Barbara Bush Library? Not On Our Watch, Say New Tampa Library ‘Friends’

The Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library, including (l.-r.) Sujatha Palanivel, Said Iravani, Joan Zacharias and Lisa Coyle, want to keep the library named for our area, rather than rename it for former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush.

Despite preliminary efforts by Hillsborough County commissioners to rename a county library after former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush — including a recommendation by Victor Crist that the New Tampa Regional Library be the one renamed — a study suggests there is no overwhelming appetite to do so.

At the request by the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), the Hillsborough County Library Board gathered public feedback from area residents who live near three county libraries — Bloomingdale, Mango/Seffner and New Tampa Regional — and discovered that a majority of respondents in all three areas preferred that their local libraries should continue to reflect their own communities.As a result, the Library Board, “based on the feedback collected so far and lack of community support for the proposal,” unanimously voted on July 26 to defer a decision indefinitely, pending more community input, or additional direction from the BOCC.

“We were all smiles, and very relieved,” said Joan Zacharias, the current president of the New Tampa Regional Library chapter of the Friends of the Library, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that supports public libraries in Hillsborough County. “The Library Board listened to the community; now we hope the county commissioners do the same and it goes away quietly and maybe we can revisit this when a literacy hero emerges from (our area).”

The BOCC is expected to revisit the issue at their meeting on Wednesday, August 15.

District 5 commissioner Ken Hagan, a former New Tampa resident currently running for New Tampa’s District 2 seat (see story on pg. 10), made the recommendation to find a library to rename after Barbara Bush at the May 2 BOCC meeting.

Said Iravani, an 18-year New Tampa resident and past president of the New Tampa chapter of the Friends of the Library, said Hagan’s recommendation came out of nowhere, and questioned the choice.

“He might as well have picked Moe, Larry or Curly,” Iravani said. “The library is one of the signatures of our community. What does Barbara Bush have to do with that?”

Ten of the county’s 28 libraries are named after people, but all had strong ties to the local library that bears their name and the community, or made an impact locally.

Hagan cited the former First Lady’s crusade to end illiteracy, her 1984 children’s book C. Fred’s Story that raised money for literacy and her creation of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which Hagan said, “has supported and underwritten programs across America, in all 50 states.”

Hagan also said that over 29 years, the foundation has provided more than $110 million to family literacy programs.
District 7 county commissioner Sandy Murman suggested a statue in front of a library, and Crist, who currently represents New Tampa as the District 2 commissioner, volunteered the New Tampa Regional Library as the one to be renamed.

Comm. Crist noted that he, Murman and Hagan — all Republicans — served during the time when Republican Jeb Bush was Florida’s governor.

“There is a library that was built during that period of time that I feel would be a good candidate for consideration and that is the New Tampa Library,” Crist said.

The motion carried by a 7-0 vote.

The current board, as well as the past presidents, of the Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library expressed their unanimous opposition in a letter to the BOCC.

“For those of us trying to make this community of chain stores and cul-de-sacs our home, the New Tampa library anchors us,” the letter said. “Our children play and learn there, associations and community groups meet there, and learners of all ages come to connect with new people, ideas and resources. The New Tampa Regional Library uniquely brings us together from up, down and across the ever-expanding boulevard
we ask that you consider the “New” in New Tampa as cause to let the community settle in a bit before recasting one of the few places that grounds us, our library.”

In New Tampa, 34 of 65 respondents, or 52 percent — mostly from local homeowner associations, community meetings and an online survey — said they were opposed to renaming their library.

While a few of the responses were partisan, most of those against it praised Bush and her work with literacy but questioned her connection to New Tampa.

“I would much prefer seeing the honor go to someone who ensures literacy support in our community,” one respondent replied. “Let us recognize our local advocates that work tirelessly instead of jumping on the bandwagon of the nation. I guarantee her (Mrs. Bush’s) hometown, as well as major cities where she lived and directly impacted the community, will address her contributions.”

“I voted for Bush but think this is stupid,” another wrote. “If you rename the library, at least do it for a local New Tampa community leader.”

“I admired Barbara Bush, but I think that the New Tampa Regional Library should remain just that. Replacing geographical names with names of persons, especially those with no relationship to the area, makes little sense.”
While only a slim majority voiced opposition to renaming the New Tampa Library, those in the Bloomingdale and Mango/Seffner areas were much more vociferous in opposition to having their libraries renamed.

In Seffner/Mango, 75 percent of respondents (39 of 52) were opposed to renaming their library after Barbara Bush, while in Bloomingdale, 73.5 percent (50 of 68) were opposed to the idea.

Despite the opposition, the BOCC could still decide to rename the New Tampa Regional Library. But, Zacharias hopes they don’t, although she says she is open to naming a meeting room or even the new children’s reading space after the former First Lady.

“This is not really about her,” Zacharias said. “It’s about New Tampa. People like having their library named after their community and their neighborhood.”

MOD and Blaze Pizza Bringing Different Styles

MOD Pizza is opening soon on S.R. 56.

Wesley Chapel Already Has Plenty Of Great Pizza Places. So, Why Are So Many New Ones Still Popping Up?

Pizza may not be the world’s most-perfect food — although some who feel otherwise might fight you over that statement — but it probably is the most popular.

So, as Wesley Chapel grows, and more and more families move in, so do more businesses that sell pizza.
There’s locally-owned traditional pizzerias like 900 Degrees Woodfired, La Prima, Best New York, New York, Bosco’s and Amici Pizza, that sell more traditional NY-style pizzas, to name a few. Mellow Mushroom and Noble Crust (which have both opened in the last year) sell more eclectic pizzas. And, the mega-chains like Domino’s, Little Caesars, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut deal in mostly speedy, high-volume delivery.

“I would say there’s a lot more pizza available in Wesley Chapel than normal on average in other cities (of its size),” says Steve Falabella, the owner of the popular 900 Degrees Woodfired Pizza, which has been at the Shops at Wiregrass mall since 2011. “I think the growth in Wesley Chapel was so fast, the rise of families happened so fast, that there was a rush to capture that. And, one of the most common type of restaurants that go up in new neighborhoods sell pizza.”

Soon, you will be able to add a quickly expanding niche in pizza making to the list of local options: “Fast-Casual.”

On each side of S.R. 56, near the Tampa Premium Outlets, the two fastest-growing fast-casual restaurants in the country will be planting their flags in Wesley Chapel, as MOD Pizza and Blaze Pizza are both entering the market.

The Allure Of New…

On a typical muggy Wednesday afternoon, sitting at an aluminum table shaded by an umbrella, Mike Lightsey is finishing off a slice of pepperoni pizza from 900 Degrees Woodfired. He is passing through on business, and says he eats a lot of pizza. He thinks Falabella makes the best around.

Lightsey says he has tried Blaze, once in Atlanta, and enjoyed that as well. He has never heard of MOD, but is familiar with the trendy fast-casual model, having also eaten at Pieology in Seminole.
“It’s a good change of pace, and definitely something that seems to be taking off,” he says. “I’m surprised Wesley Chapel or even Tampa doesn’t have one yet.”

MOD Pizza, which will be located just west of the Starbucks on the south side of S.R. 56 in front of Costco, is scheduled to open in early-to-mid-September. Blaze Pizza will be located on the other (north) side of 56, but has just started construction. Both specialize in smaller, personal pizzas, where customers choose the toppings and don’t have to wait long for them to cook.

At MOD Pizza, there are more than 30 non-GMO toppings to choose from when constructing your own 11-inch pizza. MOD has its own dough recipe, and the tomato sauce is made in-house daily. No matter how many you choose, the price doesn’t change. The pizzas take only three minutes to cook and can be ordered online for pick-up or enjoyed inside the store.

“We were and are the first super fast-casual chain in the United States,” says Brick Kerge, VP of Operations for Food for Thought Restaurant Group, which owns the local MOD franchise.

Employees are part of the “MOD Squad,” and an emphasis is placed on training a friendly staff that makes the all-around experience and environment something patrons will want to try again.

“This is not just another pizza place,” says Kerge.

Founded in Seattle in 2008, MOD is likely not a familiar name to locals. But nationally, it is the country’s No. 1 fastest-growing chain, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ list of the Top 10 Fastest-Growing Chains, thanks to 80-percent sales growth in 2016.

When it opens here in September, it will be MOD Pizza’s first entry into the Tampa Bay market, although there currently are four other locations in Florida, with five more — including the Wesley Chapel location — scheduled to open soon.

While MOD is the fastest-growing chain, Blaze Pizza is the second-fastest-growing and has been massively successful since being launched in 2011 by the founders of Wetzel’s Pretzels.

It has quickly grown to include more than 250 locations in 40 states and should be open sometime early next year in Cypress Creek Town Center North.

Driving a lot of the buzz around Blaze Pizza, which also features three-minute pizzas boasting freshly made dough and artisanal toppings, is NBA superstar Lebron James’ involvement as an investor.

Like MOD, Blaze also offers a fast-casual experience where customers select their crust style and then move down the line while adding toppings, at the end of which the pizza is quickly cooked.

These newest entries to the Wesley Chapel “piescape” are hip, trendy and fill a desire for custom-built pizzas with a wide variety of toppings that are not always available at traditional pizza spots. They will be stiff competition for each other, but family-owned pizzerias, and even smaller chains like Westshore and pizza places that deliver, still offer a distinctly different flavor and will likely continue to be popular here.

But Wait, There’s More!
MOD and Blaze aren’t the only local newcomers. In the last few months alone, Amici’s has reopened to rave reviews after moving locations on Wesley Chapel Blvd. in Lutz, and Jake’s Pizza has opened its second location, on County Line Rd. in Meadow Pointe, featuring our area’s first thin-crust St. Louis-style pizza. And, Pomodoro Pizza could be open on S.R. 56, in the same plaza as Wolf’s Den, by the time this issue reaches your mailbox, and will offer New Jersey-style pizza. And, never one to rest on his laurels, Falabella has created a local sensation, especially on Facebook, with his recent addition of no-crust “keto diet” pizzas.

“Which pizza is the best is all subjective,” Falabella says. “I can find 10 people to tell you they like Domino’s the best. I can find 10 who would tell you Pizza Mania is the best. And I can find 10 to tell you that we are the best. There’s no such thing as the best pizza.
“(In Wesley Chapel), Everyone can find something they like.”

Rec Center & Sensory Park Both Taking Shape As Plans Are Revealed

The fruits of this year’s New Tampa-friendly budget are beginning to ripen, as meetings in June and July presented visions of the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC), as well a sensory-friendly park, which will be the first of its kind in the Tampa Bay area.

Kevin Smith, senior vice president of FleischmanGarcia, addresses those gathered to hear about the expansion progress.

On July 11, the City of Tampa’s Parks & Recreation Department hosted a community meeting at the NTRC to present its plans for a 7,825-sq.-ft. expansion of the overcrowded Tampa Palms home of one of the Tampa Bay area’s most sought-after gymnastics and dance programs.

The popularity of the programs has resulted in thousands of Tampa and Pasco County residents being placed on waiting lists for years.

However, those waiting lists should dwindle a lot, thanks to $1.95 million allocated in this year’s budget to creating more room for more programs at NTRC — which could double — says Brad Suder, the superintendent of planning and design for Tampa Parks & Rec.

The expansion will add another multi-purpose room similar to the room currently used and there will be a new preschool gymnasium. Currently, the preschool program uses the main multi-purpose room.

Suder said the NTRC also will have a new training box, a 1,760-sq.-ft. rectangular room that can be used for a variety of training regimens. In addition, Suder said, there will be more windows so parents and family can watch the gymnastics and dance programs, as well as six new bathrooms.

One of the bathrooms will have an electromagnetic lock, so it can be open on the weekends for those using the outdoor areas when the NTRC is closed.

The expansion currently is in the design stage, and bids are expected to go out in October. Suder said he expects construction to begin in January, and for the expansion to be completed for the summer of 2019, or a year from now.

Public Shown Sensory Park Plans

At another public meeting held in June, more than two dozen residents and City of Tampa officials gathered with design architects at the NTRC to share ideas and their vision for a 5-acre sensory-friendly park that will be located behind the B.J.’s Wholesale Club on Commerce Palms Dr. in Tampa Palms.

David Conner, president of David Conner & Associates, showed some preliminary plans to area residents. Conner heads up the planning, landscape architecture and urban design firm that is being paid $49,400 (of the $90,000 budgeted by the City of Tampa) to begin designing the sensory-friendly park.

Attendees looked over a series of display boards (left) showing examples of other sensory parks in the U.S. — which are created for children and adults identified as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and are focused more on soothing and serene activities — with some additional ideas for the New Tampa park.

Those who are on the autism spectrum can take in information from their five senses just like everyone else, but cannot process it the same way and can become overwhelmed, which makes them unable to communicate and interact because they are overcome with anxiety.

Sensory-friendly parks focus on incorporating easier-to-process activities and sights. They are, however, still accessible to everyone.
Proponents of the park say as many as 40,000 children in and around the New Tampa area are likely to use the park each year.

The displays showed photographs of potential amenities that could be part of the park, like slides, swings and jungle gyms. Residents were asked to place “Like” and “Love” stickers (above) on the amenities they liked the most.

District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, whose older brother Juan has autism, spearheaded the effort to get the study and design of the sensory park funded in this year’s city budget.

Several residents voiced their excitement and approval during a short presentation by Conner and Brad Suder of Tampa’s Parks & Recreation Department.

“We live in Stafford Place (in Tampa Palms), like one block away from the park,” said Jeff Chacon, who said that he is eager to take his two-year old grandson, Finn, to the park. “I want to be able to walk down there with my grandson. We’re excited. It’s good for the neighborhood and good for the City of Tampa.”

Freelance writer Andy Warrener contributed to this report.

Tampa City Council Approves Rezoning For 700 Homes In K-Bar Ranch

More homes have been approved for K-Bar Ranch, which is now completely rezoned and headed towards nearly 2,000 total homes and condos/townhomes in the next few years. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

After two readings and one continuance, the Tampa City Council has approved a rezoning that will pave the way for developer M/I homes to build 698 new homes in K-Bar Ranch.

The growth of the soon-to-be burgeoning community, located north of Cross Creek Blvd. in the northeasternmost part of New Tampa, has been a point of some public debate, due to the lack of infrastructure, namely roads, in the area.

But, only councilman Luis Viera, who represents District 7, which includes all of the neighborhoods within Tampa’s city limits in New Tampa — including K-Bar Ranch — was the only vote against the rezoning approved by the council (by a 6-1 vote on June 28) to allow the new homes to be built in K-Bar.

As it is with any zoning matters, Viera is not allowed to comment on the case for 30 days following the vote.

More homes means more cars, and currently, the only way in and out of K-Bar Ranch is Kinnan St., which runs north and south, or Basset Creek Dr., a two-lane road that runs past Pride Elementary before connecting to Kinnan.

Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa are still pursuing connections north into Pasco County at three different points to help relieve congestion, and K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., an east-west road which is connected to Kinnan St., is still under construction and will provide a path out via Morris Bridge Rd., but not until late 2019 at the earliest.

There was very little discussion amongst the City Council members before the vote, and no one from the public spoke.

Craig Margelowsky, the president of the Heron Preserve neighborhood in K-Bar Ranch and an opponent of adding more homes in his community without more roads, attended the May meeting but was unable to attend on June 28. He says he was disappointed with the decision, but not surprised.

Margelowsky says that he is concerned that by passing the rezoning request, the City of Tampa gave away any leverage it might have had in securing connections with Pasco County. If the rezoning was conditional upon new roads, government officials, as well M/I Homes, would be more pressed to find quicker solutions.
“This took away all the expediency,” Margelowsky says.

However, the City Council had little choice but to okay the rezoning, says Melanie Calloway, the senior transportation planning engineer for Tampa, in order to guarantee the connection of K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.

Calloway cited House Bill 7207, or the Community Planning Act, passed in 2011 and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott, which handcuffed local governments from imposing what was once state-required concurrency for transportation, parks and schools. The bill allows developers to build without making improvements on over-capacity or failing roadways, which aren’t considered when performing traffic analyses.

Calloway says the City of Tampa can’t legally require M/I Homes to make the connections, but are encouraging them to work with Pasco County, which M/I Homes says it is continuing to do so.

“I think there is more interest in making those connections than there has been,” said K-Bar Ranch attorney Donna Feldman. “I think, in time, they will occur.”
Feldman also said that at the Wesley Chapel Roadways presentation on May 29, it was shown that the majority of those on the Pasco side wanted connections.
However, that “majority” was only true for two of three potential connections — at Meadow Pointe Blvd. & K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., and Wyndfields Blvd. at K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.

No indication has been given that there is enough support for the most convenient, controversial and contentious connection — between Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe. Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who represents the area, is on record as being adamantly opposed to it. He has suggested the Pasco Board of Commissioners (BOC) may not even vote on the connections until next year.

While Moore favors only two of the three connections, the City of Tampa feels that all three connections need to be made.

But, Margelowsky isn’t convinced the Tampa City Council will hold firm on that stance. “Without requiring roads (before passing the rezoning), now Pasco County can sit on this for five years,” he said. “I know that the Wyndfields and Meadow Pointe Blvd. connections will get done, but I don’t see anybody going and actually fighting for Kinnan-Mansfield.”

Connections or no connections, Feldman said the rezoning needed to be approved. The 2,280 acres of K-Bar Ranch was annexed into Tampa in 2002 to “grow the wealth, size and import of the City of Tampa, and the City of Tampa has done that,” she said.

She said the land-use entitlements allow for far more density than what was allowed for in a 2015 rezoning of the area.

The current rezoning is for a northwest portion of land adjacent to Kinnan St., and a northeast portion of K-Bar Ranch adjacent to Morris Bridge Rd. The rest, Feldman says, already has been rezoned.

Feldman told council members that M/I Homes has done its part. The financial impact of building K-Bar Ranch Pkwy is $18.8-million, and she said that M/I Homes also donated 60 acres of K-Bar Ranch land to the city for a park, which also was more than required.

“This project, as a whole, has been mitigated over and above what is necessary to accommodate this rezoning, which really started with the annexation of this project in the early 2000s,” Feldman said as she asked the council for approval.

K-Bar already has roughly 500 homes and townhomes already built, with another 700 or so approved in 2015 — despite similar protests from residents then about a lack infrastructure and roads — that currently are under construction. The new rezoning will add nearly 700 more homes to the community, bringing the total to nearly 1,900.

Prayers For Pedro & The Aguerreberry Family

IMAGINE, IF YOU CAN, your husband or wife taking the kids for their usual bike ride together and waiting for them to come home. Everyone knows bicycles can be dangerous, but even those times that you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach because it’s taking a little longer than usual for them to return, it pretty much always turns out OK.

Doesn’t it?

Then, imagine what the family of West Meadows resident Pedro Aguerreberry, 42, is going through today, less than three weeks since Pedro took his sons Lucas, 8, and Bennett, 3, out for a bike ride, never to be seen alive again by his wife Meghan or those young boys.

But, this wasn’t just another tragic accident that, in an instant, changed forever the lives of the Aguerreberry family and everyone who worked with the always-smiling Pedro at Citigroup and their friends and neighbors in New Tampa.

Instead, it was an intentional act by a sadly mentally deranged young man who posted on Instagram the day before he made that quick U-turn in his car on New Tampa Blvd. (the main road that runs through West Meadows) to run down Pedro and his young sons that no one should blame him for what he was about to do. Instead, Morse said, “blame the devil.”

Yes, Morse, the former Freedom High student who was Baker Acted by the Tampa Police Department (TPD) on June 12, just two weeks earlier, only to be released — against the protests of his own mother — on June 19, a week after being held and evaluated, was obviously dealing with a serious mental illness. But, this isn’t about whether or not the man charged with the first-degree, premeditated murder of Pedro should be declared not guilty by reason of insanity or not. It’s about what happens after a happily married, devoted husband and father is intentionally taken from the arms of his loving family by someone he had never met.

Trying To Make Sense Of It
Even though I had never met Pedro or Meghan, I was one of more than 200 people who filled St. James United Methodist Church on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. on June 27 for his funeral. The next day, I also came out to take pictures of the 100 or so who got together to put on a memorial bike ride and run in his honor.

At the memorial service on Friday, I was stunned that the start of the service was delayed by an hour, as I was one of only maybe 30 people who were actually sitting in the seats. The other (approximately) 175 or so people in attendance made a circle around the outside of the seating area and every last one of them hugged Meghan and the boys (Lucas was able to get himself into a seat, but Bennett, who was more severely injured in the crash, was still in a wheelchair) and offered them all prayers and other words of love and encouragement.

I had never seen this done at a funeral before but I definitely felt this amazing energy flowing between every one of those well-wishers and the entire Aguerreberry family.

As if he hadn’t already been through enough that week, poor Bennett simply couldn’t handle the receiving line. After the first 20 minutes or so, he said, “Mommy, please stop letting go of me,” as Meghan tried desperately to continue holding his hand while hugging every one of the attendees with her other arm.

Still 20 minutes later, Bennett pleaded with her again, “Mommy, please stop hugging them.” I can’t imagine that anyone who left St. James did so with his or her heart still intact after hearing this sweet child’s plaintive cries.

After that, it was difficult to focus on the beautiful, sweet words of remembrance from Brett, Oscar and Laura, Pedro’s friends and coworkers at Citigroup who spoke. Everyone who did mentioned Pedro’s smile.

“Pedro was always happy and always had the greatest smile on his face,” Brett said. “He was always saying, ‘Hey, Brett, isn’t this just the greatest day?’”

It’s still so hard to believe that someone like that could be taken away from the people who love him by such a senseless, heinous act.

Even so, I personally wanted to thank Loyless Funeral Homes for providing such a beautiful video memorial for Pedro, both online and during the service. All of the pictures of him and his family on these pages were saved from that video.

Honoring Pedro’s Memory…
It certainly isn’t difficult to understand why so many people have felt compelled to try to help the Aguerreberry family. In addition to the memorial bike ride, a GoFundMe page has already raised tens of thousands of dollars to help them and The Fat Rabbit Pub in Tampa Palms and 900Âș Woodfired Pizza in the Shops at Wiregrass (owner Steve Falabella lives in West Meadows) were among those holding fund-raising events (Fat Rabbit’s was on July 8) to help.

As for the bike ride, cyclists young and old started at the BBD entrance to Flatwoods Park, turned right onto BBD and left onto New Tampa Blvd., pausing to honor Pedro at the makeshift shrine set up by his fellow West Meadows residents near where he was struck and killed by Morse’s car a little west of Wood Sage Dr.

Brett was among the handful of runners who said a little prayer for Pedro before taking off to run the park’s paved loop together.