Primary Elections Drove Record Number Of Local Voters To The Polls

 A substantial increase in primary voting in Pasco County is expected to be a bellwether for what could be one of the most anticipated general elections in recent memory on Tuesday, November 6.

Turnout for early voting, vote by mail and on primary election day on Aug. 28 were all higher than they were in 2016 in Pasco County and overall, 24.85 percent of registered voters cast ballots, compared to 18.64 percent in 2016 and 14.93 percent in 2014.

Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley says overall numbers on Aug. 28 were up, due to the ease of voting, as well as the fact that voters seem to be more engaged this year than they have been in the past.

“There is a caveat,” he says. “While the needle is moving in the right direction and it’s a fantastic increase, that’s still only one in four people voting (in the primary election). It’s not time for confetti, but it is a step in the right direction.”

In Wesley Chapel, more than 10,000 votes were cast, or only 21.9 percent of registered voters. However, take away those not registered with either major party, of which only seven percent voted, and that number is better – 28.6 percent of registered Democrats and Republicans in Wesley Chapel’s voting precincts cast ballots in the primary.

Other than the primaries to choose gubernatorial candidates for each party, there were no hot intra-party races driving people to the polls, and Corley says that could mean a massive turnout for the general election, when the ballot will offer more choices and pit those political parties against each other.

Andrew Gillum

Those additional choices include two Pasco County Commission races that weren’t contested in the primaries, and what will be a heated U.S. Senate race between current Republican Governor Rick Scott and Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, who has held his position since 2001.

The one race drawing national attention that is expected to drive people to the polls more than any other, however, will be the one to replace Gov. Scott as Florida Governor, between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum.

Gillum shocked almost everyone with a win in the primary to set up a showdown with the Donald Trump-endorsed DeSantis. Both candidates defeated establishment-backed candidates, setting the stage for an interesting battle that will match contenders from what many believe to be the party’s bases.

Gillum became Florida’s first-ever black gubernatorial candidate after he defeated favored Gwen Graham, the daughter of popular former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham.

Although he was fourth in many polls leading up to the primary vote and was outspent by Graham 6-to-1, there was talk of a Gillum surge in the final days, which turned out to be prescient.

Gillum captured 34.3 percent of the state-wide Democratic vote (or 517,834 votes of the 1,509,794 ballots cast). Graham finished second with 31.3 percent, while Phillip Levine (20.3 percent) and Jeff Greene (10 percent) rounded out the top candidates in the Democratic field.

Ron DeSantis

“People didn’t think we had a chance, but we did,” Gillum told CNN shortly after being declared the winner. “I think voters have had enough with the status quo.”

DeSantis, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, represents the Daytona Beach area and originally ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, when it appeared that Marco Rubio, coming off an unsuccessful presidential campaign, was not going to run. Once Rubio re-entered the race, DeSantis exited it.

Running behind former Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam at the time, DeSantis fully embraced an endorsement from President Trump in the spring and it shot him into a lead he never relinquished.

DeSantis was the choice of 913,955 of Florida’s Republican voters out of 1,618,372 who cast ballots in the primary, or 56.4 percent. The previously favored Putnam was a distant second with 36.5 percent.

Pres. Trump congratulated DeSantis on the win the night of the primaries, and the next morning, the president attacked Gillum, calling him DeSantis’, “biggest dream…a failed Socialist Mayor who has allowed crime and & other problems to flourish in his city.”

Local Results

In Pasco County, however, Graham was the decisive winner over Gillum, garnering almost twice as many votes, beating the eventual nominee 42.7 percent to 25.1 percent.

In Wesley Chapel, though, Gillum was as clear a choice for Democrats as DeSantis was for Republicans. Both candidates were the top vote-getters in nine of Wesley Chapel’s 13 voting precincts, and both received 54 percent of the votes cast for the top two finishers.

In other races, Allen Altman won a fourth term on the Pasco County School Board with 57 percent of the vote, beating challengers Ken Mathis (23 percent) and Brian Staver (20 percent) for the District 1 seat, joining fellow incumbent Cynthia Armstrong, who retained her District 3 seat. 

Tara O’Connor and Megan Harding, who both received 37 percent of the vote for the District 5 seat, will run-off against each other on Nov. 6 because neither passed the 50-percent threshold in the primary.

A pair of Republican county commissioners did not have primary challenges and will be defending their seats on Nov. 6 – Mike Moore, who represents most of Wesley Chapel in District 2, and District 4’s Mike Wells. They will be running against Democrats Kelly Smith and Brandi Geoit, respectively.

Irma Who? One Year Later, Willow Is Making Happier Memories!

Willow enjoyed cutting the hair of Rays second baseman Daniel Robertson at a Cut For A Cure event at Tropicana Field during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Irma, Jennifer Newman wasn’t interested in sharing her memories from the day of the storm.

Instead, she was working on erasing them. “It was a pretty emotional week, knowing it was coming up on Sept. 8 and knowing what it meant,” the Wesley Chapel mom said.

A year ago on that date, her daughter Willow, hoping to be celebrating her third birthday, was diagnosed with leukemia.

That diagnosis created more of a storm in Willow’s life than Hurricane Irma ever could, but the two events have since become interwined. As everyone else shared remembrances on the Irma anniversary about the harrowing moments of the storm and the damage and inconveniences it caused, Jennifer, her husband Shawn Stine and Willow and her older sister Eden were at Tropicana Field celebrating Willow’s birthday while watching a Rays baseball game.

Invited because the club was recognizing September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, some of the Rays players shaved their heads to raise money for the Cut For A Cure program.

Willow giggled her way through doing the honors on Rays second baseman Daniel Robertson.

“I felt like we made some great memories that day,” Jennifer said. “I feel like we took back that day. We were super grateful to rewrite history.”

Last year at the same time, Jennifer was frantically trying to get ready for Irma, buying food and water supplies and cleaning the house. Willow ran errands with her, and the two stopped to buy Paw Patrol birthday decorations for her big day.

But, Jennifer sensed something was wrong with Willow. She was sleeping more than usual, she looked pale and she was asking to be held all the time.

Willow had a routine checkup scheduled for Monday, but with Irma set to come through on Saturday, Jennifer decided not to risk its aftermath and took Willow to the doctor in hopes of getting some antibiotics. Her doctor agreed something might be wrong, and Jennifer and Willow were sent to Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) to do some blood work.

The pathologist there delivered bad news. “I’ll never forget his face or where he was standing in the room,” Jennifer wrote on her Facebook page.

Willow was transferred to John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. The FHWC nurses, who gave Willow a stuffed giraffe for the trip, looked sad. With sirens blaring, she was rushed away.

After blood transfusions and more tests, doctors told Jennifer and Shawn that Willow likely had pre-b cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre B-ALL).

Doctors started blood transfusions immediately and vital checks every hour, and sadness set in. The All Children’s nurses, though, made sure Willow still celebrated her big day, throwing a “Frozen”-themed birthday party.

Video from the party went viral and was featured on CNN and in People magazine.

That first night, Jennifer and Shawn slept in chairs pushed up against Willow’s hospital crib.

The next morning, Saturday, with Irma bearing down, Shawn had to leave. The Howard Frankland Bridge, which connects Tampa and St. Petersburg, was being closed, and he had to get back to Eden.

That night, with a daughter newly diagnosed with cancer and separated from her husband and other daughter by a threatening hurricane, Jennifer went outside.

“The wind was picking up,” she says. “I found a bench, sat down and just started crying. It was one of the only times I let myself loose. It was a lot to handle.”

Back On Track…

But, handle it Willow has.

This past year, she spent 70 days in the hospital, had more than three dozen blood transfusions, 15 lumbar punctures (which collect samples of cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, from the spinal column) and three major surgeries.

She has endured countless trips to the clinic for chemotherapy treatments. She takes chemo every night at home, and one night a week, she has to take nine pills. Her body has suffered from neuropathy, but at the same time, Willow has fought back.

Hurricane Irma will become an afterthought one day. But today, Jennifer says Willow is doing much better.

She is like any other child, running and jumping around, swimming and riding a bike. She is happy and engaged, and other than being poked by needles, she actually looks forward to her trips to the clinic.

“I think she’s made a lot of great strides in terms of learning how to deal with the procedures she has to go through, and we love seeing her,” said Jessica Wishnew, M.D., in a story on the John Hopkins All Children’s website. “She definitely brings a lot of energy and happiness when she comes in.”

On the one-year anniversary of the storms that swept in and changed her life, know this: the prognosis for Willow is good. Dr. Wishnew says that the cure rate for pre B-ALL is in the 90-plus percent rate.

“I know in my heart she’s going to beat this,” Jennifer says. “She’s strong, she’s a little fighter. I know she’s going to beat this.”

Willow will do her fighting with a lot of people in her corner. Just last week, someone in the community dropped by Willow’s home to leave a gift and some cookies. Those kind of things happen often. Jennifer says what were once complete strangers have become some of her closest friends.

“I just want to say, we are blessed,” she says. “We are blessed to be in Wesley Chapel, where there has been so much support. Between that and all the prayers, it has been wonderful.”

Pasco County Fire Rescue Breaks Ground On New Station No. 38

Photo by Orlando Negron

After having only one fire station for many years, it won’t be too long before the Wesley Chapel area has three. On Sept. 17, Pasco County Fire Rescue (PCFR) hosted a groundbreaking event for Fire Station No. 38, located on Overpass Rd., west of Curley Rd., near Watergrass Elementary.

The station shows the foresight of PCFR’s long-term strategic plan.

“Wesley Chapel is a booming population center,” PCFR public information officer Corey Dierdorff said. “With new developments like Epperson and Watergrass already populated and new developments north of the new station, like Ashley Groves, already being permitted and approved, it means higher call volume. Without more stations, higher call volume means longer response times. We’re looking at putting stations in ahead of (new) development.”

Longer response times also can mean the difference between life and death. That’s why the new four-bay, 10,843 square foot Station 38 will feature some state-of-the-art technology when it opens in about a year.

The PURVIS Fire Station Alerting System (FSAS) is an award-winning, IP-based solution designed to automate the process of alerting fire and rescue personnel, enhance communications and decrease response times. Station 38 will be the first in Pasco County to utilize the system.

“Let’s say calls for chest pain, shortness of breath and a car accident all come in at the same time,” Deputy Chief of Operations Michael Cassano said. “Right now, all three calls will stack and be dispatched one at a time. With the PURVIS System, they’ll all be dispatched at the same time.”

County Commissioner Ron Oakley Photo by Orlando Negron

The new system could cut critical seconds or even minutes off of response times. While Station 38 will be the first in Pasco with the new system, PCFR plans to retrofit the rest of the stations across the county in future years.

Station 38 also will employ new technology to keep its firefighters safer and better rested. To keep them safer, the new fire station will employ a Plymovent diesel exhaust capture system. Plymovent is a global leading supplier of products, systems and services for the extraction and filtration of polluted indoor air. What oftentimes happens in the bays is a truck idles while emitting both carbon monoxide (CO) and the carcinogen Benzene.

“A lot of our bay doors open into living quarters and the trucks are spewing Benzene all over the bays,” Cassano said. “With this new safe air system, it monitors the atmospheric conditions in the bay and can automatically turn on fans, regulate temperature and even open bay doors.”

Another benefit for firefighters at Station 38 will be how the PURVIS System alerts them. Currently, a quick blast is emitted over the station’s speaker system. With the new PURVIS System, the tones gradually increase in volume. Additionally, the alerts can be targeted toward only the firefighters needed for a particular call and not the entire station.

“We found that many firefighters endure sleep deprivation,” Cassano said. “When you wake up to a loud noise, it triggers catacholamine release (in your brain) and a fight or flight mindset. This was happening every time firefighters would get a call. It’s designed with the goal of being a more humane notification system.”

Station 38 marks the first additional fire coverage area in Pasco County since 2009 and the first new coverage area in East Pasco County since 2007.

Not far behind Station 38’s groundbreaking will be the opening of the new Station No. 13. Located off of Old Pasco Rd., the new station had its groundbreaking in March. The old Station 13 at 27329 Dayflower Rd. is an aging facility that has become inadequate to handle the population growth in the area.

When it opens in January, the new Station 13 will be 9,400 square feet, have space for a Pasco County Sheriff’s substation and three drive-through bays able to accommodate six fire vehicles.

“In Pasco County, county wide, we are issuing 300 residential permits a month,” Dierdorff said. “The growth is incredible but our aim is to provide the best fire and medical coverage.”

Benito parents, staff fret over Kinnan and Cross Creek intersection

Wendy Arroyo, parent of a 7th grader, and her mother Elsie were among those holding signs last week urging drivers to be more careful.

Nearly a dozen Benito Middle School parents and teacher lined the roads that run by their children’s school last week with bright yellow signs blaring simple messages:

Be Careful.

Slow Down.

Phones Down.

Drive Like Your Kids Live Here.

Teaming up with Vision Zero Hillsborough, the Benito parents hoped to shine a light on a growing problem in this congested section of New Tampa. About a month into the new school year, parents are saying the conditions in which their kids walk and bike to school are becoming more and more dangerous.

With the school situated on the south side of busy Cross Creek Blvd., the tail end of the morning commute is made more difficult by hundreds of students walking and biking — with many of them having to cross the busy street — to get to Benito.

While flashing lights are present along Cross Creek, notifying drivers that the speed limit is 20 miles per hour during the times students are walking to school, drivers leaving Kinnan St. and turning east or west onto Cross Creek don’t see those signs.

The intersection is congested with those heading to work and parents trying to get into the car line to drop their children off at school. Because there are cars entering the Benito parking lot from both directions on Cross Creek, the entrance can get backed up, leaving drivers trying to cross over from Kinnan St. to have to wait an extra light cycle, sometimes two.

That can lead to bad decisions by drivers who are in a hurry, while also creating backups in both directions along Cross Creek Blvd.

Ironically, about an hour before parents and Vision Zero Hillsborough showed up with their signs, as if to highlight the dangers of Kinnan and Cross Creek, an accident in the middle of the intersection backed up morning traffic and sent debris like broken glass flying into the crosswalk. Fortunately, it happened before schooltime pedestrian traffic.

Cars making a left turn onto Cross Creek Blvd. from Kinnan St. are sometimes failing to yield to kids crossing to school.

The most sometimes-heart-stopping concern, Benito principal John Sanders says, results from drivers leaving Kinnan Street and making a left onto Cross Creek heading east.

“Kids are in that crosswalk while cars are turning,” says Sanders. “The cars go right in front of them or right behind them — by feet and sometimes inches.”

The problem is that when the crosswalk light is green, giving the pedestrians the right of way to cross the street, drivers making a left onto Cross Creek also have the same green light. Legally, they have to yield to the pedestrians in the crosswalk, but it appears many drivers are acting as if they have a green arrow instead, and don’t notice or aren’t checking to make sure that there aren’t pedestrians in (or entering) the crosswalk.

“It’s not a safe crosswalk for students because of so much traffic coming from so many different directions, and people aren’t paying attention,” says Jenny Giraldo, whose daughter attends Benito. “Signage is lacking on so many levels, drivers aren’t really made aware. They need to be woken up.”
Sanders adds that he is hopeful that changes will be made.

On Friday, September 7(the day this issue hits mailboxes), a meeting is scheduled with representatives from the City of Tampa and the Hillsborough County School Board to discuss possible changes to lights and signs in the area.

“I think that the light situation needs to change,” says Benito Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) president Cindy Walton. “There needs to be no turn on red or the light for walking needs to be longer, while other lights aren’t green. It causes children to walk at the same time cars want to go, and cars don’t yield to pedestrians the way they should.”

To address the cars not yielding to pedestrians — or not being aware of the situation — the PTSA invited Vision Zero Hillsborough to hold the rally along Cross Creek Blvd. during the morning drop-off time on Aug. 31.

The Vision Zero Action Plan was developed by the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Policy Committee, and has organized similar efforts at other dangerous areas in Tampa, most recently Seminole Heights.

“Vision Zero is an organization that is trying to eliminate traffic deaths,” Walton explains. “The event is to raise awareness that there are children, and drivers need to obey traffic laws, yield to pedestrians and slow down.”

While the school administrators and PTSA are working to educate parents and students at the school, Walton says Vision Zero was brought in to bring awareness to those drivers who are not part of the school.

“We knew we needed to reach out to the (entire) community, versus just our parents,” says Walton. “We need to have that awareness within our own community that students are walking along Cross Creek Blvd. and drivers need to watch out.”

Sanders agrees that the issue needs to be addressed in multiple ways.

“Part of it is educating the children who are walking to do everything in their power and control to keep themselves safe at that intersection,” he says. “Some of them are crossing in the crosswalk, assuming that they’re safe, and they’re not.”

To drivers — both those parents in the car line and those who are just trying to get to work through the mess of traffic, Sanders makes this plea: “Please exercise patience,” he says. “Especially from about 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., exercise extreme caution in the area. Please, if you’re turning left onto Cross Creek from Kinnan, be aware that green light happens while kids are in the crosswalk.”

No Major Incidents…Yet

According to the City of Tampa Police Department (TPD), since school started on Aug. 10, there has been just one minor accident between a student and a driver, which happened the morning of Aug. 16.

An eastbound vehicle turning right into Benito off of Cross Creek didn’t stop for a red light and struck a bicycle with the front bumper of the car. Fortunately, the student was able to attend school that day.

Eddy Durkin, a spokesperson for the TPD, says officers initiated 17 traffic stops —including 15 during school hours — at either the intersection of Cross Creek and Kinnan or directly in front of Benito that week.

“We are hopeful that the balance of education and enforcement being provided regarding vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian safety will assist drivers, riders and walkers in making good decisions,” he says.

Parents are concerned that the next accident might not be so minor.

Giraldo says she recently saw a terrifying incident at that intersection.

A student crossing Cross Creek Blvd. in the crosswalk with a green “walk” signal had no idea that a large pickup truck was making a left-hand turn from Kinnan onto Cross Creek. The vehicle didn’t yield to the student in the crosswalk, and the student didn’t see the truck, as it was coming from behind her.

Giraldo says she was sitting in her car at the intersection and that she saw a woman who happened to be in the intersection grab the child by her backpack and yank her out of the path of the oncoming truck.

“It happened in a split second,” she says, “and it’s horrifying to think what would have happened if that woman hadn’t been standing there.”

Walton and other parents are hopeful that drivers will change their bad habits to make getting to school safer for students.

“Walking is good for them, riding their bike is exercise, and it’s good for them to be outside,” says Walton. “If traffic was aware and slowed down, and if traffic yielded to them, it would absolutely be safe for them to ride to school.”

 

Aggressive Approach Yields Tourism Results

Pasco County has put its tourism department on steroids.

The county’s formerly sleepy, nature-centric manner of attracting visitors is giving way to a high-powered, aggressive approach that, if everything goes according to plan, will soon yield a new brand that is expected to focus on the county’s diverse offerings.

Executive director Adam Thomas of the Pasco County Visitor Bureau has commissioned Tallahassee-based public relations firm Zimmerman Agency, LLC, to help coordinate a brand relaunch at a cost of $481,000. In other words, the motto “Open spaces. Vibrant Places.” could be giving way to something that reaches a broader, more defined audience.

“We are building a platform that is going to springboard us into the future and will make us relevant in the Florida tourism market,” Thomas says.

Working with local leaders, the Zimmerman Agency is expected to unveil a draft plan by Aug. 31, and the new brand for Pasco tourism could launch in early October.

Thomas says his goal is to help develop a “life-cycle” of tourism, where visitors fall in love with the area they are visiting, and decide to relocate their families or businesses here, and feed the ongoing growth of Pasco County.

While the county already boasts a variety of festivals and outdoor activities, as well as a bustling western coastline attractive to those who like water sports like fishing, inland suburban areas like Wesley Chapel have evolved quickly to offer even more, like two thriving shopping malls.

Natalie Taylor of “Tampa Bay’s Morning Blend” talks with Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, Gordie Zimmerman and Adam Thomas about Pasco County tourism.

If tourism in Pasco County felt somewhat staid in the past, it could have been for a lack of product that is now becoming more ample.

Wesley Chapel already is proving there is fruit on the sports tree, thanks to the overwhelming and immediate success of Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI).

Helped by a two-percent increase in the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) last year to help pay for a new sports complex (see below) in Wiregrass Ranch, FHCI deserves to receive at least some of the credit for the recent boost in tourism dollars filling county coffers.

The TDT has raised more than $200,000 every month through June this year, with a high of $355,279 in April. Last year, the most it raised in any month was $157,942.

Managing partner Gordie Zimmermann (no relation to the agency) says FHCI is booked almost every weekend with hockey tournaments and other events, a majority of them requiring at least a two-night stay.

There is a rush to build more hotels (the Hyatt Place just opened and three more are on the way along S.R. 56), so visitors have a place to stay, and FHCI is more than able to fill them. “We didn’t have as many places to stay in Pasco County in the past,” says District 2 Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore. “Now, the visitors that may have come to Pasco for a day trip or to visit family can stay. We now have (hotels).”

Moore also said that in the past, the county has lost out on events, due to a lack of facilities, like FHCI, hotels and even enough shopping options and restaurants.

“Now, we can handle all of those visitors,” says Moore, who lives in Wesley Chapel.

Our area should be prepared to handle even more in 2019 and, as a result, more hotels and restaurants are on the way.

“I don’t know if they have ever seen anything like this in the history of the county, and we’re really just ramping up,” Zimmermann says. “We have a lot of different events coming in 2019 that we didn’t even have in 2018. It’s something every week.”

Even the “American Idol” auditions held last week (and one year ago) produced overnight stays. However, it has been the various ice sports, from youth and adult hockey to figure skating events, driving Wesley Chapel’s increased impact on county-wide tourism.

FHCI recently hosted a roller hockey tournament featuring 200 teams over the course of 10 days. Any number of events the facility has already hosted are the largest Pasco County has ever seen, Zimmermann says.

“I’m not surprised by the increase in tourism right now,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce. “We can definitely  tip our hat to Gordie for the majority of that.”

Next year, the new RADDSports-developed Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex will enter the tourism market and, like FHCI, is likely to make a huge impact of its own.

Thomas also hopes to shine a spotlight on some of Pasco County’s other treasures, including those that speak to the county’s reputation for open spaces, even if those seem to shrinking.

He said “influencers” in the travel industry will be enlisted to spread the word, even travel bloggers, many of whom have large audiences.

On a recent travel post, a blogger wrote of a trip she took, sponsored by VisitPasco, to the county. She wrote (and posted videos) about staying at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Suncoast Pkwy., where to rent a car or a bike, cycling through Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, enjoying a balloon ride in Land O’Lakes, ziplining at TreeHoppers Aerial Adventure Park in Dade City and enjoying great food at Capital Tacos and Noble Crust in Wesley Chapel.

“Those are the people that can persuade someone’s travel plans,” Thomas says. “It’s all about finding different ways and different strategies.”