2019 NEW TAMPA Dining Survey
Benito & Liberty Middle Schools Will Have Crossing Guards For 2019-20
Parents have long complained that despite traffic lights and clearly marked walkways, children attending Benito Middle School faced very real dangers having to cross busy Cross Creek Blvd. every weekday morning without the aid of a crossing guard.
Well, their complaints definitely have been heard.
The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved in April a plan to spend roughly $1 million to employ Hillsborough County Sheriffโs Office (HCSO) deputies as crossing guards at all 43 Hillsborough middle schools, the first county in Florida to do so.
Following the BOCC approval, a study was implemented to determine the countywide needs and so far, 78 crossing guard positions have been earmarked by HCSO for 37 schools, including Benito and Liberty Middle School in Tampa Palms.
According to the list released last month, Benito will have two crossing guards stationed at the two corners of Kinnan St. and Cross Creek Blvd.
Liberty will have one crossing guard stationed at Commerce Park Blvd. and New Tampa Blvd.
Other middle schools stationed in high-traffic areas will have as many as six crossing guards, such as Ben Hill Middle School near Ehrlich Rd., and Adams and Farnell middle schools, which will have five crossing guards.
โThose numbers were determined by a ratio of how many students are traveling to school (via walking or biking) and how much traffic is in the area,โ says HCSO spokesperson Amanda Granit.
The push for crossing guards at middle schools was spearheaded by parents across the county who protested the elimination of courtesy busing for students who live within a two-mile radius of their school.
That left students living north of Cross Creek Blvd. who walked or biked to Benito to have to cross the very busy road to get to school in the morning.
Freedom Sophomore Qualifies For Olympic Trials!
Michelle Morgan started swimming competitively when she was 7.
By the time she was 8, she knew she wanted to go to the Olympics.
Now, at the age of 14, the Freedom sophomore will get her chance.
Morgan, one of the top distance swimmers in Florida and a member of the Pipeline Swimming Club that trains at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club, last month became the first swimmer in the Tampa Bay area to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, making the cut in her marquee event, the 400-meter Individual Medley.
At a meet in Orlando, the New Tampa resident swam the 400 IM in 4 minutes, 51.42 seconds, just under the Trials cutoff of 4:51.79.
โIt was pretty exciting,โ said Morgan, who will be one of the youngest competitors at next yearโs Olympic Trials, which will be held in June in Omaha, NE. Only the top two finishers in each event at the trials make the U.S. Olympic team.
Morgan, the top-rated mile swimmer in the country in her age group, said she expected to make the cut at some point this year, but still didnโt believe it when she touched the wall and looked up at her time. Swimmers from a number of other clubs were there to congratulate her as she exited the pool.
โWhen she hit the time, my wife went crazy and a whole bunch of families around us went crazy,โ said Glynn Morgan, Michelleโs father. โIt was exciting for her. We knew at some point this was coming, but itโs nice that she wonโt have to chase it from meet to meet frantically trying to qualify.โ
She is not done yet, however. Morgan missed the trials cut in the 800m freestyle at the same event in Orlando by less than half a second, swimming her race in 8:48.50; the cut is 8:48.08, a time Morgan seems poised to better.
Pipeline coach Rene Piper thinks Morgan also has a chance to make the Olympic Trials cut in the 200 IM, the 400 and 1,500 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, although the coach admits the last event is not Morganโs favorite.
Morgan could eventually have some local company at the trials โ Piper says fellow Pipeline member Carly Joerin, also a sophomore at Freedom, has an outside chance of posting a qualifying time between now and June 2020.
Setting aside the long odds of making any Olympic team, just making it to the trials is an impressive milestone.
There are roughly 400,000 swimmers registered with USA Swimming. At the 2016 trials, there was an average of 120 swimmers per event.
In the 400 IM qualifying races, there were 125 swimmers. Morgan’s time would put her in the top 30 of that group.
A daunting challenge, to be sure, but Morgan is the complete package, Piper says. Sheโll have her choice of colleges next year when coaches are allowed to begin recruiting her, and her ceiling appears to be unlimited.
โSheโs super smart academically, a super great student, and has a high swimming IQ, too,โ Piper says. โHer focus is just incredible, and she is determined.โ
Piper also says that Morganโs work ethic is unmatched, and she never misses a practice. The one time she was late, everyone was so surprised and worried they couldnโt start the practice until she got there. Piper jokes that they have a saying at the club: โIf Michelle isnโt at practice, sheโs dead.โ
Morgan, who finished third at the Florida Class 3A State championships last year as a freshman in the 200 IM and the 500 free, is currently chasing more Olympic trial cuts โ particularly in the 800 free โ at the 2019 Speedo Junior National Championships in Stanford, CA โ her first big national meet.
โIโm just trying to see how good I can do in my other events,โ Morgan says. โIโm trying not to jump ahead too far.โ
That could be tough, with the Olympic Trials on the schedule. While the 2024 games in Paris, when Morgan will be 19, may be a more realistic goal, the experience next year will be a big boost to the promising young swimmer.
โItโs so tough to make the Olympic team,โ Piper said. โBut, we have already made the hotel reservations, and I am so excited for her to go and experience this. It will be great.โ
Garbage Collection Point Of Contention
Hillsborough County will be entertaining waste management options that will possibly reduce garbage pickup in New Tampaโs city and county communities from two days per week to only one.
That stinks, say many.
โI have not talked to one person that likes this idea,โ says Mike Jacobson, the president of the Pebble Creek Homeowners Association. โI canโt even believe theyโre considering it.โ
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 โRepublic Services of Florida, Waste Connections and Waste Management โ 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).
โWe say itโs the same garbage, just being picked up one day versus two,โ 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.
โItโs 98 percent, maybe 99 percent, in support of maintaining twice a week pickups,โ Hagan says, adding that he is not in favor of any options that include only once-a-week pickups.
โWhile once a week collection is definitely cheaper,โ Hagan says, โI certainly do not believe it’s in the best interest of our residents and our neighborhoods.โ
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 isnโt appealing to most people.
โThe 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,โ 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 โ from Hagan โ has reflected steadfast opposition. He fears the decision already has been made.
Hagan is more positive, having been through this process three times.
โWeโll look at various proposals,โ Hagan says, โand at the end of day, Iโm confident weโll remain with twice-a-week pickup.โ
Pasco Fire Rescue Station No. 38 Is Now Open In WaterGrass
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 countyโs 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.
โWe have a group of citizens that live in that area and have followed this project for the last five years,โ said Pasco fire chief Scott Cassin. โIโm sure they are very excited to see the station open โ as are we.โ
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 โ or light and air units, which provide supplemental lighting and SBCA air bottles at the scene of emergencies โ 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.
โWeโve built the building with that expandable capacity in mind,โ Chief Cassin says. โ(Wesley Chapel) is going to continue to grow, and weโve built a facility big enough that we can expand in the future and meet those future needs.โ
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, โWhich is really nice at 3 in the morning when you are asleep and you get a call,โ Chief Cassin says, chuckling. โNow you have to peel me off the ceiling because itโs so loud it scares you. This is much more gentle on the cardio vascular system.โ
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 โrip and run,โ which is a back-up printout of the call, in case the computer in the truck goes down.โ
Another nice addition to the new system โ 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.
โWith the new system, one push of the button will alert all the stations at the same time,โ Cassin says. โIt will shave off time. Even if itโs only 10 seconds, itโs still 10 seconds. It can make the difference.โ
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.
โWeโre going to have very very clean air at that station (and reduce the cancer risk),โ Cassin says. โWeโre working on a plan to retrofit the rest of our stations with that system.โ
The new station at WaterGrass helps fulfill PFRโs 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 โ 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 wonโt 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 โ the land still needs to be purchased โ 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.