Hillsborough County will be entertaining waste management options that will possibly reduce garbage pickup in New Tampa’s city and county communities from two days per week to only one.
That stinks, say many.
“I have not talked to one person that likes this idea,” says Mike Jacobson, the president of the Pebble Creek Homeowners Association. “I can’t even believe they’re considering it.”
Hillsborough County solid waste director Kim Byer says the decision isn’t based on how much trash is collected or how many residents actually leave their bins out on both days of pickups, but is purely a financial one that could produce savings for the county of up to 30 percent.
If those savings were significant, they could be passed on to customers, Byer says.
Currently, three companies —Republic Services of Florida, Waste Connections and Waste Management — together handle a $188-million contract to collect garbage, recyclables and yard clippings in Hillsborough County.
The County Commission will review new proposals this fall, and will vote on contractors for a new contract sometime before the end of November (which would go into effect in September 2020, Byer says).
“We say it’s the same garbage, just being picked up one day versus two,” she says.
Part of the process will include the results of an online poll that ended on August 5, which asked participants what they wanted from their waste management services.
More than 13,000 people had taken part in the survey at our press time. Byer says the majority were opposed to cutting weekly trash pickups in half.
District 2 County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who represents the New Tampa area, says it is far more than a majority of residents who are opposed, according to the emails his office has received.
“It’s 98 percent, maybe 99 percent, in support of maintaining twice a week pickups,” Hagan says, adding that he is not in favor of any options that include only once-a-week pickups.
“While once a week collection is definitely cheaper,” Hagan says, “I certainly do not believe it’s in the best interest of our residents and our neighborhoods.”
Because New Tampa is so community-oriented, with Homeowners Associations requiring that trash bins be kept from public view, meaning most likely in your garage.
And, with Florida’s blistering heat, the idea of trash being stored in those conditions for seven days isn’t appealing to most people.
“The concern I have is with no makeup day, and with the disproportionate number of (pickup) days falling on Mondays which are holidays, you could go 2-3 weeks between trash pickups,” says Scott Darby, the Arbor Greene HOA president.
Darby is so concerned that he says he has reached out to all seven commissioners, and only one response — from Hagan — has reflected steadfast opposition. He fears the decision already has been made.
Hagan is more positive, having been through this process three times.
“We’ll look at various proposals,” Hagan says, “and at the end of day, I’m confident we’ll remain with twice-a-week pickup.”
For the second time this year, Wesley Chapel will soon be celebrating the Grand Opening of a newly-equipped fire rescue station, bringing the total to three stations that are currently serving one of the county’s fastest-growing areas.
Although Pasco County Fire Rescue (PFR) Station No. 38, located in WaterGrass (west of Curley Rd.), has been staffed and operational since last week, the official ribbon cutting is expected to take place in early August, heralding the arrival of one of the largest and most high-tech Pasco fire stations around.
“We have a group of citizens that live in that area and have followed this project for the last five years,” said Pasco fire chief Scott Cassin. “I’m sure they are very excited to see the station open — as are we.”
Station No. 38 will join No. 26, which is located on Aronwood Dr. in Meadow Pointe, and No. 13, which is located off of Old Pasco Rd. The all-new Station 13 opened after an extensive expansion, renovation and relocation earlier this year.
Fire Station 38 is a 10,843-sq.-ft. facility, with four drive-through bays, versus the standard two or three bays that most other PFR stations have.
The size of the station will help it expand to meet the needs of existing communities like WaterGrass and Epperson, as they continue to add thousands of new homes to the area.
On day one, Station 38 opened with a fire engine truck, as well as one of only two air trucks — or light and air units, which provide supplemental lighting and SBCA air bottles at the scene of emergencies — in the county (there is another one that serves the west side of Pasco).
The new station also will house an EMS unit and (by December) an ambulance crew will be stationed there as well, or maybe a ladder truck, special operations team or even a hazmat team.
“We’ve built the building with that expandable capacity in mind,” Chief Cassin says. “(Wesley Chapel) is going to continue to grow, and we’ve built a facility big enough that we can expand in the future and meet those future needs.”
A new PURVIS alert system has been integrated into the new building to help speed up response times. The current analog system, which sends out loud signals from dispatch via bell or alert tones, is being replaced with a digital system that Cassin says will produce better results.
The well-known, loud screeching sounds will be replaced by a series of tones that gradually increase in volume, “Which is really nice at 3 in the morning when you are asleep and you get a call,” Chief Cassin says, chuckling. “Now you have to peel me off the ceiling because it’s so loud it scares you. This is much more gentle on the cardio vascular system.”
Alerts also can be targeted toward only the firefighters needed for a particular call, and not the entire station.
Lights will help alert firefighters about how much time has elapsed. They are expected to be out of the station within 60 seconds, and the lights will change colors as time passes.
There also are display monitors that firefighters can use as a guide, and in the bay is a “rip and run,” which is a back-up printout of the call, in case the computer in the truck goes down.”
Another nice addition to the new system — it can alert all of the necessary fire stations at the same time. Currently, on calls that require more than one apparatus, the dispatch center has to call each individual station, in order of their proximity to the call or they type of equipment they have.
“With the new system, one push of the button will alert all the stations at the same time,” Cassin says. “It will shave off time. Even if it’s only 10 seconds, it’s still 10 seconds. It can make the difference.”
Those working in the station will be beneficiaries of a new Plymovent diesel exhaust capture system. Long yellow tubes will be connected to the exhaust pipes of the fire vehicles, so that when the vehicle is started in the bay, the discharge of diesel exhaust (carbon monoxide and the carcinogen Benzene) is collected into the system and evacuated to outside air.
When the truck leaves, the tubes, connected by a system of magnets, detach at a certain point.
“We’re going to have very very clean air at that station (and reduce the cancer risk),” Cassin says. “We’re working on a plan to retrofit the rest of our stations with that system.”
The new station at WaterGrass helps fulfill PFR’s goal of having a station within five miles of every structure. Until No. 38 came along, those in WaterGrass and the surrounding area were outside that range — more than 8 miles from No. 13 and 10 miles from No. 26.
Cassin says not only does the station provide safety benefits, but homeowners should receive a premium reduction if they alert their homeowners insurance companies that a new station has opened close to their homes.
Station No. 38 won’t be the last fire station for Wesley Chapel, which continues to grow unabated. Cassin says a station already is funded for the north end of Meadow Pointe at S.R. 54 — the land still needs to be purchased — with plans to build in 2022. And, Cassin says, the I-75 and S.R. 56 area currently is being studied as a future site as well.
Before Disney chose Halle Bailey to play the role of Ariel in the live-action version of “The Little Mermaid,” Patty Smithey of Land O’Lakes (above) had already been chosen for the same role in the New Tampa Players’ production, which opens tonight.
When Disney announced recently that Halle Bailey, a teenage African-American actress, was going to play the lead role as Ariel in the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” Patty Smithey thought that was really cool.
The idea, she figured, made perfect sense. And why wouldn’t she? After all, before Disney chose Halle Bailey, the New Tampa Players chose Patty Smithey.
An African-American actress herself, Smithey has been working hard to perfect the role of Ariel, which she was selected to play in the upcoming New Tampa Players (NTP) production of the 1989 Disney animated blockbuster.
The show opens tonight at 8 p.m. at the University Area Community Development Center (CDC) at 14013 N. 22nd St. in Tampa. There are two showings on Saturday, one on Sunday, and then showings the weekend of August 2-4.
For the past month, Smithey, who lives in Land O’Lakes, has been rehearsing with the rest of the NTP, a local acting troupe, at the CDC.
An acting hopeful in middle and high school, Smithey set aside her thespian dreams when she went off to college at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Smithey earned a degree at FSU in International Affairs, studying abroad in places like Panama, Prague, Poland and Croatia, as she focused on human rights.
The acting bug, however, never went away. And, at the age of 25, Smithey is returning to her first love.
“It’s my big comeback,” Smithey says, with a chuckle. “I definitely feel honored I was chosen for this role.”
When she auditioned in May, she considered herself a longshot for any role. “The Little Mermaid” wasn’t exactly a movie rich with non-white characters.
On the paperwork for NTP, she put down a number of roles she felt suited to play, like Ursula, or one of Ariel’s sisters, or, she jokes, “maybe a fish in the background.”
She also, on a whim, wrote down Ariel.
Nora Paine, the president of NTP, says the troupe didn’t go into the audition process looking for a white actress to play the role of Ariel. She says that is never part of the process. “We looked for the person who could best embody the character,” Paine says. “For Ariel, we were looking for that innocence, a teenage kind of spunk, for lack of a better word.”
Because the movie revolves around a mermaid’s yearning to explore a new, forbidden world, the role had to be filled by someone who embodied Ariel’s way of looking at that world with total awe.
“Patty had the facial expression of Ariel, the innocent and the curious face,” Paine says. “She did really, really well.”
Not to mention the voice. Smithey took on the movie’s iconic ballad, “Part of Your World,” for her audition, considered one of the best Disney songs ever, and nailed it.
The role of Ariel was filled by someone who had the complete package that director Derek Baxter, choreographer Anne Tully, musical director G. Frank Meekins and Paine were looking for all along.
“I knew I could sing,” Smithey says. “But, when I got that call, wow, it was just amazing.”
Smithey’s enthusiasm for her role, and the significance of being a black Ariel, has not been tempered by some of the backlash Disney has received in social media for also picking an African-American for the role.
There have been hurtful memes passed around, and the hashtag #NotMyAriel actually trended on Twitter.
“I saw some of that on social media, and I was shocked,” Smithey said. “I mean, where are these people coming from, that they would be that upset about this mythical creature (being played by a black woman). Some of the stuff I saw was very negative.”
Smithey hasn’t received any backlash, and instead prefers to think of it as inspired and inclusive casting by Paine and the NTP.
The controversy over Disney’s decision has been noticed by Paine as well. While she admits that NTP may have smiled a bit when Disney made the same decision NTP did while casting, she says the debate over inclusivity in theater is a good one. She said diversity was a strong theme in many of the speeches at this year’s Tony Awards as well.
“We’re really glad it can be a national conversation, and a local one as well,” Paine says.
She says the NTP has always strived for inclusivity, no matter the production, no matter the role. The troupe has hosted productions like the Penguin Project, which provided opportunities for those with special needs, and inserted a host of actors into non-traditional parts for other productions.
In 2016, NTP reached out to residents in the University Area, where most of the troupe’s productions are performed — until their new home in New Tampa is completed — and asked them what they wanted to see. Residents in the area, which has a large African-American population, told the NTP they would love for their children to come to productions that had actors that looked like they do.
In 2017, NTP heeded that advice and did a production of the “The Wiz”, which re-imagines “The Wizard of Oz” with a primarily African-American cast.
Choosing Smithey was nothing out of the ordinary for NTP.
“ I think it’s great how they are modernizing the role,” Smithey said. “Maybe other little girls and little boys can see that anyone can be a princess or a prince.”
Smithey will lead 52 other castmates in what will be one of NTP’s biggest productions yet.
NTP is bringing in a choreographer from the Shinobi School in Temple Terrace, which focuses on acrobatic performances relating to parkour (movements used in military obstacle course training), ninja warriors and the circus arts.
“It’s going to add a circus twist to Disney,” Paine says.
Long pieces of silk cloth will hang from above to provide the illusion of being underwater, with performers artfully working their way around the silky streams.
“This is new, as far as I can tell, combining a traditional Broadway musical and circus arts done by a non-professional company,” Paine says.
“The Little Mermaid” opens Friday, July 26, at 8 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit NewTampaPlayers.org.
While it may be a lot to ask for the new Village at Hunter’s Lake project to single-handedly save the sleepy restaurant scene in New Tampa, it sure seems like the developers are trying.
Fresh Kitchen, a south Tampa favorite with locations on S. Howard Ave. and W. Kennedy Blvd., is the latest restaurant to be announced as coming to the new development on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., right across New Tampa’s main thoroughfare from the entrance to Hunter’s Green.
Regency Centers senior leasing agent Marc Elias broke the news to a collection of local business leaders last month at the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC)’s Economic Development Briefing at Hunter’s Green Country Club on June.
Fresh Kitchen is owned by the Ciccio Restaurant Group, which also owns such notable restaurants as Taco Dirty, Green Lemon, betterBYRD and Ciccio Cali, which has a popular location in Tampa Palms.
Like Ciccio Cali, Fresh Kitchen focuses on healthy bowls, where patrons choose their base, protein, vegetable and any extras. Elias’ announcement drew a round of positive chatter during the NTBC briefing.
Elias also said that Regency Centers has a BBQ concept coming, as well as a sub-and-wrap concept, although he didn’t name those restaurants.
Regency Centers senior leasing agent Marc Elias.
Along with the previously announced Via Italia Wood Fired Pizza, Poke Island Plus and Grain & Berry, that would mean six new restaurants (plus Starbucks) could be open by April of 2020 in New Tampa.
The Village at Hunter’s Lake also is likely to provide a boost to the social scene in New Tampa.
“We certainly hope so,” said Elias. “We feel like we are responding to the needs of the area, which is really convenience. Hopefully, we’re able to attract the foot traffic over there, and they can hang out with their dogs at the dog parks, go to Starbucks, take a yoga class. That’s the goal, getting them to hang out at the center.”
While Sprouts, the first green grocer to enter the New Tampa market, is the anchor of the retail strip, other occupants previously reported by the Neighborhood News are Banfield Pet Hospital, The Coder School, Hair Cuttery, Heartland Dental, Nationwide Vision Center, Pink & White Nails, Pure Beauty Salon and T-Mobile.
Elias added that a running store and a “yoga concept” also have signed leases.
Elias says the shell buildings should be completed by November, barring a persistent rainy season. Tenants can open whenever they are ready, though Elias suspects that most will open sometime around April 2020, when Sprouts is expected to be completed.
The Village at Hunter’s Lake will have a total of 71,397 sq. ft. of commercial space. The project also will include a 30,000-sq.-ft. New Tampa Cultural Center — which is expected to break ground next year and open sometime in 2021 — two dog parks and a four-story, 241-unit multi-family complex to be called The Haven at Hunter’s Lake
Some of the sidewalks in Magnolia Trace and Pinehurst (top right) are in need of repair, but Hillsborough County has a long backlog for sidewalk repairs. (Photos: John C. Cotey)
Dozens of orange safety cones and swatches of bright orange paint have been placed along sidewalks in at least two New Tampa neighborhoods, there as a warning — to watch your step.
Due to uneven sidewalks caused primarily by the roots of large oak trees planted years ago between the sidewalk and the road, those out for a walk or bike ride in the Magnolia Trace and Pinehurst communities off Brookron Dr. in Cross Creek are being cautioned, due to concerns raised by the homeowner’s association’s insurance company during an inspection.
How long will the orange cones adorn the neighborhood’s sidewalks?
That’s anyone’s guess.
Jo-Ann Pilawski of Pilawski Property Management, which manages the Cross Creek II Master Association, notified Hillsborough County’s Public Works department about the sidewalks, which indicated in an email that “a work request has been initiated and assigned to the West Service Unit for inspection, review, and response.”
The email stated an inventory of potential repairs will be conducted within a month, and afterwards, the county will “grind” all identified areas where the lift is less than two inches.
The areas raised more than two inches — and there are quite a few in both neighborhoods — “will be flagged with reflective tape and added to the county’s current backlog of sidewalk replacement requests.”
That backlog, according to Hannah Titrington, the program coordinator of the customer resolution unit at the county, who wrote the email to Pilawski, is approximately 24-36 months.
Prior to 2018, the county had minimal funding for sidewalk repairs, Titrington wrote, causing the backlog. But, in 2018, the Board of County Commissioners committed significantly more money to sidewalk repair after passing a 10-year, $800-million plan for transportation improvements.
“It’s a big county, so you can imagine how many sidewalks there are that need repairs,” Pilawski said. “Unfortunately, unless the association pays for repairs, we’re stuck. A few residents have called to complain, but as soon as I tell them it might make (their) fees go up, no one is interested anymore.”
Pilawski also said that doing so would also set a bad precedent, considering that the sidewalks are supposed to be maintained by the county.
Titrington did write that while the county is working on older requests first, repairs are grouped by proximity. So, an older request from a different area in New Tampa could expedite Pilawski’s request for repairs.
