New Year's resolutions of local luminaries

We checked in with some locals to see what changes they are planning for 2016, and what they are looking forward to most in the upcoming year:

 AlessiAarene Alessi
Business Development Director, Legacy at Highwoods Preserve

“My New Year’s resolution for 2016 is to master the delicate art of “work/ life balance” and to figure out how to be both a successful industry leader in senior living and a fabulous mom of two beautiful children at the same time.”

Looking forward to: “I am looking forward to being part of growing the innovative senior living community that sets the standard for the next generation of assisted living. I have a passion for serving seniors and my position at Legacy at Highwoods Preserve allows me to be a resource for our community.”

CaseyVal Casey
New Tampa Noon Rotary President

“My goal for 2016 would be to raise more awareness for our wounded troops and the Tampa Fisher House.”

Looking forward to:”A change in the current administration. My son Ryan’s graduation from Texas A&M.”

ClouserTracy Clouser
Director of Marketing, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel

“My resolution is to achieve and maintain a healthy balance between work and family and to take care of my health in a well-rounded way…not just related to nutrition and exercise.”

Looking forward to:”My son will be entering his senior year in high school in August, which is bittersweet but exciting. I am also looking forward to our expansion at Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel in December so we can better serve the community.”

CristVictor Crist
Hillsborough County Commission, District 2

“I want to lose 25 pounds, improve my diet by cutting out fatty foods and carbs to help ensure a longer, healthier, happier life.”

Looking forward to: “Spending quality time with my family and friends along with working to bring closure to some very important matters that we are dealing with on Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners.”

DarraghKristy Darragh
Broker Associate, Florida Executive Realty

“My new year’s resolution is to continue to mentor new agents within our company and provide exceptional service to my clients.”

Looking forward to: “Looking forward to 2016, I am excited about watching the changes in our market and promoting the New Tampa area as a wonderful place to call home!”

GambacortaPeter Gambacorta
Executive Chef and Owner, Private Chef of Tampa

“Spend more time with my grandchildren: Peter, Ella, Tommy, and the little rascals Cole and Lex.”

Looking forward to: “As a Board of Directors member of Rotary’s Camp Florida to work on another large improvement for Kids with Special Needs at the Brandon camp.”

GunterGary Gunter
Gunter & Gunter Insurance

“The past is history, the future is a mystery, the present is a gift! I resolve to enjoy that gift more often!”

Looking forward to: “I look forward to the excitement of new beginnings that a New Year promises us!”

HarrisonShawn Harrison
State Representative, District 63

“My resolution would be to spend less time in Tallahassee and more time with family in Tampa in 2016!”

Looking forward to: “I am most looking forward to continued growth for our business, visits to see our daughter compete for the Washington & Lee Equestrian team in the Spring, and a family vacation this summer.”

Kennedy AllenHope Kennedy Allen
President/CEO, The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce

“To quit eating fast food (I have the same one every year).”

Looking forward to: “The grand opening of Florida Hospital Center Ice; we did their ground breaking on my 40th birthday- so it is a special project to me.  There are so many more projects happening, and I look forward to all of them coming out of the ground in 2016.”

MontelioneLisa Montelione
Tampa City Council, District 7

“Aside from my annual resolution to live healthier, it is my resolution to continue fighting for you as your City Council member. The residents of District 7 contact me every day with problems that need to be addressed in their communities and in our City. I am always happy to address these concerns; whether they are big or small. Though I am proud of the work that my office does, I am resolved to do even better. I am in contact with our departments every day to see what can be done to address possible concerns before they happen. Let me know how I can keep making District 7 and Tampa great!”

Looking forward to: “I am most looking forward seeing all of the efforts I have made while on City Council materialize. This is particularly true of my initiative to develop and implement a Vision Zero plan for the City of Tampa. It can be summed up in one sentence: “No loss of life is acceptable.” In collaboration with Walk Bike Tampa and other regional partners, we are looking to create a pedestrian-safe environment in our city. In 2015, Hillsborough County set a new record high for the number of pedestrian deaths. The most recent data tells us that a total of 53 people have died on our streets in 2015. This does not account for accidents that occurred in the month of December! I am most looking forward to seeing how many lives our initiative will save. Though it will never be enough unless our roadway death toll is zero, if we can save just one life then it will make all the hard work worthwhile.”

MooreMike Moore
Pasco County Commissioner and Wesley Chapel resident

“Have more family dinners. Meetings, events, cheer practices, football practice, piano lessons, etc., have made family dinners at home a thing of the past. As our kids get older, family dinners are even more important. So, my New Year’s resolution is to carve out at least 2 days a week where all five of us sit down and have a phone-, TV-, iPad-, computer-free family dinner at home.”

Looking forward to: “On a personal level, I’m really looking forward to a couple of family vacations we have planned for 2016. As a County Commissioner, I’m excited about my appointment to the Pasco County Economic Development Council Board of Directors and looking forward to working with the new leadership team to accomplish our goals and objectives. Pasco County is on the rise and I expect great things in 2016!”

WoodsBrad Woods
Principal, Paul R. Wharton High School

“I don’t really make New Year resolutions, but I try to make every day better than the day before.  I always want to be there for my children and  be the best father that I can be.  Professionally, I want to continue to make Wharton a great place for students to come to learn and grow into young, productive adults and for them to go out into society and become great leaders.”

Looking forward to: “I am just looking forward to a great 2016 in every way possible.”

— Compiled by Celeste McLaughlin

Shhh! It’s The Neighborhood News Anniversary Party!!!

speakIf you, like the Neighborhood News staff, enjoy singing, dancing, enjoying delicious food and sipping some great wine or even whiskey, why not join us at our VIP “Speakeasy’ event before our two-year anniversary party at our office on Thursday, January 14, 2016.

It’s easy to sign up. The first thing you should do is go HERE!!!!!! and be one of the first 50 readers to register.

When your registration is accepted, you’ll receive an email telling you the time the VIP event starts and the evening’s password to get in.

The food and fun continue when we open the doors to everyone at 7 p.m. that evening, but to sample gourmet treats from The Private Chef of Tampa, Peter Gambacorta himself (PrivateChefTampa.com), plus wine tastings of the same bottles of wine (there’s six different kinds) we gave as custom-printed gifts from our friends at Time for Wine (TimeforWine.net) this holiday season, as well as free whiskey and vodka tastings, karaoke by my buddy Gary Carmichael (HeartandSoulKaraoke.com), plus free drawings for great dining and other prizes.

It’s as easy as CLICKING ME to get signed up.

Pasco's new logo to showcase vibrant places and spaces

pascologoAfter three years of study, Pasco County has unveiled a new logo with a new tagline — “Open Spaces. Vibrant Places.” – that Melanie Kendrick, the county’s acting program administrator for economic growth, says ties the county’s story together, presents the area with a sense of place and provides a cohesive sales pitch to tourists.

“I think we needed to tell the Pasco story in a holistic way,’’ said Kendrick, a member of the county’s Branding Team, comprised of leaders from multiple departments.

“We don’t have that one thing to sell in Pasco. If you ask 20 people about what makes Pasco, you’ll get 20 different answers. We thought this was a way to unify the county.”

Pasco County Commissioners approved the new branding effort last month by a 4-1 vote, with only District 5 Commissioner Jack Mariano dissenting.

In today’s fast-moving world and an ever-growing social media universe, branding is everything, especially when it comes to attracting tourism, says Ed Caum, manager of the Pasco County Office of Tourism Development, who also was the featured speaker at the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce’s October Business Breakfast.

PascoLogo2The logo, with carefully chosen orange, yellow and gray colors, a rising sun (as the letter “O” in Pasco) and a sandhill crane flying in front of it, was designed by Jennifer Lachtara, the marketing coordinator for Pasco’s Economic Development Council (EDC). A variation of the logo was in the “MyPasco” app that the county released in the Google Play and ITunes stores in June.

Caum and Lachtara, along with Pasco County public information officer Doug Tobin, were key members of the Branding Team, though Caum stressed it was a county-wide effort involving many.

Caum also says there was talk of outsourcing the re-branding effort, but by doing it in-house, the re-branding committee saved taxpayers roughly $80-120,000. He explains that Hernando County rebranded itself as the “Adventure Coast” in September and that effort cost roughly $85,000.

It was time for the re-branding, Kendrick says. She recalls doing an interview with some USF students about 3-½ years ago, and she asked them what they thought about Pasco County. Some didn’t know where Pasco was, even though they acknowledged hanging out at The Shops at Wiregrass mall.

The county has basically used its seal as a primary logo, with various unofficial logos and catchphrases popping up here and there. “Open Spaces. Vibrant Places.” replaces “Room To Grow” and others like “It’s Only Natural.”

“A seal really isn’t a logo and a seal is not a brand,’’ said Caum, adding that the seal will still be used on official documents. But new county cars will bear the new logo, as will buses, stationary, business cards and shirts of county employees when it is rolled out, which Caum says should be by 2017.

More important, Caum says, is that the plan is to recognize those vibrant places in Pasco County with the new logo, which is already on the county’s website. It will effectively serve as a stamp of approval.

Caum says there will be criteria for those applying to be deemed a vibrant place or an open space. When those criteria are determined, they will be listed on an application for interested parties.

Signs will be positioned throughout the county in areas that are accepted as part of the program, like parks, cities, downtowns or green spaces. Shopping districts and neighborhood associations also can apply to be part of the new “story” the county hopes to tell to visitors, tourists and residents.

“We just need to make sure we maintain a brand standard,’’ Caum says.

Survey says: Wesley Chapel pretty darn great for families

With growing businesses, new residential developments, two major malls including the brand new Tampa Premium Outlets, and highly-rated schools, what is there not to like about living in Wesley Chapel?

According to WalletHub, not much at all. The personal finance website recently rated Wesley Chapel the 7th best city for families in Florida. Wallethub compared 115 Florida cities across 21 metrics, with Wesley Chapel scoring No. 1 for housing affordability and wealth gap, and finishing in the top 10 for general affordability (5th) and divorce rate (9th).

“I am very pleased with the rating,’’ says Hope Allen, the president and CEO of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC). “To be No. 1 in affordability and housing says a lot about our area and community. People do look at national ratings when looking to relocate, so it’s very important to do well in these.”

Allen also noted that Wesley Chapel is a Census-Designated Place (CDP), and to be ranked with cities across the state is a great achievement. “Pretty impressive to make the list when we’re not even a city,’’ Allen said. Wesley Chapel received its lowest marks for education, health and safety (77th).

The No. 1 city rated overall was Parkland in Broward County, just north of Coral Springs.

Top 10 Cities

WalletHub’s report looked closely at four specific categories: Family Life & Fun; Education, Health & Safety; Affordability; and Socioeconomic Environment, attributing 25 points to each category.

Within those categories were 21 different metrics. For example, under Family Life & Fun, WalletHub’s experts looked at number of playgrounds per 100,000 residents, the number of family attractions like parks and museums, the percentage of families with children under the age of 18, weather and average commute time.

In 2014, Wesley Chapel was rated the fourth-best place (out of 179 studied) to own a home/raise a family by the national consumer advocacy website Nerdwallet.com. In June of 2015, Nerdwallet.com bumped Wesley Chapel up one spot to No. 3 in the ratings.Top 10 Cities

 

Editorial: We’ll Show You Ours (Distribution Numbers) If They Show You Theirs

garyBy Gary Nager

In recent issues we have run a 1/4-page advertisement that tells our readers (many of whom own businesses that want to get the most for their money in our only two distribution markets, New Tampa & Wesley Chapel) that “We’ll Show You Ours If They Show You Theirs.” Although the ad makes a light-hearted joke about it, we are deadly serious when it comes to distribution figures.

Because both of our publications are distributed by direct mail through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), we can’t “audit” our circulation figures through an independent agency (none of the accredited circulation auditors will audit direct-mail publications, and we don’t really need them to because, in order to receive the special Bulk Mail rate publications like ours receive, we have to give the Post Office enough copies to put one in at least 95 percent of every mailbox in every postal carrier route we serve or the Post Office will not deliver any of them!).

But, we think our postal receipts are an even better proof of how many households (not people; more on this below) receive our publications in their mailboxes (not thrown on their driveways in the rain) and therefore offer the most possible people in both zip code 33647 (New Tampa) and zips 33543, 33544 & 33545 (Wesley Chapel) the opportunity to read them.

As most of our readers in both markets already know (because you tell us so every day), when you have the best, most informative content of any local media outlet as well as the largest circulation, our advertisers can rest easy that there will be more eyeballs reading our words and checking out their ads than any other local medium.

And, the number of those eyeballs keeps on growing, especially in Wesley Chapel, where we have added more than 5,000 additional direct-mail households since the economic bubble hit in 2008, all at our own expense and without any significant rise in our advertising rates!

But, my primary reason for writing this piece today is to tell you that, thanks to input from readers in New Tampa (specifically living in one carrier route in Cross Creek and one in Heritage Isles) who suddenly didn’t receive one or both of our last two issues in their mailboxes, we have recently added two routes and more than 1,000 additional households in zip code 33647, bringing our all-direct-mail circulation to 26,200+ households in New Tampa.

With an average of just about three people living in every household in our area (yes, many have both more and less than three, but that is the average), that means we have nearly 80,000 potential readers in New Tampa (including one carrier route in Lake Forest, which is a Lutz address, but located along Bruce B. Downs Blvd., just south of Tampa Palms) alone! When you add the nearly 21,000 households (also unmatched in the marketplace) we direct mail to in our three Wesley Chapel zip codes, the total number of people who have ongoing direct-mail access to our publications is nearly 150,000 every four weeks (we publish 26 issues, 13 in New Tampa and 13 in Wesley Chapel, every year).

Here’s an explanation you can check with the Post Office as to why we felt we had to add two more carrier routes in New Tampa. Whenever new communities, like K-Bar Ranch, begin building in an already-established area, the Post Office will wait until there are enough households in that new development or subdivision before adding another route. That means the new households in those just-developing areas will simply be added to existing carrier routes located near that new neighborhood until there are enough households in the new community itself to warrant a new route.

All ongoing direct-mail businesses are required by the Post Office to get updated carrier route numbers, but only every 90 days (three months), so until we get our updated counts again, some of the households along those now-larger existing routes may not receive their Neighborhood News until we get our next route count update.

The Post Office has even been known to change existing routes to make it easier for the postal carriers to make sure everyone they serve receives all of their mail — and, as a federal government-funded entity, the USPS isn’t required to tell anyone about those changes (go figure).

Therefore, it’s up to you, faithful readers, to tell us if you suddenly aren’t receiving your Neighborhood News in your mailbox, so I’m always grateful when you do. I can (and I’m always happy to) prove exactly how many copies we print and distribute in each of our two markets, but I can assure you (because I always know how much we spend to mail our publications to you), that if any other local medium claims to have higher numbers of homes, apartments, businesses or readers in either market than we do, all you have to do is ask them to prove it and they’ll likely back off their claim.