Volume 17 Issue 11
Inside: Check Out The NEW Polo’s!
May 29, 2009
See page 29!
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
New Tampa Community Theater, Ice Rink Are Coming By Michael Smith While New Tampa has continued to grow and evolve over the years, residents have often complained that there is little for families to do here in the community, outside of golf, parks, movies and the public library. But, that is set to change, now that the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) has agreed to set aside land (see map) in the heart of New Tampa for a combination community theater and ice rink/sports complex. The move came on May 6, when the members of the BOCC unanimously voted to allocate a little more than 13 acres of land within the 81-acre parcel formerly owned by St. Joseph’s Hospital on the west side of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (BBD), just south of New Tampa Blvd., for the theater and sports complex, which actually are two separate
projects that have both been in the planning stages for several years. The county purchased the land from the healthcare group in 2004 to use for stormwater retention ponds that are needed for the widening of BBD. However, according to Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department spokesman Pete Fowler, there is more land than is needed for the ponds, so the remaining usable acreage, about 36 acres, was set aside for what is now being called the New Tampa Community Park (not to be confused with the City of Tampa’s existing New Tampa Community Park in Tampa Palms). It is within those 36 acres that the theater and sports complex will be built. Fowler says that whatever land is left over after the two facilities are completed will be used for hiking trails, a dog park and possibly sports fields, although nothing has yet been finalized.
The theater is the long-time dream of Doug Wall, president of the New Tampa Players community theatre group, which has been looking for a home of its own since the troupe was founded back in 2001. In fact, Wall also was on the Board of Directors of the now-defunct New Tampa Cultural Center, a nonprofit company that was formed in the fall of 2001 expressly for the purpose of finding a home for the theater group (and the arts in general). With support from former Tampa City Council member Shawn Harrison, the Cultural Center group received more than $20,000 from the city in 2003 for a feasibility study that concluded that the New Tampa area needed and could support a cultural center, but the idea died on the vine after running into opposition from both city and county officials, who felt that the proposed cultural center would compete
Police Department (TPD) are battling a new wave of break-ins that have occurred since the beginning of the year, including 15 burglaries that took place in one night earlier this month. According to TPD Patrol Sgt. J.F. Preyer, those recent break-ins took place in Cory Lake Isles, where eight residents were victimized, and Arbor Greene, where another seven vehicles were broken into.
As has been the case in the past, the thieves’ usual targets are small, easyto-carry electronics, such as I-Pods and GPS devices, that are often left right in plain view within the vehicles. “It’s become an epidemic,” says Preyer, who adds that the number of auto burglaries has been steadily rising since the beginning of the year. And, as usual, the typical offenders are teens who are out looking for a few kicks, a few easy bucks and sometimes, bragging rights at school. “This year, the kids have a new term for it, ‘carhopping,’ which we’ve never heard anywhere else but in New Tampa,” says TPD Det. Heather Bishop, the lead investigator on the auto burglary cases. Both Bishop and Preyer are quick to point out, however, that despite what many people think, the offenders aren’t always “bad” kids from other parts of town, either.
Park Site
for patrons with the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in downtown Tampa, and the Cultural Center group subsequently disbanded in 2005. Since then, the Players have been forced to stage their productions at a variety of locations both within and outside of New Tampa, including the University See “Theater” on page 4.
Young Auto Burglars Taking Advantage Of Unlocked Vehicles
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
Update On S.R. 56 In Wesley Chapel, New Tampa’s ‘Fountain Of Youth’, Local High School Sports Updates & Much More !
A Review Of The New (& Improved) Polo’s Italian Grill, Pamper Your Pooch At The New Tampa Pet Resort, Our Exclusive Summer Camp Guide & Much More!
See pages 3-28!
See pages 29-52!
ECRWSS
LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
Postal Customer
Also Inside This Issue!
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Police officials say that it could and should be one of the most easily preventable crimes, and yet, every year, dozens of vehicles and garages in New Tampa are “broken into,” mostly because drivers continue to leave their vehicles unlocked. It’s become a problem once again this spring, as officers with the Tampa
“These are not kids from ‘over there,’” Preyer says. “We’ve seen supposedly good kids who make good grades and (in at least one case) are going to go to Ivy League schools.” He cites the case of four teens who were arrested earlier this year after breaking into more than a dozen vehicles in several neighborhoods around the New Tampa area. The four were all students at Freedom High in Tampa Palms, had no prior records and were driving one of the teens’ mother’s vehicle while committing the crimes. “We thought (the wave of thefts) might slow down when we caught those four, but that hasn’t been the case,” Preyer says. See “Burglaries” on page 4. Dated Material Please Rush!
By Michael Smith
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 17, Issue 11 • May 29, 2009 • www.NTNeighborhoodNews.com
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