Is Proposed Recreation Center At Cross Creek Park A Slam Dunk?

Is the proposed recreation center at Cross Creek Park a slam dunk (preferably on an indoor basket in a potential air-conditioned facility!), as District 2 Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan hopes?

You would think so, considering the $8-million price tag and number of proposed amenities for what would be the first county-owned public indoor recreation center in New Tampa.

At the very least, it’s a three-point swish, according to online polling.

As the county proceeds on the new upgrades at Cross Creek Park, which is located next to Pride Elementary (at 19025 Bassett Creek Dr.), it continues to gauge support for the endeavor. 

The project would potentially include things like an indoor facility for basketball, volleyball and pickleball (as well as senior and adult programming), bathrooms and after-school and summer programs for children, a new shaded playground and upgraded outdoor basketball court, a splash pad, a walking trail and more.

Of the 179 responses filled out online, 84% of respondents said they were in favor of the upgrades at the park, 10% were opposed and 7% percent said they were undecided.

When it came to what amenities respondents were most interested in, 66% wanted an upgraded playground, 64% favored a recreation center with programming, 59% wanted a walking trail, 55% wanted a splash pad and 35% chose some of the other amenities.

One of the respondents wrote that they would like to see more of the wide-open field — which gets a lot of use by people playing soccer, cricket, flag football and flying kites — preserved, despite early renderings showing that much of it would be eliminated and replaced by a retention pond under the county’s plan.

A lot of commentors agreed and suggested that the pond could be moved across the street to replace two overgrown baseball fields that are almost never used.

Others loved the idea of upgrades, and chimed in with their own suggestions, most of them advocating for a skate park, dog park or tennis courts.

However, when the county held a public input meeting on Aug. 15 in the lunchroom at Pride Elementary, only five residents, including two couples, attended. Most of the questions at that meeting centered around preserving the park’s green space.

Pride principal Paulette English attended the meeting that night, and voiced her support. 

“I think it’s a very positive thing for the community and school as well,” English said. “It opens some after-school programs for kids that they don’t otherwise have access to, and having staff there will keep it a safer place for kids to be.”

English said that her school gets a lot of requests for after-school programs and club-type activities. The school offered a drama and tennis club this year “and it filled up just like that,” she said.

Pride has waiting lists of roughly 30 students for each of those clubs.

While Hagan said the online support for the rec center has been great, K-Bar Ranch resident Beth Bodai was one of the residents at an Aug. 22 community meeting in K-Bar Ranch attended by Hagan (story on pg. 4) who questioned whether the county would be able to handle a new park. Cross Creek Park has a dirt parking lot, overgrown baseball fields and no bathrooms, along with other issues.

“It sounds fantastic, but who will maintain it, because you haven’t maintained what you have now,” Bodai said. 

Bodai also said that the park is often called the “Forgotten Park” by residents. She cited the dirt parking lot and lack of lighting at night, leading to a number of cars parking in the unpatrolled lot after dark, the porta-potties being turned over numerous times every weekend, and the playground equipment being too hot, due to a lack of shade, so that it can’t be used. “And the (baseball) fields are a disgrace,” she said.

Hagan explained that the county would maintain the upgraded park, at a cost of roughly $100,000 a year, and would employ full-time attendants. 

He even said he would look into having the parking lot lights installed now.

However, another resident in attendance at the K-Bar Ranch meeting expressed concern the park would end up being a burden to taxpayers. And Bodai, who said she hopes the park is everything Hagan says it will be, is still a skeptic.

Hagan promised it would be a facility that K-Bar Ranch (a City of Tampa development) and the rest of New Tampa would be proud of. “I can tell you, If NT doesn’t want this facility, I promise you there are a million other communities that will,” he said.

Regardless of whether Cross Creek Park gets upgraded, the traffic and road study that comes with the planning could result in the kind of positive change that those who drive in the area have been seeking. Many of those who participated in the online forum (see next pg.) said the area’s already tangled transportation woes prevented them from fully supporting the new park. 

If Hagan wants his slam dunk, that will have to be an issue that gets resolved in conjunction with a new rec center.

“And we understand that,” he says. “We’re taking a close look at everything.”

LOCALS CHIME IN
Here are some of the online comments submitted for local (presumably) residents on what they think of the new upgrades proposed for Cross Creek Park, and what other things they would like to see at the park.

It would be great for the gym to have pickleball courts. Adding lights to the basketball courts would also be a plus, as a lot of kids play basketball there in the evenings. For being a little park it gets a lot of use. (Would) love to see these improvements going in.

New Tampa desperately needs public tennis courts and public soccer fields (doesn’t have to be regulation size). Benito soccer fields are under lock and key by the Chargers program and not available for public use.

There are no public tennis courts in this area. Need one in this park.

Please add a skate park!!

I think this is a brilliant plan! This is a major community that needs these improvements. The splash pad intrigues me the most. Considering we live in the Sunshine State, there aren’t many places to cool down for kids. I also agree with everyone on an updated playground with shade!

Park definitely needs an update. Splash pad would be great for those hot summers. None nearby.

Love this idea! The current playground is run down, it needs an upgrade as it’s used daily (by) neighborhood kids. An adjacent splash pad seems like a great idea, too, as those are popular in many other communities across Tampa. The area is in desperate need of lighting also.

I would like to see a dog park, and obviously more covered picnic tables with bathroom facilities

Many people use the extensive field space currently for field sports such as ultimate frisbee, football, soccer, cricket, baseball, kickball, and others. It appears that the proposed plan will cut down on field space to the point that field sports will not have enough space to be played. As a hub for local kids playing sports, this field space is particularly important as it is the only park with this space in the area. 

Shaded play area is needed

Paved parking lot and shaded areas.

Why would we need additional basket ball courts while we have two existing courts?

Tennis court and a leveled kickball field

The parking lot needs to be paved and there needs to be restrooms. Shaded play area. Litter pick up not just trash can pickup because people can’t put trash in trash cans.

Please add more trees

The roadway is already too crowded by the park. Consideration would need to be taken if any changes are to be made, to deal with additional traffic.

The traffic by this area is already too much. This will cause too much congestion and people who live in Basset Creek will (have) too much traffic traveling in and out of their home area.

Please preserve the open field space at Cross Creek Park. Numerous individuals and organized groups regularly use the space for games and training. Move the retention pond, parking lot, and building across the street. 

This “improvement” is a terrible idea. The park is already amazing and I use it all the time with my friends. We love the large field that we can play any sport on, as well as exercise. Sprint workouts, football, frisbee, kickball, baseball and many other sports are only possible because of these fields. You cannot play on a small field, rec center, or retention pond.

Paint the basketball courts so it’s smoother and not the basic concrete.

This is a great plan to upgrade the park. It does look very old.

Traffic is high speed through there, and there’s already school traffic. Plus additional traffic from current development in KBar 3 and 4. People currently can take their dogs there to exercise, and it would limit the park to children’s use primarily. There’s already a city park being developed in KBar and Mistflower (?) for kids.



Two Friends Give Their Viewpoints On The Passing Of Queen Elizabeth II

Although I only know what I’ve read about Queen Elizabeth II, who of course, passed away at the age of 96 the week we went to press with this issue, I decided to discuss the loss of England’s longest-serving monarch (70 years) with two of my friends. 

One of those friends is Tammy Campbell, a British national who has lived here in the States since moving with her husband — former English Premier League and Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer player and coach Stuart Campbell (who is now the director of soccer at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County) — more than a decade ago.

The other is my childhood best friend Doug Getter, who moved “across the Pond” for work not too long after I moved to Florida 30 years ago. I have only one blood sibling (my sister Bonnie), but since we met in the first grade at Woodmere Elementary on Long Island, Doug was the closest thing I ever had to a brother, especially because everyone said we looked and acted like brothers. And, even when Doug visited me for a day a few months ago, Jannah and my family said they could see why.

When I spoke with Tammy a couple of days after the Queen’s passing, you could hear it in her voice that she was still broken up over it.

“She was 96, so it wasn’t like everyone didn’t know it was going to happen at some point,” Tammy said, “but the reality of her actually passing hit me harder than I even thought it would, especially since she just swore in our new Prime Minister two days before that.”

Tammy said that although she never actually met Queen Elizabeth, “I did get to see her in person twice before I moved here.” The first time, she said, she was only seven years old when the Queen visited the northern town of Colby, England, where Tammy was living at the time. “All of the school children in the town lined the streets waving Union Jacks (the British flag) as her motorcade went by,” Tammy said, “She smiled and waved and seemed to make eye contact with each of us. She had such presence, such dignity.”

More than 25 years later, Tammy made eye contact with the Queen again, when suddenly, the streets were cleared for her motorcade. Tammy said she felt the same sense of pride and excitement she did as a child. “She was like everyone’s favorite grandmother,” Tammy said. “She knew how to make everyone feel important.”

Meanwhile, Doug said that the news of the Queen’s passing definitely hit people hard in England, too. Doug, a partner with the international law firm Dechert LLP, who lives not far from Buckingham Palace, said, “Some of my English colleagues were very affected. I think it’s quite personal, but as a generalization, it’s quite meaningful to the population here. There were big crowds out at Buckingham Palace who came to pay their respects. I think a lot of people are genuinely in mourning.”

Doug Getter, left

Doug also said that although he doesn’t have a lot of British clients, “I was actually on a call today with a fellow who met and received an award from the Queen. But, I think for Brits it is a tough time and we have allowed our staff that normally comes in to the office to work from home, and attend counseling, memorials, etc., as they feel is best for them. So, this is being taken very seriously, as so many people are affected — some harder than others. I know that on the day of her funeral (announced as Sept. 19 at our press time), it will not be possible for anyone to get things done here. A good percentage of our people will take the day off to reflect and mourn — and most everyone will be glued to their TV sets for the funeral, which will be a State event. We will be closed on the day of the funeral, for sure.”

As for the impressions of how the new King Charles III will be, Doug says, “He certainly has the training, but he also has a hard act to follow and a wife that many Brits have mixed views about. Unfortunately for Charles,  I think people are looking forward to William and Kate taking the reins in the future. It’s odd here for people to think in terms of a king after 70 years of a queen. Her longevity is staggering.”

As to why Premier League soccer games were cancelled the weekend the Queen passed, “It’s just such a somber time,” Doug said. “No one wanted to be seen as doing something frivolous during this mourning period. I’m no Royalist, but this is truly a sad event for the British people.”  

School Traffic Remains A Concern In K-Bar Ranch

Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan discusses a new park and traffic study at a recent meeting with K-Bar Ranch residents. (Photo: John C. Cotey) 

Like almost every school in Tampa, Pride Elementary has traffic issues during drop-off and pick-up times.

Residents in K-Bar Ranch whose children attend the school may be receiving some relief, as the city and county are conducting a number of projects and studies in the area.

In another of Tampa City Council member Luis Viera’s community meetings on Aug. 22, residents had many of their concerns addressed by a panel of experts that the District 7 representative assembled, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan (who represents the New Tampa area for the county in Dist. 2), Dist. 6 Hillsborough School Board member Karen Perez and transportation and mobility experts from the city and county.

The hour-long meeting seemed to provide the answers, or reassurance that answers were being sought, that came from roughly 50 residents in attendance.

• The long-awaited Meadow Pointe Blvd. connector to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is now open, officially. It opened Aug. 30, a week after the meeting, but those in attendance were already told it would only be a matter of days.

The new connection now allows area residents a quick 4- or 5-minute drive to S.R. 56, just east of the Shops at Wiregrass. AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Hospital, I-75 and the Winn-Dixie and Super Target on County Line Rd. also are now a much shorter trip. 

Other connections which were planned for years are coming, Vik Bhide, the City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer said, but it may take a while for any of them to open. Other topics of discussion included:

• K-Bar residents still pine for a Kinnan St.-Mansfield Blvd. connection, which is now open only to emergency response vehicles and police. Area residents always bring up the topic, and this meeting was no different. They were told by Viera and Hagan to pin their hopes on the recent primary elections. Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, a strong opponent of the connection, is leaving office, and his anticipated replacement Seth Weightman (the Republican nominee facing only a write-in candidate on Nov. 8) may be more amenable to the idea of opening the connection to all traffic, although that remains an unlikely scenario.

• Street lights may be on the way for Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. past Pride and to entrances at both K-Bar Ranch and Live Oak Preserve. At past meetings, residents have complained that the street is dangerous due to speeders, which is heightened by the lack of lighting. According to Josh Bellotti, the Hillsborough County director of engineering and operations, the county is working closely with Tampa Electric (TECO) and coming up with designs. “A rough estimate is that in about six months, I think you’ll see lights,” Bellotti said.

• It was suggested that the school zone be extended around Pride Elementary, and speed limits in the area be made more uniform. That continues to be studied by the City of Tampa.

• A Hillsborough County traffic study is under way in advance of the possibility of a massive upgrade of Cross Creek Park, which would include an indoor recreation center, updated playgrounds and outdoor basketball courts, a new parking lot and other amenities. The rec center and other amenities, which will cost roughly $8-million, would be built next to Pride, an area of high traffic in the morning and afternoons.

“I want to address the community transportation problem on the front end so we don’t exacerbate it,” said Commissioner Hagan. “This is a real opportunity to improve the current situation.”

Neena Pacholke: The ‘Brightest Light In The Room’

Former Freedom High basketball star Neena Pacholke, who was a popular news anchor for WAOW-TV in Wausau, WI, tragically took her own life on Aug. 27.

There was something about Neena Pacholke that made you feel special and loved.

The smile, the laugh, the joy. 

“She had this bright, awesome personality that just made you feel so welcomed,” said Lauren Repp, a longtime friend and former basketball teammate. “She had a special charm.”

Charm may be the best word to describe Neena’s personality, as she had it in abundance, according to those who played basketball with her, or watched her as a television anchor where, judging from the outpouring of love following her death, she could radiate from the screen and make you feel as if you’ve been friends for years.

Neena, who played high school basketball at Freedom High and then at the University of South Florida, took her own life Aug. 27 in her Wausau, WI, home. She was only 27.

Neena’s life was celebrated at Radiant Church Heights in Tampa on Sept. 10. She is survived by her sister Kaitlynn, father Aaron and mother Laurie, who coached her at Freedom.

“Absolutely devastated,” wrote Aaron on Facebook. “She was a great gift.”

Neena’s death was shocking to most who knew her. However, Laurie told WAOW-TV News 9 in Wausau, where her daughter was a popular anchor, that Neena had struggled with mental health issues for years. 

“She was getting treatment,” Laurie said. “I’ll put it out there — she had been to the crisis center a couple of times. She had so many people here to talk to. She talked to people, but she didn’t want anybody to know how she was hurting, so she didn’t talk until it got so bad.” 

That part is what makes it so painful for friends like Repp, who met Neena when they were 12 years old.

“It’s hard to wrap my head around,” Repp said. “Just hearing that maybe it was because she felt like a burden to others, it breaks my heart. All of us are living with the what-ifs and are absolutely crushed and devastated.”

Neena was the “ideal American girl” in high school, who would get excited over coffee, loved the changing seasons and buying a new sweater or boots. She painted her nails on the Fourth of July and St. Patrick’s Day and loved being with her cat, says Faith Woodard who, along with Repp, were teammates of Neena’s.

The Pacholke family in happier times: (l.-r.) Laurie, Kaitlynn, Neena and Aaron. (Photo: Pacholke family Facebook page)

The three were starters on the 2013 Freedom High team that made the program’s only State final four appearance. Woodard said she has been watching old game films since receiving the news. 

The gritty, tenacious Neena was the Patriots’ point guard, and even watching old games today, Woodard said she can feel her energy and glee.

“She was the glue on that team,” Woodard said. “She was everyone’s biggest cheerleader. But, she was more than just your teammate. She was your friend…She was the happiest person I knew, and the best person I knew.”

After graduating from USF in 2017, she joined WAOW-TV as a reporter. At her service at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Weston, WI, on Sept. 4, one of her first friends at the station, Josh Holland, shared with an in-person audience of roughly 200 what a joy Neena had been. Together, the two rookie reporters went to high school pep rallies, sported silly socks, challenged high school athletes to Nerf football games and played life-size games of Hungry Hungry Hippos against students. “She went to great lengths to bring joy to others,” Holland said. 

She was promoted to anchor in 2019 and her popularity grew. Following her death, the station’s phone lines and Facebook page were flooded with condolence calls and sadness from people who only knew her through a screen, her personality breaking through that barrier.

When WAOW-TV had technical difficulties and couldn’t broadcast her memorial service live, it didn’t stop more than 22,000 people from watching when it was posted a day later.

Brendan Mackey wrote that being Neena’s co-anchor was an honor and called her, “The brightest light in the room.”

Friends like Repp and Woodard will never forget Neena. Not only did Faith transfer to Freedom for her senior season because of Neena, she followed her into broadcasting, and is currently an anchor for KTHV-TV (THV11) in Little Rock, AR.

“I always tried to be more like her,” Woodard said. “I tried to volunteer more because she did. I tried to do the good things she did and I even tried to make my work (as a news anchor) look more like hers. More than anything, I’m going to miss her for the good, supportive person she was.”

Repp said Neena’s loss will be felt by many. She well remembers her friend always wiggling her way out of running at the end of basketball practices, never taking anything too seriously and always being able to break the tension by laughing or giggling about something.

Repp said she was recently at a Milwaukee Brewers game when the ladies sitting behind her found out she played basketball in Tampa with Neena. 

“They started freaking out,” Repp says. “They told me they loved her.”

It is a feeling shared by many.

Florida’s Sports Coast To Host 2022-24 Florida Senior Games

The Wesley Chapel area already is host to some of the largest youth sports tournaments in the Tampa Bay area and will now expand its reach to a new demographic — seniors.

The Florida Sports Foundation, the state of Florida’s sports promotion and development organization, and Florida’s Sports Coast (Pasco County’s sports tourism arm) will team up to be the primary host of Florida Senior Games for the next three years, starting in December of this year.

“It’s definitely a different demographic than what we tend to go after,” said Adam Thomas, the director of Florida’s Sports Coast. “Out of all of our sports, 95% of them are youth sports. This will be a new audience to tap into.”

The Florida Senior Games is an Olympic-style sports festival, for athletes over the age of 50 (and there is even a 100+ age group). The 31st annual Games in December will consist of 22 sports — half of which will be staged in Wesley Chapel — and will be held December 3-11. The event is a qualifier for the 2023 National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, PA.

The county has hosted various Senior Games events in the past. The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County hosted bag toss, basketball shooting, 3-on-3 basketball and volleyball in December 2020, while pickleball was played at the Sarah Vande Berg (SVB) Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills. 

This year, however, will mark the county’s first time as the primary host of the entire event.

And, because of the growth of sports venues in Wesley Chapel over the past decade, many of the events will take place here.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus will host archery, basketball shooting and 3-on-3 basketball (Dec. 3), and volleyball (Dec. 10-11), while Saddlebrook Resort will host foot golf Dec. 10.

SVB will host almost every racquet sport, including padel (which will be played for the first time in the Senior Games Dec. 9-11), tennis (Dec. 3-8) and pickleball (Dec. 8-11).

Cypress Creek High and its rubber track will be home for many of the running events. Track & field is scheduled for Dec. 9-11, with a 1,500-meter power walk and 1,500-meter race walk set for Dec. 11.

Events like bowling and shuffleboard (Zephyrhills), golf (Trinity), and even power lifting (Land O’Lakes) will be held across the county.

“We’ve always been involved with the Senior Games in some form or fashion,” Thomas says, “but landing the actual games as the host destination, that will bring in close to 2,000 (hotel) rooms for a week-long event, and it will bring up to 3,000 athletes and their families here for that same time period. So we’re looking at total visitors per day of 4,000.”

Thomas says that, according to Florida’s Sports Coast’s projections, the Senior Games will have an economic impact of $1.2 million per day throughout Pasco County. And, because the event is a national qualifier, Thomas is hoping the Florida games can put Florida’s Sports Coast in line to host the national event at some point down the road.

“This opens the door for us,” Thomas says. “We’ve definitely got our eyes on that.”

For more information about the 2022 Florida Senior Games, visit FloridaSeniorGames.com or follow FloridaSeniorGames on Facebook. For more information about Florida’s Sports Coast, visit FLSportsCoast.com.