Meadow Pointe resident and Weightman Middle School eighth grader Josh Patrick was only twelve years old when he set up his first meeting with District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman last August to talk about the lack of sidewalks on Curley Rd. and Wells Rd. heading to the Wesley Chapel School Complex.
“My mom always drives me to school,” Josh says, “but I saw a lot of kids walking and riding bikes that had to dodge cars all the time because there are no sidewalks. I just felt like something needed to be done.”
Not only did Commissioner Weightman agree, he told Josh to appear at a Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting to present the issue, which he did (left photo) on Jan. 9 of this year. Thanks to Josh, the county requested funding to construct the sidewalks from the state legislature, which approved $1.5 million in this year’s state budget in June.
“Sidewalk appropriation requests are my legislative ask for every session,” Comm. Weightman says. “But Josh definitely made this happen.”
Josh says there’s a reason why he succeeded where others have failed. “Most of the time, when someone advocates for something, it’s usually always ‘concerned parents’ who attend those meetings,” he says. “I just think it’s a lot more impactful to have the students themselves there.”
Josh was next invited to attend the check presentation ceremony (top photo) on Sept. 12 with District 54 State Representative Randy Maggard, District 23 State Senator Danny Burgess, Pasco County administrator Mike Carballa, Pasco School Board members Megan Harding (District 5) and Colleen Beaudoin (District 2), and Dr. Toni Zetzsche, the chief communications & community engagement officer for the Pasco School District.
Weightman says that the survey work for the Wesley Chapel sidewalk project will begin next month and will take six months to complete.
At the same time, the county will negotiate the design fee with a consultant and get the task order executed. Then, design and permitting will take about nine months, the procurement of all of the needed property for the project will take another six months, with another two months to award the contract and ten months to complete the construction. In other words, by the time the project is completed — around July of 2028 — Josh will be a junior in high school.
“But, at least it’s going to be done,” Josh says. “It shows that just because you’re a kid, it doesn’t mean you can’t get things accomplished.”
Of course, Josh’s parents, Mark and Marsha Patrick, are extremely proud of their son. We’re super-proud of him, too.
Great job, young man!
