on the menu, too.”
The Feinsteins have spared no expense when it comes to their newest restaurant. When you walk in, the first thing you’ll see is a 100-year-old bookcase and hand-carved hostess stand that both came from a historic home in Hyde Park. The bar area, although similar in size and orientation to what used to be in Ciao! at the mall, “is being completely redone,” says Zach, as are the spacious main dining area inside (with a huge wine selection), the expanded (soon to be covered) outdoor patio (with live music), and two interior private dining areas, one with seating for up to about 70 people and the other an almost-speakeasy-like room for up to 12 people that even has its own private entrance/exit door hidden inside a bookshelf.
“There’s definitely no place like The Living Room in Wesley Chapel,” says Zach. “No one can beat our food or our craft cocktails. And, Christina has outdone herself designing the place. Welcome Home!”
The Living Room is located at 2001 Piazza Ave., Unit 100, in The Shops at Wiregrass. For more info, visit TheLivingRoomonMain.com, and stay tuned to our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page for the latest updates.
