The New Tampa USF Federal Credit Union branch opened on October 30.
Deborah Clark took a behind-the-scenes tour of the new branch of the University of South Florida (USF) Federal Credit Union (FCU) last month, and it left her eager to share the new facility with the rest of New Tampa.
“It’s beautiful,’’ says Clark, who is the chief marketing officer for the USF FCU.
On Monday, the New Tampa branch, located at the northwest corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Imperial Oak Blvd., in the Trout Creek area in front of Winn-Dixie, opened for business.
The Grand Opening is Nov. 15.
It won’t be fully functional until the end of the year, however.While the retail side of the branch will be ready to accommodate customers, Clark says that will be “just the beginning,” as other departments, like the contact center, collections and lending and real estate teams move in from their current location on the USF campus.
“By the end of the year, everything will be there,’’ Clark said. “We’re moving a lot of different departments to that location.”
While the USF FCU has six other branches off campus, the New Tampa location is the first standalone off-campus branch. The location, Clark says, was chosen in part to service an area that is rich in USF employees, students and alumni. She says roughly 5,200 alumni living within three miles of the new location.
“We have a lot of faculty and staff that live in this area as well, and going back from here to the university might as well be like going to St. Petersburg, so this is going to be a nice hub for us,’’ USF FCU President and CEO Rick Skaggs said at last year’s groundbreaking.
The two-story, 12,300-sq.-ft. credit union features an open-architecture feel, and has a community meeting room that Clark says can host large events with up to 30 people. The larger credit union also will be able to expand its services.
“We think our customers are absolutely going to love it,’’ she says.
The USF FCU was chartered in 1959 for staff and faculty, and started serving students in 1990. It has more than $500 million in assets, more than 130 employees and lends in excess of $100 million per year. The New Tampa branch is located at 20610 BBD Blvd. For additional information, visit USFFCU.org or call (813) 569-2000.
In our last issue, assistant editor John Cotey told you that Hillsborough County had anted up $250,000 in an effort to end the long-time stalemate involving the City of Tampa, Hillsborough and Pasco counties regarding connecting Kinnan St. in New Tampa to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe II at the Hillsborough/Pasco county line.
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, a New Tampa resident, called the county’s move to set aside funds to build the 60-foot-long connection “a game changer.”
However, on the Pasco County side, Dist. 2 County Commissioner Mike Moore, a Seven Oaks resident, told Cotey that “70-80-percent” of his constituents who have contacted him about him about the connector have been opposed to it.
I have become friends with Moore over the last few years, but after Cotey’s story came out in our last issue, I called Moore to explain to him my issue with what he said, as well as with anyone who opposes making this long-awaited, much-needed connection.
“You shouldn’t base whether or not to support the Kinnan-Mansfield connection on how many people contact you about it,” I told Moore on the phone. “You should base whether or not to support it on whether or not making the connection is a good idea for your county, for your constituents — and I know it is.”
Some people who live in Meadow Pointe II, on the Pasco side of the barrier to Kinnan St., say they don’t want the two roads connected.
Now, I’m not a transportation engineer, but in the nearly 24 years I have owned the Neighborhood News , I have attended literally hundreds of city, county and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meetings and I still edit every word of every one of John’s transportation stories and provide insights to him about the history of most of these situations.
Although Kinnan St. is primarily located in the county, it jogs into Tampa’s city limits near the Pasco line, which means that all three governmental entities would have to come to an agreement in order to make the connection.
Moore says he is waiting until after Pasco’s traffic study of that area is completed — which is expected to happen later this month — before deciding which side to support. He says virtually no one is opposed to connecting Meadow Pointe Blvd. (about a mile-and-a-half to the east of Kinnan-Mansfield) to K-Bar Ranch Blvd. in New Tampa, but I don’t believe that connection would be close enough to Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to provide any relief when the only current north-south connection between New Tampa and Wesley Chapel gets backed up — as it does all the time these days, while BBD is being widened between Regents Park Dr. in Pebble Creek and the county line.
The biggest argument the folks in Meadow Pointe II have against making the connection is that Mansfield Blvd. is only a two-lane road that serves four schools — Wiregrass Elementary, John Long Middle School, Wiregrass Ranch High and Pasco Hernando State College. They say that connecting Mansfield to Kinnan would bring additional traffic and increase the danger to students going to and from school.
Sorry, but I call B.S.
Long, the closest of the schools to the possible connection, is located one full mile north of the county line. Vehicles coming from the Cross Creek/Live Oak area would be able to turn right (east) onto Beardsley Dr. to access Meadow Pointe Blvd. and, ultimately, S.R. 54 heading towards Zephyrhills — within 0.3 mile from Kinnan St. Those same drivers also could turn left (west) onto County Line Rd. and hook back up with BBD at Aronwood Blvd. or County Line Rd. a half mile north of Kinnan.
It doesn’t make traffic flow sense that anyone from New Tampa would choose to drive north past four schools during school hours (when there are always crossing guards slowing you down), unless it was their only choice because of a traffic situation on BBD or they were planning to go to the Shops at Wiregrass or some other business on S.R. 56 east of BBD.
In other words, most of the traffic coming from New Tampa heading north would do so in the evenings and on weekends, when there are no students heading to and from school.
It reminds me of New Tampa’s long-time battle for an East-West Connector Road (E-W Rd.). I remember that the people who were screaming the loudest against it were those living along the planned route, in West Meadows and Tampa Palms Area 3. Those folks didn’t appreciate my unconditional support of that connector, even though that road still isn’t built today and seemingly never will be.
Today, many of those same anti-connector New Tampa residents don’t know how they could survive if the so-called Gateway Bridge — the first leg of the E-W Rd. — had never been built connecting West Meadows to Tampa Palms.
Likewise, I’m certain that it’s actually the people in Meadow Pointe II who will get the most benefit from the Kinnan-Mansfield connection. I also can’t believe that they would prefer to see it continue to be piled high with garbage (photo) than allow that tiny connection to become a reality.
Alexandra Joyce performs during her Battle Round on The Voice on Oct. 23. (NBC photo)
Standing backstage just moments before she would begin singing Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” on NBC-TV’s”The Voice,” Wesley Chapel’s Alexandra Joyce didn’t have a care in the world.
The 16-year-old Wiregrass Ranch High junior had prepared for that moment since she was a little girl. She was in the All-State chorus in the fourth grade, competed in talent shows at John Long Middle School, taught herself to play the ukulele and guitar in high school and a day doesn’t pass without Alexandra showing off her pipes.
“I don’t think there has been a single day of her life that music hasn’t been an important part of for her,” says her mother, Adrienne Reed.
So, Alexandra had convinced herself this was just another performance.
Alexandra filmed her audition in June, and waited months to reveal to Wesley Chapel how she fared.
“I felt a lot of pressure on me, for sure,” she said. “An immense amount of pressure. I had to prove something to myself.”
“But,” she added, with a laugh, “right before I went on I was cool as a cucumber, I was chilling.”
Then, the doors opened and everything changed. Her heart stopped, she says, and her breathing grew heavy as she walked towards the backs of four large red chairs.
“Nothing really prepares you for that,’’ she admits.
After quickly composing herself, Joyce began singing, trying not to focus on the chairs in front of her. Then, one chair turned — “You could hear a little excitement in my voice,’’ she confesses — followed by two others. She finished her audition with three judges smiling back at her — Academy- and Grammy-award winner Jennifer Hudson, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and country crooner Blake Shelton.
Whew.
While Levine and Shelton offered some encouraging words while mentioning pitch issues (due to nerves), Hudson didn’t say much. Her nerves now settled, Alexandra wanted to know why.
“She just kind of said to me like, you know, I can’t really compete with the other coaches, so good luck,’’ Alexandra says. “And I ended up calling her out and kind of saying, ‘Well, you haven’t said anything to me. What do you have to offer to me?’”
Hudson perked up and told Alexandra that she saw the drive in her, and the passion. She told the young Wesley Chapel resident that no matter who she chose as her coach, she had the right stuff to succeed.
“Right when she stood up and really started to get passionate about it, that’s when I knew that was where I needed to go,” Alexandra says of joining Hudson’s team.
Alexandra’s journey on the show ended when she lost in the Battle Round to her teammate, Jeremiah Miller, as they both performed “One Call Away” by Charlie Puth.
Alexandra’s Battle Round, like her audition, only aired as part of a montage, so her television time was limited after a an excruciating wait.
“They don’t tell you when the show will be on, they just tell you to watch,’’ said Adrienne, who took her daughter to the initial audition for the show in Baltimore, MD, earlier this year.
Adrienne, who runs a yoga studio in Land O’Lakes, says the experience has been memorable for her daughter, who sent in a video submission to get the initial invitation to Maryland.
In Maryland, she auditioned and was given a “maybe” by the show’s producers. Two weeks later, she received an email telling her the show was going to pass this time, but would keep her in mind for the future.
Two weeks after that, another call came — shockingly informing Adrienne that her daughter was not only getting another chance, but that it would be at the blind auditions in Los Angeles.
“Is this a prank call?,’’ Adrienne asked the caller.
It wasn’t, and when she called Alexandra, she told her to sit down before she broke the news.
“There was a lot of screaming and jumping around,’’ she says.
Adrienne said appearing on a music competition has been a long-time dream for Alexandra, who would often as a child come singing and sliding down the foyer in socks and into her mother’s home office ready to put on a performance.
“We used to watch those shows when she was little,’’ Adrienne says. “When she turned 16, the (young) age limit for the show, she decided she wanted to go ahead and do it.”
Alexandra, a junior at WRH who will graduate early next spring, describes her style as folk indie, but she says she can sing a little bit of everything. Ed Sheeran is one of her biggest musical influences, inspiring her to teach herself the guitar at the age of 13.
And of course, there’s Adrienne, who encouraged Alexandra every step along the way.
“I’ve never really had a music teacher,” Alexandra says. “If anyone, my mother has been the biggest rock for me. When I first started playing guitar, initially I didn’t think I was good enough, and she said ‘Yes, you are.’ She built me up, I really owe that to her.”
Alexandra said the experience has been awe-inspiring.
“I think its definitely been kind of a stepping stone for me,” she says. “I know I have this assurance that I can do this. I have a single on iTunes; I never in a million years thought I would have a single on iTunes.”
She says her favorite part has been the people she has met on this journey, which has been highlighted by being coached by the likes of Hudson.
“That’s just freaking insane,” she says. “Absolutely freaking insane.”
Corporal Alan Wilkett, of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and the Pasco County Human Trafficking Task Force, is presented an award from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for “Law Enforcement Official of the Year” at the 2017 Human Trafficking Summit in Orlando.
Most days, you’ll find Corporal Alan Wilkett at the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) community office at the Shops at Wiregrass mall.
Cpl. Wilkett wears many hats, including that of the commander of the Pasco County Human Trafficking Task Force.
For his work on the task force, Wilkett was recently recognized as the “Law Enforcement Official of the Year” at the 2017 Human Trafficking Summit, held in Orlando on October 2. The summit was hosted by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office. She presented the award to Wilkett, along with awards for “Survivor Advocate of the Year,” “Community Advocate of the Year,” and “Prosecutor of the Year.”
“The award was given to one, but it was earned by many,” says Wilkett. “I didn’t earn it on my own. It’s a team effort by a lot of people, all who are as passionate as I am about ending human trafficking in our area, in Pasco County, in Florida and in the United States.”
Wilkett explains that working to eradicate human trafficking has been part of his job for about seven years. As efforts and awareness of trafficking have increased, he said he’s found that he’s spending more and more time fighting this heinous crime.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work in law enforcement for 20-plus years,” Wilkett says, explaining that he’s investigated all kinds of crimes, including child abuse. “In the course of investigating complaints, we would stumble across things that now we would know as human trafficking. At the time, we didn’t really understand that we had something so comprehensive. When the Trafficking Victims Protection Act became law in 2000, I looked back over my career and saw opportunities to have made a much bigger impact in the lives of people who were affected by this crime. That’s when I became very passionate about ending human trafficking.”
He adds that people often think of human trafficking as a prostitute and a pimp, or a laborer and a boss, but it’s much more than that.
He says it’s a huge business. Using the lowest number that is agreed upon, from the International Labor Organization, estimates are that human trafficking is a $150-billion-per-year business with 20.9-million victims. The United Nations says 27 million victims.
“It’s abhorrent that in the U.S. — the land of the free, home of the brave — that we would have this modern day slavery in our communities. We’re going to end this. I don’t know that we’ll end it in my career, but I can sow the seeds.”
In Wesley Chapel, Though?
You might think it’s limited to the seedier parts of the Tampa Bay area. But, is the human trafficking going on in Wesley Chapel?
Cpl. Wilkett says yes.
“It’s so entrenched in our fabric, it’s in every single community,” he says. “It could be the landscaping guy cutting the grass in a gated community, the construction crew on a new business, going on right in our own shadows. It could be a gated community in Wesley Chapel where girls are being kept during the day and then going to the street at night. We’ve seen examples of all of these things.”
He says he’s seen a “groundswell” in Pasco County, where people are saying, “It can’t happen in our community, in Wesley Chapel, in our country.”
And, Wilkett says there are ways everyone can get involved to end human trafficking.
“If you’re a member of a group – any group – ask that group if they would consider having a presentation,” he says. “We’ll talk about what it is, what to look for, and how to stop it.” Your group could also hold a collection drive to gather toiletries, shoes or clothes to support the organizations that help victims of this horrific crime to recover.
He says that once you know the signs, behaviors, and indicators, “you can be (our) eyes and ears out in the community.” He says don’t take direct action, but call 9-1-1 or the Human Trafficking hotline at (888) 373-7888.
Also, January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Mark your calendar now and plan to attend “Light Up The Night” at the Shops of Wiregrass on Saturday, January 20. Search “Light Up The Night Wiregrass” on Facebook for more information.
Wesley Chapel Rotary Club President-Designate Chris Casella organized the club’s twice-postponed American flag giveaway at both local shopping malls on Oct. 23 -24. (Photo courtesy of David Alvarez)
It’s now been about a year since I switched my Rotary Club membership from the Wesley Chapel Noon club (which meets Wednesdays at noon at Lexington Oaks Golf Club) to the New Tampa Noon club (which meets the same day and time, at Pebble Creek Golf Club in New Tampa).
But, even though I left the Wesley Chapel club, my fiancé Jannah McDonald is still a member there, as are many of mine and Jannah’s close friends.
One guy I never met until he started showing up at the Wesley Chapel Rotary meetings a couple of years ago is former New York Police Department (NYPD) cop Chris Casella. And, although Chris isn’t currently the president of the club (*Note-He is the club’s President-Designate, who will become the WC Rotary’s president after current President Kent Ross and President-Elect David Gainer), he is definitely one of the people I miss most by belonging to another club, even though I still get to see him quite a bit.
Case in point: A couple of issues ago, we told you on page 1 of this publication that one of the WC Rotary’s upcoming service projects was to give away a total of 3,000 American flags at both local shopping malls the weekend of 9/11.
Chris, who has taken on numerous responsibilities and initiated service projects for the club, including the flag giveaway, says he, “lost a lot of friends on 9/11 and it was only because I was injured the year before that I wasn’t allowed to help my brothers that day. I felt a lot of guilt about that, so 9/11 has a special meaning for me.”
In addition to the flag giveaways, the Rotary Club also got multiple poster-sized Thank-You cards signed by hundreds of local residents for all three District 2 Pasco County fire stations and the Pasco Sheriff’s Office District 2 office in Dade City.
Of course, Hurricane Irma reared her ugly head on September 10, which forced the club to postpone the giveaway, first until the following weekend and finally, until the weekend of Sept. 23-24.
“With so many people losing power and all the debris in the roads, we decided to postpone it one more week,” Chris says.”But, we finally got it done.”
With 15-20 volunteers, not all of whom were Rotarians, on hand, Chris says that the flag giveaway ended up being a huge success, despite the postponements.
“We gave away at least 3,000 flags and most everyone was so appreciative that we were still honoring 9/11,” Chris says. “But, the stories some of the people told brought me to tears.”
For example, one woman said her son was a firefighter who ran into the World Trade Center after the first tower collapsed…and never came back out. “She said that some people may have forgotten how horrible it was, but she never can.”
Another woman’s 26-year-old son gave up a successful construction business to enlist in the Army because, Chris says, “He just felt the need to help.” During his second deployment in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb ended his life.
I know that many of us are concerned about the state of our country and the world these days, but when you hear stories like this, about military members and first responders of all races, colors and creeds, some of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, I understand why some people are offended by those who won’t rise for our national anthem. No matter what otherproblems there are in this still-great nation of ours — and certainly there are — we are all Americans who should never forget that unless we all stand together, we could fall together.
