Volume 20 Issue 1
Inside: Our 2011 Dining Survey Contest Winners!
January 3, 2012
See page 48!
The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWS MAGAZINE IS DIRECTLY MAILED TO: NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Easton Park • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • The Hammocks • 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 • The Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg
Apparent ‘Pranksters’ Drain The New Tampa YMCA Pool By Sean Bowes The New Tampa Family YMCA in Tampa Palms is planning to heighten security around its building with higher fences and possibly video surveillance equipment after someone drained almost all of the water out of its Olympic-sized pool in an act of vandalism. Sometime after the YMCA’s holiday party on December 11, which ended at 9 p.m., an unknown suspect scaled a six-foot fence that surrounds the pool and tampered with the valves and levers, letting more than 400,000 gallons of water drain out of it. YMCA aquatic director Andrew Palumbo says he received a call around 5:15 a.m. the next morning after a worker noticed that nearly all of the water had gushed out into a nearby retention pond. YMCA officials believe that the suspect had some knowledge of work-
Lifeguards at the New Tampa YMCA take it easy while the pool is refilled. ing on swimming pool systems. “I was in disbelief,” says Palumbo. “There was only two to three feet of water left in the pool when I arrived.” The 50-by-25-meter pool is the largest in Tampa and is 7-foot-6-inches deep at its deepest point. Olympic-
sized pools, like this one, hold more than half a million gallons of water. Many swimmers regard it as the finest pool for competitive swimming in the area, while many other groups also utilize the pool for casual swimming, exercising and socializing. All were affected by the pool’s draining.
“The first group (that was affected) was a program for a group of wounded veterans who use it for water therapy,” says YMCA spokesperson Rebecca Bray, “For some of the veterans it’s the only chance they get to be mobile. I don’t think the person (or persons) who did this realizes the extent of the damage they caused.” At least eight programs have been temporarily cancelled or relocated due to the draining of the pool, including the YMCA’s 115-member competitive swim team, a synchronized swimming team and a group of seniors who use the pool for water aerobics. Additionally, the pool is used regularly by some of the 10,000 members of the New Tampa YMCA branch. Many of the members utilize the pool on a daily basis, since it is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Palumbo says there is a silver lining from the incident — the way the See “Pranksters” on page 6.
West Meadows Residents Upset About Proposed Charter School
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
European Refinement At Paris Hair, Start High-Speed Police Chase Starts In New The New Year Off Right At Tampa Tampa, Brick-Tossing Burglars Strike The Area, A New Sportsplex For Wesley Chapel Rejuvenation, Our 2011 Dining Survey Results, ‘Neighborhood Nibbles’ & More! & Lots Of Local Business News!
See pages 3-37!
See pages 37-52!
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LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
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Also Inside This Issue!
strophic” for drivers and residents in the area. The 17.9acre parcel of land would eventually be home to nearly 1,000 students and 250 more children in the school’s day care center, which would be built next to the school. Although the A planned school & day care center off Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. School Board has some West Meadows & Richmond Place residents up in arms. approved the plan for the charter school, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the school will ever be built. In fact, unless the City See “Charter” on page 32. PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
The Hillsborough County School Board (HCSB) recently approved the introduction of 10 charter schools which could open around the county, including one in New Tampa that has residents of Richmond Place and West Meadows very concerned. The City of Tampa will decide on Thursday, Jan-
uary 12, if the controversial school will be built in the area. Advantage Academy of Hillsborough Inc. is hoping to build a K-8 school on a plot of land on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. at Brinegar Cir. in West Meadows. Some local residents fear that the introduction of a school in the area would bring in an influx of traffic that would be “cata-
Dated Material Please Rush!
By Sean Bowes
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