Category: News

Ken Moser Leaving His Mark At Florida Aquarium

When Ken Moser moved to Wesley Chapel from Maryland in 2017, he and his wife Becky were retired and looking for a place to volunteer.

“We went to the (Tampa) zoo (at Lowry Park) in July and it was 95 degrees,” he says, adding that they immediately decided that the zoo was most definitely not the place for them.

Ken joined a fly fishing club, and says one of the members was always talking about the Florida Aquarium, so he eventually decided to give that a try.

In March 2019, Ken and Becky began training to volunteer together.

Over the last two years, and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, their efforts have made quite an impact.

So much so, that in April, Ken was named the Florida Aquarium’s Volunteer of the Year. This title earns him an honorary spot on the Aquarium’s Board of Directors for the year.

While he was chosen for his dedication — nearly 600 volunteer hours over the past two years (similar to Outstanding Service winner Edwin Rodriguez, whom we featured last issue) — and his infectious good attitude, he also was recognized for how another of his hobbies has enhanced the aquarium itself.

Ken created eight different stained glass windows that are now located throughout the aquarium. He says creating stained glass is one of many hobbies he’s taken up to keep busy during retirement.

“About eight years ago, my wife and I took a stained glass class at the community college,” Ken says. “I’ve been self-taught from there.”

The eight windows he’s created for the aquarium started when he noticed a two-foot window in the Madagascar section of the aquarium, where he thought he could mirror the bright colors of the exhibit with a brightly colored window.

After that, he says he was inspired to make a window of leafy sea dragons for the volunteer lunch room. Ken says they were so well-received that he was asked to make windows for the front of the aquarium and the CEO’s office.

“Each one is specific to the aquarium,” he says. “The pelicans are Josh and Theo, the penguins are waddling through the wetlands exhibit, there are sea turtles, spoonbills and moon jellies (jellyfish). I tried to keep it to what people can see at the aquarium.”

Josh and Theo are brown pelicans who have been popular on the Florida Aquarium’s social media accounts, and moon jellies are jellyfish that can not only be seen, but also touched in the aquarium’s touch tank.

Ken says the more time he spends there, the more he gets to know the animals.

“If you take the time to watch each individual animal,” he says, “you’ll start to see their individual behaviors.”

When asked if he has a favorite marine animal, Ken doesn’t seem to be able to narrow it down.

“Every week seems to be a different one,” he says. “The jawfish is one of the most comical characters, and I like listening to the wood ducks talking back and forth to each other in the wetlands. And, the stingray tank has a little baby who is worth the price of admission just to see her.”

Ken and Becky both work in education, teaching guests about the aquarium’s many animals. They initially agreed to volunteer at least eight hours a month, but soon determined they had more time than that to spare.

“Once I got in the commissary,” Ken says, “I would go three times a week. It’s just a fun place to go.”

The commissary is where food is prepared for the aquarium’s 8,000 animals.

“We have menus for the various animals,” Ken explains. “Some require different fishes that have to be cut up different ways, for example, and birds have seeds and pellets.”

Ken hasn’t worked in the commissary since March 2020, before Covid-19 shut down the aquarium and no volunteers were allowed in.

When the aquarium reopened in May, a few volunteers helped in guest services and as “roaming disinfectors,” to make sure guests stayed on the pathways and wore masks.

Now, Ken says, a limited number of volunteers are back in the education department manning the touch tanks during the day.

“As soon as volunteers were allowed,” he says, “I felt responsibility to come back and keep the program alive. At one time, they had 300 volunteers, but they were down to zero. If no one comes back, there’s no program.”

He says the aquarium is always staffed to provide necessary care to the animals, but although the aquarium functions without volunteers, he says, “everyone is happier with us there.”

Ken adds that the staff treats the volunteers like family, and that he and other volunteers feel enormously appreciated and grateful to be able to be part of the aquarium.

He is impressed with how the aquarium has navigated its way through the pandemic, too.

In fact, Ken and Becky donated their first Covid stimulus checks to the aquarium.

“Being retired, we didn’t plan on that money, so we thought, ‘Who needs it more?,’” says Ken. “The aquarium lost all of its guests and still needed to feed the animals every day, so we thought the money was better used that way.”

Ken says he and Becky intend to continue volunteering at the aquarium as long as they possibly can.

“When they announced the award, there were several people who had reached the 25-year mark as volunteers at the aquarium,” Ken says. “There are some really dedicated people there. I might not get 25 years — I started a little late — but at least I left my mark there with the windows. They should be there long after I’m gone, so I will leave that behind.”

College Students Host ‘Zoomhall’ For New Tampa Study

New Tampa is at its best when it comes together to fight for important additions to the community, like the 2017 budget battle that led to an expansion of the New Tampa Rec Center.

Three Master of Social Work (MSW) students at Southeastern University in Lakeland hosted a New Tampa Town Hall meeting on Zoom, hoping to discuss the community’s potential for growth.

The final verdict? To grow, you need to connect.

During the 40-minute Zoom call on May 4, presenters Darlene Starrette, Kyrin Backlund and Melissa Rice (a 20-year resident of New Tampa and the only member of her group that lives here) discussed the opportunities that New Tampa could partake in to increase community engagement. In addition, they held an open forum to hear from the 17 attendees present, including District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera.

“While New Tampa can feel like a disconnected place, residents have voices that matter and we would like to hear your voices,” Starrette said.

The Zoom call was part of a final project in the course “Generalist Practice with Groups, Communities and Organizations.” The three students completed their first year in the Master’s program and are currently beginning their summer internships. Next year, the students will start their final clinical year to earn their MSW degrees.

Rice was the one who suggested focusing on New Tampa for their final project. She described herself not as a social butterfly, but as someone who was interested in hearing from the people of her community.

“New Tampa just isn’t talked about much at all,” Rice said. “Living here, I was very interested in other people’s perceptions of the community.”

One of the main issues discussed during the meeting was the lack of interaction between New Tampa neighborhoods. Viera, who has long argued the same thing, said that New Tampa needed a better collective community identity.

“We see ourselves as Tampa Palms, Hunter’s Green, Richmond Place, Cory Lake Isles, K-Bar Ranch, Grand Hampton, etc. and we don’t see ourselves as New Tampa collectively,” Viera said.

During the Zoom call, a link was shared to a 42-page community engagement tool kit that covers the demographics of New Tampa, benefits of community engagement and survey results posted on the app Nextdoor. From the responses of 21 residents who took the survey, the lack of social and cultural events in New Tampa was highlighted as a priority.

“In terms of its cohesiveness and community spirit, it’s not a town — it’s just a zip code,” said Priscilla Stephenson, a Tampa resident who participated in the meeting.

The New Tampa Performing Arts Center (PAC), which has been 17 years in the making, also was a hot topic during the meeting. The team encouraged the Zoom call participants to email and voice their support for the vote occurring the next day. On May 5, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners approved the construction contract of the PAC.

“In our research, we found that there are a lot of benefits to engaging the community,” Backlund said, “including overall health, sense of belonging and social connectedness.”

Rice talked about how some members of the community wanted better transportation and more affordable housing. From her notes, she recorded that New Tampa residents also wanted to fill some of the open store fronts, build cultural bridges and have more restaurants in the area.

Although two of the three MSW students aren’t residents of New Tampa, each member has worked towards a common goal of establishing New Tampa’s sense of community. Backlund suggested creating a Facebook page for the New Tampa area to keep the community discussion going.

While nearby Wesley Chapel has three robust community Facebook pages with nearly 60,000 total combined members, New Tampa’s busiest Facebook page, New Tampa Online Yardsale!, is mostly for selling household items.

“I’m just hoping that this isn’t the end,” Backlund said. “Our goal is to get people on board and start to actually make some significant changes.”

The three MSW students want the residents of New Tampa to take pride in their community and to keep engaging through community events.

“It’s really up to the community to decide that this is a good thing for them and it’s something that they really want to do,” Starrette said.

New Tampa Townhall

Happy 5th Birthday, Palms Pharmacy

Congratulations go out to Shahida Choudhry, Pharm.D., and her amazing, super-friendly, knowledgeable team at Palms Pharmacy at 17008 Palm Pointe Dr. in the Shoppes at the Pointe plaza in Tampa Palms, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in April with a great, free event for its customers.

Most items in the store were buy-one, get-one-half-off for the one-day party, which was attended by several dozen customers, in addition to the Neighborhood News. Photographer/video producer Charmaine George and I were among those who enjoyed the free cupcakes from Smallcakes Cupcakery next door, as well as truly delicious coffee drinks from the Bean Bar coffee truck.

Palms Pharmacy, which has been providing both rapid Covid-19 and Covid antibody testing for several months, is now also offering both the two-shot Moderna and single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccines, as well as shots for the flu, shingles and other ailments. And, the prices for everyday over-the-counter medications, vitamins, supplements, CBD products and sundries are competitive with the big chains. For more info, call (813) 252-9063, visit ThePalmsPharmacy.com or see the ad on pg. 19. — GN

Palms Pharmacy

One Year Later, No Regrets For These Parents

It has been nearly a year since families had to wrestle with one of the toughest decisions of their lives — whether to send their kids to brick-and-mortar classrooms, or have them learn at home via computer.

Because of Covid-19, the choices caused a great deal of consternation and debate among families in New Tampa, along with the rest of the state. We talked to three of those parents last July, each of whom had different and complicated choices to make.

So, how did those decisions work out?

Well, we caught up with those families as the 2020-21 school year was coming to a close, and they all say they would make the same decision again, even though the results were mixed.

Laurie Gonzalez actually had two decisions to make — should she return to teaching in a classroom at Turner-Bartels K-8 School, despite having an auto-immune disease, and should she allow her son Grayson to attend classes at Benito Middle School?

The answer, in the end, was no to both questions.

Gonzalez was fortunate, however. The administration at Turner-Bartels accommodated her health concerns, and she was not forced back into the classroom. She says that other teaching friends of hers weren’t so lucky.

“The administration at my school deserves some recognition for being amazing,” she says. “Other schools were not as flexible.”

Gonzalez admits that teaching virtually paled in comparison to teaching in a classroom, and it wasn’t her preferred method of doing her job. Even so, she says the school year went about as well as it could have.

However, she says Grayson did not have as good an experience.

While he had great teachers, Gonzalez says, Grayson did not enjoy learning online. “There was too much information being thrown at a 12-year-old,” she says.

Socially, eLearning also had a negative impact, because Grayson is outgoing and engaging. Gonzalez says it was “mentally taxing” for him to stare at a screen all day. While he had his friends in the video gaming community, he missed person-to-person contact.

As 2020-21 school year comes to a close, however, Laurie does not regret her decision, because she achieved her primary goal: keeping her family safe.

“I would 100 percent make the same decision again, because it kept us from getting coronavirus,” Gonzalez says. “I had two family members pass away from coronavirus complications, so I am still taking it very seriously.”

Other Decisions, Other Results

Despite the spread of Covid-19 last summer, and the uncertain future of the virus, Lisa Ling did not hesitate about returning her first- and fourth-grade children to school last August, convinced that schools would be taking the proper safety measures.

Her children attend Hunter’s Green Elementary (HGE), and disconnecting from the school community, which she says her family loves, was never a serious option.

Her decision was fortified by the end of the 2019-20 school year when, at the onset of the pandemic, all schools had to shut down in March and everyone was forced online. It was a difficult few months for her kids, and one Ling didn’t want to repeat that situation for an entire school year.

But, sending her children back to school turned out to be the right choice for Ling and her husband Eric.

“I definitely don’t regret the decision at all,” she says. “It went as well as it could have, considering the crazy circumstances we found ourselves in. The kids adapted to wearing the masks pretty well. They didn’t love it, but they were okay with it.”

Ling says there were very few cases of Covid-19 at HGE. Her kids did have to quarantine for 10 days once, but that was due to cases at their after-school daycare. She says most of the cases reported at HGE were due to exposure away from the school.

Ling says her children also were fortunate to have the same teachers all year, even as shortages and changes plagued many schools and caused a great deal of shuffling in many classrooms.

“It was a pretty good year for our kids,” Ling says. “I can’t imagine them having spent a whole year out of school.”

One Decision, Then Another

Meanwhile, Connor Kelly, a 17-year-old Wharton senior, decided to do eLearning for his final year of high school, mainly because he was concerned about bringing the coronavirus home to his parents, Cindy and Patrick.

But, after one semester, and with Covid-19 vaccinations right around the corner, he decided to return to the classroom at Wharton in January.

Truthfully, he says, neither choice turned out as well as he had originally hoped. While he enjoyed the safety and freedom of online learning, he felt the instruction was lacking and didn’t think it was administered very well. He understands it was a difficult experience for everyone involved, “but it was a draining experience,” he says.

School wasn’t the same as he remembered when he returned in January. He’s not sure what he expected, but it wasn’t what he got. It was easier, less challenging. Different.

But, Connor regrets nothing. He loaded up on dual enrollment and AP classes as part of a challenging online workload in the fall, will graduate No. 8 in his class with a grade-point-average higher than 6.0, and plans to study accounting in the fall at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

As far as he is concerned, it wasn’t a great journey his final year at Wharton, but he arrived at his destination.

“I wound up where I wanted to be,” Connor says. “And I’m fortunate that the pandemic really didn’t touch that much. I was very fortunate. So, the decision I made led me to where I am, and ultimately I stayed on track.”

Cindy agrees. “I think it went as well as anything in the year of Covid 19. Everyone had to implement new and different ways to keep things moving along. Do I feel good about the decision? What I feel is very thankful to all the teachers and other team members in Hillsborough County education who worked so hard and made sacrifices so our kids could continue the learn, to participate in activities, and in some cases, to eat during this challenging time.”

Covid-19 School

Luis Viera Op-Ed: Local Support Reaps Results!

For too long, New Tampa has been characterized as an area that does not show up when it’s time to secure support from local government.

Over the last four years, however, we thankfully have begun to see this narrative change.

Just recently, a $7.5-million dollar New Tampa Performing Arts Center — long championed by former County Commissioner and New Tampa resident Victor Crist — looked like it was doomed in the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. Many New Tampa residents — myself included — were disturbed to hear this and showed up to County Commission meetings to let the commissioners know where New Tampa stands. Thanks to this, as well as a promise of likely maintenance support from the City of Tampa, this at-risk project passed by a 5-2 vote.

This Performing Arts Center is but one of numerous local government wins New Tampa has had over recent years:

• In 2017, we passed, after years of rejection in the City of Tampa budget, the New Tampa Recreation Center expansion. Year after year, New Tampa saw this expansion rejected in City of Tampa budgets that seemed to care little about zip code 33647. But, New Tampa residents showed up in red T-shirts to City Council to demand that this Rec Center expansion be included in the budget, and it finally passed.

• That same year, New Tampa successfully pushed to have Fire Station No. 23 — which serves expanding New Tampa communities — included in the City budget.

• Recently, New Tampa residents supported a compromise in the Kinnan-Mansfield stalemate. Thanks to insistence between the City of Tampa and budget support from Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan and others, Kinnan-Mansfield is now open for first responders, pedestrians and bicyclists. Though this is only a single — and we wanted a home run — it is a pivotal single for public safety.

• And, just this past year, a top priority of mine — the New Tampa All Abilities Park for children with special needs — passed our City budget. Soon, New Tampa will be home to a park — a first for the City of Tampa’s budget — for children with intellectual disabilities or Autism.

And, New Tampa has been showing up. In town halls that I have organized, hosted or co-hosted (see page 6), New Tampa’s engaged citizens have been coming out to express their views.

When I ran for Tampa City Council in 2016, I did so because North and New Tampa had too often been ignored in the City budget. For New Tampa, our voice has been heard with results. My vision was and still is not for citizens to be adversarial protestors to the City. Rather, it is one of citizens being involved as stakeholders. This is the narrative that produces results. Residents — Republicans and Democrats — coming together to advocate for our neighborhoods.

And, to quote the Carpenters, “We’ve only just begun.” There is more ground to cover: Residents in K-Bar Ranch look to the County and City to work together on a K-Bar Ranch park; New Tampa lags behind in response times for Tampa Fire Rescue; New Tampa badly lacks robust mass transit investments; and roads like New Tampa Blvd. and Tampa Palms Blvd. also need help.

But, we should pause to see how becoming stakeholders in local government has been paying off for our community. New Tampa – Republicans and Democrats working together – is making its voice heard.

Luis Viera