Editorial: Stay Tuned Right Here For WCNT-tv & Taste Of New Tampa Updates!

Less than two months before the 2017 Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel — which will be held on Saturday, March 18, noon-4 p.m., at the new Florida Hospital Center Ice (which now has ice!) — I’m ecstatic to say that my restaurant committee is already surpassing my expectations.

As of our press date — January 19 — we already have 30 restaurants that have verbally committed to participate in the Taste! The truly amazing thing to me, however, is that when we recorded Episode 15 of WCNT-tv (Wesley Chapel & New Tampa television) just four days earlier, we only had 23 restaurant commitments and two maybes (see below).

In other words, virtually every restaurant we’ve spoken with has jumped at the opportunity to give away samples of their cuisine to what we expect will be at least 3,000-5,000 attendees. Everybody seems to want to have a chance to be inside the largest ice skating and hockey facility in the southern U.S. for what was the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area’s signature event for 20 years, even though it’s now been four years since the Taste was held.

George Stella

The Taste, which is being put on for the first time by the Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Fridays at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club), will also feature a live cooking demonstration by formerly 465-lb. celebrity chef and author George Stella, whose popular show on the Food Network is called “Low Carb & Lovin’ It.”

There also will be beer and wine available at the Taste, plus great musical entertainment and emcee/Rotarian Bob Thompson will make the rounds to every restaurant and sponsor booth at the event to help our food and beverage providers and sponsors give away some great prizes throughout the day.

And more great news is that the website TasteofNewTampa.org is now live and will provide regular updates about the event’s sponsors and all of the participating restaurants as they commit to participating. You’ll also be able to purchase Taste tickets on the site shortly and, since Taste proceeds will benefit the Rotary Club of New Tampa Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, your Taste ticket purchases may be tax deductible!

Here is the list of restaurants that had committed to participate in the Taste, whether verbally or in writing, at our press time:

•Stonewood Grill & Tavern
•Ciccio Cali
•Vuelo Mexican Grill
•The Private Chef of Tampa
•Paramount Lebanese Kitchen
•GrillSmith
•Dempsey’s Steak House (Saddlebrook)
•Little Italy’s
•Old Heights Bistro
•7 Layers Bakery
•Top Shelf Sports Lounge (FHCI)
•McDonald’s
•PDQ
•Union 72 BBQ
•Sonny’s BBQ
•Cantina Laredo
•Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt
•Charley’s Cheesesteaks
•Tijuana Flats
•Culver’s
*Pepe’s Cuban Cafe
•Buttermilk Provisions
•Arroy Thai
•The Cake Girl
•BJ’s Brewhouse
•OTB Delights Café
•Nothing Bundt Cakes
•Jimmy John’s
•Buffalo Wild Wings (probable)
*Cheddars Scratch Kitchen (probable)

Look for more updates in these pages, on WCNT-tv and at TasteofNewTampa.org!

And, Speaking of WCNT-tv…

The full-age ad in our latest issue touts the accomplishments and viewership to date of WCNT-tv. Episode 15 of WCNT-tv debuted on YouTube the same day we went to press with current issue, but we are pulling some fairly impressive numbers, at least in my opinion, through the first 14 full-length episodes and special reports that have aired to date.

Our Facebook reach is now at more than 334,000 people, up nearly 100,000 people since our last update in these pages.

We’ve also now had nearly 64,000 views on YouTube (which, we’ve been told, are usually much harder to come by than Facebook views) and nearly 83,000 views on Facebook itself for all of the segments combined.

Those may not be local TV station numbers…at least not yet…but with some episodes garnering as many as 10,000 views and with all of the big news coming up over the next several months, my partner Craig Miller (of Full Throttle Intermedia) and I are confident that we’ll soon pass a reach of half a million people and more than 100,000 views each on Facebook and YouTube.

Craig and I again thank our exclusive webcast partner, the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, and our Studio Sponsor, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, for believing in this project and trying a different way to bring attention to local businesses. Subscribe to the WCNT-tv YouTube channel today!

Thanking Our 2016 Advertiser Of The Year — Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel!

EDITORIAL

Considering that my birthday is in January, I always find the New Year to be a time of reflection, even more so for me than it is about resolutions for the year to come.

We have an awful lot to be thankful for here at the Neighborhood News. We continue to thrive in a market saturated with other publications, we helped launch WCNT-tv and we have provided our 100,000+ readers in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel with more news and information about their communities than any other single media source. I’m not making that up — virtually every day, someone seeks me out to tell me that and thank me for what we do.

It’s been a while since I gave one business our “Advertiser of the Year” award, but there’s no doubt in my mind that one local business has not only spent the most money with us in 2016, it also is at the epicenter of life in our area — Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC). FHWC’s marketing director Tracy Clouser has not only purchased ads in both editions of the Neighborhood News for the hospital, she also stepped up to be the Studio Sponsor for at least the first 16 episodes of WCNT-tv. That sponsorship has allowed my partner — Craig Miller of Full Throttle Intermedia — and I to create 14 episodes of that show to date and not have to worry about losing our shirts while trying to reach a new audience with something so fresh and innovative.

Tracy Clouser

But, FHWC is about so much more than just advertising. The hospital’s presence and visibility on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., a little more than a mile north of the Hillsborough-Pasco county line, has been a major reason why the Porter family has been so successful in developing the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI).

Yes, we’re also happy that the Shops at Wiregrass mall (which opened a couple of years before the hospital), Pasco Hernando State College’s Porter Campus, North Tampa Behavioral Health, Raymond James Financial and The Beach Assisted Living — and some of the most beautiful, new neighborhoods in Wesley Chapel (Estancia and The Ridge at Wiregrass Ranch, etc.) — have all found their way to the Porter Family Trust’s 5,000+ acres, but I honestly believe that FHWC is literally the heartbeat of our area.

The hospital’s CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb also has been visible and approachable and FHWC itself is as technologically advanced as any hospital in the country. Perhaps best of all, the upwards expansion of FHWC already has getting ready to open and will be completed soon, probably before the end of January. I will admit that I did not know much about the Seventh Day Adventists before this jewel of a hospital opened on BBD, but I appreciate and even admire the kind of investment they have made in both of our distribution areas.

Don’t forget that in addition to FHWC, the Adventist Health System also took over what used to be called University Community Hospital on BBD and Fletcher Ave. The renamed Florida Hospital Tampa (FHT) also has been a prominent advertiser in these pages (predominantly in our New Tampa issues), so it’s hard for me to not sing the praises of both local hospitals, especially knowing how many improvements also have been made at FHT — and are still to come in the future.

And, A WCNT-tv Feature Report!

Craig and I have been waiting for the go-ahead from Tracy (who also just completed her year as the Board Chair of our exclusive WCNT-tv webcast partner, the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce) to produce a complete segment about the hospital’s expansion, but it is currently available for viewing now in WCNT-tv’s Episode 14, debuting on YouTube on Jan. 6.

We’re excited to take you on an exclusive video tour of everything FHWC is adding (including some amazing drone video footage from Brad Hall Studios) to make life in our area even better.

Editorial: I’m No ‘Pundit,’ But I Was Wrong About This Election, Too!

gary-new-headshot-150x150In our last issue, I asked the question, “Does anyone still believe ‘La Donald’ was the best choice for the GOP to try to take back the White House?”

Well, Mr. Editor, the answer given by the American public was a resounding, “Heck, yeah!,” as New York billionaire Donald J. Trump is our President-Elect. Deal with it.

Although I took some very-much-expected heat — from both sides, by the way — for it on Facebook, I did as I promised and voted for no one in the Presidential race, even though I cast votes in almost every other race on my ballot on Nov. 8.

And apparently, I wasn’t alone. As chronicled in assistant editor John Cotey’s election recap in our current Wesley Chapel issue, Pasco County (which slaughtered the national voter turnout, 72 percent to 57 percent) more than doubled the total number of “undervotes” (or voters who cast ballots but did not cast a vote in the presidential race) from the 2012 Election.

Although I still hadn’t seen any news media run a story about how many people nationwide cast ballots (but not for president) this year, I did find one ABC News story from the controversial 2000 Presidential Election (remember “hanging chads?”) stating that there were more than two million undervotes for president nationwide that year — and I’m betting this year’s election will surpass that total when all of the final stats are released.

The reason I believe that — and the reason so many fewer registered voters, percentage-wise, cast ballots at all this year — and the reason Trump defeated former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for that matter, is that the campaign was so negative, so draining upon our republic and our people, something had to give.

And give, it did. If anyone still believes in any of the national polls, I have some beachfront property for sale in the Everglades for you. People were so disenchanted with both candidates that it’s hard for me to believe any candidate got any votes at all.

But, considering that most exit polls showed that the biggest single issue that affected how people voted this year was the need for a change, no one should be surprised that Trump won. Whether you love or hate Hillary, there’s no doubt that Americans made it loud and very clear that President Obama’s administration didn’t help enough people enough for them to want to accept four more years of what the outgoing president himself called a “continuation of the progress we’ve made,” which sounds great on the surface, but didn’t instill a whole lot of faith in the millions of Americans who are still struggling.

Sure, you can blame some of the president’s inability to govern on a Republican-led Congress that fought every policy he tried to implement, but voters nationwide said by delivering what really was a landslide (more on this below) victory for Trump that they’re tired of the bickering in our nation’s capital.

That’s why, even though his first-ever elected office of any kind is our Commander in Chief, so many undecided voters seemingly decided to try the new “kid” in town.

I still couldn’t vote for a reality TV star who doesn’t seem to respect women, but the fact is that many more women than expected did vote for him. In fact, the most hard-to-believe statistic I heard was that something above 60 percent of non-college-educated white women voted for Trump. College-educated women voted for Clinton, but by a much slimmer margin.

And, the fact Clinton won the popular vote isn’t really that important. She isn’t the first candidate to earn more individual votes and lose. It’s why the electoral college system was implemented in the first place. In this election, for example, Trump won 30 states, Clinton took 20 and the District of Columbia. But, Trump’s largest margin of victory in any of those states was only the 800,000 votes he won by in Texas. Clinton, on the other hand, won California (2.6 million) and New York (1.5 million) by a combined 4.1 million votes and she won her top-ten states by nearly 8 million votes, while Trump won by only 5.3-million in his top-ten states. Considering that there were only about 120-million ballots cast nationwide, that’s an awful lot of making up to do in his other 20 victorious states, so it’s no surprise he fell a couple of hundred thousand votes short of catching her in the popular vote.

So, even though he was never “my candidate,” I do understand why Trump won, from both the ideological and numbers standpoints, and with his Republican stronghold in both houses of Congress, it would appear he’ll have an easier time of getting his plans implemented. I guess time will tell whether or not all of the people protesting his victory will still be protesting when his (first?) four years is over.

He may not have gotten my vote, but he does have my attention. 

Congrats, WC Jazz Fest!

Congratulations go out to Tim Hancock of Jazz Tyme Productions, as his third Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival, held Oct. 15 at Avalon Park West, attracted an estimated 5,000 people.

Look for a recap and more pics at WCNeighborhoodNews.com.

Editorial: No Real Good Choice

trump-clinton
Republican candidate Donald Trump was trounced in the first Presidential Debate by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, but our editor says he can’t vote for either of them.

So, like 80 million or so other Americans, I watched every second of the first presidential debate between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and I will admit that the former First Lady, U.S. Senator from New York and Secretary of State absolutely wiped the floor with the businessman/real estate developer/reality TV star who somehow fooled Republican voters into thinking that he would be a better choice than the dozen or so much more qualified GOP candidates he ended up besting during the primary process.

And, as a native Lawn Guylander, it was hard to not see the irony of two candidates I truly dislike, each with ties to New York, duke it out at Hofstra University, which is 15 minutes from where I grew up.

Does anyone…even the staunchest Republican supporters…still believe that the unprepared, unimpressive “La Donald” was the best choice for the GOP to try to take back the White House after eight years under President Obama? Seriously?

Trump didn’t just lose the debate; he embarrassed himself and his supporters. Registered Republicans across the country let out a collective “uh-oh” as the billionaire stumbled, bumbled and sniffed (what was that anyway? a cold? allergies?) his way to the worst on-stage performance by a Republican since Sarah Palin.

Trump railed on about the number of murders in Chicago, but seemingly only because it’s Pres. Obama’s hometown, not because he had some important (or valid) point to make. He gave himself credit for changing his mind about the president’s birth certificate not being real, but never explained why he did three+ years after that certificate was produced.

When Trump jabbed lightly at Clinton about her 33,000 deleted emails, she countered with a smashing left hook to the jaw about why he won’t disclose his taxes. “Maybe he’s not as charitable…or as profitable…as he’d like us to think,” Hillary said to the American people. “But mainly, I think it’ll show that he hasn’t paid any federal income tax for years.”

“That just makes me smart,” the precocious billionaire sniffed back.

Smart? OK, maybe he is. But, appealing to undecided middle and lower class American voters who somehow have to pay thousands of dollars a year to Uncle Sam while only making thousands themselves? I don’t think so.

As I mentioned in my editorial after the first debate, I’m a registered Republican who could have happily supported Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson or Marco Rubio (I voted for Rubio in the primary, even though I don’t agree with all of his Tea Party positions), saying that I could get behind almost anyone other than Trump.

The only other major candidate who gave me similar pause was the second-place Republican Ted Cruz, who would attempt to make Christianity our national religion, despite our country’s diverse population. Trump may have sold GOP voters on the “fact” that he was the only non-politician in the field — just as he sold unsuspecting students on the bogus Trump University and unsuspecting condo buyers in New York, Tampa and other locations on buildings with his name on them that he ultimately walked away from without completing — but his “non-politically-correct” responses did nothing throughout the campaign but convince me he was the wrong choice, even as he built up his treasure trove of delegates.

So, obviously, I can’t vote for Trump — or recommend that anyone else should either. Even so, I also can’t throw my support behind Clinton, as I twice did Obama. A few weeks prior to the debate, I heard the former Secretary of State take credit for being in the “war room” as Pres. Obama and our top military officials came up with the plan to ultimately “take out” Osama bin Laden, but where was the First Lady when her husband was President? Meeting multiple times with the Al Qaeda leader after he had made his first (and unsuccessful) attempt to blow up the World Trade Center?

Did we even once hear Hillary say, during either of her Presidential campaigns, that, “We should’ve taken out that SOB when Bill had the chance” all those years ago?

No. Instead, we have been (since the 1990s) — and continue to be — told about the “stand by my man” relationship between Hillary and her husband, who surely didn’t begin and end his process of wooing White House interns with Monica Lewinsky. I don’t believe the Clintons are in any way, shape or form a loving couple. I say Hillary has stuck with her hubby only because she feared that she would never become president herself if she divorced him, despite his blatant philandering.

Hillary claims to be fighting for you and me, but I honestly believe neither candidate cares as much about us as they do themselves.

Yes, Clinton dominated Trump in Round One. It was so bad that if it were a prize fight, it would have been stopped early, with Trump sniffing blood back into his nose instead of sniffling before and after every time he spoke.

Even so, I will still be at the polls on Nov. 8, voting for other offices. I just can’t see myself casting a ballot for either of these two, even though one of them has to win. Heavy sigh.

Editorial: Raymond James Is Official; More To Come In WC…& On WCNT-tv!

gary-newShortly before we went to press with our latest issue (which hit Wesley Chapel mailboxes Friday), it was announced on TampaBay.com (and on the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce website, WesleyChapelChamber.com) that Raymond James Financial had closed on 65 acres of property in the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI).

The Times report says that the finalization of the long-awaited agreement came just days after Pasco County amended its incentive agreement with the company and Wiregrass Ranch Inc. to eliminate a deadline for construction to begin on Raymond James’ planned six four-story buildings totalling 1 million square feet. Combined, the state and Pasco County incentives total $14 million.

JD Porter, who is managing the development of the ranch for his family’s trust, was quoted as saying that now that Raymond James is officially in the fold after closing on the parcel located east of the Shops at Wiregrass mall on S.R. 56 at Mansfield Blvd, “I think a lot of other office uses will follow. It bodes well for everybody.’’

There’s no doubt that the Porter family is still at the forefront of the continuing development of Wesley Chapel, although Wiregrass Ranch isn’t the only part of zip codes 33543, 33544 and 33545 that is still booming.

In Wiregrass Ranch, as we’ve told you before, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) and North Tampa Behavioral Health (see story on pg. 8 in current Wesley Chapel issue) both are in the process of expanding, with FHWC close to completing its upward expansion. In addition, Florida Medical Clinic is very close to opening a new 80,000-sq.-ft. campus on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. just south of the hospital, bringing many more doctors’ offices within minutes of all of our Wesley Chapel readers. As we’ve also reported before, the Shops at Wiregrass mall also is expanding, although at least one major retailer in the mall, Macy’s, may be closing.

The residential portions of Wiregrass Ranch also are expanding, as a new community called The Arbors (also see story on pg. 10) is now building new single-family homes and attached townhomes near the already-popular Estancia at Wiregrass subdivision off BBD north of FHWC. Also selling well are the luxurious GL Homes in The Ridge at Wiregrass Ranch subdivision south of S.R. 56 (see the ad on this issue’s back cover, pg. 48).

But again, there also is plenty happening as you head west along S.R. 56 towards I-75, as a new Wawa gas station and convenience store is getting ready to open just west of the intersection of BBD on S.R. 56. The much bigger news is that Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI), which is expected to open before Thanksgiving of this year, also will host the next “Taste of New Tampa” (and Wesley Chapel) on March 18, 2017.

And, continuing west on S.R. 56, the area around the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) mall also continues to be white-hot, as WCCC members recently got an update on the progress of the 150,000-sq.-ft. Costco being built next to TPO (see story on pg. 13), and both our future print editions and upcoming episodes of WCNT-tv will provide you with updates on the planned openings of both BJ’s Brewhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse near the outlet mall, as well as any progress on the just-beginning construction north of S.R. 56 between I-75 and Wesley Chapel Blvd.

And, Speaking Of WCNT-tv…

My partner and producer on WCNT-tv — Full Throttle Intermedia owner Craig Miller — and I (and everyone affiliated with the show) are so excited to announce that Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, after completing its initial six-episode commitment to be the Studio Sponsor for WCNT-tv, has agreed to sponsor the next ten episodes of the show, which currently has seven episodes “in the can,” all of which are available on our own WCNT-tv YouTube channel.

Episode 7, which debuted on Sept. 16 (a week before you received this publication in your mailbox) features the exclusive first announcement of the Taste of New Tampa, Mollyana Ward’s interview with our Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce Featured Business — Kent and Cindy Ross of RP&G Printing — and my three favorite steakhouses in Tampa. There’s also three you-heard-them-here-first announcements of three great events coming up in our area, has gotten some of the best response we’ve had to date.

(Note-“Mollyana” is the correct spelling of her name, so apologies to our outstanding Chamber Featured Business host for anytime we’ve spelled it wrong in print before.)

Yes, we’re building momentum with this thing, so I hope everyone who reads this editorial either in your print edition or online will watch, like and share not only all seven episodes produced to date, but also Episode 8 (which will premiere on Friday, September 30) and every 8-9-minute-long show after that. We also re-release every episode as individual 2-3-minute segments, so we never take up too much of your time online. Our only goal is to continue to find new ways to inform and, hopefully, entertain you, too — and get you to frequent the businesses mentioned and mention that you saw them on WCNT-tv!

Look for new episodes every other Friday. In other words, when you receive this publication in your mailbox, a new episode of WCNT-tv will air one and three weeks later. And, look for more unique video programming from the producers of WCNT-tv in the future.