Category: News

Fire Station 21 Adds A New Vehicle To Its Inventory

While City of Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) Chief Barbara Tripp wrestles with ways to improve fire rescue response times in New Tampa, our area has received its first-ever “mini-heavy” rescue (MHR) truck.

The MHR truck, which is similar to the heavy rescue fire rescue trucks but is smaller and designed for technical rescues, will run out of TFR Fire Station No. 21, the Cross Creek Blvd. station closest to Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

The new truck, part of the department’s special operations division, will work in concert with the larger fire rescue trucks and will be manned by Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) firefighters who are trained in urban search and rescue.

“That apparatus basically has more technical tools to assist with major incidents, such as a major vehicle accident that people need to be extricated from,” says TFR spokesperson Vivian Shedd. “Think of it as a giant tool box, with lots of things you don’t normally use. But, when you need it, you are glad you have it because it makes the rescue go that much faster.”

The truck is equipped with the Jaws of Life, cutters and spreaders “and other tools for rope rescues and things of that nature” that aren’t on every fire rescue truck, Shedd adds.

Because the truck is for specialty rescues that don’t happen as often, it doesn’t specifically address the recent reports about fire rescue times in New Tampa. However, it is an important addition for Station No. 21, considering that the area is heavily reliant on major traffic areas like I-75 and BBD that are prone to major accidents.

An accident requiring the life-saving services of an MHR truck would have to typically wait 15-20 minutes, or more (depending upon the time of day), for one to arrive from downtown Tampa.

“This is why we saw the need and brought it over to New Tampa,” Shedd says. “People in those kind of accidents don’t have time to wait.”

Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who represents North and New Tampa in District 7, has been an advocate for more help at New Tampa’s four fire stations, and says the MHR truck is a great addition.

“This vehicle came after a lot of lobbying from me and our friends in Tampa Firefighters Local 754,” Viera says. “I appreciate them and so does New Tampa. Fire Rescue response times are a huge issue for me for New Tampa. This investment addresses this. We got this vehicle funded this past year and I got another $1,000,000 in the budget for response times this year.”

Viera says he hopes to see even more assistance in the future to help reduce rescue times in New Tampa, which rank among the worst in Tampa. Shedd says that the problem is high on Chief Tripp’s to-do list.

“One thing our fire chief has stressed that is very important to her are response times,” Shedd says. “She is deeply committed to making sure that we are able to respond to any emergency as quickly as possible…there is still more to be done, and we are looking into additional resources (to improve those times.)”

Station No. 21 Tampa Fire Rescue

Twenty Years Ago, A Team Of Destiny!

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Wharton High’s only appearance in a State Championship football game, when Southern Cal Hall of Famer and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Richard “Batman” Wood led the Wildcats to within a few points of immortality.

Head coach Richard “Batman” Wood led the Wildcats through an improbable season, ending with a loss in the Class 5A state championship.

Sometimes, when he closes his eyes, Wilbur Joseph says he can still feel the cool air drying the sweat on his forehead, his teammates lined up next to him on the Wharton Stadium goal line, their bodies facing north.

“North,” head coach Richard Wood would say. “That’s where Tallahassee is. That’s where the State Championship game is played. That’s where we’re headed.”

Twenty years later, Joseph still gets chills. “The memory is still fresh,” he says, almost breathless. “Still vivid. Oh…man.”

In 2002, in just its fifth year of existence, the Wharton High football team did what no other Wildcats football team has done since, shocking Tampa Bay with an improbable run, all the way north, to Tallahassee.

In the Class 5A championship game that year at Doak Campbell Stadium, however, the plucky, scrap-iron Wildcats lost to Pompano Beach Ely 22-10, a heart-crushing loss to end a heartwarming season that no one on that team will ever forget.

“I told them, ‘You know, there’s 67 counties in the state of Florida, and here we are, one of the only teams who have made a championship game,” says Wood, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star linebacker (1976-84) known as “Batman.” “And we’ve only been around a few years. Schools that have been here, in this state, for maybe 50, 60 years, haven’t been in this game. And, here we are. So, we can be proud. We can be proud that we (can say), ‘Hey, we did it!’”

Wood, now 69 and a defensive coach at Tampa Catholic High for the past decade, says those words probably didn’t mean as much to a team of heartbroken boys fighting back tears as they do today.

“I know it was tough,” Wood says, “because I cried my heart out, too.”

The 2002 Wildcats were, quite simply, special. They didn’t boast a bevy of Division I talent, they weren’t loaded with highly-rated transfers, and not a single player on the roster had even made the honorable mention All-County team the previous season.

But, they were flush with grit and determination, finishing with a 13-2 record.

“That was our first winning season in school history,” says wide receiver Michael Coonce, now an engineer living in Tampa. “Going into the season, we didn’t have any expectations around us. So, we rallied around each other, we took pride in shutting people up. We still talk about it today.”

Up to that point, Wharton’s biggest victories were moral ones for not getting blown out of games. The players were even made fun of in school.

Quarterback Ross Corcoran shows off his scrapbook from the 2002 season.

Quarterback Ross Corcoran, one of four first-team All-County players from that team, says he remembers a teacher cutting a picture out of the sports section showing a disheveled Corcoran after being sacked for the fifth time in a game, and pasting it all over his desk.

But, in 2002, everything changed.

“Once we beat Armwood and Hillsborough that year, everyone jumped on the train,” says Corcoran, adding that people would walk up to him at the Publix on Cross Creek Blvd. to congratulate him after a win. “It was like ‘Friday Night Lights.’”

Corcoran, who no lives in Oldsmar and works in the mortgage industry, returned to Wharton to try his hand at coaching for a few years, but it wasn’t the same.

“I find myself thinking back to that year a lot,” he says. “I don’t want to be all Al Bundy about it, but you know.”

Bundy, the iconic sitcom father from the hit Fox-TV show “Married With Children,” could never stop bragging about scoring four touchdowns in the city championship game for the Polk High Panthers. But, Corcoran would rather talk about his teammates.

Tackles Joseph (1st team All-County) and Will Russell and center Jason Novisk (Honorable Mention) bulldozed defenses, while running backs Larry Edwards and Joe Hall (1st team) ran over them and Coonce (HM) ran around them as a top wideout.

The defensive line, anchored by nose tackle Kendric Morris, cleared the way for Edwards to wreak havoc from his linebacker position, where he had 14 sacks, was named Hillsborough County’s Defensive MVP by The Tampa Tribune, and earned a scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he was named All-ACC.

Senior defensive backs Chris Wilson and Chris Ellick (both 2nd team) were ballhawks in the secondary. Defensively, the Wildcats were “insane,” Corcoran says.

“That was a true family,” says then-assistant coach David Mitchell, who later served as the Wharton head coach for more than a decade before retiring in 2020. “Coaches all say that, but this really was. There was really just a little something different about them.”

Wood, who was a defensive assistant while working as the Wharton school resource officer in 1997, took over the program after Dan Acosta was fired two games into the 1998 season. If there ever was a missing piece, it was Wood.

“When principal Mitch Muley offered me the job, I said, ‘Are you serious?,’” Wood recalls. “If I do it, it’s gonna be tough. I’m a Vince Lombardi guy. I was coached by John McKay (at USC). I’m old school.”

It turns out that Muley was serious, and Wood took the job and said, “Give me a few years.” The ‘Cats won two games in each of his first two seasons, then four games in 2001 before Wood was able to set his sights north.

Wood had 31 seniors in 2002, and he said it was just one of those magical combinations that come together, sometimes just once in a lifetime.

“You know, here you are, you have kids from the inner city, and then you have kids that live in the suburbs, and they treated each other like they were brothers,” Wood says. “You could see it all the time. They loved each other. And, all I wanted for them was to help them win.”

And, win they did, opening the season with a 37-6 victory over Robinson. Wharton lost just once, 10-7 to a Chamberlain team that played for the Class 5A State Championship the year before, but won their final six regular season games in dominant fashion.

“They don’t have any weaknesses,” coach Earl Garcia said at the time, prior to his Hillsborough team losing to the Wildcats 21-0 the night Wharton clinched its playoff spot.

After that game, Wood flew to Los Angeles to be inducted into the USC Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the L.A. Coliseum. For some of his players, it was the first time they found out their coach was the only three-time All-American in the storied history of the Trojans. “Coach was a real-life superhero,” Corcoran says. “He just didn’t walk around telling everyone.”

In the Class 5A playoff opener, Wharton had to travel to Melbourne because the ‘Cats were the district runner-up behind Chamberlain. Its season nearly ended 150 miles away, but Corcoran hit wide receiver Jovan Mitchell for a 27-yard touchdown with 8 minutes remaining. A pair of defensive stands secured the 14-13 win.

The next week, Wharton beat Durant 20-14, as Hall and Edwards both went over 100 yards rushing and Edwards scored with 5 minutes left.

After beating Lakeland 27-7 before 4,300 fans at Wharton Stadium, the Wildcats hosted the State Semifinal against Daytona Beach Mainland.

The 30-3 win still remains as the greatest game in Wharton football history.

Corcoran threw for 212 yards — 126 of those and a touchdown to Coonce —Edwards had four sacks and Hall returned a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown.

Wood fought back tears afterwards. He had played on television and in a Rose Bowl and NFL playoff games, but this game hit him like no other.

“This was the greatest game of our lives — the kids’ lives and my life,” he told reporters. “Truly, by far, the greatest.”

The Class 5A State Championship game was not as great. Wharton came out flat against Ely — losing two fumbles, throwing an interception and dropping a touchdown pass on its first five possessions — and fell behind 15-3 at halftime.

“I definitely don’t want to take anything away from them, they had two All American offensive linemen and an All-American running back, but playing in a stadium that big and kind of being out of routine and all the extra stuff around the game took us out of sync,” Coonce says. “It took us a quarter-plus to start playing right.”

Hall capped an 86-yard drive with a TD run on Wharton’s first possession of the second half, to make it 15-10. The three bus loads full of Wharton fans grew louder.

But, despite a strong defensive effort, Ely’s star running back, Tyrone Moss, broke free for a 55-yard TD with four minutes remaining for the winning score and with 210 yards rushing.

Corcoran, Joseph, Coonce and probably every Wildcat on that roster insists to this day that Wharton should have won that game. Take away a few miscues and some bad luck, and Wharton would — and should — have been crowned State champions.

Mitchell remembers coming home from Tallahassee the next day, grabbing the mail and flinging it across the room once he got inside. To this day, he has not watched a replay of the game.

Time, however, heals many wounds.

“That was the highlight of my life,” Joseph says. “I think about it all the time. I still see some of the guys I played with, and we always end up talking about it — the games, the bus rides. That was an amazing feeling. You felt like it was never going to end. It was like living in a fairy tale. In the moment, you don’t realize how significant it is. But, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Once Again Thanking You For Proving That ‘Print Isn’t Dead!’

Gary Nager Editorial

Almost every day, someone tells me, “Oh, I don’t read anything in print anymore. I get all of my news and information from online sources (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) only. Haven’t you heard that print is dead?”

I’ve written about this before, but after the whirlwind pre-holiday rush of new ads — and literally dozens of new requests for our advertising information — I’ve had over the past several months and, especially, the last two weeks, if print really is dead, my question is, why the seemingly neverending, and even increasing, requests for ads in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News?

Among the good news, for us, is that so many of the people opening new businesses in either of our distribution areas also live in those areas. So many of the people who have called, emailed or requested advertising info on our website recently have told me that not only do they read us, they look upon us as what I have long been calling us — the primary source of “real” news and information for and about the residents and businesses in and near New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.

Others requesting our information who don’t necessarily live in one of our distribution areas have been told by their friends or business associates who do live in one of those areas that ours are the ONLY publications they receive at their homes that they actually read, and that they trust the veracity of our news and the responsible reporting we provide about our areas more than any other source — print, broadcast or online.

Speaking of online sources — I would be lying if I said that we don’t utilize local Facebook communities and other online media sources as sources of some of the stories we ultimately put in print. The difference, however, is that we don’t just look stuff up online or offer our mean-spirited opinions without actually speaking with the sources of those stories (or, in many cases, attending or watching the government meetings regarding those stories).

Managing editor John Cotey and I are not online “trolls” — we’re not looking to make obnoxious comments about anyone’s honest requests for information or to rip into a business because we see ourselves as “anonymous.” To the contrary, we’re both trained journalists with decades of combined experience who put our names on everything we write and publish, whether in print or online.

Likewise, our freelance writers, particularly correspondent Celeste McLaughlin, also have years of working with us, so they know that if they make claims on behalf of our clients in the Business Features we publish (in every issue and online) that don’t ring true or need to be clarified, that I, as the editor, will make sure those questions and concerns are answered to my satisfaction and/or clarified properly.

This completely-hands-on approach to editing isn’t easy, but it is both my responsibility and pleasure to make sure that when we tell you about the businesses who are seeking your business, that the stories we publish about them are true, to the very best of our ability to verify that information. And, the fact that so many of our advertisers always have (for the past 29 years) and continue to tell us every day that the stories we’ve published about them have brought them in more response and more new customers than any other medium is proof that our approach continues to work.

So, if you want to continue to believe that “print is dead,” that’s your prerogative, but if you appreciate journalism that is based on facts and solid research, and opinion pieces (like this one and my dining reviews) that present viewpoints that arise out of years of knowledge and experience, as well as research, I hope you’ll not only continue to read us but also tell your friends and neighbors about us. And, most important of all, please tell any of the dozens of businesses that spend money to advertise with us that you heard about them because, as a reader of the Neighborhood News, you know that “Print ISN’T dead!”

Speaking of new advertisers, here is a listing of the businesses in this issue who only recently began buying ads with us. We hope you’ll spend your hard-earned money with them (and our longer-term advertisers) and feel free to let us know that you did — even (or perhaps, especially) if those businesses fall short of your expectations, rather than go online to criticize them without at least giving me (and them) the opportunity to makes things right with you, if at all possible.

Here are those new (and relatively new) advertisers who would had ads in our last two issues and would love to hear from you that “Print isn’t dead!”

Apex Internal Medicine
Bloomin’ Blinds
Cafe Zorba
Champa Chicken
Darlin Lash & Beauty Bar
Edward Jones Tampa Palms
Edward Jones Zephyrhills
Enviroserv Pest Management
Florida Heritage Insurance
Grace Episcopal Church
GrassWorks
Newsom Eye
North Tampa Law Group
Oriental Rug Care
The Legacy Studio.
Peak TRT and Wellness

Happy Holidays from the Neighborhood News!

editorial

Nibbles & Bites: Chicken Galore

Chicken lovers rejoice — yet another entry into the “fast-casual” chicken tender and sandwich business is ready to start building.

Slim Chickens, a fast-casual chain that specializes in chicken tenders, wings, sandwiches, salads, wraps and chicken & waffles, has now filed its plans to build a 3,065-sq.-ft. restaurant on the southeast corner of Wesley Chapel Blvd. and Old Pasco Rd.

Not only that, but Slim Chickens also has plans to build another location in the Mirada Market on S.R. 52.

Until now, it’s been slim pickins’ for Slim Chickens in the Tampa Bay area. While the restaurant has more than 100 locations in more than 30 states, these will be just the second and third locations in the Tampa Bay area, joining the lone existing Slim Chickens near Macdill Air Force Base.

The new location will create a chicken-eat-chicken world of competition along Wesley Chapel Blvd. (see map on the next page), as a Chick’n Fun restaurant is just a short walk east from Slim Chickens, which is just another short walk from King of the Coop, which is another short jaunt from Popeye’s and then Chick-Fil-A, and of course, off S.R. 56 are Zaxby’s and PDQ (not shown on map). — JCC

The Clarksville, TN Black Rifle Coffee Company store.

Black Rifle Coffee Coming To S.R. 56?

With coffee chain powerhouse Starbucks adding two more locations in Wesley Chapel — one at the new Promenade Business Center on Curley Rd. and the other in front of The Grove off Wesley Chapel Blvd., a lesser-known chain is making plans for a local location.

Black Rifle Coffee Company, founded in 2014 by former U.S. Army Green Beret Evan Hafer, was built upon the mission to serve coffee and culture to people who love America. Popular with conservatives and those in favor of right-wing politics, Black Rifle submitted pre-application plans to the county for a planned 2,659-sq.-ft. retail store and drive-through immediately east of the Rock & Brews on S.R. 56, a half-mile or less from Starbucks.

Despite Black Rifle’s attempts to distance itself from extremists, based upon recent election results and the bright red politics of Pasco County, a Black Rifle café seems like an ideal fit. — JCC

Hickory Farms Opens At Wiregrass Mall!

Although this issue hits mailboxes after Thanksgiving, it certainly is reaching you long before Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, and our local malls, as they do every year, are adding several new stores — many of which are temporary for the holiday season.

Among the newbies at The Shops at Wiregrass is Hickory Farms, which (according to its website) has “been bringing delight to every occasion since 1951.” Although there also are pre-made baskets available, at right is a picture of Hickory Farms’ four-item special — 1 meat, 1 cheese, 1 sauce & 1 box of crackers for just $24.99. Yum!

For all of the new and coming soon stores and restaurants (including Crazy Sushi!), visit TheShopsatWiregrass.com. — GN

Black Rifle Coffee Company chicken

RADDSports Fights Back Against Pasco County’s Default Claim

Mediation is scheduled for Monday.

RADDSports chief operating officer Anthony Homer appeared at the Nov. 15 Pasco County Commission meeting to ask the commissioners to vote to overturn their previous decision to hold RADD in default. The commissioners refused without discussion. ***(Screenshot from Pasco Television)***

Pasco County is looking to take over the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, but the company that currently runs it, RADDSports, is claiming that Pasco — primarily Florida Sports Coast director Adam Thomas — has used bogus claims to force RADD out or into a reduced role.

The two sides are at odds over how the facility, which opened in July of 2020 but officially opened in January 2021, is being run and the results of those early efforts.

The county’s Board of Commissioners (BOC) approved a Notice of Default, originally written by Thomas, as part of its Consent Agenda at the BOC’s Oct. 25th meeting, without any discussion. Included was the okay to pay Tampa law firm Carlton Fields up to $200,000 to handle the default case, as well as more than $2.8 million to cover the potential cost of the takeover plan.

Although RADDSports’ lawyers were under the impression that the two sides would be able to meet before the default notice was sent, it was delivered on Nov. 4 by attorney Dane Blunt of Carlton Fields.

“The notice claims that RADDSports is in default of a handful of sections of the contract the two sides originally signed,” said Blunt’s letter.

However, the letter stated that it is the county’s option to allow RADDSports to continue operating the sports campus and that, “RADDSports is in full control of the future” provided it undergo a ‘radical shift in (its) current operations, promotion, and marketing’ to attain compliance with the contract.”

Anthony Homer, the chief operating officer for RADDSports, told county commissioners at the Oct. 25 meeting that he and his company were eager to come to the table and work out any differences, and appeared to be blindsided by the delivery of the Nov. 4 Notice of Default letter.

Homer also attended the Nov. 15 BOC meeting and delivered RADDSports’ refutation of the Notice of Default in person. Commissioners voted unanimously to allow it into record, but again, with no discussion

He told the commissioners they had been misled and that some data had been misrepresented at the Oct. 25 meeting, and that they approved a Notice of Default “for which the county had no support.”

Homer said he was told by the county’s attorneys after the Oct. 25 meeting that the notice of default would not be issued and, instead, discussions would be held to settle the matter.

“Since then, the county has refused to engage in any substantive discussion,” Homer said. “It has not provided any data upon which it based its claims to put RADDSports in default and, despite saying otherwise, on Nov. 4, the county’s attorneys issued (RADD) a Notice of Default.”

The Nov. 4 notice, says Homer, was different than the one the commissioners voted on at the Oct. 25 meeting, as specific data was removed after RADD supplied the correct data. And, in RADD’s letter of refutation given to the BOC, more data was provided to prove the county had been using incorrect information to make its case.

In fact, Homer said, when it comes to the county’s claims that RADDSports has focused on local residents and events and hasn’t appealed to tourists, the county paid $30,000 to Zartico, a data intelligence company that focuses on the visitor economy, to do a custom analysis of the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus visitor-to-resident ratio.

“(Zartico’s report) actually confirmed the data we had previously provided,” Homer said. “So, it’s now obvious that the county has no support for its claim that RADDSports is in default and is asserting its claims in bad faith.”

Homer said the claims made by the county were unfairly damaging the reputation of RADDSports and were making it harder to book events. He asked that the BOC vote to immediately revoke the Notice of Default.

He didn’t get the vote he requested, but Homer and RADDSports will still be getting a chance to make their case.

In the Nov. 4 default letter, Blunt wrote that, “At this time, the County believes it is in the best interest of both parties’ to mediate their disputes pursuant to the Agreement.”

A mediation with retired Judge Gregory Holder has been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 28, and Blunt said the county plans to participate.

“We ask that RADDSports come to mediation prepared to share with the county its detailed, written plan for future compliance with the Agreement,” Blunt said.

RADD will make its defense that most of the claims in the Notice of Default are false, as it already has in multiple letters to the county and to Carlton Fields.

If the contract between the county and RADDSports, which has 18 years remaining on it, is terminated by Pasco, it likely will result in an expensive legal battle.

RADD president & CEO Richard Blalock said he hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“RADDSports remains willing to work with the County and all stakeholders,” Blalock wrote. “The cloud of a bogus Notice of Default will not help those discussions, but will lead to litigation that will be expensive to both parties and hinder the mutually beneficial resolution of the County’s perceived issues.”

And, in his Nov. 14 letter to the commissioners, Homer said, “That the county would allocate $2.8M to take over operations of a facility RADDSports operates at no cost (to the county) is simply mind boggling. We can only imagine there are areas in the County which would be delighted to see that invested in additional parks and recreation offerings.”

Here are the portions of the contract between RADDSports & Pasco County that the county claims RADDSports has defaulted on & RADD’s responses to each claim:

Claim #1 — RADD has not continuously operated the Sports Park Property to ensure that 90% of the 80% annual average of participants and non-participants….are non-County residents.
RADD’s Response — RADD President and CEO Richard Blalock said in his company’s refutation letter that the county has no supporting data for this claim, and that RADDSports has provided data from a “credible, billion dollar, national 3rd party data provider” to Thomas that shows RADDSports has exceeded those targets and is not in default.

Claim #2 — RADDSports’ events have resulted in hotel stays that are “well short” of what is needed.
RADD’s Response — RADDSports says it is not to blame for Covid restrictions (as well as the number of people not ready to return to traveling) in 2020 and 2021, but regardless, had 74,400 non-county visits in 2021 (3.7 times more than required) and 59,000 non-county visits through three quarters of 2022 (2.8 times more than required). Blalock calls this claim “particularly egregious” considering the data Pasco received from Zartico (which it also says Florida Sports Coast never told them about) shows the number of out-of-county visitors has increased every year and 83 percent of those visitors required overnight stays.

Claim #3 — RADDSports has failed to promote and market the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus as it relates to promoting tourism, based on a review of RADDSports’ Facebook and Instagram posts and newsletters.
RADD’s Response — RADDSports claims that the county is misreading the contract, which states that it is Pasco County’s responsibility to market the facility, and other than obligating RADDSports to “provide marketing information and material to the Pasco County Office of Tourism,” does not place any obligations on RADDSports. In fact, RADDSports argues that it is Florida Sports Coast that was in default of that part of the contract. As of September 12 of this year, the Florida Sports Coast website still referred to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus as a “proposed 8 court indoor sports facility.” Even after asking Thomas to update it, it took more than a month for the changes to be made.

Claim #4 — RADDSports is not cooperating with the Residence Inn by Marriott hotel when it comes to marketing opportunities, claiming that the hotel operator also has expressed concern about the way RADDSports is operating and has asked the County to step in.
RADD’s Response — In their response to the county, RADDSports insists the operator of the Residence Inn has not made such claims, and that the county’s lawyers “affirmatively asked the (Residence Inn) operator to make such claims, and even went so far as to draft a letter for him they asked him to sign making (those) claims….The operator refused to sign the letter drafted by the County’s Lawyers.”

Claim #5 — That RADDSports also has heard from “multiple sources” that they were rudely rebuffed when trying to book events, and failed to timely respond to inquiries while prioritizing local events.
RADD’s Response — According to data from RADDSports, in 2021, the facility hosted 52 events, when it was projected to host only 38, and brought in 30 organizations, 26,000 athletes and 60,000 spectators. So far this year, the campus has hosted 44 events and will host 62 by year’s end, bringing in 15,000 athletes, 38,000 spectators and $5.5 million in economic impact, and already has 48 events booked for 2023, and 86% are returning events. “We believe this speaks to the professionalism and support (we give to) all event organizers that we are privileged to host at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County,” Blalock wrote.

Claim #6 — That RADDSports is in default of Section 9.03 because it has failed to provide the required annual financial audit for the year ending December 31, 2021.
RADD’s Response — RADD claims it cannot control the timing of the audit, and due to “significant personal issues” it had been delayed. Regardless, the contract doesn’t state a deadline for delivery and, last week, RADD said the audit was completed and delivered to Thomas.

RADDSPORTS Wiregrass ranch sports campus