Volume 18 Issue 9
Inside:
Broadway Comes Back To Tampa! See Neighborhood Magazine!
April 24, 2010
The Direct-Mail Newspaper Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IS DIRECTLY MAILED TO: NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • West Meadows WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg
Former Wharton Star A Hero On & Off The Court For Butler By Joshua Litton As my father, brother and I finished loading up the truck and pulled out of our New Tampa home on our way to Indianapolis for the NCAA Final Four, I began to reflect on all of the lessons my brother Shawn Vanzant almost inadvertently had taught me. Shawn, who is now a junior point guard for Butler University in Indiana, joined our family back in 2006 after his father had fallen ill. My family had just moved to Tampa from Winter Springs, FL, and my younger brother, Zach, was a freshman on Wharton’s junior varsity team when he met Shawn. Coach Tommy Tonelli had developed a system whereby veteran players would mentor incoming players and the two were paired together. Over the course of the 2005-06 season, Zach and Shawn became very close. When my parents were contacted by Coach Tonelli regarding Shawn’s
job and my questionable class schedule, parental status, so we drove all they agreed to through the the temporary night. One by arrangement one, we passed because of the Atlanta, Chatfriendship tanooga, Shawn and Nashville and Zach had then Louisville. developed. Then, at 9 a.m. Not long the next mornthereafter, that ing, we had “temporary” Shawn Vanzant (third from left), with his finally arrived at situation extended family (l.-r.): Chase, Lisa, Zach, our hotel, locatturned permaJeff and Joshua Litton. ed 20 miles nent and a south of Indianapolis. friendship blossomed into a brotherThe road trip pretty much mirhood. Suddenly, Zach, Chase and I had another brother. Whether it was a 2-on- rored the journey Shawn had overcome. By no means does it compare to 2 game of Nerf basketball or watching the hardships he had to endure to get movies together, Shawn became one of where he is today, but it definitely the boys. demonstrated the power of family. Our 16-hour road trip to Indy When Butler beat Kansas State 63began promptly at 6 p.m. We couldn’t 56 in the NCAA Regional Final game leave any earlier because of my dad’s
the week before, we realized that the Bulldogs were headed to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in school history. My family also knew that, one way or another, we would be at the game for Shawn. No matter what it took, no matter how far we had to drive, we would be there. This mentality was at least partially derived from the unselfishness Shawn has demonstrated since we took him in. He has never once complained about the cards he has been dealt and has overcome every obstacle placed before him. He has never wilted in the presence of adversity. When Shawn signed his letter of intent during his senior year at Wharton to play for Butler, he knew he would be playing most of his games in Indianapolis. But, what he didn’t know was that two of those games would be just miles south of the Bulldogs’ Hinkle Fieldhouse at Lucas-Oil Stadium for the See “Vanzant” on page 38.
EPC Board Sends Bridge Lawsuit Back For A Second Hearing
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
An Update On Segment A Of The BBD Widening, A Way To Give Your Kids The Academic Edge & Wharton High’s Best Buddies Program!
Saddlebrook Resort Hosts ‘Broadway Comes To Tampa’ (And, While You’re There, Try Out The New Tropics Menu), Big Burritos At Machismo & Much More!
See pages 3-46!
See pages 47-60!
ECRWSS
LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
appointed by the EPC and, earlier this year, he ruled that the appeal was without merit and that the project should be allowed to more forward. However, it is the EPC Board that makes the final decision in such cases and, after hearing testimony from a halfdozen concerned residents from both communities, the EPC Board voted unanimously, 4-0 (commissioners Rose Ferlita, Mark Sharpe and Jim Norman were absent from the meeting), that the case should be re-heard. “This (bridge) is going to be a tremendous impact to our community,” See “Bridge” on page 15.
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Also Inside This Issue!
hoods, endanger pedestrians, cause noise and air pollution and disrupt their quality of life. City officials, on the other hand, contend that the bridge is a necessary component of the planned transportation system for the New Tampa area, and further, that they are required to build it because it was paid for, at least in part, by developers who were required to contribute money for the local road network in their development agreements with the city. In 2008, the EPC issued a permit to the city allowing the removal of a small patch of wetlands in West Meadows as part of the construction of the bridge, but West Meadows resident Evelyn Romano filed an appeal of that permit last year. The appeal was presided over by a hearing officer
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), acting as the Board of the county’s Environmental Protection Commission (EPC), voted April 15 for the lawsuit that was filed by a West Meadows resident against the City of Tampa’s proposed bridge over I-75 to be sent back
for another hearing, rejecting the previous hearing officer’s order allowing the project to move forward. The bridge, which would link New Tampa Blvd. in West Meadows with Commerce Park Blvd. in Tampa Palms, has long been a sore point for many residents of both communities, who say that if it is built, it will bring large volumes of traffic into their neighbor-
Dated Material Please Rush!
By Michael Smith
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 18, Issue 9 • April 24, 2010 • www.NTNeighborhoodNews.com
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