Category: Featured

Why Those Against Connecting Kinnan St. To Mansfield Blvd. Are Wrong

In our last issue, assistant editor John Cotey told you that Hillsborough County had anted up $250,000 in an effort to end the long-time stalemate involving the City of Tampa, Hillsborough and Pasco counties regarding connecting Kinnan St. in New Tampa to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe II at the Hillsborough/Pasco county line.

District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, a New Tampa resident, called the county’s move to set aside funds to build the 60-foot-long connection “a game changer.”

However, on the Pasco County side, Dist. 2 County Commissioner Mike Moore, a Seven Oaks resident, told Cotey that “70-80-percent” of his constituents who have contacted him about him about the connector have been opposed to it.

I have become friends with Moore over the last few years, but after Cotey’s story came out in our last issue, I called Moore to explain to him my issue with what he said, as well as with anyone who opposes making this long-awaited, much-needed connection.

“You shouldn’t base whether or not to support the Kinnan-Mansfield connection on how many people contact you about it,” I told Moore on the phone. “You should base whether or not to support it on whether or not making the connection is a good idea for your county, for your constituents — and I know it is.”

Some people who live in Meadow Pointe II, on the Pasco side of the barrier to Kinnan St., say they don’t want the two roads connected.

Now, I’m not a transportation engineer, but in the nearly 24 years I have owned the Neighborhood News , I have attended literally hundreds of city, county and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meetings and I still edit every word of every one of John’s transportation stories and provide insights to him about the history of most of these situations.

Although Kinnan St. is primarily located in the county, it jogs into Tampa’s city limits near the Pasco line, which means that all three governmental entities would have to come to an agreement in order to make the connection.

Moore says he is waiting until after Pasco’s traffic study of that area is completed — which is expected to happen later this month — before deciding which side to support. He says virtually no one is opposed to connecting Meadow Pointe Blvd. (about a mile-and-a-half to the east of Kinnan-Mansfield) to K-Bar Ranch Blvd. in New Tampa, but I don’t believe that connection would be close enough to Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to provide any relief when the only current north-south connection between New Tampa and Wesley Chapel gets backed up — as it does all the time these days, while BBD is being widened between Regents Park Dr. in Pebble Creek and the county line.

The biggest argument the folks in Meadow Pointe II have against making the connection is that Mansfield Blvd. is only a two-lane road that serves four schools — Wiregrass Elementary, John Long Middle School, Wiregrass Ranch High and Pasco Hernando State College. They say that connecting Mansfield to Kinnan would bring additional traffic and increase the danger to students going to and from school.

Sorry, but I call B.S.

Long, the closest of the schools to the possible connection, is located one full mile north of the county line. Vehicles coming from the Cross Creek/Live Oak area would be able to turn right (east) onto Beardsley Dr. to access Meadow Pointe Blvd. and, ultimately, S.R. 54 heading towards Zephyrhills — within 0.3 mile from Kinnan St. Those same drivers also could turn left (west) onto County Line Rd. and hook back up with BBD at Aronwood Blvd. or County Line Rd. a half mile north of Kinnan.

It doesn’t make traffic flow sense that anyone from New Tampa would choose to drive north past four schools during school hours (when there are always crossing guards slowing you down), unless it was their only choice because of a traffic situation on BBD or they were planning to go to the Shops at Wiregrass or some other business on S.R. 56 east of BBD.

In other words, most of the traffic coming from New Tampa heading north would do so in the evenings and on weekends, when there are no students heading to and from school.

It reminds me of New Tampa’s long-time battle for an East-West Connector Road (E-W Rd.). I remember that the people who were screaming the loudest against it were those living along the planned route, in West Meadows and Tampa Palms Area 3. Those folks didn’t appreciate my unconditional support of that connector, even though that road still isn’t built today and seemingly never will be.

Today, many of those same anti-connector New Tampa residents don’t know how they could survive if the so-called Gateway Bridge — the first leg of the E-W Rd. — had never been built connecting West Meadows to Tampa Palms.

Likewise, I’m certain that it’s actually the people in Meadow Pointe II who will get the most benefit from the Kinnan-Mansfield connection. I also can’t believe that they would prefer to see it continue to be piled high with garbage (photo) than allow that tiny connection to become a reality.

editorial

Wesley Chapel Resident Alexandra Joyce Proves She Has ‘The Voice!’

Alexandra Joyce performs during her Battle Round on The Voice on Oct. 23. (NBC photo)

Standing backstage just moments before she would begin singing Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” on NBC-TV’s”The Voice,” Wesley Chapel’s Alexandra Joyce didn’t have a care in the world.

The 16-year-old Wiregrass Ranch High junior had prepared for that moment since she was a little girl. She was in the All-State chorus in the fourth grade, competed in talent shows at John Long Middle School, taught herself to play the ukulele and guitar in high school and a day doesn’t pass without Alexandra showing off her pipes.

“I don’t think there has been a single day of her life that music hasn’t been an important part of for her,” says her mother, Adrienne Reed.

So, Alexandra had convinced herself this was just another performance.

Alexandra filmed her audition in June, and waited months to reveal to Wesley Chapel how she fared.

“I felt a lot of pressure on me, for sure,” she said. “An immense amount of pressure. I had to prove something to myself.”

“But,” she added, with a laugh, “right before I went on I was cool as a cucumber, I was chilling.”

Then, the doors opened and everything changed. Her heart stopped, she says, and her breathing grew heavy as she walked towards the backs of four large red chairs.

“Nothing really prepares you for that,’’ she admits.

After quickly composing herself, Joyce began singing, trying not to focus on the chairs in front of her. Then, one chair turned — “You could hear a little excitement in my voice,’’ she confesses — followed by two others. She finished her audition with three judges smiling back at her — Academy- and Grammy-award winner Jennifer Hudson, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and country crooner Blake Shelton.

Whew.

While Levine and Shelton offered some encouraging words while mentioning pitch issues (due to nerves), Hudson didn’t say much. Her nerves now settled, Alexandra wanted to know why.

“She just kind of said to me like, you know, I can’t really compete with the other coaches, so good luck,’’ Alexandra says. “And I ended up calling her out and kind of saying, ‘Well, you haven’t said anything to me. What do you have to offer to me?’”

Hudson perked up and told Alexandra that she saw the drive in her, and the passion. She told the young Wesley Chapel resident that no matter who she chose as her coach, she had the right stuff to succeed.

“Right when she stood up and really started to get passionate about it, that’s when I knew that was where I needed to go,” Alexandra says of joining Hudson’s team.

Alexandra’s journey on the show ended when she lost in the Battle Round to her teammate, Jeremiah Miller, as they both performed “One Call Away” by Charlie Puth.

Alexandra’s Battle Round, like her audition, only aired as part of a montage, so her television time was limited after a an excruciating wait.

“They don’t tell you when the show will be on, they just tell you to watch,’’ said Adrienne, who took her daughter to the initial audition for the show in Baltimore, MD, earlier this year.

Adrienne, who runs a yoga studio in Land O’Lakes, says the experience has been memorable for her daughter, who sent in a video submission to get the initial invitation to Maryland.

In Maryland, she auditioned and was given a “maybe” by the show’s producers. Two weeks later, she received an email telling her the show was going to pass this time, but would keep her in mind for the future.

Two weeks after that, another call came — shockingly informing Adrienne that her daughter was not only getting another chance, but that it would be at the blind auditions in Los Angeles.

“Is this a prank call?,’’ Adrienne asked the caller.

It wasn’t, and when she called Alexandra, she told her to sit down before she broke the news.

“There was a lot of screaming and jumping around,’’ she says.

Adrienne said appearing on a music competition has been a long-time dream for Alexandra, who would often as a child come singing and sliding down the foyer in socks and into her mother’s home office ready to put on a performance.

“We used to watch those shows when she was little,’’ Adrienne says. “When she turned 16, the (young) age limit for the show, she decided she wanted to go ahead and do it.”

Alexandra, a junior at WRH who will graduate early next spring, describes her style as folk indie, but she says she can sing a little bit of everything. Ed Sheeran is one of her biggest musical influences, inspiring her to teach herself the guitar at the age of 13.

And of course, there’s Adrienne, who encouraged Alexandra every step along the way.

“I’ve never really had a music teacher,” Alexandra says. “If anyone, my mother has been the biggest rock for me. When I first started playing guitar, initially I didn’t think I was good enough, and she said ‘Yes, you are.’ She built me up, I really owe that to her.”

Alexandra said the experience has been awe-inspiring.

“I think its definitely been kind of a stepping stone for me,” she says. “I know I have this assurance that I can do this. I have a single on iTunes; I never in a million years thought I would have a single on iTunes.”

She says her favorite part has been the people she has met on this journey, which has been highlighted by being coached by the likes of Hudson.

“That’s just freaking insane,” she says. “Absolutely freaking insane.”

Alexandra Joyce the voice

Starbucks, Chick-fil-A & CubeSmart Among The New Businesses Coming To The Area

Updating The Map Of Wesley Chapel Along S.R. 54, From I-75 To W. Of Curley Rd.

Developers are seeking approval for a 110,000-sq.ft. self-storage facility and a 160,000-sq.ft. hotel to be located directly behind the Walgreens at the intersection of S.R. 54 and BBD. The brand of the hotel isn’t determined.
Wesley Chapel’s second Wawa location was approved in Oct. of 2016. Ground just started to be moved near the site where the 6,119-sq.ft. convenience store will be located.
Land is currently being cleared for Chick-Fil-A’s proposed 4,877-sq.ft. restaurant with indoor play area & drive-through.
The 4,000-sq.ft. Heartland Dental office is under construction & will be going vertical by the end of the month. It will share its location with a 4,200-sq.ft. stand-alone building that is still seeking a tenant but has suitors.
Starbucks is expected to open early next year, and the 2,330-sq.ft. coffee hotspot will be flanked by at least three other retail tenants occupying another 5,700-sq.ft. One of those tenants will be a Pizza Hut.
The Racetrac convenience store, expected to be 5,411-sq.ft. with a 771 sq.ft. patio, is still going through the approval and permitting process, but is planned for the northwest corner of Vandine Rd. & S.R. 54.
CubeSmart will provide self storage in a three-story, climate-controlled 80,000-sq.-ft. facility, which will be surrounded by 14,000 sq. ft. of single-story storage.
Nail & hair salons are two of the future tenants signed up for Nye Commons, which has 14,000-sq.ft. of space and is hoping to possibly add a restaurant and as many as four other tenants before opening by the end of the year.

After years of developer attention along the S.R. 56 corridor, which has included the debut of the Tampa Premium Outlets, the opening of a plethora of new restaurants and stores like Costco and the continued growth in the southern portion of the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI), things appear to be turning north.

In and around the intersection of S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., which had begun to show its age since it was widened a few years ago, ground is being moved as a number of new projects begin to sprout up.

Included in future plans at the intersection and westward on S.R. 54 is another Wawa, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Racetrac and a number of commercial strip centers that will potentially provide office space to everything from small restaurants to dentists and doctors.

“Everything’s moving north, and that is consistent with our growth pattern,’’ says Hope Allen, the CEO of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce. “You’re starting to see that northern progression.”

The interest in SR. 54 is likely also the result of the saturation of the market along S.R. 56. In fact, Kim Lohry of Berkshire Hathaway says that there are now 27 restaurants located in the S.R. 56 corridor between Wesley Chapel Blvd. and Mansfield Dr., and “it’s a natural progression” for developers to look for other areas more ripe for new development.

Lohry is involved in a project bringing a 4,000-sq.ft. Heartland Dental office to the north side of S.R. 54, between the Walgreens and Wesley Chapel Nissan, as well as a 4,200-sq.ft. free-standing building which will share parking with the dental office. She says she has already fielded a number of inquiries from potential tenants.

Much of the area currently beginning a developmental phase lies south of the so-called “Connected City” project, including Florida’s first two lagoons by Crystal Lagoons in the new Mirada and Epperson Ranch housing developments. The Connected City is expected to add thousands of new residents, and many businesses and jobs to the area over the next 20 years.

While this stretch of 54 has been anchored by Publix and recently added a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the influx of new businesses will find plenty of customers located within a 10-mile radius.

That, along with the widening of S.R. 54 east of Curley Rd. — expected to begin this year or early 2018 — makes this area of Wesley Chapel an attractive target for potential businesses.

“It’s most certainly a prime area for development,” Allen says.

“I sure hope so,’’ says developer Brent Nye of Nye Commercial Advisors, whose retail strip center on BBD just south of the Wells Fargo bank is expected to open by the end of the year. Nye says he already has contracted with a nail and hair salon, and plans to add a restaurant as well. He adds that the 14,000-sq.-ft. plaza, where his business also will be based, could accommodate as many as eight tenants.

Nye also says other projects — like a Racetrac and Bay Breeze Car Wash on S.R. 54 and Vandine Rd., as well as the CubeSmart Self Storage nearing completion on the southwest corner of S.R. 54 and Wesley Chapel Loop — are signs that the stretch of S.R. 54 from BBD to the entrance to Meadow Pointe will soon become populated with businesses.

“I think this is the next area you will see a lot of growth in,’’ he says. “You are already seeing it.”

new map sr 54

Simply Events Presents The WC Fall Festival At The Grove Oct. 28-29!

Presented by Simply Events, the Wesley Chapel Fall Festival Returns to The Grove shopping center off Oakley Blvd., Saturday-Sunday, October 28-29.

So, of course, the 13th annual Wesley Chapel Fall Festival has to be held between Friday the 13th and Halloween, the two spookiest nights of 2017.

To that end, on Saturday & Sunday, October 28-29, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. both days, this will be the second year that Simply Events — a Pinellas County-based local event management company — will put on the free (to attend) Fall Festival, after wowing thousands of not only Wesley Chapel but also surrounding-area locals last year, the first time the Fall Festival wasn’t put on by the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), which is a sponsor again this year.

“It was a great event last year and we expect it will be even bigger and better this time around,” says Simply Events’ Sonya Bradley.

This time, attendees can participate in a Pet Parade & Costume Contest, the Mr. & Ms. Pumpkin Pageant, a new Trunk or Treat event (on Saturday at 4 p.m.) and the Fall Festival Carnival until 10 p.m. both nights.

There’ll be live music, great fair-style food & beverages for sale, arts & crafts, a Halloween celebration & so much more.

For more information, contact Simply Events at (727) 674-1464 or online at SimplyEventsFL.com.

Wesley Chapel Fall Festival

Ciccio Cali Does The Impossible (Burger)…And We Actually Liked It!

Ciccio Restaurant Group’s Jeff Gigante is on a mission — to prove to the world that a meatless, 100-percent plant-based burger, including a secret ingredient called “heme” that you’ve almost certainly never heard of, can not only help save the planet, but taste good as well.

And, that’s not just good for a “veggie” burger, which would be a low bar to clear.

But good good…like a “real” hamburger.

“We’re going after carnivores, not vegans and vegetarians,’’ Gigante said.

The night before the beef-free Impossible Burger made its debut in Florida at eight of Gigante’s restaurants, including the New Tampa Ciccio Cali, Gigante promised us we’d be blown away.

“It will change your life,’’ he said.

It has certainly changed his.

Since touring the Impossible Foods facility in California last year, Gigante has been obsessed with bringing the Impossible Burger to his restaurants. He beat out many others also eager to unveil the burger outside of food meccas like New York and Las Vegas. “It has taken me a year, and I did it,’’ Gigante said.

Impossible Foods, headquartered in Redwood City, CA, was founded by Stanford University biochemistry professor Patrick Brown in 2011. After spending an 18-month sabbatical working to eliminate industrial animal agriculture because of its negative effects on the environment, Brown decided the best way to work towards solving the problem was by creating products that did so, including a plant-based burger that looks, smells and tastes like ground beef.

Heme, a molecule in blood that makes it red (and makes meat look pink), is the key ingredient (and derived from the roots of a soy plant) that helps make the Impossible Burger burger-ish. The rest of the burger is intricately comprised of various plant, wheat and potato proteins that most mimic the smells, taste and texture of ground beef.

The Impossible Burger launched last year in NY and Los Angeles. According to the company, the burger uses 95% less land, 74% less water and emits 87% less greenhouse gases than a burger made from cows – the livestock industry is known for requiring an abundance of food, water and land.

It also has more protein and less fat and calories and is free of cholesterol, antibiotics and synthetic hormones (although it does have more sodium and more saturated fats). A 3-ounce Impossible Burger patty has 220 calories, 13 grams of total fat (but no trans fat), 5 carbs and 20 grams of protein.

“It really is a noble mission,” Gigante says. “They say, and (Patrick Brown’s) numbers prove it, that the choice of one consumer choosing the Impossible Burger over a regular quarter pound of beef saves greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving 19 miles, 290 gallons water and puts 75 square feet of land back on the earth.”

Which is great…but how does it taste?

To find out, I gathered my wife and a few friends and we headed over to Ciccio’s on the day the burger launched.

Let’s call it Mission: Impossible Burger.

We weren’t the first to order it. Manager Shannon Hulton said there were five Impossible Burgers ordered the minute Ciccio’s had opened, and by the end of lunch more than a dozen had been sold.

But, her staff had tried them, and everyone loved them. Ciccio Cali chef Dan Higgins and Gigante’s regional chef Tim Delaney cooked up the first batch.

“The timing is a little bit different than with beef,’’ Higgins said. “But, it even sizzles like ground beef when it hits the grill.”

While waiting for our burgers, I asked the group how close it would have to be to a regular burger to make it their burger of choice. The consensus was 80-90 percent, although Tampa Palms’ Clayton Smith was a hold out: “I need it to be 100 percent (the same),” he said.

The burgers were served with Swiss cheese, a delicious mustard-based aioli that’s supposed to harken to a Tampa cuban sandwich, pickles and tomatoes. “Well, it definitely looks legit,’’ said West Meadows resident Drew Fisher, who also noticed the heft of the Impossible Burger.

Once everyone had their burger (they take a little longer to cook — we got ours in about 15 minutes), we all took our first bite on the count of 3.

Everyone was surprised. It was far better than anyone at the table expected.

“Not bad,” said local Realtor and Wesley Chapel resident Nikki Spirakis. “It’s not a burger, but it’s good. And I like the texture.”

“It’s not ground beef,’’ said Phuong Cotey, “but it’s definitely tasty.”

“It doesn’t crumble,’’ Clayton said.

Bite No. 1 drew a thumbs-up and head nods from everyone. The group agreed it was way better than any veggie burger they had ever had, and that comparing it to any other veggie burger seemed unfair.

On a scale, the Impossible Burger was significantly closer to tasting like a ground beef patty than it was to a veggie burger. “I wouldn’t have known it was a “veggie” burger,” said Drew.

Each burger was cooked either medium or medium well. While billed as a fake meat that bleeds, ours didn’t, but they were moist.

We poked, prodded, bit, chewed and swallowed bite after bite. Clayton even smelled it, noting it had a smell that didn’t remind him of ground beef. An avid wine drinker, we trust his nose.

Drew likened the Impossible Burger to a crab cake – it was seared on the outside, which gave it a slightly crispy outside layer, and did not have the traditional grill marks of a burger — but when he was done said he felt much better than he normally does after having a burger and fries at other places, “where it sits with you all afternoon.”

Everyone commented on that same point. And it was true – afterwards, there wasn’t that bloated, unbutton-your-pants kind of feeling you can get from eating a large ground beef patty. It was refreshing.

The burger was quite tasty. There was a subtle sweet taste to the first bite.

It wasn’t juicy, but it was far from dry. Minus the bun and condiments, you wouldn’t confuse it with ground beef, however, but like everyone else, I will definitely order it again.

For those who are socially and environmentally conscious, choosing an Impossible Burger over a regular burger anywhere else is a no-brainer, even though on days I can suppress those feelings I may still sneak off to Oakley’s.

My wife took half of her burger home and ate it five hours later and thought it tasted better than it did at Ciccio’s. Clayton said if it was available in stores, he would buy some for his next cookout.

On a scale of 1-10, the appearance of the burger got two 9s and two 10s, with the Drew only giving it a 7.

As for the taste, Clayton gave it a 7, and everyone else rated it a 9. The Impossible Burger got three 10s and two 8s for texture.

I texted Gigante before I pulled out and told him he was right – the Impossible Burger was, actually, a little mind-blowing, and it did make me think about where our food comes from and the effects it has on our environment. I decided I would take my kids there for one, and see if they liked it, because something Gigante said to me the day before had stuck with me.

“I have kids, and someday I hope for them to grow up to be good people, and meet someone they love, and they have kids,” Gigante said. “Wouldn’t you like for your grandkids to enjoy life like you did? The way we are going, that won’t be possible. That’s why the Impossible Burger is so important.”

impossible burger