Itโs not exactly aluminum cans, glass or old newspapers.
But when Saddlebrook resident Martin Levins sees an old, beaten up tennis ball lying in the grass โ and as a junior tennis player at Saddlebrook Preparatory School, he sees a lot of them, at his club and other locations โ he knows that unless it is recycled, that ball will take 400 years to decompose.
So, the 9th grader decided to do something about it, turning his mission into his Eagle Scout Service Project.
In the past year, Martin has been collecting as many discarded tennis balls as he can, which not only provides a benefit to the environment, but will help people as well โ because the balls will be recycled and used to make impact-resistant courts for tennis players who are elderly and disabled.
โI know it sounds amazing, and it is,โ Martin says.
Martin, who has been a scout since 2010 and is in Troop 300, which meets in Saddlebrook, put up four recycling Ad-In bins โ paid for by sponsors Insight Family Eyecare, Cross Creek Auto Service, Global Access Partners and the Saddlebrook Prep Student Council โ all around the tennis courts at Saddlebrook, providing a convenient place for tennis players to discard their old tennis balls, which lose their pressure and ability to bounce after a few sets and, therefore, their usefulness.
Martin Levins, a ninth grade student and junior tennis player at Saddlebrook Preparatory School, is collecting old tennis balls to be turned into tennis courts, as his Eagle Scout project.
He also managed a team of 30 scouts, student athletes and parents to scour the area around Saddlebrookโs 45 tennis courts looking for wayward tennis balls.
โTo sweeten the deal, I orchestrated a massive clean-up of the areas around all of the tennis courts in Saddlebrook to clear the environment of used or dead tennis balls,โ Martin says.
The balls are then collected from the bins, put into shipping boxes and sent to RecycleBalls, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Vermont.
โItโs an absolutely fantastic operation that Martin is running,โ says James DeFusto, tennis director of recruitment for Saddlebrook. โWeโve definitely noticed that outside of the courts are a lot more clear. There are barely, if any, tennis balls lying around. Itโs pretty amazing what heโs accomplished so far.โ
According to RecycleBalls, 125 million used tennis balls, roughly 20,000 metric tons worth, wind up in landfills around the country every year.
RecycleBalls has partnered with Wilson Tennis and Sport Group, the worldโs largest sports surface manufacturer, which takes the recycled tennis ball material and uses it in their Laykold Masters tennis courts, which can be hard or cushioned.
Last month, Martin shipped more than 10,000 tennis balls he collected to RecycleBalls, enough, he says to provide the surface for one low-impact tennis court somewhere in the U.S. Even after Martin finishes his project and the local Council submits it to the BSA National Council to officially make him an Eagle Scout, his efforts will live on.
โThis is definitely something we will invest in and continue doing,โ DeFusto says.
There could soon be more tenants to announce for the Village at Hunterโs Lake development currently under construction on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., across from the main entrance to the Hunterโs Green community.
Regency Centers senior leasing agent Marc Elias, who already has signed a dozen occupants for the retail/restaurant portion of the project, will be the guest speaker at the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerceโs Economic Development Briefing at Hunterโs Green Country Club on Thursday, June 20.
While Sprouts, the first green grocer to enter the New Tampa market, is the anchor of the retail strip, other occupants currently listed on the Regency Centers website are Banfield Pet Hospital, The Coder School, Grain & Berry, Hair Cuttery, Heartland Dental, Nationwide Vision Center, Pink & White Nails, Poke Island Plus, Pure Beauty Salon, Starbucks, T-Mobile and Via Italia Woodfired Pizza & Bar.
There are, however, still six spaces available.
The Village at Hunterโs Lake will have 71,397 sq. ft. of commercial space. The project also will include a 30,000-sq.-ft. New Tampa Cultural Center, a dog park and a four-story, 241-unit multi-family complex to be called The Haven at Hunterโs Lake.
Addio, Chefs of Napoli?
Chefs of Napoli, an Italian restaurant that had been expected to open in the next few months at the old Beef OโBradyโs location in the Cross Creek Commons plaza off Morris Bridge Rd., is now unlikely to do so, after its owner was arrested last month and faces charges of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and lewd and lascivious battery.
While the primary trafficker was not named to avoid identifying the teenage victim, Luigi Barile, who founded the Chefs of Napoli restaurants in Spring Hill and Ocala, was one of nine men arrested on May 17 by the Hernando County Sheriffโs Office after a two-year investigation.
Hernando Sheriff Al Nienhuis said at a press conference that the victim had been sexually abused by the men for six months. He said Barile brought three of his friends to sexually assault the teenager.
โNot only did he use the services of our young victim, he also brought, at least one time, at least three of his friends with him,โ Nienhuis said. โAnd, all four of these men exchanged money for sex.โ
According to the Villages-News.com, Barile was released on a $25,000 bond โ $10,000 each on two counts of kidnapping/human trafficking and $5,000 on a count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
The Villages-News.com also reported that a number of special conditions had been placed on Barile, such as surrendering his passport, being placed on a GPS monitor and that he have no intentional contact with any child under 18. He also is not permitted to leave Hernando County.
Barile has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Time To Study…New Tampa
Students from the University of South Floridaโs School of Public Affairs will meet for the first time on Tuesday, July 16, as they begin a study to determine the reasons for the outmigration of a number of local businesses from the New Tampa area and to find a potential solution, if there is one.
The meeting will be held at either the New Tampa Regional Library or Compton Park in Tampa Palms. The group is comprised of graduate students working towards their Masterโs degrees in Urban and Regional Planning at USF. They will conduct a listening tour with local focus groups and businesses, as well as a field study.
USF School of Public Affairs director Ron Sanders told the Neighborhood News in April that if the study produces something concrete, it could lead to the city conducting something โmore extensive and sophisticated.โ
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera also will attend the first meeting.
โI think this has a lot of promise,โ Viera says. โIf there is a problem, hopefully we can figure that out. But, itโs definitely something we should look at now, sooner than later.โ
Brew Bus Coming!
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., the company behind Florida Avenue Brewing Co. and Brew Bus Brewing, has officially announced that it has purchased the former Sports + Field location on S.R. 56. The new owners will convert Sports + Field into a brewery with a beer garden, full-service restaurant and event space.
The 34,000-sq.-ft., two-floor facility in Wesley Chapel originally opened in 2005 as a $10.5-million multi-purpose fitness center that trained professional athletes while also offering fitness programs for local residents. It closed in 2015.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brew Bus Brewing Inc., Anthony Derby, told the Neighborhood News last month that his company was taking a close look at the property, located at 2029 Arrowgrass Dr., and saw a craft brewery as a missing part of the local Wesley Chapel/New Tampa bar/dining scene.
โWe are excited to expand our operations into Pasco County to provide the community with a family-friendly brewery, event and restaurant destination,โ Derby said in a statement. โBy this time next year, Pasco residents will not only be working in our expanded operation, but also enjoying our products a bit closer to home.โ
The completed deal is expected to create 46 new local jobs and more than $8.7 million in new capital investment in Pasco County.
โItโs great to reactivate a dormant property with high-paying manufacturing jobs in a unique industry,โ Bill Cronin, the president/CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, said in a press release. โA company like Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., is a win for the whole community, as they embody the โlive, work, playโ notion so important to our communityโs future economic growth.โ
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., created in 2011, currently operates both a brewery on N. Florida Ave. and buses that travel to breweries throughout the Tampa Bay area. In addition to brewing its own Brew Bus beer, the brand expanded in 2015, with the acquisition of Florida Avenue Brewing Co., in an effort to revive one of the areaโs most historic breweries. Both Brew Bus and Florida Avenue brands are distributed throughout the entire state of Florida.
โWe are happy to welcome Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., to Pasco,โ said District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. โNot only are they creating jobs, but their new tasting room and restaurant will be a great destination for residents and tourists alike. Breweries are a huge part of the tourism market.โ
For more information about Brew Bus Brewing, visit BrewBusUSA.com.
When the half-penny school sales tax referendum passed in Hillsborough County last year, the promise was that aged roofs and floors and playgrounds would be repaired, athletic tracks would be repaved and classrooms and fire evacuation systems being upgraded, just to name just a few much-needed enhancements.
But, what got Wharton High’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) president Kristie Scism most excited was much cooler than all those things.
โThe air conditioning,โ Scism says. โIt may not be the best thing, but it was the one thing I was most excited about.โ
Hillsborough County Public Schools announced last week that teams of workers have begun moving into the 21 schools that will receive an overhaul or replacement of their existing AC systems.
While every school in New Tampa except for Hunter’s Green and Tampa Palms elementaries is scheduled to get upgraded AC in years 1-5 of the school tax referendum, only Wharton High, Benito Middle School and Clark Elementary are among the 21 schools having the work done this summer.
Over the next 10 years, funds from the half-penny sales tax are expected to overhaul or replace the A/C systems at 203 schools, or about 20 each summer.
โIt’s pretty miserable when the A/C breaks,โ Scism said, adding that it has been an all-too common occurrence at Wharton. โIt gets to be like a sauna in some rooms. It’s very hard (for students) to concentrate in those conditions.โ
Intermittent air conditioning at times has also been a complaint of parents and teachers at Benito and Clark for years.
As far as Pasco County is concerned, the long-debated connection of Kinnan St. in New Tampa to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe — a 30-foot or so patch of grass, dirt, weed and garbage — is dead.
The Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) was presented with the results from its recent online Connections Survey Tuesday morning, and voted unanimously to forward the second-most popular option, Option 3, which would connect both the Meadow Pointe Blvd. and Wyndfields Blvd. extensions to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. in New Tampa’s K-Bar Ranch community — to the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) for a final vote.
The MPO did agree to connect Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd., but only for emergencies. A traffic arm will be installed for emergency service vehicles, and there will be a path for bikers and pedestrians.
The final vote to settle the connections conundrum will likely be held on Tuesday, July 9, in Dade City. Considering that all five members of the BOC are on the MPO, and they voted unanimously in favor of Option 3, it is almost certain to pass.
County residents were given four options, and despite claims that connecting Kinnan-Mansfield was widely unpopular, 54 percent of the 1,180 respondents actually voted for Option 1, which would connect Kinnan-Mansfield as well as the Meadow Pointe Blvd. extension to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.
There was no option to just connect Kinnan-Mansfield, nor was it an option that was studied in the year-long Roadways Connections Study commissioned by the county.
The most popular option (No. 2) among those who filled out the online survey was connecting just Meadow Pointe Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch, with 67 percent of respondents voting yes.
The least popular option was No. 4, which would have made all the connections — Kinnan-Mansfield and Meadow Pointe Blvd. and Wyndfields Blvd. extensions to New Tampa.
Even so, a majority of those responding, 52 percent, voted in favor of Option 4.
John C. Cotey can be reached at john@ntneighborhoodnews.com
For more information, check out the upcoming June 28 edition of the Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., the company behind Florida Avenue Brewing Co. and Brew Bus Brewing, has officially announced that it has purchased the former Sports + Field location on S.R. 56. The new owners will convert Sports + Field into a brewery with a beer garden, full-service restaurant and event space.
The 34,000-sq.-ft., two-floor facility in Wesley Chapel was originally opened in 2005 as $10.5-million multi-purpose fitness center that trained professional athletes while also offering fitness programs for local residents. It closed in 2015.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brew Bus Brewing Inc., Anthony Derby, told the Neighborhood News last month that his company was taking a close look at property, located at 2029 Arrowgrass Dr., and saw a craft brewery as a missing part of the local Wesley Chapel/New Tampa scene.
“We are excited to expand our operations into Pasco County to provide the community with a family-friendly brewery, event and restaurant destination,” Derby said in a statement. “By this time next year, Pasco County residents will not only be working in our expanded operation, but also enjoying our products a bit closer to home.”
The completed deal is expected to create 46 new local jobs and more than $8.7 million in new capital investment in Pasco County.
“It’s great to reactivate a dormant property with high-paying manufacturing jobs in a unique industry,” Bill Cronin, the president/CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, said in a press release. “A company like Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., is a win for the whole community, as they embody the live, work, play notion so important to our community’s future economic growth.”
Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., created in 2011, currently operates both a brewery and buses that travel to breweries throughout the Tampa Bay area. In addition to brewing its own Brew Bus beer, the brand expanded in 2015, with the acquisition of Florida Avenue Brewing Co., in an effort to revive one of the area’s most historic breweries. Both Brew Bus and Florida Avenue brands are distributed throughout the entire state of Florida.
“We are happy to welcome Brew Bus Brewing, Inc., to Pasco,” said District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. “Not only are they creating jobs, but their new tasting room and restaurant will be a great destination for residents and tourists alike. Breweries are a huge part of the tourism market.”
