Category: New Tampa

Harrison’s Contest Winner Helps Pitch New E-Cig Law

By Gary Nager

Congratulations to Tampa Palms resident and Liberty Middle School sixth grader Christian Breslin, who sparked the idea for the bill Rep. Shawn Harrison selected as his favorite in his recent “That Should Be A Law” contest.

Rep. Harrison says he was proud to present House Bill 1143 on Jan. 6, a proposal that will regulate the use of e-cigarettes and “vaping” devices under the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act. Thanks in part to Christian’s presentation before the legislative committee (photos), the bill passed its first committee by an 11-2 vote.

“The best part is that this idea came to me from a young constituent in my District as a result of my contest,’’ Harrison said. “And, it’s actually good public policy because there currently is no regulation (in Florida or the U.S.) about what chemicals can go in these things.”

Harrison also noted that many of the proposed bills he considered for the contest were about smoking, “but Christian’s was the most innovative. Until they (e-cigs) are regulated by the Federal government, I think it’s best to err on the side of caution and regulate their use (in Florida), just like regular cigarettes.”

We’ll keep you posted about the bill’s progress in the legislature.

Suncoast Arts on tap this weekend at Wiregrass mall

By Celeste McLaughlin

On Saturday and Sunday, the “main drag” through the Shops at Wiregrass – Paseo Drive – will again be filled with all kinds of art for the 11th annual Suncoast Arts Festival (SAF).

Created and produced by Fine Arts of the Suncoast, the Festival typically attracts about 100,000 people (photo from last year, right) over the two days of the event. About 125 fine artists and craftsmen will have their art on display, including sculpture, jewelry, painting, drawing and even sidewalk chalk art.

“Artists travel here from all over the country,” says Jennifer Douglas, who owns Jennifer Lee Events, which is managing this year’s festival. “They’re coming to participate in our juried competition, which will award $10,000 in prizes.”

Kids can participate in the free hands-on art garden, with activities and take-home crafts throughout the weekend, and can complete a scavenger hunt to earn prizes. There also will be an art “makerspace,” a creative place for older kids. According to Douglas, the makerspace environment helps kids, “understand the symbiotic relationship between art and technology, and shows them how art translates into many areas of our lives.”

This year’s “Chalk Walk” will be the first to feature only professional street artists. In the past, the Chalk Walk has been an amateur competition, but this year, it’s a commissioned exhibit, sponsored by Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts.

Other highlights of this year’s SAF include a glass-etching experience and an emerging artists exhibit, where artwork by Pasco County high school students will be on display.

Entertainment will be provided all weekend long at the main stage across from Macy’s, with headliners De Lei’ed Parrots and The Black Honkeys.

Proceeds from the Festival are donated to Pasco County schools through the Fine Arts of the Suncoast’s grant program. Any teacher in a Pasco County school (public, private, or charter) can apply for these grants for any fine or performing arts discipline, including dance and music, to supplement art programs in the school, giving students special experiences beyond their school’s typical curriculum. Recipients of the 2016 grants will be announced at the festival on Sunday.

For more information, visit SuncoastArtsFest.com.

+++++++++

Kumquats Return To Dade City!

Downtown Dade City’s always-fun 19th-annual Kumquat Festival will be held on Saturday, January 30, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

“It’s real, authentic, old Florida featuring a unique and funky little fruit,” says John Moors, executive director of the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the event.

Kumquats are small citrus fruits grown near Dade City. Moors says this year’s crop is plentiful and is being harvested now, in advance of the Festival.

With more than 425 vendors and 40 sponsors, historic downtown Dade City will be transformed to include arts and crafts, a car and truck show, live local entertainment, a farmer’s market and all kinds of kumquat pies and products.

“Our vendors offer a wide variety of interesting, eclectic, and homemade items,” says Moors. “And, of course, all of our shops and restaurants will be open.”

About 40,000 people attended last year (photo), and Moors expects that this year’s Festival will attract a similar crowd. He says Dade City’s downtown has new restaurants, including a Mediterranean/Greek restaurant and a cigar lounge, which complement the great southern food people have come to expect in the quaint old town.

And, those who attend the Festival will see another sign of downtown revitalization, with the opening of a new City Hall and police headquarters this month.

Admission and parking are free, and free transportation also is provided from multiple satellite lots. New this year, Moors says vendors will offer their kumquat pies for sale in the parking lots, so guests can purchase theirs right before they head home and not have to carry their pies around during the event.

For more info, see the ad on this page or visit DadeCityChamber.org.

Sophia's lemonade stand raising money for K-9 safety

By Celeste McLaughlin

Sophia Contino, who lives in Meadow Pointe and attends Sand Pine Elementary, is an eight year old who wants to save lives. More specifically, she wants to save canine lives by providing the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO)’s K-9 officers with bulletproof vests.

Sophia’s dad, Jason, first heard about the need to supply vests for the Pasco Sheriff’s K-9 unit at the June 2, 2015, meeting of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), of which he is a member. He told Sophia what he had heard, and she came up with the idea of having a lemonade stand, where all of raised the money would be donated to the K-9 cause.

“The reason I am raising money is, I love dogs and I love people,” says Sophia in a video on her Facebook page, which already has been viewed more than 1,000 times at Facebook.com/SophiaPCSOK9 (or search “Sophia’s PCSO K9 Association Campaign”).

Her dad says the Continos don’t currently have a dog at home, and Sophia may be trying to fill a void left by the loss of their beloved black lab, Payton, who passed away when Sophia was five.

Her first goal is to raise $2,500, which is the cost of one higher-end canine bulletproof vest that also measures the dog’s biometrics. Once she meets that goal, she plans to present the money to Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco in person. And, her dad says, “Sophia asked me how many vests the Sheriff’s Office needs. I was told they need 11, so she really wants to raise enough money to buy 11 vests.”

According to the Pasco Sheriff’s K9 Association website, there are currently nine active K9 officers and Jason says he is aware of at least one more joining the Sheriff’s Office soon.

Sophia says she charges 50 cents for each cup of lemonade, but that she often receives much more, even $20, for one cup, once people know the cause they’re supporting with their purchase.

Although her first lemonade stand made just a small profit, she has received much more financial support from her Facebook page. Her dad says they have received donations from as far away as New Hampshire and Illinois, and donations to her campaign had totaled more than $1,000 as we went to press with this issue.

Closer to home, Sophia has gotten support from local businesses, including Jefferson Bank, which set up an account where anyone can walk into any branch (including the one in Tampa Palms at 15302 Amberly Dr.) and make a donation to “Sophia’s Pasco County Sheriff’s K9 Fund.” She also has been invited to set up a lemonade stand at Wesley Chapel Nissan (located at 28519 S.R. 54, which she did for the first time on January 9).

Troy Stevenson of Wesley Chapel Nissan, a member of the WCCC who was instrumental in bringing awareness of the issue to the group, has helped the dealership (which is owned by Jay Rosario) raise $10,000 to donate to PCSO to get the ball rolling for the K-9 vests. He also got permission for Sophia to sell lemonade at the dealership.

“Sophia is a dynamo,” says Troy. “I wish I had her selling cars for us. She could raise $10,000 herself before she’s done.”

Want to support Sophia’s efforts? Come out and buy lemonade at her next lemonade stand, which will be on Saturday, January 18, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. It will be held in conjunction with a free shredding event by local business Shred360 at the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce office (6013 Wesley Grove Blvd., #105, in The Grove at Wesley Chapel plaza). Or, check out her Facebook page, where you’ll find a link to make a donation via PayPal. You can also make a donation at the Jefferson Bank branch in Tampa Palms.

Getting bigger and better, just like Wesley Chapel

Editorial by Gary Nager

Judging by all of the new “stuff” that’s still coming to Wesley Chapel (see page 14, current issue), it’s easy to understand why the longest continuously published (by the same owner) publication directly mailed to all of the single-family subdivisions (and many of the multi-family units in the same communities) in Wesley Chapel continues to break through barriers in terms of local advertising sales, readership, popularity and ability to help the local businesses who choose to advertise in these pages.

Although we have been directly mailed to Wesley Chapel since I purchased the Neighborhood News in February 1994, our separate (and separately-mailed) Wesley Chapel edition has not yet reached double digits in years. Even so, the reason I split it off from what used to be two issues per month mailed to both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel was because I saw how quickly the Wesley Chapel area was growing between 2005-08 and I was also the only local publisher regularly following — and providing updates in print and on-line about — everything that was still to come to Wesley Chapel, which once had a concrete barricade on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. separating Wesley Chapel from what is now called New Tampa at the Pasco County line.

Even so, I couldn’t in my wildest dreams imagine the kind of growth I’ve seen while doing the same job since Feb. 1994 — much less the last ten years — in U.S. Postal zip codes 33543, 33544 and 33545.

And yes, it’s still coming, which I know has many of us concerned about the traffic and other issues all the continuing growth will bring, but it certainly also has helped your direct-mail community news magazine continue to grow along with Pasco County’s fastest-growing community.

A case in point is this issue, which is the first time we’ve had to expand to 48 pages in the shorter history of our Wesley Chapel issue — which we both split off from New Tampa and switched both editions from their one-time quarter-folded newspaper style to their current oversized magazine format — back in 2008.

In a little less than eight years, the Wesley Chapel edition has grown from its original 28 pages back then to average more than 40 pages the last two years, including our previous high page count of 44, a barrier we had reached several times in both 2014 and 2015, but had never had quite enough advertising to warrant a 48-page issue.

That is, until this edition. But, everyone who works with us knows that no matter how many ads we sell, if we don’t continue to do the little things to help as many of you keep reading every page of every issue — and keep those advertisers as happy as we possibly can by continually improving and refining our finished product every two weeks (our next New Tampa issue will hit mailboxes in 33647 on Jan. 28-29) — it all can go away…in a hurry.

My 22-year commitment (as of next month) has been and continues to be to bring more news and information that’s pertinent to the lives of our readers in both of our markets to keep you reading, not just the “advertorials” that are still part of what we do, but certainly not the only or even the most important thing we do. Anyone can tell you about a local business, but we believe it takes the Neighborhood News to keep the people in both of our distribution areas informed about what’s happening in those areas — and maybe even entertained a little.

As always, I thank you again for the unique opportunity and privilege I have to serve our wonderful readers and advertisers.

‘Taste-y’ News Coming Soon?

I know I’ve teased this a few times before, but yes, there should soon be news about the return of what was once my favorite annual local event, the Taste of New Tampa! I can’t say any more right now, but I will be involved and I will be excited to provide more info…as soon as next issue!

Freedom High Girl Scout seeking golden result with museum exhibit

GirlScout3 — Jennifer Guggemos (left) with Tampa Fire Rescue District Chief Susan Tamme.

Jennifer Guggemos is a junior at Freedom High working toward the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, known as the Gold Award. To earn this prestigious award, the young member of the Sunset Scouts Troop 795 (which has been meeting at the McDonald’s in Tampa Palms for eight years) must dedicate at least 80 hours to a project that provides a “lasting, sustainable benefit” to her community.

So, Guggemos is teaming up with Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) District Chief Susan Tamme to create a museum exhibit called “Women of TFR,” to show girls the career paths available to them in the fire department, and to honor the women who serve Tampa in this capacity.

Tamme oversees five fire stations, including New Tampa’s three stations (TFR Station Nos. 20, 21, and 22). She has worked for TFR for more than 20 years. Nearly two years ago, she became the first and remains the only female fire chief in the history of the department.

“It’s a fantastic career,” says Tamme, who cites the schedule (one day working, then two days off), the “stable, consistent” pay, the camaraderie of the firefighting “family” and the rewards of helping people as reasons why she would encourage her own daughter — and other girls like her — to consider a career with the fire department.

“It’s not just running into burning buildings,” Tamme explains.

The museum display will highlight 10 different career opportunities available, including fire prevention (inspectors), emergency medical services, and even tactical medical response teams to support police operations.

“If someone is interested in business or management, they can work toward a career as an officer, like my job,” says Tamme. “I now manage 50 people.”

Guggemos teamed up with Tamme after working with the fire department on an earlier service project. To earn her Silver Award, Guggemos collected more than 1,200 stuffed animals for the fire department to provide to children during emergency situations.

Tamme says she’s excited to partner with the Girl Scouts for this project, hoping that the partnership will allow many girls to come through the museum, see the display, and learn about the career opportunities available to them.

Tamme has already reached one young woman with her message — Guggemos herself, who says she had no idea so many different career paths were available at the fire department.

“I’ve learned a lot,” says Guggemos. “I’ve really enjoyed being around firefighters and it’s so cool to see what they do.”

She says the female firefighters she’s spoken with often tell her their stories, and there’s one she’s heard that is particularly inspiring.

“People told me I couldn’t do it,” Guggemos says one female firefighter told her. “But, here I am.”

Guggemos says she is learning leadership skills as she works with three different committees to put this exhibit together.

The museum display is expected to open in March, which is widely recognized as Women’s History Month. It will be part of the Tampa Firefighters Museum, located at 720 E. Zack St. in downtown Tampa.

Guggemos and Tamme are currently raising funds to make their plans a reality. The Tampa Firefighters Museum has agreed to match whatever funding is raised for the project, which Tamme estimates could cost $15,000.

It will include an artistic display with photographs and videos about each of the 10 different careers available within the Tampa Fire Department. It also will include brochures to be available to museum visitors.

For information about the Tampa Firefighters Museum, visit TampaFireMuseum.com. To learn more about supporting the fund-raising efforts for the “Women in Tampa Fire Rescue” museum display, contact Guggemos at TampaFireExhibit.GoldAward@yahoo.com.