Team Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Josh Laban blocks a shot at the net during the gold medal sitting volleyball round of the 2018 DoD Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. June 8, 2018. Navy won the gold. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
When District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa, read about the exploits of Tampaโs Mike Nicholson in the Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games, he remembers being moved.
Despite losing three limbs in Afghanistan n 2017, Nicholson picked up the pieces of his life and won an incredible six gold medals at the competition.
Nicholson, a retired Marine Corps Sgt., then set off on another goal โ to bring the games to his hometown.
Viera was ready to jump at the chance to help. He volunteered to head up a large committee of individuals to promote the Warrior Games, which will be held June 21-30 at various locations in Tampa.
U.S. Army SPC Brent Garlic is cogratulated after receiving the U.S. Army Heart of the Team award during the Closing Ceremony at the 2018 Department of Defense Warrior Games June 9, 2018 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The DoD Warrior Games are an annual event, established in 2010, to introduce wounded, ill and injured service members to adaptive sports as a way to enhance their recovery and rehabilitation. (DoD Photo By: Mark Reis)
โFor what so many of them have sacrificed, we should welcome them with open arms,โ Viera says. โIโll be darned if thereโs empty seats at these events. We owe it to these people to cheer them on.โ
The opening ceremony will be held tonight, June 22, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., at Amalie Arena, and will be hosted by former โThe Daily Showโ host Jon Stewart (pictured, right, at last yearโs games), with music by Grammy-nominated country singer Hunter Hayes.
The Warrior Games were created in 2010 as a way to help with the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded veterans and expose them to adaptive sports.
More than 300 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans are expected to compete at this yearโs games.
All four branches of the U.S. Military will be represented, as well as athletes from the United Kingdom Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force, Canadian Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Netherlands and the Danish Armed Forces.
There will be head-to-head competition in 14 sports, including โ for the first time โ golf, wheelchair tennis and even wheelchair rugby.
The University of South Florida will host a number of events during the games:
โข Track events will be held at the USF Tampa campus on Saturday, June 22, 7 a.m.-3 p.m., with field events the following day, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
โข The wheelchair tennis competition will be held at USFโs courts on Sunday, June 23, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
โข The sitting volleyball finals will be held Sunday, June 30, noon- 4 p.m., at the Yuengling Center on N. 30th St.
โข Amalie Arena, the Tampa Convention Center, Macdill Air Force Base and the Eagles Golf Course in Odessa also will host competitions in other sports.
A complete schedule is available at DoDWarriorGames.com/schedule.
Viera started a New Tampa Veterans Association as one of his first actions after being elected to his City Council seat in 2017. A longtime supporter of the military and veterans, it is Vieraโs hope that those competing in the Warrior Games do so in front of large and receptive crowds.
โI think this is a very patriotic community,โ Viera says. โAnd we have a lot of veterans in New Tampa that I think would like to see these heroes compete.โ
For information about attending the Warrior Games closing ceremonies, visit AmalieArena.com. To learn more about the Warrior Games, visit DoDWarriorGames.com.
David Gwynn, FDOT District 7 secretary, says improvements are on the way.
Although traffic and congestion are part of daily life for those driving around Wesley Chapel and New Tampa, getting out of the area is only the beginning of what can be a long and teeth-gnashing chore for area commuters.
For folks heading to work in Tampa or St. Petersburg, once the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd./S.R. 56/S.R. 54 maze is completed, itโs onto the local interstates, which offer their own headaches.
But, there are efforts now ongoing to change that.
David Gwynn, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 7 secretary of transportation, who spoke at the June 2 North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Pasco Hernando State Collegeโs Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, provided some promising updates about a host of road improvements FDOT currently is working on or has planned that will have an effect on traffic faced by Wesley Chapel drivers.
โWeโve got some big projects going on,โ Gwynn said, adding that one of the biggest challenges at the moment is finding enough contractors to do all the work at reasonable prices, due to a bustling economy.
โWeโre probably taxing the construction industry,โ he said. โThatโs probably the thing we worry about the most.โ
Locally, Gwynn said the roadwork that will impact travel around Wesley Chapel is the work on east-west roads like S.R. 56 (which is being extended), S.R. 54 (which is being widened) and S.R. 52 (which is being extended).
โThereโs a lot of demand to go east-west,โ Gwynn told the Chamber members. โRight now, getting from US 301 to I-75 isnโt that easy. These will provide new corridors to connect it and will probably provide the biggest benefit of all.โ
Gwynn also said that the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) at the S.R. 56 exit of I-75 and the planned (and finally funded) Overpass Rd. interchange between the S.R. 54 and S.R. 52 exits will ease traffic immeasurably.
Outside Of The Area, Butโฆ
Notably for local commuters heading to work, improvements are coming to two major Tampa trouble spots โ the north- and southbound exit lanes at I-4 and I-75 and the stretch of I-275 from Bearss Ave. to the 275/I-4 interchange, better known as โmalfunction junction.โ
While the I-75 project is well under way โ in fact, the northbound ramp from I-4 to I-75 already has been completed โ the enhancements on I-275 are still only in the planning stages, but cleared a major hurdle on June 11, when, after a five-hour debate, the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted 11-5 to keep the project in its 5-year transportation plan.
The leading proposal to fix the congestion problem is to transform I-275 from three lanes in each direction between Bearss Ave. (and the interchange at I-4) to four lanes while โhardeningโ the shoulder for emergency vehicles and buses. The project also would include enhancements at malfunction junction.
The I-275 proposal continues to draw strong opposition from many Seminole Heights and Ybor City residents, who favor a no-build alternative and an emphasis on mass transit solutions.
However, the Tampa Bay Partnership, a privately-funded business-driven advocacy group dedicated to solving Tampa Bayโs most pressing challenges, commissioned a survey in mid-May of 400 Hillsborough County residents, and the results showed that 84 percent (with a reported margin of error of only 5 percent) of those surveyed were in favor of widening I-275.
Traffic congestion (43 percent) and meeting the future growth needs of the area (34 percent) were the primary reasons given for the support.
And, while opponents prefer a number of different transit options, the Tampa Bay Partnership survey showed that 79 percent of those polled believe that a balance of transit and interstate improvement options is the best way to create a better transportation system.
The I-275 project already has $80-million allocated for it, and that money would have been lost if the vote had gone the other way. Funding still needs to be secured for the full cost of the project, which is $400 million total, before it can proceed.
Pascoโs Board of County Commissioners wrote a letter, signed by all five commissioners, to Hillsborough MPO chairman Les Miller voicing support prior to the vote, stating that, โAdding these general use lanes is an important priority to help the flow of people and commerce throughout our region.โ
The letter from the Pasco BOC also stated that not moving forward with the I-275 plan would hurt the proposed Bus Rapid Transit project that would connect Wesley Chapel to Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Both the I-275 and I-75 projects could substantially improve drive times for Wesley Chapel and New Tampa residents who work in south Tampa or even St. Pete โ or for anyone trying to get to Tampa International Airport.
The biggest current FDOT project, by far, is replacing the existing Howard Frankland Bridge, which alone will cost $800 million. For those who work in St. Petersburg, the drive back to Pasco takes more than an hour at rush hour, and a lot of that time is often spent in that seemingly-never-moving traffic on that bridge.
Another project that would speed the commute along I-275 is one being proposed to fix the Westshore Blvd. interchange, which Gwynn says is FDOTโs No. 1 unfunded priority. A public workshop was recently held, with a public hearing scheduled for January of 2020.
Southbound I-75 will have a longer ramp to I-4 soon. (Photo: Aerial Innovations, Inc.)
The I-75 southbound interchange improvement at I-4 (see picture, top right) is well under way and will help relieve a bottleneck all too familiar to Wesley Chapel and New Tampa residents who make the drive to Tampa or Orlando.
The project is relocating the exit point to I-4 roughly one mile to the north, which will create a 1.25-mile-long, two-lane ramp separated from the mainline travel lanes by a guardrail. The new two-lane ramp will split at the current ramp location, with lanes going east and west onto I-4.
Drivers will no longer be able to dive into the current exit lane off southbound I-75 onto I-4 at the last second, eliminating that decision point.
Work on the northbound entrance to I-75 was completed last year, joining the two ramps into one two-lane ramp that is separated from the mainline travel lanes until merging into a single lane and entering I-75 on a new, long auxiliary lane, according to the FDOT website. That project cost $18.4 million.
โTo be honest, there is never enough money to solve all the issues out there, so we try to hit the critical ones first,โ Gwynn told the Chamber members at the breakfast. โWeโre never going to catch up or make it congestion-free, but we try to do our best to provide enough corridors that hopefully it wonโt be horrible.โ
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.
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.
