Hurricane Horrors & Feelings Of Helplessness; Plus, Teeghan Brightens My Day! 

As I am writing this, Category 5 Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida, but I was still two+ days from knowing exactly where it would hit and how bad things might get in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and my apartment near I-75 in Lutz. 

What I do know is that although Milton is taking a completely different track towards Florida than Hurricane Helene did, there is no doubt that another large swath of the Florida peninsula is about to take another direct hit from Mother Nature. 

And, based on what we saw with Helene, which devastated the Gulf coast from Ft. Myers to the Big Bend, that is just terrifying. 

The thing is, by the time you receive this issue in your mailbox, you’ll already know who got hit with the worst of Milton and what is being done to help those in that direct path survive and recover from what could be the strongest-ever hurricane to make landfall in U.S. history. 

And this time, folks like us who are 30 miles inland aren’t safe either. No, we won’t have to deal with storm surge, but we could certainly have localized flooding, possible long-term power outages, downed power lines, flying debris, etc. 

Even so, we probably will still be better off than those who live along either coast of the “Sunshine” State. Hopefully, our homes, apartments and businesses will hold up under a day or more of heavy wind and rain. This is not a case of “run from the water” for us; it’s a case of “hide from the wind.” 

But, that doesn’t mean that the uncertainty of it all isn’t still scary for us — especially anyone with young children or older relatives who end up in the teeth of the storm. 

After Helene — as I’m sure many of you did — I had these horrible feelings of both guilt and helplessness. I wanted to help those impacted by that brutal storm surge, but instead, I continued to do what I had to do to make a living, take care of my wife and make sure my kids were OK. 

And, while I hope to be in the same position after Milton is gone, I also desperately do not want to see those who already lost everything have to go through it all again. With so much debris already strewn all over Florida’s Gulf coast, to have to see that debris picked up by even stronger winds and turned into projectiles hitting the few coastal homes that made it through Helene without having to be torn down, is too horrifying for words. 

Although Jannah and I never lost power and had no damage or flooding from Helene, we saw a number of people lament on Facebook, especially in Wesley Chapel, that they did lose power for a few hours or even days. I also saw people who said those folks had no right to feel sorry for themselves, considering what people who live near the Gulf were going through. 

It’s always easy for anonymous people on social media to tell other people what they have a right to feel. If you’re safe and sound, despite losing power, it’s still scary until the lights come back on, especially if it’s your first time experiencing a major storm. And, if someone in your home is on dialysis or needs to have their CPAP machine working in order for them to sleep properly, that fear is compounded. In other words, while I feel horrible for everyone who is still suffering from Helene and whoever ends up going through that horror again with Milton, I would never tell someone who only lost power for a few days that they didn’t have the right to feel badly for themselves. 

But, while I felt guilty for not doing anything to help anyone else after Helene, I know there will be even more people needing even more help once Milton has left the building. 

Feel free to let me know what you or anyone you know did to help people during Helene’s aftermath and I would be happy to relay those stories to our readers so they can perhaps figure out for themselves what to do if and when the latest major storm is gone, the lights come back on and our homes and offices are still standing. 

One thing State Senator Danny Burgess (see story on pg. 8) says we can do is call 1-(833)-GET-HOPE to reach Hope Florida, which provides assistance to those in need and which facilitates the opportunity for those who can offer their assistance to do so. I plan to call immediately after I finish this issue because I am tired of feeling guilty and helpless when there probably are things I could be doing to help those who truly need it most right now. 

Thank You, Teeghan! 

On Oct. 2, a week after Helene hit, I received the sweetest email from a Wesley Chapel reader that truly brightened my day. 

The subject line read, “Everyone loves the Neighborhood News!” and the email said, “Hello Gary: My 8 year old granddaughter Teeghan put all our 2023/2024 issues in chronological order and I thought you might enjoy this pic from a pint-sized fan! — Sandy Carney 

Sometimes, the smallest things — like Teegan’s sweet smile as she posed with her chronologically-ordered copies of the Neighborhood News — can give you the biggest lift. 

I have thought about asking people to send me pictures with their copies of the paper so I could publish them, but for Teeghan and her grandmother to send this picture and email to me unsolicited truly touched my heart at a time when I really needed to smile. Thank you!

Pasco Restores Public Access To Accela System Shortly After Shutting It Off 

It sort of felt like something out of a Hollywood movie: A fresh, new face arrives on the scene and quickly captures the imagination of the public, only to have the government pull the rug out from under them and their many “fans.” 

But, this was no movie and, thankfully, the rug in this case has seemingly been neatly replaced and the young “starlet” and her supporting cast are back to doing what they do best — keeping people informed about new development projects throughout Pasco County. 

Wait, what? 

Yes, it’s true. The fresh face in this case is Kelly Gilroy of the super-popular Pasco County Development & Growth Updates (PCGDU) Facebook page (which I discussed in last issue’s page 3 editorial, too) — who admits she feared just this type of retribution from either the county government, developers or both — and the “villains” at least appear to be one unnamed member of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOC) and Pasco County Planning Commission member and civil engineer Jon Moody, who at the Planning Commission’s meeting on Sept. 6 said, “You shouldn’t believe everything you read on Facebook. Ms. Gilroy spreads false information.” 

Moody was referring to a post Kelly had made on Sept. 3, where she said that a land owner whose property is located inside the Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay District was seeking to rezone their property from agricultural to high-density apartments and 1.5 million sq. ft. of warehouse and commercial space and was attempting to remove said property from the Protection District. Moody said that Kelly’s assertion was false. Whether it was true or not, that’s a discussion for another day, but it appears to be what set off a chain reaction of craziness. Or was it? 

Less than a week later, on Sept. 12, Kelly sent me a Facebook message (that she also posted on the PCGDU Facebook page) that said, “Pasco County has taken the extraordinary step of blocking public access on their Accela Citizens Portal (to) all pre-application developer site plans future and past because of the info I post in my group. Despite being public records, they literally paid their software vendor (Accela) to remove the search function from the public-facing website, apparently at the request of a county commissioner. Now, to get the same info, they (Pasco) require an “Open Records” request (to the county’s staff), which they delay responding to and charge fees to retrieve.” 

Were the two events — Moody’s “call out” of Kelly and the removal from the public access of all pre-app development information — related? And, which of the five county commissioners made the request? Is it a violation of state law to allow electronic access to public records and then take it away, while still allowing governmental officials and developers to continue to have access to that info? 

Consider this: Chapter 119.01 of the Florida Statutes (the General State Policy on Public Records), Subsections (e) and (f) clearly state that: 

“(e) Providing access to public records by remote electronic means is an additional method of access that agencies should strive to provide to the extent feasible. If an agency provides access to public records by remote electronic means, such access should be provided in the most cost-effective and efficient manner available to the agency providing the information. 

“(f) Each agency that maintains a public record in an electronic recordkeeping system shall provide to any person, pursuant to this chapter, a copy of any public record in that system which is not exempted by law from public disclosure.” 

And, after I had given Kelly those mad props for helping us lock onto the updates on her page that affect Wesley Chapel, and the fact that our editorial researcher and correspondent Joel Provenzano admits that the county’s Accela site was where he was getting so much of the background info for his stories, I vowed to help Kelly get to the bottom of this unfortunate situation. 

So, while she talked about possible lawsuits and injunctions to restore the access, I started calling county commissioners to find out if they knew which commissioner initiated the removal of the public’s access to Accela, and why this seemingly drastic step had been taken by the county. More than one of the commissioners I spoke with said that no only did they not know about which of them initiated it, they weren’t happy that they weren’t consulted or asked to vote on such a proposal before the public access was taken away. 

To continue my earlier analogy, before I got very far into my investigation into the “whodunit,” in stepped Dist. 5 Comm. Jack Mariano, who publicly stated that the public’s access to Accela needed to be reinstated “as quickly as possible” and his legislative assistant Sonya Walling put that demand in writing: 

“Comm. Mariano has requested staff to reopen the access to Pre-Application items on the Accela portal as soon as possible. Please reach out again if the PREAPPS are not available by Monday (Sept. 23).” 

Around the same day that email was made available, an unnamed admin on the PCDGU page said, “We sincerely thank everyone who contacted their commissioners about this. Hopefully, we can all move forward. We also learned that the county may repeal or waive the requirement for developers to submit a pre-application proposal altogether at some point in the future in an effort to streamline the application process [since, according to one commissioner, not all Florida counties require it and the process takes up a lot of staff time] and instead only accept site proposals the developers intend on actually moving through the permitting/zoning process. 

“Regardless, this group’s primary purpose will remain the sharing of raw information about proposed development, zoning and growth in Pasco. 

“If this is true and access is restored, we have no animus towards the county and will move on and try to keep the group non-partisan and non-political. Thank you.” 

Fade to black 

“And cut and print it!” 

No Named Storms Since Debby, But Aug. 2024 Was Still One Of The Wettest Ever! 

While I was working on the stories for this issue, I needed to make multiple trips to The Grill at Morris Bridge and Johnny C’s Italian Eatery on Cross Creek Blvd. at Morris Bridge Rd., and I discovered what appeared to be a new feature on my iPhone’s “Maps” app. For the first time that I can remember, the Maps app gave me alternative routes to take from our Silversaw Apartments to these restaurants in order to “Avoid Flood Warning.” 

Wait, what? I know we’ve had a super-rainy last several weeks (more on this below), but I don’t even remember being cautioned to “Avoid a Flood Warning” even after some of our hurricanes hit — and the only major named storm to hit Florida, which wasn’t even that bad here, was Hurricane Debby, which came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane near Steinhatchee, FL — more than 150 miles north of here — and hit our area with really only mild tropical storm-force winds on Aug. 5. 

Since then, yes there have been many days with heavy rains and I saw lots of reports of major flooding in South Tampa, but very few major roads here that got flooded — and I have done a lot of local driving over the past several weeks and haven’t seen any such flooding. 

Of course, I also haven’t driven the roads through New Tampa’s communities, staying mostly on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., Cross Creek Blvd., Morris Bridge Rd. (which I would think would be the most likely to flood) and County Line Rd., but those were the precise streets my iPhone Maps app was telling me to avoid. 

I was most stunned when the app’s “Suggested Route” to The Grill a couple of days before our press time told me to take I-75 north from the S.R. 56 exit (where I live) and take S.R. 54 east to Morris Bridge Rd. before turning south towards Cross Creek Blvd. That trip, however, would have taken me 35 minutes to drive, rather than the 21 minutes the fastest route offered to me (I-75 south to the BBD exit, north on BBD to Cross Creek Blvd. and east towards Morris Bridge) would take. 

And, these types of go-way-out-of-my-way routes have been offered to me pretty much every day for the past two weeks or so. Of course, I always took the fastest routes instead — and never saw a single flooded road! 

So, what’s going on? Has my Maps app suddenly taken up drinking? 

I honestly have no idea, but I thought I would at least attempt to look into it and ask you, our faithful readers, whether or not you’ve been dealing with flooding in or around your New Tampa communities. Here’s what I found: 

Near-Record Rainfall 

Spectrum Bay News 9 posted a chart on its website that said that Tampa had experienced its second or third highest rainfall total ever in August 2024, with 17.78 inches of rain, or less than an inch less than the city’s all-time record August rainfall of 18.59” set back in 1949. The article that accompanied the chart said that “Average rainfall in a typical August is around 8 to 9 inches. There were some unofficial observations with up to 29 inches during August!” 

Of course, the official rainfall numbers are taken at Tampa International Airport, more than 20 miles from the southern tip of New Tampa in Tampa Palms, but still, how much different could the rainfall here really have been and how does it explain my Maps app trying to get me to drive miles out of my way in order to “Avoid Flood Warnings” every single day? 

As someone who hasn’t had to drive young kids to school for a couple of decades, I can only imagine how difficult it’s been driving to and from school with your kids in this kind of weather, especially with all of the distracted drivers there are on the roads these days. 

In other words, please take extra care out there, whether you have kids or not, and no matter where you are heading. And please, don’t try to zip your way through if you do believe there’s a lot of standing water. It’s never happened to me, but I have known plenty of people who have flooded their engines and stranded their vehicles doing that. 

But, based on what I’ve seen to date, please take these “Avoids Flood Warnings” messages on whatever app you’re using with a grain of salt. 

It just kind of feels like the boy who cried “wolf” to me. If I keep never having to deal with flooding when I’m being warned every day, what will happen the one time I don’t heed the warning when I should have? 

And, just because we haven’t really had to deal with a major storm during this year’s hurricane season yet, please don’t assume that our area is out of the woods when it comes to major storms. The next few weeks represent the peak of the season, so keep those flashlights and portable generators at the ready, keep stocked up on potable water and non-perishable food and do everything else you can to keep your family safe. 

I am genuinely interested to hear from any of you who have already dealt with flooding in your New Tampa neighborhood the past few weeks. If you have, you can either email me at ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com or send me a message on our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page! I will run any messages I get — whether you’ve experienced flooding or not, in our next issue.

Viva, Las Vegas! The Nagers Travel To ‘Sin City’ To See The Killers & More! 

Jannah and I had both been to Las Vegas before, but never together, so when it was announced that one of our favorite live bands — The Killers — was having a residency at Caesar’s Palace in “Sin City,” we knew we had to go see them again, despite the 105Âș heat. 

Frontman Brandon Flowers and his crew (top photo) did not disappoint. From the Grammy-winning “Mr. Brightside” to more recent hits like “Caution” and “Boy,” it was a great night for us that started with dinner at Peter Luger’s Steakhouse (bottom left photo), the Brooklyn institution best renowned for its bone-in porterhouse steaks. The reviews say that the Caesar’s Palace version is even better than the original. Maybe…but the meal was amazing. 

We also got to see comedian Taylor Tomlinson during her two-night stop on her “Have It All” tour. Taylor, the host of the current TV show “After Midnight,” is known for her views on growing up in a church family and she recently came out as queer. Opening act Zach Noe Towers was super-funny, too. 

Our first night in Vegas, we saw Kyle Martin (left), who starred in the Billy Joel musical “Movin’ Out” on Broadway, and his show “Piano Man,” a multimedia tribute performance to both Joel and Elton John. Martin said he recently broke Elvis’ record for the most Vegas shows with more than 650. I can see why — he does an awesome job. 

We also made a visit to the Mob Museum downtown (bottom right), where the history of the mob’s influence in both Vegas and the U.S. (including the JFK assassination), features the recreation of the actual wall where Chicago’s “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” took place. The tour ends with a visit to the museum’s 1920s-style speakeasy. 

As for other food we enjoyed, while at the Wynn (one of the most beautiful casinos on the Strip) for Taylor’s set, we ate at a great Japanese place called Mizumi, where we scarfed down Japanese snapper tempura and a king crab hand roll. We closed out our four-day stay with yummy quiche and French toast for brunch at “Mon Ami Gabi” (below left), an authentic French bistro in the Paris Casino. 

We didn’t get to go to the Sphere (which looks truly amazing from the outside) to see its super-pricy “Postcard from Earth” IMAX movie and I didn’t win at the tables, but we had a blast! — GN

Recapping The Highs & Lows Of This Summer’s Paris 2024 Olympics Coverage 

U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles took home 3 gold medals from Paris. 

Although the United States again dominated the overall medal count, the deep American squad ended tied with China for the most gold medals (40) won at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games held in Paris, France. 

But, for someone who has passionately watched every Olympiad since 1968, the obvious highs of this year’s games also were matched by some lows. 

In the swimming pool the first week, Katie Ledecky won her record-tying 8th gold when she broke her own world record in the 1,500m freestyle, but finished a disappointing 2nd in the 800m. Clearwater’s Bobby Finke defended his 2021 Olympic title in Tokyo with a new world record in the men’s 1,500m. The U.S. women’s 4x100m Medley Relay team also set a new world record in winning the gold. And, Caeleb Dressel won his eighth career Olympic gold with the men’s 4x100m free relay, but finished a disappointing sixth in the 50m free and failed to qualify for the 100m butterfly final, as hometown French hero Leon Marchand grabbed the headlines in men’s swimming with four golds and five medals overall, even the U.S. haul of eight golds and 28 total medals led the world. 

On the women’s side, American Torri Huske won gold in the women’s 400m fly, in the mixed 4x100m medley relay and the women’s 4x100m medley relay and led the U.S. squad by winning five medals overall at age 21. 

In gymnastics, the great Simone Biles took home the gold in the women’s vault and both the team and individual all-around competition, but lost the gold in the floor exercise to Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and didn’t make it to the podium in the balance beam or uneven parallel bars. Even so, her eleven Olympic medals are the most won by any U.S. gymnast in history. There were other great performances by the U.S. men (who won the bronze as a team in the all-around) and women in gymnastics, but no other golds. 

On the track, the U.S. men’s and women’s teams dominated both the total and gold medal count, with seven golds each and 34 total medals between them, but there were still some disappointments. Sprinter Noah Lyles came back to win the 100m in a photo finish but finished third in the 200m after reportedly contracting Covid between the two events. But, favored Sha’Carri Richardson took only silver in the women’s 100m when she was beaten by Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, the first-ever Olympic medal for that country. 

Meanwhile, Harvard grad Gabby Thomas dominated the women’s 200m and also won gold in the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams, while the men’s 4x400m relay team set a new Olympic record in winning gold. The favored U.S. men’s 4x100m relay team, which ran without Lyles, was disqualified due to a botched baton handoff. The still-dominant Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record in the women’s 400m hurdles to defend that title and also was part of the 4×400 relay squad that won gold. 

Other U.S. winners included Masai Russell in the women’s 100m hurdles, Rai Benjamin (who led off the winning 4×400 relay team) in the men’s 400m hurdles, Grant Holloway in the men’s 110m hurdles, Quincy Hall in the men’s 400m, Tara Davis-Woodhall in the women’s long jump, Valarie Allman (who defended her Olympic gold) in the women’s discus, the dominant Ryan Crouser, who became the first-ever three-time Olympic gold medal winner in the shot put (with teammate Joseph Kovacs taking the silver) and the incredible surprise, come-from behind win by Cole Hocker in the men’s 1,500m. Also notable was Kenneth Rooks, who came out of nowhere to fall just short of the gold in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. 

Among the disappointments in athletics was the U.S. mixed 4x400m relay team, which set a new world record in qualifying, but finished 2nd to Norway in the final. Alexis Holmes anchored the gold-winning 4x400m women’s relay team but didn’t reach the podium in the individual 400m, finishing 6th. And, if high jumper Shelby McEwen had agreed to split the gold medal with New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr, instead of losing the jump-off between the two, the U.S. would have broken the tie for overall golds to go with our 126 total medals (to 90 for China). 

Meanwhile, China won all 8 diving golds (the U.S. had just one silver medal) and every table tennis gold to achieve the gold medal tie. 

But, while both the men’s and women’s basketball teams won gold (the women’s was a record-setting 8th straight Olympic win), both in thrilling finals over the host nation, and the women’s soccer team redeemed a disappointing performance in Tokyo to claim the gold 1-0 over Brazil, there were other U.S. athletes who fell short. 

None of our favored indoor and beach volleyball teams finished first, nor did our men’s or women’s water polo squads. We did earn one rowing gold — in the men’s fours — but earned zero boxing golds and only one bronze medal. 

What I didn’t understand was why we didn’t see any of the boxing matches (see below) or rowing finals live. The most controversial thing at these games was the boxing gold won by Imane Khelif of Algeria, who had previously been banned from competing because she had both men’s and women’s chromosomes, a rare condition — even though she had been born and lived her whole life as a female — but we never saw her fight. 

NBC-TV and its Peacock streaming service, in my opinion, did just an OK job overall, and fell short of showing all of the events of these Olympics, despite having multiple channels to show them.