Category: NEWS CHOICES

Both Sides Taking A Closer Look At Kinnan/Mansfield Connection

A new study to determine the feasibility of connecting Kinnan St. in New Tampa and Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe could be on the horizon, after both Pasco and Hillsborough counties met recently in hopes of settling the long-simmering disagreement between the sides.

Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore and Hillsborough County District 7 City Council member Lisa Montelione, accompanied by lawyers, city administrators and engineers from each side, met in Dade City on March 9, as negotiations to connect their two counties heated up.

The result: a decision to send the engineers back to work, looking at old plans from 2007-12 to determine if any are applicable today in light of the new developments in the area.

“Our staff, the engineers who do the technical stuff, are going to look at prior studies to see if we need to do a new study,’’ said Moore. “Things have obviously changed in that area, with more homes, schools and daycares.”

Kinnan St., which is on the Hillsborough side, and Mansfield Blvd., which is on the Pasco side, are separated by a 100-foot patch of grass (photo) that is more a dumping ground than the commuter convenience it should be, argue some.

The last traffic study in the area was done roughly two years ago, says Montelione, by ICON Engineering, Inc., as part of the process for M/I Homes during the re-negotiation of the development agreement for K-Bar Ranch.

She said similar studies go back to 1996, and that both staffs plan on taking inventory of those to determine the next step forward.

Kinnan St. was paved north to the Pasco County line in 2007 by the developer of Live Oak Preserve, but never completed. Barricades mark the end of Mansfield and block the road heading south, while steel poles with red diamond-shaped signs on them prevent any traffic further north on Kinnan St.

Last publicly discussed in 2012, when the two sides failed to come to an agreement, Montelione raised the issue again of connecting the roads in January, writing a letter to Moore. The two officials first met later that month to discuss it, before agreeing on the latest meeting with government staff, namely the engineers. “We’ll see what was discussed in the past,’’ Moore said. “There’s no guarantee either way. But, I think what we all agree on is we need an end result.”

If both sides decide a new study needs to be done, Moore and Montelione said public meetings will be held so that residents and business owners of both sides of the debate can be heard.

Montelione attended the meeting with Tampa city attorney Julia Mandell.

Mandell, who was the senior assistant attorney for the City of Tampa during the last round of negotiations with Pasco County in 2013, is now the City Attorney, having been appointed in March as only the second female City Attorney ever by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

Susan Johnson, the subdivision/DRI coordinator for the City of Tampa, and Melanie Calloway, the senior transportation planning engineer, also attended the meeting.

Pasco was represented by county administrator Michelle Baker, assistant county attorney David Goldstein and Ali Atefi, Pasco’s transportation engineer.

The meeting also included discussions on other possible extensions to help alleviate traffic issues affecting both counties, like one linking Beardsley Dr. in Meadow Pointe southeast east to Morris Bridge Rd. in K-Bar Ranch, Moore said.

HomeTeam Lawn Care Provides Affordable Care For Your Lawn & Landscaping

HomeTeamWEB — HomeTeam Lawn Care owner AJ Negron

Personalized care is something you always expect from a physician, hairdresser or insurance agent. But, when it comes to lawn and landscape maintenance, personalized care is something that is much more rare. Monolithic lawn and landscape companies send out legions of trimmers and mowers who may or may not care about a customer’s needs. At HomeTeam Lawn Care, however, personalized care is the hallmark of the company’s success.

“We guarantee that there will always be an owner or manager on your crew,” HomeTeam Lawn Care owner AJ Negron says. “We don’t have big crews running around when you’re not sure about what was done on the property.”

Negron, along with family friend and manager Chris French, aren’t just the owners/operators of HomeTeam Lawn Care, they also are the crew. Negron and French have some shared history that not only brought them together, but also brought them into business together.

Negron and wife his Judy moved to Florida from Long Island, NY in the summer of 2008. They liked it so much, they decided to stay.

“We left everything and came down here,” Negron said. “We really fell in love with the area.”

Negron was considering a job with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office or in his field of study, psychology. Yet, when neither avenue showed potential, he dwelled on some of the words of wisdom his paternal grandfather gave him before he passed away.

“He would say, ‘Look at all these people making a living,’ indicating the landscaping trucks in their suburban neighborhood,” Negron says. “I thought that I had enough experience in it, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

Negron was used to mowing and caring for lawns in upstate New York and on Long Island. So, he began with a department store push mower. He upgraded to a self-propelled mower and then in November of 2013, fate would enter into the equation.

“It was a God thing,” Negron says. “It was just one of those things where the timing was absolutely perfect.”

Negron’s maternal grandmother wanted to give him some money to start a business. It happened to be just the amount one of Negron’s friends wanted as a down payment for his lawn company. Negron picked up a trailer, two mowers, some other equipment and all of the business accounts.

Soon, conversations Negron had with French, while working at Benedetto’s Restaurant in Land O’ Lakes, began to get serious. Negron was working and adding accounts, while French was still managing the bar at Benedetto’s, and was considering switching fields to work with Negron. Then, it happened.

“In May of 2015, (Chris and I) did 33 yards in one day,” Negron recalls. “It was a feat, and then I knew we could fly with the business together.”

It was French’s first day working as a team with Negron. At the time, AJ was handling a combination of 75 weekly and bi-monthly residential accounts requiring “creative summer scheduling.” But, he knew if he wanted to expand further, he’d need help — full-time help.

French came on board full time and now HomeTeam Lawn Care has more than 130 residential accounts, mostly in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area. HomeTeam Lawn Care tends properties in Heritage Isles, Pebble Creek, Estancia, Seven Oaks, Lexington Oaks, Northwood, Live Oak Preserve, Brookside and even as far south as Tampa Palms.

And, when they needed new equipment, family friend Danielle Mattingly helped them purchase it.

“We couldn’t have done it without her,’’ Negron said.

Quick Quotes AND Quality Care!

Negron brings some New York hustle to his business that he says will always specialize in personalized care.

“We take pride in our extreme attention to detail,” Negron said. “We’re not your average landscaper, we do above-average work and try not to ask for much more than average prices.”

Communication is a driving aspect of HomeTeam Lawn Care. When a customer calls, they get Negron’s cell phone, not a secretary. AJ says he takes pride in not just returning and answering calls but in the time it takes to visit a potential customer and draw up a quote.

“We hammer out quotes fast,” Negron says. “When someone (else) responds to your query and says they’ll be there next week, we say that, in 48 hours at the most, we’ll be out there with feet on the ground at the house, ready to give you a quote.”

HomeTeam Lawn Care offers a “full service” that runs from $90 monthly and up. The full-service package includes: hedges and low trees, sidewalks and driveways, as well as mulch bed maintenance. Full service is where Negron says HomeTeam separates itself from its competitors.

“(When a house has full-service care with us), that house has our name on it,” Negron says. “I would rather pull my truck up to a house with full service from us than just take care of the grass at a property that also has landscaping that needs attention.”

Take it from one of HomeTeam Lawn Care’s customers.

“Outstanding work! Resodded our yard, redid our landscaping and trimmed two trees. Will be doing our mowing work for us. I highly recommend AJ,” customer Mike Harshman said. “He responded right away to our call and had all of the jobs done in less than two weeks!”

Negron and French have an affinity for the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area and hope to bring even more of their attention to detail to lawns and landscapes in the area.

“It’s nice to work with the homeowners in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel because they see the quality of the work that we do,’’ French says. “They don’t need to worry about things getting taken care of. They realize it’s a set-it-and-forget-it type of operation we’re running.”

HomeTeam Lawn Care LLC does not operate out of an office, but can be found on the web at HomeTeamLawnCare.com, by phone at 817-9554.

Volunteer Of The Year Craig DiCecco Makes Impact at New Tampa YMCA

Craig DiCecco volunteer — Tampa Palms resident Craig DiCecco is the New Tampa Family YMCA’s Volunteer of the Year.

Thanks to the efforts of volunteers like Tampa Palms resident Craig DiCecco, the New Tampa Family YMCA continues to help people in need in and around our community.

DiCecco was named the facility’s “Volunteer of the Year” at the annual Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA’s annual Community Impact Awards dinner on Feb. 25.

DiCecco, whose three kids have all participated in sports at the New Tampa YMCA over the past 10 years or so, is a real estate appraiser who is also a member of the New Tampa Rotary Club. He first became involved with the YMCA through the Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot, which is an event put on jointly each year by both organizations.

“Craig has really stepped up in many ways, especially with the Turkey Trot, ” says Tony Kimbrough, New Tampa Family YMCA executive director. “The event helps us raise funds to provide programs that impact our members and the community.”

Some of these programs include drowning prevention, teen leadership, the YMCA’s partnership with LIVESTRONG, adaptive programs for people with special needs, and providing financial assistance to kids who need it to attend summer camp.

“There are a lot of families in need,” says Kimbrough, “and we serve them. Summer camp can really help kids close the achievement gap. We see that there’s a lot less of a ‘summer learning loss’ for kids who come to our summer camps, versus those who don’t get that opportunity.”

Honored To Be Recognized

DiCecco says he is honored to have received the award. “The Y is a great organization with a lot of fantastic volunteers,” he says. “It’s tough for me to understand why I deserve this more than others whose faces I see at the Y every day.”

But, Kimbrough says DiCecco absolutely deserves to be recognized for his efforts.

“Craig also serves as vice chair of the New Tampa Family YMCA advisory board, and he’s been instrumental in helping us to raise both money and awareness,” says Kimbrough. “He’s always the first to raise his hand to volunteer when something needs to be done.”

For more information on the New Tampa Family YMCA, call 866-9622 or visit TampaYMCA.org/locations/new-tampa/.

Former Police Officer And Youth Football Coach Eyeing District 7

district 7 race — Orlando Gudes will run for the City Council District 7 seat.

Orlando Gudes says he is all about the people, and all about his community.

He thinks he can help uplift both as a Tampa City Council member.

Gudes told the Neighborhood News that he intends to run for the District 7 Tampa City Council seat that will be soon vacated by Lisa Montelione, who has filed to challenge Shawn Harrison for the Florida House District 63 seat in November. State law requires that Montelione resign and vacate her council seat by June 10 of this year.

Gudes, a retired Tampa police officer and Director of the United Youth Football Conference, joins a field of prospective candidates for the municipal elections next March that already includes Cory Lake Isles Community Development District (CDD) chair Dr. Cyril Spiro, and recent Tampa Palms resident and La Gaceta (Tampa’s largest Spanish language newspaper) assistant to the editor Gene Siudut.

Tampa Palms resident and lawyer Luis Viera also has expressed interest in representing District 7, which runs north from Waters Ave. to County Line Rd., including Forest Hills, Terrace Park, New Tampa and the University of South Florida.

Gudes, who helps run his family’s Gudes Funeral Home on E. Hillsborough Ave., is the first non-New Tampa resident that we know of with intentions to run for Montelione’s seat. Gudes has lived in North Tampa (between Fowler Ave. and Busch Blvd., in the Copeland Park area) for 16 years.

“The heart of North Tampa,’’ he calls it.

He said that as a police officer, youth football coach and organizer, and mentor to countless children and adults, public service is in his blood. He sees a division between North Tampa, New Tampa and other parts of District 7, a gap he would like to bridge.

“It’s a unique district,’’ said the 48-year-old Gudes. “To me, I feel the district has become kind of divided and I don’t think it should be. New Tampa, University area, whatever you want to call it, we’re all in the same district. I don’t believe the area you live in defines you, rich or poor. We’re all people. We should all be helping each other.”

Gudes says there isn’t a door in North Tampa he probably hasn’t knocked on at some time or another, and few residents he hasn’t met.

A Tampa Bay Tech High (on Orient Rd. in Tampa) graduate, Gudes attended Bethune-Cookman College (now University) in Daytona Beach, before transferring back home and receiving his Associate of Arts degree from Saint Leo University near Dade City. He also says he has a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Behavorial Science and a Master’s degree in human resource administration from National Louis University in Tampa.

Gudes served nine years as a school resource officer in the late-1990s, early-2000s before “returning to the streets” and becoming a master patrol officer.

In 2004, Gudes started the Unity Youth Football Conference (UYFC), to give local children a flag and tackle football league that they could afford and that was in their community.

The UYFC instituted study halls and grade-point-average requirements, and helped keep kids out of trouble. A number of its players went on to become high school and college players, including Matt Jones, currently the starting running back for the NFL’s Washington Redskins.

While Gudes says he has some ideas about what he would like to accomplish as a City Council member, he plans on unveiling his platform after taking the pulse of the community. “This isn’t about me, it’s about them,’’ he says.

“The whole philosophy of our campaign, our whole mission is community, compassion and contribution,’’ Gudes says. “That’s my commitment to the people.”

Gudes also says he is planning to hold multiple “Chat and Chew With Gudes” meetings at which the community will be invited to discuss what they think its needs are. He says he wants to hold one in every part of District 7.

“Whether some of the things people want is attainable or not, they need someone to knock on those doors, to get them to open and to get people to listen to us,’’ Gudes says. “I’m not afraid to knock on those doors.”

Has The Bruce B. Downs Blvd. Segment D Widening Already Begun?

BBD widening — The next stage of Bruce B. Downs’ widening is underway.

Long rows of traffic cones and white barricades and a procession of construction trucks and workers have appeared recently north of Pebble Creek Dr. all the way up to County Line Rd. (Segment D) in New Tampa, as the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. widening project begins to enter its final phases.

According to Hillsborough County community relations coordinator Andrea Roshaven, all the construction you are currently seeing north of Cross Creek Blvd. is Verizon doing advance utility locations in preparation for the actual widening of BBD from four lanes to eight.

Once Verizon has completed the work, construction is expected to begin in the fall of this year. “We haven’t awarded the work, but it is funded,’’ Roshaven said.

That will be welcome news to northbound travelers who have to deal with the stacking left lanes between the McDonald’s and Walmart on the west side of BBD. The bottlenecks and congestion in this area has been caused by BBD reducing from four northbound lanes down to two in less than half a mile.

Segment D, which is a little less than a mile-and-a-half stretch, is currently estimated to cost $21.6 million, although that figure could change once a contractor has been procured.

Meanwhile, work on Segment A, by Prince Contracting, also continues in earnest, as workers widen BBD from four to eight lanes from E. Bearss Ave. to Palm Springs Blvd. in Tampa Palms.

Recent work at Amberly Dr, was done to overbuild the existing roadway to match BBD, which was two feet higher after widening. Amberly Dr. was given a gradual grade for a smoother transition onto BBD. Similar elevation work was done at the Tampa Palms Blvd. and Cypress Preserve Dr. intersections with BBD.

More cones and barriers are in place from Tampa Palms Blvd. to Palm Springs Blvd., as the area is being prepped for the widening to complete the Segment A portion, a $55.5-million project which is still not expected to be finished until the summer of 2017.

“People will continue to see intermittent lane closures,’’ Roshaven says.

So what can commuters expect in the coming months? In late March or early April, there will be a lane switch south of the bridge over Cypress Creek (just south of Amberly Dr.) in order to vacate the northbound bridge section for demolition. The lane switch will take place between Cypress Creek and Cypress Preserve Dr., using the crossovers located at Cypress Creek and south of Cypress Preserve Dr.

The two lanes of southbound traffic will shift into the new permanent southbound lanes and the two lanes of northbound traffic will shift into the existing southbound lanes.

The county will be installing message boards in advance to alert drivers to the lane switch before it happens.

Segments B and C are all but completed. While work on the segments couldn’t be finished until the I-75 widening project between Fowler Ave. and S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel was completed last spring, John McShaffery, the Florida Department of Transportation spokesperson, says that other than some final pavement corrections, electrical work, lighting and the installation of traffic counter loops — “pretty much things that aren’t noticed too much.”— the work at I-75 and BBD is finished and will be 100-percent wrapped up by May, or “right on target.”