New Tampa Neighborhood News, Volume 33, Issue 9, April 29, 2025

Spotlight On Luis Viera!

By Gary Nager

For those of you who don’t know the story, District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and I had never met prior to his first run for his City Council seat back in 2016.

Viera was running against Dr. Jim Davison, who was my neighbor in the same subdivision in Hunter’s Green for more than a decade (until I moved out in 2006). I also knew Dr. Jim from attending many City of Tampa and Hillsborough County governmental meetings with him, especially on transportation issues.

I was the moderator for the debate between Dr. Jim and Luis, the top two finishers in the special election in November 2016 (Davison was first, by nearly 2,500 votes; Luis was second). They both advanced to the runoff election in December because neither one received 50% of the Nov. vote.

During that debate, I asked a question about whether or not the candidates would support New Tampa seceding from the City of Tampa and incorporating as its own city, an idea originally floated by former Dist. 7 Councilman (and Tampa Palms resident) Joseph Caetano.

While Viera said “Absolutely not. I’m running for Tampa City Council,” Davison said that although he wasn’t in favor of the idea,

he didn’t think seceding from the city should be taken off the table. The Tampa Bay Times wrote an unfavorable editorial about Davison’s comments following the debate and Viera won the Dec. runoff — where fewer total votes were cast than either candidate received in Nov. — by 65 votes.

Since then, Viera has kept his promise to be a hard-working councilman who builds bridges across political aisles. He also finally got the city to fund the expansion of the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms and build the city’s first All-Abilities Park on the Rec Center property. Viera also is still fighting for a Tampa Fire Rescue station in K-Bar Ranch on or near Morris Bridge Rd., in order to improve response times in that community, since response times from TFR Station No. 23 on Cross Creek Blvd. (more than two miles away from the entrance to K-Bar) are too slow.

But, fighting for New Tampa (and North Tampa, the other part of his district) is nothing new for Viera. He says he will continue to fight for our area if he wins his next election in Nov. 2026 — for the District 67 State House seat currently occupied by his friend (and State House Minority Leader) Fentrice Driskell, who is term-limited in 2026.

Hopkins All Children’s Hospital breaks ground in Wesley Chapel

page 8

BEAT! Looking back at ‘Pieces of Eight,” “Into the Woods” & “The Buzz” at NTPAC!

pages 12 & 24-25

District 7 Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera has announced his plans to run for the State Legislature in 2026 but, in the meantime, he’s still out there working for New Tampa! (Photo by Charmaine George)

Our Chicken Contest & Our Podcast To Start Soon; Plus, Lightning Playoff Tickets!

An Editorial by

GARY NAGER

We now have nearly 40 people who have told us they want to be a “Chicken Judge,” to help us find the favorite fried chicken specialty restaurant in the Wesley Chapel area. We have now replied to each and every one of those “chicken people” by email, asking them whether they prefer their fried chicken spicy or not, which place they think they like best before our blind taste-test contest begins and why they think they should be a judge — in 50 words or less.

Once we hear back from everyone, which we hope will conclude later this month, Jannah and I will pick from five to no more than seven people to judge their favorite spicy chicken and five to seven other people to judge their favorite mild/not-spicy chicken. We may also pick a couple of alternate judges, in case our original choices are unable to complete the process — for whatever reason.

We also decided that it’s going to be too hard to get enough of the owners of the eleven chicken places in our area to participate, so we’re going to do this ourselves. Once a week until we find the winners, we will bring in the spicy and non-spicy chicken judges to the new North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) office next to Dillard’s in the Shops at Wiregrass and give them samples of no more than four of the chicken places — we won’t tell them which four — and have them give each sample a score from 1-10. Once all of the judges have given their scores for each place, we will tell them which place won for that week. We will not tell them who voted for which place or what the scores were for each until the entire contest is over. We will repeat this process once each week until all of the places that specialize in spicy and not-spicy chicken have been sampled and scored.

‘Neighborhood Newsmakers!’

The best part about this, in one editor’s opinion, is that we will be video recording all of the festivities as part of the kickoff for my new podcast, which I am calling “New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood Newsmakers.”

I so appreciated that NTBC president and CEO Hope Kennedy gave me the opportunity to be the first guest on her weekly “Chamber Chatter” podcast because it really got the creative juices flowing on this old University of Florida Broadcast News major. I told Hope before appearing on her podcast that I had been seriously thinking about starting one of my own (who hasn’t, right?), in part because I felt I could interview local newsmakers — some of whom probably won’t be asked to appear on Tampa Bay area-wide news stations — and that it would help me be able to release some stories on a more timely basis than once every four weeks in print in each of our distribution areas.

In other words, I feel a local news podcast will be a great complement to our print editions of the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News. And, what better way to kick off a new podcast than with a contest that I hope people will be excited about — since people in our area clearly can’t enough fried chicken!

In the future, look for interviews with local elected officials, real estate developers and other people you would only normally get to read about in these pages, including folks opening new businesses in both of our distribution areas.

Go Bolts! Looking For Playoff Tix?

After we went to press with this issue, the Tampa Bay Lightning played their first two home playoff games against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, and it’s also possible (depending upon when this issue actually reaches your mailbox) that Games 3 and 4, which were being played at the Panthers’ home rink in Sunrise, FL, could also already be over.

That means it’s also possible (but not likely) that either the Bolts or Cats will have been eliminated from further playoff action if either teams sweeps those first four games. If not, the Lightning could host as many as two more first-round games — Game 5 on Wednesday, April 30, and Game 7 on Sunday, May 4.

When (I won’t say “if”) Tampa Bay wins the “Battle of Florida,” they will advance to the second playoff round, where they would face the winner of the “Battle of Ontario”

— either the Atlantic Division-winning (and favored) Toronto Maple Leafs or the Ottawa Senators — in Round 2.

If you’re a hockey fanatic, like yours truly and Jannah (who won the autographed Andrei Vasilevskiy goalie mask pictured here in a contest she entered during our previous visit to Amalie Arena), you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this. Because the Neighborhood News has secured a pair of great tickets to every Lightning home playoff game from the opening round through the Stanley Cup Finals — if the Bolts can make it that far — and we are willing to sell (with the permission of the team) our tickets to any games we can’t attend ourselves!

So, anyone who wants to buy two tickets should call our office at (813) 910-2575 and leave a message with your name and phone number and we will call you back, or visit NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net to provide your contact information. Go Bolts!

New Tampa Neighborhood News

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from page 1

A Focus On Morris Bridge Rd.

Unlike many elected officials, who really only make pubic appearances when they are actively running for office, Viera has hosted more community meetings/Town Halls — around 85 — in his tenure as a City Council member than pretty much any “politician” I’ve met in my 31 years as the editor of this publication.

His most recent community meeting was at Easton Park on Apr. 15, where Viera said the #1 issue for most of the residents was “Morris Bridge (MB) Rd. People were just expressing frustration over Morris Bridge, with the main idea being that there’s so much construction and development that’s happened and yet, the road hasn’t really kept up with that, so there’s a lot of concern there.”

Viera says he told those in attendance about the county’s plans to improve MB Rd., as we reported in our last issue, “And people were very, very happy about that. $2 million is great but my main issue I stress to people is that I want to put Morris Bridge on the radar of the City of Tampa, because even though it’s a county road, it affects our [city] residents. A lot of times, we defer exclusively to the county on Morris Bridge. I’m not calling out Hillsborough or Pasco, I’m actually saying that the City of Tampa needs to step up and be collaborative on this road for our constituents because it does have an effect on our city residents.”

In addition, Viera said that many city residents who attend Cypress Pointe or Heritage Baptist Church, the Islamic Society of New Tampa Mosque or the Sikh Gurdwara of Tampa

Bay on the road, “have an interest in seeing Morris Bridge Rd. widened and made safer.”

He added that the residents in attendance at the Easton Park meeting said they feel that MB Rd. is, “very unsafe. They want to see incremental and structural changes — like short-term impact and long-term evaluation changes. So, they were very happy with the short-term changes that the county is doing and I, of course, shared those changes with them in detail.”

He said that long-term, however, several of the residents wondered what can be done long-term “to transform Morris Bridge Rd. from the ‘rural’ road it still is today to a more modern road. And, those are questions that transportation engineers and professionals have got to answer.”

He also noted that one of the most important things the city can do is, “continue to have law enforcement presence out there, because a lot of the problems out there are caused by bad actors — speeding, distracted driving, unsafe passing — if we can take care of that, we can take care of a lot of the issues. But, the truth is that we can’t just blame individuals. We’ve got to look at the road itself and be prepared for people who are bad actors.”

Viera also said that he is going to propose composing a letter from the city to the county asking, “if it’s feasible to build a sidewalk from Easton Park to the Mosque and to Cypress Pointe Church. That is very important because a lot of people walk to their house of worship. It’s not my jurisdiction, but we can at least request that to the county. I believe we’re all on the same team. We all want to protect our constituents.”

In addition to MB Rd., Viera said that several people at the Easton Park meeting were interested in Viera’s efforts to get some sort of

emergency vehicle somewhere near the connection of MB Rd. and K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. to try to get better response times for the K-Bar and Easton Park communities. “They were very interested in that,” Viera says. “I actually texted [Tampa Fire rescue] Chief [Barbara] Tripp about that re-zoning we approved almost a year ago to get a status update on whether that ‘safety connection’ you guys reported about will be made.”

“We also had Tampa Police Department officers (photo) on hand at the meeting to talk about crime. People always are happy to get updates from the police on that.”

Election Effects?

One issue Viera knows he has to deal with is that, now that he’s announced he’s going to run

for a different office, how does he continue to see his pet projects and ideas through to fruition?

“Well, I do have another year and a half or so on City Council, so I’ve got plenty of time to get things done,” he said. “But of course, we will have an election for my seat and many of the things I’ve been fighting for, including Morris Bridge Rd., are real issues so it’s important for my constituents to talk to these candidates and make sure New Tampa’s issues are on the minds of the candidates.”

In addition to Morris Bridge., Viera says he has had constituents come to him about, “stormwater issues, getting a [city] pool for New Tampa and others,” he says. “These are issues that I can work on now, to a degree, but some of them will have to be done or followed up by the next coun-

cilman. So, it’s important for these candidates to have these issues stressed to them by residents.”

And, speaking of elections, Viera said that several of the residents were interested in getting more involved in city politics.

“I said, ‘Good!,” Viera says. “Take a look at the voting record in New Tampa in city elections. The numbers aren’t very good. New Tampa needs to get involved in city elections.”

Viera admits that he has, “wielded a very big hammer on behalf of New Tampa, but we need to have a bigger voice from the people. We vote OK in even-year elections (county and state) but not in odd-year city elections.”

His proposal to move city elections to evennumbered years, which he says would save the city “about a million dollars every four years per election, got one vote — mine. It’s one of those fights I’ve fought where I’ve said, ‘We fought the good fight, but we don’t got it.”

As for his announcement about seeking Leader Driskell’s seat, Viera says the reaction so far has been, “Very positive. A ton of elected officials have given me their support. State Legislators haven’t been able to endorse yet, because they’re in session in Tallahassee, but I will keep everyone updated on my supporters as we go through the process. It seems that a lot of people were happy to hear that although I’m term-limited out of City Council, that I’m not planning to leave politics.”

He added, “Look, a lot of politicians, when they run for office, they step it up — going to community events and such. But, I do that in the course of my work in office. I’m always meeting with constituents. This is how I’m built. I’m the son of Cuban immigrants, so I work hard and that’s what I’m going to do, God-willing, in Tal-

lahassee, with the support of people in the New and North Tampa areas.”

About Harrison Boonstoppel

One of the issues he didn’t have to fight for was that Viera made a motion to rename the New Tampa All Abilities Park in honor of Harrison Boonstoppel, the 20-year-old innocent bystander who was fatally shot in an Ybor City gunfight on Oct. 29, 2023, after a fight broke out. Harrison and his friends had just arrived in Ybor City minutes before the shots rang out. In all, 16 people were injured and another 14-year-old youngster also was killed.

On Mar. 28, Viera made the motion to rename the All Abilities Park for Harrison, whose life was, “a testament to resilience and determination, exemplifying the power of hard work, along with the support of his family. Despite facing many physical and developmental challenges, Harrison overcame many obstacles with unwavering perseverance. He graduated from Pepin Academies in 2022, a remarkable achievement. Honorably remembering Harrison shows that with hard work, support and positive outlook, one can overcome much adversity.”

Harrison, who was born premature and barely survived his first few months in the neonatal ICU, needed a feeding tube until he was three years old. He developed a hearing disorder and would wear a cochlear implant at age 5. He began middle school weighing only 60 pounds and was developmentally delayed at school.

Viera, who has gotten to know Harrison’s mother Brucie and his twin sister Ava, has a developmentally disabled brother Juan, so, “This is very near and dear to my heart.”

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‘Connected City’ Developer Responds To Critics

Metro

Development Group Principal Kartik

By Gary Nager

Editor’s Note - The original version of this story appeared in our Apr. 15 Wesley Chapel issue, which went to press before Metro Development Group and the Pasco County Planning Department staff held a presentation for the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) at the BCC’s regular meeting on Apr. 9.

The purpose of that presentation was to update the commissioners on the progress of both the 7,800-acre Connected City (CC) development — which Metro calls “The First Smart Gigabit Community in the U.S.” — and the adjacent Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) planning area.

And, despite what some critics are claiming, Metro principal Kartik Goyani says that CC, which was approved as a Pilot Program for the entire state and by Pasco in 2015 and began development with Metro’s Epperson community in 2017 — is only in year eight of a 50-year plan and, in his estimation, the CC development is proceeding according to plan.

Goyani provided an overview of the overall CC project — how it came to be, Metro’s part in it and the progress of the project itself.

“I’m here to represent everyone who’s part of the Connected City planning area,” Goyani said as he began his presentation. “Your staff said to me, ‘Why did we even create the [CC]? Well, that was 10 years back, so maybe it’s time to go back and see what was the goal and was it a good idea all along? I don’t have all the answers, so I’m going to do my best to walk you through the journey we went on...and the thinking behind it.” He also said that the need for the presentation to the BCC started, “with the chatter online” (more on this below).

How It All Got Started

Goyani first showed the boundaries of the Connected City planning area (see map). The orange lines on the map, which Metro provided to me for my original version of this story, indicate the boundaries of what is called CC, of which only the western boundary follows a specific roadway — I-75.

The northern boundary extends to a little north of S.R. 52 in San Antonio, with several important commercial developments and yet another (as yet unnanounced) AdventHealth hospital to be located in this northernmost section. (Note-Goyani told me when I interviewed him for the original version of the story that AdventHealth has owned that property since 2019 or 2020.)

“But, it wasn’t the S.R. 52 we drive on today,” Goyani told the commissioners. “It wasn’t the four-lane divided highway. It was two lanes, undivided and it kind of jogged, [and that part is now] C.R. 52.”

Curley Rd. forms most of the CC’s eastern border, although a portion of it extends east of Curley — between Elam Rd. to the north and just north of the eastern portion of Overpass Rd. to the south. It is worth noting that the Watergrass community, which includes property both north and south of that eastern extension of Overpass Rd., is not part of CC.

And, speaking of Overpass Rd., everything north of it from I-75 to the entrance of Epperson is within the CC boundary, but that boundary also extends south of Overpass to include all of the Epperson development, but not the pre-existing Palm Cove or Bridgewater communities.

Goyani also reminded the commissioners that there was no exit off I-75 at Overpass Rd. when CC first started and Curley Rd. was just two lanes. “And, at that time, the discussion kept coming up, mostly led by the then-county administrator (Michele Baker), based on an Urban Land Institute (ULI) study that the county had commissioned during the last downturn in 2008, which was, ‘We need jobs in Pasco County, which at that time, was a bedroom community (for Tampa), with ULI estimates of 70,000 cars heading south every day, and something needed to change.”

He added, however, “There was only one problem at that time. We only owned 900 acres in Epperson (with 3,000 residences), and 2,000 acres in Mirada (with 4,500 residences), which is only about 40% of the land 9and 20% of the planned residence0 in [CC}. And, just to set the stage — we had our entitlements and approvals already. We could have just built a regular community, with the cookie-cutter housing which none of you like. Or, we could change.”

He then noted that the “Connected City” name is just a placeholder, but the idea was, “Why don’t we create a new town from the internet up that becomes an economic engine that attracts the jobs, gets the healthcare and the fiber connectivity. And, the $14 billion [transportation] funding shortfall that everyone is talking about...maybe ask those private guys to pay up a little bit more than what they were paying in impact fees. Great idea, but no one is going to come to this area unless we put it on the national and international map.”

Goyani Says

The

Unique Community’s 50-Year Plan Is Right On Track In Year 8

Pasco County’s

“Connected City” (Map provided by Metro Development)

And, Goyani said, “Everyone we met with said, ‘Why do something only for two projects — meaning the land we had?’ Let’s do something bigger, which is what led to creating this 7,800acre ‘Special Planning Area.’ The county had laid the foundation for this type of area, having already approved a long-term plan for [VOPH} to the east of [CC].”

In other words, Goyani said that although Metro’s intent, when the CC pilot program was approved by the state in 2015, was to have the CC connected by both high-speed internet and walkways and multimodal transportation opportunities, but the developer’s primary focus was the internet.

“From a fundamental standpoint,” he said, “counties and developers usually focus on the physical infrastructure — roads, water lines, waste water, electrical — because you can’t have a community without those, but no one else was working on the digital infrastructure. That’s how this story ended up evolving.”

As for CC’s physical infrastructure, Goyani said that when CC began development, no other developers were interested in improving S.R. 52 or creating an Overpass Rd. interchange off I-75.

“But, by bringing [CC] to Pasco, S.R. 52 is now vastly improved and the Overpass Rd. intersection is open, meaning that the physical infrastructure for [CC] is now in place. That is a big reason why we have been able to attract so many employment centers to this development.”

Regarding parks and trails, Goyani told the BCC, “I can only speak to the parks and trails that we do in our communities. But, we worked with [county] staff to create the 50-year master plan with the goal being that people [other developers in CC] are going to carry this thinking forward and hopefully make it better.”

And, although some current CC residents (see below) say it’s not enough, Goyani showed the BCC photos of golf carts, jogging paths and tot lots for kids. He also noted that the

Wesley Chapel District Park already existed at that time just to the south of CC and the county had set aside land for its 300-acre “Superpark” in VOPH, just east of CC.

“The Board made the great decision at that time to take all of the funds for parks in [CC} and put it towards the Superpark to create a truly regional destination.”

He also said that the average home in CC pays $4,687 in additional impact fees for infrastructure, schools and technology, and those fees have raised “a total of more than $30 million in additional impact fees to date.”

The Commercial Pieces

Goyani also mentioned, both to me and at the Apr. 9 meeting, that, “Back when we first started planning [CC ] in 2013, we looked at the amount of new commercial construction for all of Pasco County and I believe the total amount from east to west at that time was only 300,000 sq. ft.

“So, as we started laying out the goals for our 50-year plan. Our goal was to see at least 3 million sq. ft. of commercial over the 50-year plan for the Connected City,” Goyani said. “But, as we started talking, we felt that was too small of a goal, so why not plan to do something — in one small area — that’s 50 times what the entire county does in one year? That’s how we ended up with a goal of 12.8 million square feet. “

He also said that last year, Metro commissioned a study by PFM Financial Advisors LLC out of Orlando, which showed that Pasco is now “the fastest growing commercial corridor in Florida. There is now 36+ million sq. ft. of nonresidential uses in different stages, which is more than any other county in the state of Florida, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that is exciting. Maybe we’re onto something here. If I were to bet, I’d say we’re going to run out of commercial entitlements throughout the Connected City because I think more is still going to happen, based on the plans.”

Another major commercial project within CC is the Double Branch/Pasco Town Center, a 965-acre mixed-use project just east of I-75 at S.R. 52 that is already under development that will include up to 4.5 million sq. ft. of industrial space at its build-out. Phase 1 of that project, which is expected to begin delivering finished buildings later this year, includes three industrial buildings totalling nearly 500,000 sq. ft. There also are plans for 1 million sq. ft. of office space, a 1.6.-millionsq.-ft. distribution center and a 400,000-sq.-ft. “cross-dock facility,” which is a logistics hub designed for the rapid transfer of goods to minimize storage time. Double Branch is being developed by Columnar Investments, which also is planning to have 500,000 sq. ft. of retail uses, 3,500 residential units and 200 acres of parks and trails.

Some of the other privately owned portions of CC also have commercial entitlements (or are asking for them from the county), such as the Abbey Crossings/Park 52 Logistics piece that will bring 500,000 sq. ft. of light industrial uses to north of S.R. 52 and neighborhood commercial and a hotel to south of 52.

Health Care & Education

I’ll admit that the non-residential numbers shocked me. They include not only the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital that just broke ground in the Wildcat-Bailes property in CC’s southwest corner (see separate story on pg. 8), but also the not-yet-announced AdventHealth hospital just north of S.R. 52, as well as a large BayCare medical office complex that will not only help staff the expandable BayCare Wesley Chapel Hospital a few miles south of CC, but also focus on wellness

to help people in CC live healthier and longer. Also located on the outskirts of CC is the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, which started in 2022 with a high school and now has grades K-8. Two years earlier, Innovation Preparatory Academy (aka InPrep), a charter school, opened for the 2020-21 school year and Prodigy at Epperson Early Learning Center is now open south of the CC border just south of InPrep.

Goyani ended his presentation to the BCC citing the following figures:

“The 2065 (50-year) goal for residences in CC was 37,345, with more than 19,000 (51%) already built. The non-residential goal was 12.8 million sq. ft., and nearly 12 million of that (93.5%) has already been approved. There also is another 1.7 million sq. ft. of commercial in areas adjacent to CC.”

County Staff’s Presentation

The county’s presentation on Apr. 9 started with William Vermillion of the Planning & Economic Growth department. Vermillion, who oversees MPUDs in Pasco, said that a recent study by the county found that there are still 44% of the single-family detached home entitlements left in the Connected City.

“Even though you were told a couple of years ago that there were no more single-family entitlements left,” Vermillion said, “there actually are still about 4,400 remaining [of the 10,583 SF homes originally approved for CC]. We also have about 50% of the multi-family, which includes townhomes and garden-style homes for the higher density areas. We still have roughly 37% of our commercial left and 75% of the office. Industrial entitlements are shown as 0% remaining because of the Double Branch development, which originally opted out of [CC] because they wanted more industrial entitlements than what was originally contemplated. And we have roughly 26% of the land remaining.”

Dist. 2 Comm. Seth Weightman told me that although he was shocked the staff had been giving the commissioners the wrong figures, he didn’t believe the “mistake was intentional on anyone’s part. We’ve had a lot of turnover in our staff. But no, I would not have voted for the conversions from single-family to multi-family in Connected City had I known the correct figures.” He remembered saying that one of the conversions he voted for, “felt like chewing on a mouthful of sandspurs.”

Vermillion also showed an SPA (Special Planning Area) checklist for CC with green check marks next to the items that are proceeding according to the CC’s comprehensive plan and red dashes for those that aren’t, in each zone.

“We can see that the North Innovation Zone is accomplishing what was set out in the comprehensive plan,” Vermillion said, “including commercial, retail and single-family detached, hotels, medical and civic uses.”

Moving on to the South Innovation SPA Zone, Vermillion said, “The dash mark next to the high-density multi-family in that zone is only speaking to the fact that the comprehensive plan for [CC] doesn’t directly prescribe what in fact high-density multi-family is. There is already multi-family approved in MPUDs within the South Innovation Zone. However, because the [CC] comprehensive plan doesn’t prescribe the density range for that high-density, we felt it was worth noting that to the Board.”

As for the Community Hub SPA zone, Vermillion said, “There are two red dash marks, the first being for cultural. It’s worth noting that, in both the Tall Timbers MPUD that’s going to be coming before you next month and in the Kenton Rd. MPUD, there are conditions of approval which encourage public art that can serve that focus that’s

spoken to by the Community Hub. And, that dash by “Civic” uses, while there are no currently approved civic uses within the Community Hub zone, just to the south, within Watergrass, we did allocate a 7-acre library site which can accommodate those residents for that civic use.”

And finally, Vermillion said that in the two highest density and intensity SPA zones — the Business Core and Urban Core zones — the [CC] comp plan is being met and Mr. Kartik did a great job of addressing all of the non-residential land uses within these two SPA zones.”

Vermillion also noted a county study from 2023 of the volume of traffic on S.R. 52. “That explosion happened once we finally started having development within [CC], post-Covid, from 2020 until now, but despite that spike, no road [in CC] exceeds the current [volume] threshold acceptable by the county. In other words, the infrastructure is keeping up with the number of entitlements that are being approved within [CC].”

As for CC’s current Park Service Areas, Vermillion said if you combine “all of the parks in [CC], there are 115 acres of neighborhood parks already built, not inclusive of the VOPH Superpark or the Wesley Chapel District Park.”

But, Weightman noted that the 240-acre VOPH Superpark, “isn’t going to be as ‘super’ as we anticipated. We’re going to fall short on a few areas of uses, and, with the age of the people moving to the area growing younger, I really feel we need to revisit the diverting [of CC] funds to the VOPH Superpark. With the District Park already at capacity, we need to find a way to have a similar style park within [CC] and whether we relocate funds from the shortfall that the Superpark is going to have, or we restructure the way that funding mechanism works, I think it needs to be done because [CC] is here today. The youth and their parents are demanding that we have field space now for a variety of sports. The people are here now, so the 40 acres we have in the site we [Pasco] already owns...that footprint needs to be doubled and we need to figure out the funding between VOPH and CC because something needs to happen sooner than later in the [CC} corridor.”

Pasco Parks Dept director Keith Wiley then responded that Comm. Weightman was correct.

“And, the question is,” Wiley said, “Where should we locate the other park facilities in [CC]? We’d have to ‘swap’ projects in order to have a district park, since a community park doesn’t really get it done. We’d have to decide which of the 21 capital projects identified need to be removed.”

Board Chair & Dist. 3 Comm. Kathryn Starkey said she would like Wiley to look into using the site Pasco owns near the future Town Center Hub, either for a land swap or to build a District Park on property that had originally been slated for a utilities maintenance area.

Wiley added, however, that the county’s Master Parks Plan was done more than a decade ago and could be updated, “rather quickly” to see if there are locations within CC that could accommodate a District Park.

Dist. 1 Comm. Ron Oakley, whose district includes CC, cautioned, however, that the entire county needs more ball fields, not just the [CC], “and we can’t build more parks without having the money to maintain them.”

But, What About...

Prior to the Apr. 9 meeting, I also spoke with Realtor® and CC resident Michael Pultorak, whom we have featured in these pages before. Pultorak created the Facebook group known as the “Pasco Connected City Residents Group (PCCRG).” The group quickly built up to 1,600 members, as he and

the group members have consistently appeared at Pasco BCC and Planning Commission meetings to ask questions and/or complain about the way CC is being developed, even though many of the concerns expressed have been about the development plans of some of the CC land owners other than Metro. Pultorak has already met with four of the five commissioners to discuss his concerns, some of which below do also revolve around Metro’s portions of the development. And, some of these concerns were addressed on Apr. 9, but others were not:

• The open space & recreational areas detailed in the CC Master Plan have been moved to east of Handcart Rd. (outside of the CC boundaries)

• The walking/jogging trails promised to Mirada and Epperson residents were not delivered and the trails were not in the engineering plans nor created in the execution of the development

• The innovative lagoons are private and forprofit amenities

• There are no promised cultural facilities or libraries of any kind yet planned in CC

• Stormwater concerns at the head of the Cypress Creek watershed with upcoming CC development applications

• King Lake (a 263-acre lake and the largest body of water in CC) flooding issues for current CC residents. (Note - Pultorak says that King Lake has been beyond flood stage since Metro began digging the nearby Epperson lagoon)

• Planned roadways within CC that topographical maps show will be under water

• No schools actually located within the CC boundaries (Goyani said that InPrep and Prodigy actually are within the CC boundaries)

• The large park planned to be within CC has been moved to the adjacent VOPH

• Multi-family apartments and townhomes being approved by the Pasco BCC that are in portions of CC that, according to the Master Plan approved by the state, should not be allowed

• The approved plan for the five Special Planning Area (SPA) Zones within CC has not been adhered to by Pasco, especially with regards to approvals for multi-family apartments

“We are not against responsible growth and development,” Pultorak said. “However, developers need to be held accountable to the residents of Pasco County to fulfill the promises they make before they take profits and move on or, unexpectedly cause flooding of existing residents and communities. That’s why we formed this group.”

Where It Is Now

Many of the concerns outlined above were presented in our previous story about CC, when the Planning Commission first voted to send the Tall Timbers MPUD on to the BCC for final approval. After giving the nod to Tall Timbers 4-3 on Jan. 9, however, the Planning Commission then voted 6-1 at the same meeting to put a one-year moratorium on all future CC development agreements, site approvals, building permits and zoning changes.

But, since the Planning Commission is only an advisory panel, the final say on both Tall Timbers and any possible CC moratorium still lies with the BCC. Those votes were originally supposed to be held at the BCC meeting on Feb. 11, but the discussions and votes have now been continued twice — first to Mar. 11 and now until the BCC meeting on Tuesday, May 6.

But, while Goyani still can’t speak to what the other CC land owners are doing, his primary response to most of the complaints is that, “We are only still in year eight of a 50-year plan. We knew before we started that it would be hard to make everyone happy with this unique development but we believe — and we are proud — that we are helping to put Pasco County on the map with [CC].”

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Wesley Chapel Breaks Ground!

By Gary Nager

I can honestly say I’ve never attended a groundbreaking ceremony quite like the Mar. 27 groundbreaking for the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH) now beginning construction on the northwest corner of Over pass Rd. and McKendree Rd. in the “Connected City” (see story on pg. 6) in Wesley Chapel.

With maybe 200 people in attendance, hospital president K. Alicia Schulhof introduced many of the principals involved in the Johns Hopkins Health System and All Children’s Hos pital, a few of whom (including Schulhof herself) brought along young people who had previously been treated at JHACH. It turned the ground breaking from something that might have been “just another” ceremony into something that not only tugged at your heartstrings but also clearly demonstrated how wonderful and important having a world-class pediatric hospital in Wesley Chapel will be.

Adding to the joy you couldn’t help but feel that day was the fact that the brown dirt pile usually dug into at these events was replaced with seven piles of brightly colored sand (top photo on this page), to match the seven colors in the JHACH logo, with not only the hospital principals turning shovels full of the sand but also the kids themselves. It was electric!

other children feel better...so they can go out and look into the actual future and...be able to love each other.” He added that, to him, the best thing about JHACH was, “How the nurses help kids feel better.”

Schulhof opened the event, accompanied by former JHACH patient Xavier and his younger brother Zander (photo, far right).

“Today, we are not just breaking ground for a new facility,” Schulhof said, “we are laying a foundation for a healthier future for our community, our patients and generations to come.”

Before she introduced Zander (with microphone), Schulhof said, “These brothers are quite familiar with our hospital and services, so we look to them and our other kids and families in our care so we can hear directly about their experiences and their children’s hospital.”

Young Zander spoke on behalf of his older

Schulhof then thanked all of the dignitaries in attendance (including Dist. 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman), as well as the members of the Wiregrass Ranch High orchestra, who provided the music for the event.

She also noted that Pasco County is among the fastest growing regions in the Tampa Bay area (as well as in the state and the nation), with pediatric growth of 12% expected between 2023 and 2032, and that 93% of patients living in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties have to travel outside of their market for pediatric specialty care.

“That’s why we purchased this beautiful 112 acres we’re all sitting on, to build a 56-bed hospital with 16 rooms for emergency services and room to grow,” Schulhof said. “The complex

services. The Wesley Chapel hospital will not only enhance our ability to deliver cutting-edge medicine and treatments, but also foster an environment where patients feel supported, cared for and respected.”

She then turned the mic over to Kevin Sowers, the president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and his special guest, Aubrey (photo on next page). In addition to Aubrey, Sowers brought with

All photos by Charmaine George

him, “Greetings from our 45,000 employees across the states of Maryland and Florida, and from Washington, D.C., and our colleagues ‘across the pond,’ too, where we also have relationships.”

Sowers also mentioned that the clinical care at JHACH is, “the intersection of where we bring education for the next generation of providers and the research that creates the foundation of what Johns Hopkins has been for more than 125 years that is about to come to your community.” (Note-JHACH was ranked as the #1 pediatric hospital in Florida by a 2024-25 U.S. News & World Report survey.)

He then introduced Aubrey, whom Schulhof said has been a JHACH patient since she was two years old: “I’m glad you’re going to become a nurse, but Aubrey also serves on our Teen Advisory Council, which has been actively engaged in the development of this facility.” He then asked Aubrey

about the role she has played in that development.

“I’ve gotten to view some of the mock-ups of the rooms and make changes to some of the interiors and exteriors,” she said. “When you’re in the hospital, it can feel very isolating, so the Teen Council wanted places for the patients to be able to go outside, with a garden, flowers and things to do. We also got to add color-changing LED lights to all of the patient rooms....There also will be a sensory room, in one of the rooms downstairs.”

Sowers also noted that All Children’s joined Johns Hopkins in 2011 and the name was changed to JHACH in 2016. “And, during the 100th anniversary of Johns Hopkins in 2027, we will open the doors to your hospital in your community.”

Congratulations! We can’t wait ‘til you open!

For more information about Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Wesley Chapel, visit HopkinsMedicine.org.

Homes For Our Troops Introduces Community To Future Wesley Chapel Residents

By Gary Nager

On September 11, 2001, Christopher Lawrence was only in the ninth grade in Wisconsin, but he decided shortly after the tragedy that day that he wanted to serve in the U.S. military.

By 2005, Christopher was a U.S. Marine. Only two years into his stint, in August of 2007, he was Sgt. Christopher Lawrence, a fire team leader with the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, when both of his legs were severely damaged in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion as the battalion was crossing a bridge in Al Anbar, Iraq. He also suffered damage to his left arm, had internal injuries, tinnitus and a traumatic brain injury. He was in a coma for a week, after being evacuated first to Al Asad Air Base and then to Landstuhl, Germany. After being returned to the U.S., he underwent numerous surgeries and extensive rehabilitation to save his legs and arm.

But, while military doctors were able to save his left leg, Christopher’s right leg was amputated at the knee in March of 2008 and the toes on his left foot were amputated in August of the following year.

Way too many of our military service men and women have stories like Christopher’s and many of their stories don’t end well.

But, Homes For Our Troops (HFOT), a 501(c)(3) military nonprofit, is doing its part to help these brave former soldiers, Marines and other injured military veterans by building specially adapted homes to help them be able

to perform everyday activities those of us who haven’t suffered these types of injuries take for granted — like going to the bathroom, taking a shower or bath, cooking for themselves, etc.

According to its executive director Bill Ivey, since its inception in 2004, HFOT has completed 407 such homes in 45 states, including as many as five here in Pasco County, with at least two others already completed in Wesley Chapel.

“The Tampa Bay area has been a popular

choice for the vets we build homes for,” said Ivey during the special recognition “kickoff” ceremony on Apr. 5 held at the Pinecrest Academy of Wesley Chapel on S.R. 54 for Sgt. Lawrence, his wife Michelle (Chelley) and their young daughters DeliaMarie and Cristiana. Within the next six months to a year (depending upon weather and other factors), they will all move into their new Wesley Chapel home.

The family has been living in Southern

California, where Sgt. Lawrence has continued to serve as a member of the San Diego Police Department. Christopher, who grew up in a foster family, said he chose Wesley Chapel for his HFOT home by Kent Custom Homes because he has a brother who lives “not too far away” in Jacksonville and, especially, for the climate and proximity to the renowned James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa.

The event at Pinecrest Academy itself was

The speakers at the Apr. 5 introduction of Marine Sgt. Christopher Lawrence and his family to the Wesley Chapel community by the military nonprofit Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) included (l.-r.) Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman, Jerry Custin of Congressman Gus Bilirakis’ staff, Jocelyn Phipps of HFOT, Sgt. Lawrence, his wife Chelley, their daughters Cristiana & DeliaMarie Lawrence, HFOT Exec. Dir. Bill Ivey & previous HFOT home recipient Sgt. Russell Carter. (Next page, top) Jerry Custin give Sgt. Lawrence a Certificate of Congressional Recognition. (Lower photo) The Lawrence family is about to arrive at Pinecrest Academy.

All photos by Charmaine George

spectacular, as an escort of Pasco fire trucks (photo above), Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol vehicles and a motorcycle motorcade led the Lawrence family to the entrance to the school, where they were greeted by a cheering, adoring crowd of local residents all waving American flags. Once inside, HFOT’s Jocelyn Phipps first asked anyone in attendance who had served in the U.S. military to stand to be recognized. Phipps then introduced the Wiregrass Ranch High color guard and Autumn Rae Estes, who sang a stirring rendition of our national anthem, followed by Sgt. Lawrence’s daughter DeliaMarie leading the 100+ attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Then, Phipps introduced the program’s speakers. The first was Jerry Custin of U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis’ staff, who gave Sgt. Lawrence and his family a properly folded American flag and a Certificate of Congressional Recognition (top photo). Next up was Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman, who mentioned that he and Sgt. Lawrence were only a year apart in school on 9/11 and how they went on diverging paths after that terrorist attack on our country. Weightman was followed by Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who thanked Sgt. Lawrence for standing up for his country and “for facing significant challenges for all of us.”

Also speaking were long-time HFOT supporter and Vietnam veteran Leo Eineker, previous HFOT home recipient Sgt. Russell Carter (his HFOT home is in Lithia), Chelley Lawrence, Ivey and a clearly moved and appreciative Sgt. Lawrence himself. Also on hand was another HFOT home recipient, Army Master Sgt. Christopher Blauvelt, whose wife Bernadette owns B Creative Painting Studio in The Grove. The Blauvelts’ HFOT home also is in Wesley Chapel.

After the shedding of many tears and the

shared camaraderie of everyone on-hand, Jeff and Crista Dean of Bubba’s 33 served delicious sandwiches and salad. It was a wonderful event.

On a personal note, I know there are a lot of charities out there you can support with your hard-earned money, but as Ivey said so poignantly during his remarks, “Homes For Our Troops isn’t a charity. We are a military nonprofit, but we believe that what we’re doing by building these homes is doing the best we can to pay back these veterans who risked everything and sacrificed so much for all of us. And, nearly 90 cents of every dollar we raise goes directly back to support the veterans, which not too many nonprofits can say.”

He also noted that HFOT does not receive any governmental assistance and that 65 cents of every dollar the organization raises comes from private donors, with the other 35 cents coming from corporate sponsors. “We don’t spend big money on TV commercials,” Ivey added. “Our mission is to provide these deserving injured veterans with a home where they can raise a family (the average size of an HFOT home is about 2,800-sq.ft.) and live as independently as possible.”

To make a donation or for more information about Homes For Our Troops, visit HFOTUSA.org.

‘Pieces Of Eight’ Chicago Tribute Band Rocks The Performing Arts Center!

By Gary Nager

When a New Tampa resident calls to ask you to check out his eight-piece tribute band for the rock/pop group Chicago at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC), it’s hard to turn him down — even when the group Pieces of Eight’s performance is the night before your New Tampa issue goes to press.

But, having been a little disappointed when I saw the actual group Chicago in concert with the Beach Boys in either 1978 or ‘79, I wanted to see if long-time New Tampa resident Steve Hollingshead (drummer) and the Pieces of Eight band he helped organize could do as well or even better than the multi-Grammy Award-winning band itself could do.

And oh boy, did Jannah and I — and the rest of the nearly-sold-out house at NTPAC — end up going home impressed.

Lead singer and Wesley Chapel resident JC Grigg perfectly hit all of the high notes in Chicago hits like “Make Me Smile,” “Beginnings,” “Saturday in the Park,” “Feeling Stronger Every Day,” “Just You & Me” and my personal favorite Chicago song, “25 or 6 to 4.”

The spot-on three-piece horn section was led by the super-talented Charlie Phillips on every size of saxophone (including the way cool baritone sax). He also gave everyone chills on the flute part of Chicago’s renowned ‘70s slow dance song “Color My World.”

Pieces of Eight also has expanded beyond just Chicago, performing songs by Tower of Power, Huey Lewis & the News and Peter Ga-

briel — and it all combined for a great evening! For more info about Pieces of Eight, visit Po8Tampa.com. For upcoming NTPAC info, visit NewTampaArtsCenter.org or see the Events Calendar on pgs. 14-15. — GN

All photos on this page courtesy of Haley Paige Garcia • @haleypgarciaphotography on Instagram

Upcoming Events — ‘Stomp Out Cancer,’ ‘Scheherazade,’ Jazz Performances & More!

Friday, May 2, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. –North Tampa Bay Chamber Leading Ladies Network. At USF Credit Union (20610 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Conference Room). This meeting aims to empower and support women in various fields. Johanna Amarante is this month’s speaker on holistic approaches to hair loss – hair loss solutions and wellness. $15 to attend and you must register online. For more info, call (813) 994-8534. Or, to register, visit NorthTampaBayChamber.com/Events.

Saturday, May 3, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. –“Passport Weekend Event.” At the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Court office (419 N. Pierce St., downtown Tampa). If you need a passport, no reservation is required — on May 3 only. For more info, visit HillsClerk.com or see the ad on this page.

Sunday, May 4, 8 a.m.-noon – The 5th Annual Cassidy Otto Stomp Out Cancer Foundation “ 5K Run & “Fashionista Festival.” At the Shops at Wiregrass (28211 Paseo Dr.). Run for a great cause on Sunday, March 4 on Paseo Dr. Take on the 3.1-mile course, then celebrate at the post-run family fun festival with fashion-themed activities, live music, face painting, kids’ activities, and a silent auction. Moffitt Cancer Center will be providing free head and neck and skin cancer screenings. All proceeds to benefit Children’s Cancer Center, Cassidy Otto Stomp Out Cancer Foundation Therapy Dog Fund, The Cassidy Otto Scholarship Fund, and Moffitt Cancer Center. 5K Run in person or virtual $40, Kids Fun Run (9 and under) $15. Festival is free to attend. For more info, visit TheShopsAtWiregrass.com/events.

Thursday, May 8, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. –North Tampa Bay Chamber Ribbon Cutting & Grand Opening for BayCare Medical Group General and Orthopedic Surgery. At BayCare Medical Group (4501 Burce B Downs Blvd., Ste 205). Join Chamber members to welcome the new specialists to the Wesley Chapel Community. Hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served. Free

Unfortunately, 8-year-old former Lutz resident Cassidy Otto lost her battle with cancer, but you can participate in her Cassidy Otto Stomp Out Cancer Foundation 5K run and “Fashionista Festival” on May 4, at The Shops at Wiregrass (Photo source: CassidyOttoFoundation.org)

to attend. For more info and to R.S.V.P., call Amanda Jammel at (813) 624-9922 or email Amanda.Jammel@BayCare.org.

Friday, May 9, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. – Tampa Bay Symphony Spring 2025 “Scheherazade!” At the New Tampa Performing Art Center (8550 Hunters Village Rd.). The Tampa Bay Symphony consists of over 80 musicians and has been described as “one of Tampa Bay’s hidden jewels.” Come and experience the excitement of live classical music. Tickets $25, student tickets are free, student ID required for students 18 and over.

For more info, call (813) 829-2760. To purchase tickets visit NewTampaArtsCenter.org/events.

Saturday & Sunday, May 10 & 11, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. – Wesley Chapel Craft Festival. At The Shops at Wiregrass (28211 Paseo Dr.). This curated craft festival brings together a talented selection of artisans from the Tampa Bay area, showcasing a vibrant mix of fine art, handmade jewelry, pottery, textiles and oneof-a-kind treasures. Free to attend.

For more info, visit TheShopsAtWiregrass.com/events.

Sunday, May 11, 10:30 a.m. & 12:00 p.m. – Mother’s Day Buffet Brunch. At Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel, Sierra Ballroom

(26000 Sierra Center Blvd.). Tickets $75, children 12 and under $25. For more information and to make reservations, call (813) 803-5600.

Sunday, May 11, 3 p.m.-5 p.m. – New Tampa Unplugged: The Women of Jazz. At the New Tampa Performing Art Center (8550 Hunters Village Rd.). This special Unplugged performance features The Women of Jazz. The program includes instrumental and vocal jazz, showcasing songs written or made famous by women. This concert has been delivered to sell-out crowds over the past several seasons at the Palladium, The Suncoast Jazz Classic, The Villages and Swan City Jazz Festival. Theater seat $15, table seat $20. For more info, call (813) 8292760. To purchase tickets, visit NewTampaArtsCenter.org/events.

Wednesday, May 21, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. –New Tampa Jazz Nights: Ken Peplowski & Diego Figueiredo. At the New Tampa Performing Art Center (8550 Hunters Village Rd.). The Jazz Nights season finale brings together two world-renowned virtuosos. Ken

Peplowski’s clarinet and saxophone artistry is known to jazz listeners from hundreds of recordings, and Diego Figueiredo’s sensational guitar playing has earned him fans worldwide. Their magic as a duo is not to be missed. Tickets $10 - $30. For more info and to purchase tickets, visit TampaJazzClub.com or see the ad on pg. 15.

Wednesday, April 30, 12:45 p.m.-1:45 p.m. – BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel –Doctor Talk – Pickleball Injuries. At the New Tampa Family YMCA (16221 Compton Dr.). Dr. Vaswani will discuss the most common injuries seen from pickleball an how to avoid them. Free to attend but please register. For more info, visit BayCareEvents. org and to register, call 1-800-BayCare.

Thursday, May 1, 5 p.m.- 7 p.m. –Health Science Career Fair. At Pasco Hernando State College, Porter Campus (2727 Manfield Blvd.). Meet with representatives from various healthcare providers and explore exciting career paths. Free to attend. For more info or to register, visit BayCareEvents.org or call 1-800-BayCare.

Thursday, May 15, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. –BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel – Doctor Talk – Kidney Stones. At Blue Heron Senior Living (5085 Eagleston Blvd.). Join Dr. Ross Simon for an insightful discussion on kidney

stones, covering the latest treatments, innovative technologies, and key prevention to keep your kidneys healthy. Free to attend. For more info or to register, visit BayCareEvents.org or call 1-800-BayCare or see the ad on the next page.

Thursday, May 15, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. – North Tampa Bay Chamber, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute Wesley Chapel Open House. At Florida Cancer Specialists (2895 Hueland Pond, Ste 100). Come and meet the physicians and team members at the new office. Free to attend but please RSVP. For more info and to RSVP, call (813) 523-3124 or email Andrew.Martin@FLCancer.com.

Wednesday, May 21, 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. – North Tampa Bay Chamber Coffee Social. At Boardwalk Health Solutions (inside Signature Workspace, 28210 Paseo Dr., Ste. 190-209, at The Shops at Wiregrass mall). Wake up and join chamber members for your morning brew and networking. Free to attend. For more info, call (813) 994-8534 or visit NorthTampaBayChamber.com/Events.

Friday, May 23, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. – Senior Health Fair. At Heritage Park Clubhouse (5401 Land O’Lakes Blvd). Connect with local organizations dedicated to helping seniors and their families. Free to attend.

For more info, email RosarioCamacho1157@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, May 28, 7 p.m. – New Tampa Democratic Club Monthly Meeting. At New Tampa Regional Library (10001 Cross Creek Blvd.). Join the New Tampa Democratic Club for its monthly meeting. Free to attend.

For more info, visit NewTampaDemocrats.com or Facebook.com/NewTampaDemocrats. Or, see the ad on this page.

Friday, May 30, 4 p.m.-6 p.m. –North Tampa Bay Chamber Final Friday. At PopStroke (25297 Sierra Center Blvd.). Come out, engage and network with fellow Chamber members in a relaxed environment. Free to attend.

For more information, call (813) 9948534 or visit NorthTampaBayChamber. com/Events.

New Tampa Democratic Club

Monthly Meeting

Wednesday, May 28, 7 p.m. at New Tampa Regional Library 10001 Cross Creek Blvd. newtampademocrats.com https://www.facebook.com/NewTampaDemocrats

These North Tampa Bay Chamber Members Recently Cut Ribbons!

We continue to shine our spotlight on the local businesses who host North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) ribbon-cutting events — as a nocost add-on to their Chamber memberships — and this issue is no different. We really hope you’ll tell these businesses that you first read about them in the Neighborhood News!

On Mar. 26, Tiny Tots Playtown (top two photos), located at 24412 S.R. 54 in Lutz (in the Eagle Plaza, behind Brunchies), cut an NTBC ribbon. Owner Lauren Pratt introduced Chamber members to her super-cute, shoe-free (don’t forget to bring your socks) little indoor play center for young kids — which surely will be a welcome respite from Florida’s summer heat and rains, which are fast approaching.

Tiny Tots can host kids parties and has gift cards and unlimited play opportunities available.

Fletcher Ave., Ste. 330, Tampa) of Pinellas

hosted a great party for their Grand Opening, with food, a wine tasting and tours of the new office

According to its website, Pinellas Vascular, “provides the most advanced, low-risk treatments available anywhere to help improve your quality of life.” At the ribbon cutting, Dr. Bunnell said,

(including cosmetic injections, weight management strategies and vein ablations and sclerotherapy).”

For more info about Pinellas Vascular, visit PinellasVascular.com or call (813) 771-8346.-GN

Vascular,

SERVICES PROVIDED IN OUR OFFICE:

•Wellness Dentistry for kids and teens

•Holistic nutritional counseling for teeth and gums

•Ozone therapy for oral care

•Recommendation of non-toxic materials

•Sedation dentistry (nitrous oxide) and Sedation

•Invisalign First for children & Invisalign Teen

•Digital 3D scans, ITERO (no goop) and digital X-rays

•Laser dentistry (release of tongue tie for infants, children and teens)

•Relaxed environment, so your children can enjoy their visit

or questions, email us at info@tampahappysmiles.com

Art Of Drawers Can Help Make Your Kitchen More Functional!

By Celeste McLaughlin Neighborhood News Correspondent

If you love your kitchen but hate all of the wasted space in the hard-to-reach areas in the back of your kitchen cabinets, Art of Drawers has a solution.

“We make kitchens more functional and accessible,” says Tampa Bay franchise owner Brian Gross, “turning those frustrating parts of your kitchen into areas that are easy to use with high-quality, custom pull-out drawers.”

In addition to updating kitchen cabinets, Art of Drawers can also help homeowners with custom pantry solutions and bathrooms, as well.

Founder and CEO Allan Young launched Art of Drawers nationally in 2019 and opened a corporate location in the Tampa Bay area in 2022. In 2023, Brian bought the franchise. There are currently about 35 Art of Drawers locations nationally, including one other Florida location in the Miami/Dade area.

“Art of Drawers focuses on high quality,” Brian says. “Everything is real wood, all dovetail finish, with soft-close undermount rails –— high-end everything.”

Originally from St. Louis, Brian earned a degree in Business Administration from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 2011. He was working in Washington, D.C., when a job transfer brought him to the Tampa Bay area.

Brian had spent 15 years working in the financial industry and says he always wanted to “do my own thing.” He had an eye on businesses related to real estate, such as the renova-

Brian’s Art of Drawers franchise includes five designers who work throughout the Tampa Bay area, from Wesley Chapel to Sarasota to Lakeland, and everywhere in between. He also has three installers who execute the designers’ plans to perfection.

Designers have an interior design or home organization background and are trained by Art of Drawers to be certified in the company’s products. They have to complete a month-long

space of your lower cabinets.”

through the company’s corporate office, so you can be confident that anyone working in your home will meet the Art of Drawers’ high standards.

The process starts with a free in-home consultation. A designer will come out to your home to create a personalized design that is unique to both your home and your individual needs.

“Our custom pull-out drawers replace that half shelf that’s hard to reach in kitchen

Art of Drawers offers a wide variety of customization options, including different sizes of drawers, custom dividers and organization solutions built into the drawers.

“With 11 types of wood, we can match anything in your house,” Brian says.

Once the designer provides an estimate, you choose what to move forward with, whether it’s an entire kitchen upgrade or a smaller job to solve the problem in your most frustrating space.

“We’ll design as much or as little as a See “Art of Drawers” on pg. 20

(Above left) When franchise owner Brian Gross’ Art of Drawers van pulls up to your

‘Art Of Drawers’

Continued from page 18

customer wants,” Brian explains, “and they can pick and choose what makes the biggest impact for them.”

Then, an installer will come out to take precise measurements, before everything is custom built for you. Brian says that typically, it takes about 6-8 weeks for the drawers and organizers to be built. Then, everything is installed in one day.

slider. In nearly every case, the installer comes out and tightens or cleans something up, and that’s all that’s needed. We stand behind the quality of our products and installation.”

He says Art of Drawers can be especially helpful for anyone who is looking to make their existing kitchen more functional if it becomes more challenging for people to bend down or lift heavy things, due to aging or other factors.

He says Art of Drawers is continually innovating, coming up with new products and constantly testing to make kitchens more

for our solutions,” Brian says. “We work with people who have been in their homes for 20 years and are looking for an upgrade, and we also work with people who are moving into new construction and are looking for a higher-end finish out of their kitchen.”

Matt Dzierbun gave Art of Drawers a fivestar (out of five) rating on Google, saying he highly recommends the company and that the team is “very professional and creative in making any kitchen more functional and organized.”

Najja Banks also gave Art of Drawers a

more functional and convenient! We waited far too long to get this done! The best part is that it is designed around the way we use our kitchen. I highly recommend them.”

Right now, Art of Drawers is offering FREE installation for any jobs that have a signed agreement by May 15, which will generally save customers about 20 percent of the total price. To get started with a free in-home estimate, fill out the online form at ArtofDrawers.com or call (813) 548-6866. For more information, see the ad on page 34.

Taylor Gardner Gutters — A Family Tradition That Continues To Grow

By Celeste McLaughlin Neighborhood News Correspondent

Although Gardner Gutters had been serv ing the Tampa Bay area since Ed Gardner estab lished it as a small business in Lutz in 2000, Ed’s son Taylor has grown the business immensely since taking it over in 2020 and renaming it Taylor Gardner Gutters.

It’s grown so much, in fact, that the business outgrew its previous location in Land O’Lakes and recently moved to four acres in Dade City.

“We have 15 vehicles on the road every day,” Taylor says. “Our front two acres are filled with trucks, trailers and an employee parking area. It’s more space than we need right now, but I know we’ll end up growing into it.”

Taylor Gardner Gutters installs and repairs gutters, soffits and facias, and also offers gutter cleaning, which keeps the gutters on your home or business working properly and in good repair.

Taylor says that adding gutters is the least expensive thing you can do to protect the value of your home, ensuring that Florida’s famous summer downpours don’t destroy its foundation or even its aesthetic upgrades.

“Protecting the foundation of your home is the main purpose of gutters,” he says, “but they also protect your paint and will help your grass and sod last longer, too. Gutters protect anything on the outside of your house to help it stay in great shape for as long as possible.”

Without gutters, Taylor says water is much more likely to settle at the base of your home’s foundation. With that saturation, the water can

cause erosion to the side of the home, leading to cracks in the stucco and window ledges and forming unsightly trenches. Water under the home also can cause wood floors in the home to pucker or pop.

Taylor first joined the business to help his father after serving in the Marines for nine years, including a tour of duty in Iraq. He used his experience and his Business Administration degree from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, to start a different career, but came home when his dad needed his help after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Taylor took over the business when Ed passed away, and Taylor’s older brother, Brandon, who had decades of experience working with their dad, led installations. Unfortunately, Brandon was then diagnosed with cancer as well and passed away just eight months later.

So now, Taylor continues the legacies of his dad and older brother, running the business in a way that would make them both proud.

“Our installers are great, and we have several who have been with the company more than 15

years,” Taylor explains. “They know exactly what they’re doing.”

That’s important to Taylor because his company offers a lifetime warranty on its installations. He says this is what sets Taylor Gardner Gutters apart from its competitors.

Company policy is that any customer who experiences a warranty issue will have the problem inspected within 48 hours and fixed as soon as possible — no matter how many years it’s been since the gutters were originally installed.

“One of reasons we’ve been successful in this business is because we always answer the phone, especially if there’s a problem after installation,” Taylor explains.

He contrasts that with many of his competitors, who are often just one-person companies doing as many jobs as they can, without employees to keep up with other things, such as going back and fixing something if it isn’t right.

“My focus from the beginning has been to really hit customer service as our number one priority,” Taylor says. “We give people what they ask for at a very reasonable price.”

Taylor says some of his customers have been coming back to the company for two decades, since his dad first started the business.

The company’s lifetime no-leak guarantee is a another unique way Taylor builds those lifelong relationships.

“All gutters will leak eventually,” he says. “Mine won’t leak for at least 10 years, but if they do and you still live in that house, call us and we’ll fix it.”

Taylor Gardner Gutters owner Taylor Gardner is proud of his new location in Dade City, but he and his crew (photos on next page) are still installing and repairing gutters at homes and businesses in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa, too. (Photo above by Charmaine George; photos on next page provided by Taylor Gardner)

was very busy,” Taylor says, with homes that had a gutter or piece of soffit that came down. “Nine times out of ten, it’s not something we did wrong — sometimes it’s because a customer has done no maintenance — but as a courtesy we still take care of the problem. They then tell their neighbors how much they love us and how good we are, and that’s really good for our business.”

It’s also good for his business that there is such a construction boom in our area. Taylor Gardner Gutters also works with several homebuilders to install gutters on newly built homes, including many of the new neighborhoods in Wesley Chapel, such as The Ridge, Winding Ridge, Valencia Ridge and all David Weekley Homes throughout the area.

Those builders are growing in other areas, too, such as further north in and around Brooks-

commercial building for business owners.

Taylor Gardner Gutters just did its largest job ever, replacing gutters at the CENTCOM building at MacDill Air Force Base.

“It was a huge job on a seven-story building that took us four weeks,” Taylor says.

Taylor Gardner Gutters has 200+ reviews on Google, with an average rating of 4.8 stars out of 5. Recently, Scott Hutchison said the company’s crew “arrived on time and did a fantastic, professional, careful, and respectful job of adding new gutters to my two-story metal roof.”

Scott added that he highly recommends Taylor Gardner Gutters, writing, “[The] house looks great! No more water pooling up near my foundation.”

Taylor Gardner Gutters is now located

‘Into The Woods’ Was Yet Another Triumph For The New Tampa Players!

The New Tampa Players (NTP)’s production of the Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods” concluded its run at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center on Apr. 6 and photographer Charmaine George, who took these pictures on opening night of the show, said “Into the Woods” was one of NTP’s best shows yet, with singing, dancing, costumes and sets that were all outstanding.

Starring the super-talented Richard Brown (last seen as Seymour in NTP’s “Little Shop of Horrors”) as The Baker and amazing NTP newcomer Hope Lelekacs as The Baker’s Wife, NTP’s “Into the Woods” also re-introduced audiences to a whole slew of beloved fairy tale characters, including Cinderella (Genesis Rodriguez) and her stepmother

(Kayla Bennett), Jack (Blake Boles), known for his magic beanstalk beans, scene-stealer Lena Wigfall as Little Red Ridinghood, plus NTP veterans Makayla Raines as “Witch,” Dylan Fidler as Rapunzel’s Prince, Kristin Nelson and Alexandra Greenberg as Cinderella’s stepsisters Florinda and Lucinda, respectively, and too many more great performances to include here (sorry).

The next NTP production will be Meredith Wilson’s “The Music Man,” which won the 1957 Best Musical Tony Award (the 1962 film adaptation was nominated for “Best Picture,” and won the Oscar for “Best Music”). For tickets and audition and more info, visit NewTampaPlayers.org. “The Music Man” will be performed at NTPAC in July. — GN, photos by Charmaine George

Creative Arts Theatre Co.’s ‘The Buzz’ Was A Heartwarming Performance At NTPAC

On Apr. 8, the City of Tampa’s professional Creative Arts Theatre Company brought smiles, laughter, and a powerful message to the stage with “The Buzz,” a delightful, free production written by Nicholas Perez-Hoop and performed at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC).

From the moment the children walked through the doors to be part of the audience, the experience was immersive and interactive. Guests were greeted by a cheerful setup with colorful markers for anyone who wanted to decorate a mask. This fun pre-show activity set the tone perfectly, encouraging creativity and excitement before “The Buzz” even began. Children proudly wore their custom masks as they entered the theater.

A dynamic cast of three adult actors amazed the audience by portraying all six characters in “The Buzz” with impressive skill and energy. Each character — from the shy Sabrina Carpenter Ant to the wise Miss Bumble (photo) — was distinct, vibrant and memorable.

The story followed Sabrina as she tries to conquer her fear of public speaking during her school’s annual Spelling Bee. The play delivered valuable themes of education, friendship, courage and encouragement in a way that felt approachable and inspiring for young viewers — while also teaching spelling, vocabulary and facts about bugs. “The Buzz” was more than just a

play — it was an experience that left kids beaming and parents impressed.

Following the success of this performance, NTPAC has shared plans to bring the Creative Arts Theatre Company back at least twice a year. These performances, for ages 4 and older, will again be FREE and held at 10:30 a.m. For more information regarding future performances, visit NewTampaArtsCenter.org to join the email list. — Iris Vitelli

(Photo source: Hillsborough County)

Palms Pharmacy — The Independent Neighborhood Pharmacy That’s Here To Stay

By Celeste McLaughlin Neighborhood News Correspondent

On a recent Friday evening, Shahida Choudhry, Pharm.D., threw a party, complete with goodie bags and free ice cream (provided by the Ice Dreammm Shop in Wesley Chapel), to celebrate the nine years since she first opened (in 2016) Palms Pharmacy in The Shoppes at The Pointe plaza in Tampa Palms.

The annual event is a way for Dr. Choudhry and her staff to mark the impact they have on Tampa Palms, New Tampa and the surrounding areas, offering an alternative to big box stores and corporate chains.

“When you walk through the door, we greet you,” Dr. Choudhry says. “When you call the pharmacy, someone picks up the phone.”

Grace Dimalanta followed her to Palms Pharmacy from a local Publix, where Dr. Choudhry had previously served as the pharmacist for ten years.

“Everyone is so personable and friendly at Palms Pharmacy,” Grace says. “It’s a different feel than anywhere else. They’re like family. When I leave, they’re calling out, ‘Bye, Grace, see you later! Have a good day!’”

From its much more humble beginnings, the staff — and the amount of space it occupies in the plaza — has grown to a total of 16 people, including four pharmacists, three interns, plus six others who work in roles such as pharmacy technicians and support staff. They are all committed to providing a personal experience and truly care about their patients, with that bar

being set high by Dr. Choudhry herself.

“I’ve been her customer for a long time,” Grace says. “She knows me so well. She’s even called my doctor to say a medicine that I was prescribed wasn’t good for me.”

The large staff stays busy shipping orders throughout the whole state of Florida, offering next day delivery on prescriptions, compounded medications, specialty products and supplements.

The pharmacy’s shelves are stocked with over-the-counter medications and high-quality supplements, including private label supple-

She adds that she has found that she can produce some supplements locally to reduce the cost for her customers.

This includes magnesium glycinate to help with sleep and nighttime carb cravings, a probiotic gummy, a creatine gummy, a greens gummy and NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) capsules, which are known as the “fountain of youth” and help with energy and visible signs of aging.

“These [Thrive Plus] supplements had to go through FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration) clearance and are being produced in a facility in Tampa,” Dr. Choudhry explains. “They will be on our shelves by the end of June.”

The best part about purchasing supplements from Palms Pharmacy is having access to experts who can explain them and help you get the best products for you. Whether you come in the store and talk with the pharmacist, or call and speak with someone on the phone, they are happy to answer all of your questions.

ments made specifically for Palms Pharmacy.

Dr. Choudhry says that a popular supplement, especially among those with ADHD, is a magnesium blend called Palms NeuroFocus. Other Palms Pharmacy supplements include a daily multi-vitamin and iron.

And, she says, a new private label is coming soon, called Thrive Plus by Palms Pharmacy.

“I’ve converted my favorite supplements to gummies,” Dr. Choudhry says. “We want to provide products to be cost effective so people can afford them.”

Supplements also can be purchased online at Shop.ThePalmsPharmacy.com.

In addition to vitamins and supplements, Palms Pharmacy carries a variety of unique gift items, skin care products, and sweets and snacks.

The Latest & Greatest Skin Care

“Korean skin care currently is our biggest thing,” Dr. Choudhry says, adding that, unlike some other stores, “Everything we have is under $15, including rice oil, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, vitamin D and retinoids.”

Regular customers like Grace always enjoy

Doctor of Pharmacy Shahida Choudhry (left) and Angie Pares, Palms Pharmacy’s director of operations, celebrated the local independent pharmacy’s ninth anniversary in The Shoppes at The Pointe plaza in Tampa Palms on Apr. 11. (All photos on these pages by Charmaine George)

“like little soaps. I also buy supplements like vitamin D and calcium pills.”

Grace says she doesn’t know anything about the quality of supplements, but her daughter-in-law, who does, pointed out that the brand she bought from Palms Pharmacy is a good one that doesn’t use fillers like a lot of companies do.

“That makes me feel great because I know the store is stocked with stuff that’s good for you,” Grace says.

She also appreciates that she can get vaccines at Palms Pharmacy, such as the flu shot.

“I just make an appointment and it’s a nice experience,” Grace says. “I’m always happy to go there.”

And, Dr. Choudhry says, when you shop at Palms Pharmacy, you’re supporting a small business where the money you spend actually stays in the community.

economy,” Dr. Choudhry says. “While other phar macies are sold to private equity firms or are closing locations, we’re here to help and give back.”

In addition to caring for their customers, the staff schedules team building events every quarter, and often pair their days together with opportunities to serve the community, such as a recent beach cleanup.

Dr. Choudhry, who earned both her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degrees from Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY, was recently named the 2024 Independent Pharmacist of the Year by Pharmacist Moms, a national professional organization of more than 35,000 women pharmacists.

Palms Pharmacy also has been nominated for the 2025 Health Mart Pharmacy of the Year. There are more than 5,000 independent and locally owned neighborhood pharmacies allied

together under the Health Mart banner. To win the award, which will be announced in June, the pharmacy has to have best-in-class clinical practices, be a community leader and exhibit excellent financial performance.

“We enjoy what we do and really appreci ate our customers,” Dr. Choudhry says. “We know you can go anywhere, so if you’re willing to park your car and come through our doors, we’re going to try to do a little bit extra to make you feel welcome.”

Palms Pharmacy is located at 17008 Palm Pointe Dr. and is open Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-6 p.m. You can call the store at (813) 252-9063 or text the secure text-only line at (727)513-3210. For more info, see the ad on page 33 or visit ThePalmsPharmacy.com.

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More Than Law: The Heart & Humanity Behind Compton & Smith, P.A

By Iris Vitelli

Neighborhood News Correspondent

At first glance, Compton & Smith, P.A. may appear to be just a small, local law firm tucked in the New Tampa Professional Park (on Regents Park Dr., off Bruce B. Downs Blvd.,) in Pebble Creek. But, for the clients who have leaned on them during their most trying times — and for the community they serve — the firm is so much more. It’s a family, a lifeline and a place where compassion meets competence.

Founded by attorneys RaeAnn Compton and Todd Smith, the firm of Compton & Smith has become a pillar of the New Tampa and Wes ley Chapel legal community over the past eight years. What started as a professional rivalry be tween two strong-willed legal minds turned into a lasting partnership — built not only on mutual respect but on shared values, complementary skills and a deep commitment to their clients.

“We used to face off in court all the time,” Todd recalls with a smile. “Eventually, we got tired of roughing each other up and decided to sit down for lunch. That’s when we realized how well we’d work together.”

Both attorneys bring decades of experience to the table — along with deep roots in the local area. RaeAnn, who grew up in Dade City, earned her B.S. degree in political science from St. Leo University and her Juris Doctor (J.D., or Law) degree from Stetson University College of Law in DeLand. She passed the Florida Bar in 2000. After three years as an assistant state attorney, RaeAnn opened her private practice in Pebble Creek, where she’s been ever since.

Todd’s path started in Jacksonville, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in History from the University of North Florida and his J.D. degree from Florida Coastal School of Law, also in Jacksonville. He passed the Bar in 2001. Like RaeAnn, he began his career as an assistant state attorney before branching into private practice and, eventually, to partnering with RaeAnn.

While Compton & Smith, P.A. offers legal services in a few key areas, RaeAnn says the largest portion of their caseload is focused on family law — guiding people through deeply personal challenges such as divorce, custody battles, and child support disputes. These clients, who come to them during some of the most emotional times in their lives, are met with honesty, com-

Still, the partners’ expertise extends beyond just family law. They also handle select cases in criminal defense and personal injury, offering the same level of dedication and professionalism.

Practice Areas:

•Family Law: Divorce, Custody, Visitation, Child Support, Modifications, Paternity

•Criminal Law: Misdemeanors, Felonies & DUIs

•Personal Injury: Auto Accidents

RaeAnn and Todd’s commitment to serving the community with integrity and personal attention has earned them a loyal following and a strong reputation, not only among clients, but also among their peers.

Their personal ties to the community make their work all the more meaningful. “

This isn’t just where we work,” RaeAnn says. “It’s where we live, where we raised our families and where we’re deeply invested.”

RaeAnn has lived in Wesley Chapel since 2007 with her husband Jeff and their two children, Jessica and Hunter.

Todd, who lives in Dade City with his wife Lisa, also emphasizes their local connection.

“We’ve lived in the area for years,” he says. “RaeAnn was from Dade City and is now in Wesley Chapel and I was from Wesley Chapel and am now in Dade City. We have deep roots in the area and care about what happens to the families around us — because our families are among them.”

One of the firm’s greatest strengths is its

with strict individual caseloads, Compton & Smith handles things differently.

“Todd and I work on almost every case together,” RaeAnn explains. “Clients might meet with one of us at first, but behind the scenes, we’re both looking at everything. We challenge each other, play devil’s advocate, and walk into court with multiple perspectives.”

This collaborative model means clients benefit from the combined expertise of both attorneys — and the steady support of a dedicated team, which includes RaeAnn’s daughter and paralegal Jessica Compton, who plays an essential role in the firm’s success. “Jessica is really the

backbone of our office,” says RaeAnn proudly. “She’s been with us for 15 years, and clients adore her. She’ll take a call at 7 a.m. or answer an email on a Sunday if that’s what someone needs.”

Todd agrees: “Jessica has this incredible ability to ease a client’s anxiety. She’s savvy, compassionate, and goes above and beyond every single day. She’s not just our paralegal — she’s our anchor.”

Although all areas of law require knowledge and expertise, when it comes to family law, the dynamic is very different.

“In family law, “ Todd says, “it’s not just about winning. It’s about helping people get to a better place. It’s a challenging and emotional area, one that requires both legal knowledge and emotional intelligence. It also requires thinking outside the box.”

That thoughtful approach was evident in a recent case where a contentious custody hearing was scheduled to proceed.

“We were able to talk with both sides, come to an agreement, and cancel the hearing,” says RaeAnn. “It avoided what could have been an emotionally draining day for everyone involved — especially the child.”

RaeAnn is known as a patient negotiator, someone who seeks common ground without compromising strength. “She has a way of finding solutions people can actually live with,” Todd says. It’s a philosophy grounded in the firm’s core values: empathy, diligence and transparency.

“We take this work personally,” RaeAnn says. “It’s not nine to five for us. We do what it takes to

be there for our clients.”

Jenny, a current Compton & Smith client says, “One of the things I love about them is that they don’t need to be microman aged. They are very good at taking care of things behind the scenes. In a terrible time of life, they have been the most supportive, still telling me how it is even when its not pretty. They treat you and take care of you like family.”

Compton & Smith also has embraced technology to better serve their clients. Since the pandemic, the use of Zoom for hearings and mediations has become a game-changer.

“Zoom has made things so much more efficient,” says Todd. “Before, you might spend half the day just traveling for one hearing. Now, we can do so much more in less time — and save our clients money in the process.”

Both attorneys continue to stay on top of changing laws, particularly in family law. “It’s constantly evolving, so we make sure to take continuing education courses every year,” says RaeAnn. “We owe it to our clients to stay informed.”

Beyond the courtroom, the firm supports a variety of community causes — from local children’s sports teams to domestic violence shelters and animal charities. “If someone’s raising money for a good cause, we try to be there,” RaeAnn says. “I’m a sucker for animals,” she adds with a laugh. “And we both have a soft spot for anything that helps kids.”

While some firms focus on scaling and expanding, Compton & Smith values consist-

ency over growth. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” RaeAnn says simply. Todd agrees. “We’ve thought about adding associates, but our biggest concern is whether someone would treat the cases with the same care we do. Both of our names are on the door, and that means everything.”

With most of their clients coming from word-of-mouth referrals — and even a few former opposing parties sending others their way — it’s clear that their reputation speaks for itself.

“We’re not here to churn through cases,” says Todd. “We’re here to help people. Sometimes that means finding the best legal argument, and sometimes it means just listening and being there.”

As RaeAnn puts it, “It’s never too late to hire a lawyer. No matter your situation, we’ll give you an honest assessment and help you stop the bleeding. That’s what we’re here for.”

Compton & Smith, P.A. is located at 8905 Regents Park Dr., Suite 210. To schedule a free consultation, call (813) 994-2026 or visit ComptonAndSmith.com. Or, see the ad on pg. 45 of this issue.

Decorating Den Interiors Brings Experience & Expertise To Your Home

By Celeste McLaughlin Neighborhood News Correspondent

For 10 years, Sara Nelson and Debbie Demboski have used their unique skills and expertise to create beautiful spaces for their Decorating Den Interiors clients in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, and surrounding areas.

Debbie has owned the franchise since 1990, serving local clients for 35 years. Over the past decade, however, Sara has pursued professional certifications and training that have elevated the team’s ability to help a variety of homeown ers do update their furniture, lighting, window treatments, bedding, artwork, or flooring. Their service can breathe new life into everything from a single room or office to an entire home.

Thanks to Sara’s pursuit of ongoing educa tion, she has now earned the company’s highest design professional certification — as a Decorat ing Den Certified Designer — joining only 25 other active franchisees who have earned this certification, which includes significant course work and exams.

“Things are always evolving, so it’s always a learning process,” Sara says. “I take classes every time they’re offered. You can never have enough knowledge, and I like to do it all.”

Established in 1969, Decorating Den Interiors today has nearly 300 franchises across the U.S. and Canada. Debbie serves as Regional Director for the 13 franchises in Central Florida, from St. Pete to Melbourne. In 35 years with the company, Debbie has earned awards such as the Lifetime Century Society, President’s Club Sales

Award, Franchise of the Year, Positive Thinker, and Region of the Year. She says her region is consistently in the top five in the country.

“The good news is we can do anything from high-end to budget friendly, with every type of vendor, and every type of idea,” says Debbie, “and work around anyone’s budget.”

The process starts with a free, no-obli gation, in-home consultation, where Sara or Debbie will bring their design studio to you. They each travel in a Decorating Den van filled with thousands of design samples — wallpaper

If this living room (above left) isn’t exactly what you’d choose for your home, the mother-&-daughter team of Debbie Demboski (seated) and Sara Nelson can create any number of different new looks for any room in your home (see photo on next page).

“and I wanted to get the whole house the way we wanted it so we could just enjoy it.”

She says they did a lot of remodeling, and that Debbie and Sara handled dealing with all of the contractors, taking a burden off of her. While they were thrilled with the entire remodel, Kay says that it was the personal touches that remain remarkable to her.

“I have an eight-year-old grandson who adores Debbie,” Kay explains. “She redid his room with a camping theme that he loves, complete with pillows that look like sections of a tree trunk and campfires. When she suggested a picture over the bed, he was afraid it might fall down, so she found stickers instead and let him help her put them up.”

Kay says she continues to work with Debbie on everything from small touches — like when that same grandson suggested the house needed more Christmas pillows — to renovations that included an outdoor kitchen.

“Her creativity amazes me,” Kay says. “You can tell her what you want to keep and she’ll work around it. She never criticizes you or encourages you to get rid of something so that she can sell you something else.”

Debbie and Sara agree, however, that it’s actually rare for someone to call them to decorate a whole house.

“More often, they ask us to help with one piece — such as updating furniture — but then one thing leads to another and we refresh the whole room,” Debbie explains.

While Debbie still works with many clients, her time these days is divided between local decorating, running the entire Central Florida Region of Decorating Den franchises, and slowing down to enjoy travel and more personal time.

Debbie says that’s no problem now, since Sara is serving both new and long-time clients with such excellence.

“For me,” she says, “the greatest compliment is when Sara works with a past client and they tell me how great she is.”

That’s the case with Sheila and Joe Merchant, who first hired Decorating Den about 10 years ago, working with Debbie and then working with Sara, too.

“Their work is top notch,” Sheila says. “They’re absolutely the best in town and I wouldn’t go anywhere else. At this point, Sara has done every room in our house.”

Sheila says their home needed to be refreshed after living in it for more than 15

years, so Sara updated their drapes, curtains, and shades, recovered furniture, and even had special custom bed spreads made.

“They listen to what you want,” Sheila explains. “They got us out of our rut and made us think out of the box a bit.”

Three Generations

Debbie earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Fashion Merchandising and Business from West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown in 1976, and worked for several retail companies, including Montgomery Ward before starting the local Decorating Den franchise in 1990.

When Sara joined the company in 2014, the business became a three-generation affair.

That’s because Sara is not only Debbie’s daughter, but their office manager, Phyllis, is Debbie’s mom and Sara’s grandma.

The 94-year-old has been an essential part of the business since Debbie launched the company — when Sara was just a baby — and seems to have no interest in stepping away from it yet.

And now, Sara’s son, Davis, is 14 and sometimes ask if he can take over the business one day. “I tell him, ‘Get in line,’” Debbie laughs. “‘Grams hasn’t even retired yet.’”

Before joining Decorating Den, Sara graduated from the University of South Florida (USF) with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Journalism and a certification in Business Management. During school and after graduation, Sara worked with the “As Seen On TV” company and eventually served as regional manager for the Tampa Bay area.

In 2014, she says she wanted more flexibility to spend time with her young son and exercise her own creativity. Sara worked in the office for a year, studying under Debbie, before deciding to make the leap into the business and pursuing all of the educational opportunities available from Decorating Den.

“It’s been 10 years and a million smiles and laughs,” Sara says, noting that while they keep their relationship professional at work, the mother-daughter bond is there under the surface:

“Sometimes Mom looks at me a certain way,” she laughs, “and I just know that means to hand her the flat head screwdriver.”

To schedule a free in-home consultation with Decorating Den Interiors, call (813) 8172264, e-mail debbied@decoratingden.com, or visit DebbieD.DecoratingDen.com. For more information, see the ad on page 43.

The Dee Strom Difference: A Commitment To Clients & Results!

By Iris Vitelli Neighborhood News Correspondent

When Dee Strom transitioned from the hospitality industry many years ago (see below) into real estate, she never imagined how deeply she would fall in love with her new career. En couraged by her husband Michael, she took the leap and quickly realized that being a Realtor® wasn’t just a job for her — it was her passion.

Since joining Florida Executive Realty (FER), Dee has made a name for herself as one of the top-performing agents in the area. Now with more than a decade in the business, she consistently sells more than $20 million in real estate annually, placing her in the top 1% of Realtors nationwide.

Her dedication and expertise have earned her multiple awards. She was named FER’s “Agent of the Year” company-wide (for 2023 & 2024) and for the New Tampa office (for 201922). She has consistently ranked among the top producers at the company over the past several years and remains a top-three agent companywide. She shares with gratitude that none of her success would be possible without the unwavering love and support of her husband and their two daughters, Sloane and Stella, who keep her grounded and motivated.

cally and confidently for her clients. “My job is to advocate for you, and the best way to do that is by being informed, prepared and wellconnected,” she says.

“I am all about my clients,” Dee says, “and about this wonderful business that I love. The awards show my commitment to this industry but, more important, to the people I work with and represent.”

For Dee, success in real estate is about more than just sales.

“Building a solid relationship with your clients is key in the real estate business,” she explains. “Both buyers and sellers should collaborate with a Realtor they genuinely connect with, like and trust.” Dee understands that every client’s time is valuable, which is why she works strategically around their schedules to ensure a smooth and personalized experience. Real estate is not just her job, it’s her full-time commitment.

Among the things that sets Dee apart are her deep-rooted relationships with builders. When it comes to new construction, Dee brings more than just market knowledge, she brings relationships. She often has established connections not only with the on-site sales agents but also with the builder’s management.

Understanding their preferences, processes,

Dee’s extensive marketing reach is another factor. As a member of “Leading Real Estate Companies of the World” (LeadingRE), she ensures that her listings are marketed both locally and globally. “There are people in other places looking to relocate, and they can see the listings through LeadingRE,” she says. “It is seen on over 700 websites throughout the country.”

Dee also prides herself on her ability to truly listen to her clients. “For me, it’s about more than just real estate, it’s about people,” Dee shares. “I want to learn about my clients, their families, their lifestyles and what truly matters to them. The better I understand their stories, the better I can guide them and help them achieve their goals in a meaningful way.”

For example, some families might not immediately think about community amenities that would benefit their children. Others, with hectic work schedules, may need a home where the landscaping is taken care of by the HOA. Dee emphasizes the importance of being wellversed in various neighborhoods, the available inventory within a community, as well as understanding what builders or sellers may be willing to negotiate. Equally important, she says, is knowing each of her clients’ specific needs and priorities to align the right opportunities with the right people.

As a child, Dee says she was shy, and those who know her now find that shocking. Her

time working from a young age to then working in the hospitality industry helped her break out of her shell. She was a hospitality manager for bars and clubs in South Tampa and was part of the opening team in 2008 for Aja in Channelside. Aja further expanded, opening another club that was located in the Shops at Wiregrass where Dee was part of the management team. When the Wiregrass location closed in 2012, Dee then worked for Ceviche Tapas Bar & Restaurant, overseeing the company’s books and accounting for all of its locations.

“That foundation in customer service has truly shaped the way I serve my clients,” Dee says. “It’s one of my greatest strengths as a Realtor. I believe customer service is a very important part of what I do, because real estate is a customer service industry. People sometimes

forget that. We are here to satisfy the needs of those looking to sell or purchase a home.”

The residential real estate market is constantly changing, and Dee understands the importance of staying informed. She says she uses social media to network, but also actively networks with top agents in the area as well as builders and industry professionals to stay informed about market trends and opportunities. Equally important to Dee is staying sharp on market knowledge and current trends. She doesn’t just rely on outdated statistics or general assumptions, she actively tracks historical data and, more critically, the real-time shifts happening in today’s market. “I study the numbers that most agents have never even seen,” Dee explains. “It’s not just about what happened last year—it’s about what’s happening right

(Above, left) Realtor® Dee Strom, of Florida Executive Realty’s office in Tampa Palms, helps clients like Dr. Alex Lteif (above) and the Moyer family (left photo on next page) find their dream homes. (Right photo on next page) Dee and her husband Michael, with daughters Sloane (left) and Stella. (

now.” This depth of knowledge allows Dee to advise her clients with precision, confidence and relevance. Whether she’s pricing a home for sale or guiding a buyer through a competitive offer, her insight into up-to-the-minute market conditions sets her clients up for success — especially in a market as unique and fast-changing as the one we’re in now.

Dee is passionate about earning her clients’ trust, and she believes that chemistry is vital. She has an impressive 5-star Zillow track record, 141 Realtor.com recommendations, and a 4.9-star overall rating on Google. The majority of the reviewers say they love Dee and how she went above and beyond to help them. But, she says that 4.9 overall rating comes from a single one-star review — from a seller on the other side of a transaction. “I was advocating so well for my client that the seller left me a one-star

review,” she says. At first, she was devastated, but then she realized it was a testament to her commitment.

“I can’t make everyone happy, and my priority is always my client,” she says. “In that case, the person I needed to make happy was my client, and I did my job.”

Her most recent raving fan, the Meisters, say, “From the very beginning, [Dee’s] knowledge, friendly manner, patience and attention to detail was evident as she guided us through a difficult decision process to help us find the perfect home. Simply put, Dee Strom is as good as it gets in real estate, and we will happily recommend her to others looking to buy or sell property. We also will not hesitate to use her services again, when and if ever the need arises.”

Dee takes pride in handling all aspects of a transaction for her clients, allowing them to

professionally operate, which can be a detriment to the client. I have had sellers come to me to switch [to me], whether for better service and/or market knowledge to get their home sold.” Dee says one of the biggest problems in home pricing and value is that some Realtors, “simply look at homes they believe are comparable based on square footage or bedroom and bathroom count to determine a home’s value, but knowing the home’s history, builder, community and current market activity is critical, too.”

Dee also says, “Experience is not how many years you have been doing the job but how many homes you have actually sold.” She firmly believes that experience plays a crucial

role in doing the job right, but that the experience comes from transaction volume, constantly negotiating and the consistency in the business.

“It’s about having faced all types of real estate challenges multiple times,” she says.

When discussing the local market, Dee explains that some areas are currently built out but remain stable and there is no crash happening here. The Wesley Chapel area is still booming with new construction and “offers great affordability for buyers, whether you’re a first time home buyer, looking for more space, or downsizing and need maintenance-free living.” As an expert in the area, she helps clients navigate builder incentives and contract negotiations.

“For my clients who are selling, new construction can create competition,” she says, “but with the right marketing strategy, I can position their listings to stand out and sell for top dollar.”

Dee utilizes professional photography, video tours, social media and targeted outreach to attract the right buyers. “Every home has a story,” she says, “and I make sure that story is told in a way that captivates potential buyers.”

To Dee Strom, real estate is about strategic marketing, dedicated advocacy and building lasting relationships. Her passion for her clients and her deep knowledge of the industry makes her a Realtor unlike any other.

And that …is “The Dee Difference.” Realtor® Dee Strom is based at Florida Executive Realty’s Tampa Palms office at 15802 Amberly Dr. For more information, visit DStrom.floridaexecutiverealty.com. You also can find her @DeeStromRealtor on Facebook and Instagram or by calling (813) 525-7851. Or, see her ad on pg. 42.

Remington’s Steak & Seafood ‘Returns’ To The Palms Connection On Bearss

By Gary Nager

I have known Mark Birkin, the owner of Birkin’s Steak & Sushi restaurant on N. Florida Ave. in Lutz, for about 14 years — since he first opened PJ Dolan’s Irish Pub in the Palms Connection plaza on E. Bearss Ave. back in 2011.

Since then, Mark has changed the PJ Dolan’s name to The Wexford, but retained the Irish pub menu and feel. Before Mark bought it, PJ Dolan’s previously also was Remington’s Steakhouse, Cody’s Roadhouse and the Bullseye Saloon.

And, although Mark had some success with both PJ Dolan’s and The Wexford, neither matched the drawing power of the original Remington’s or even Cody’s.

But, Mark has had great success with Birkin’s, his upscale steak & sushi concept, and felt he could bring a more casual, popularly priced new steakhouse to just outside of New Tampa.

He did his research and found that the only active use of the Remington name — in honor of the renowned “Old West” artist Frederic Remington — were two Remington’s Grills in North Carolina, so he got permission from the owner of those “fast casual BBQ & burgers” concept locations to use the original name that so many New Tampa residents loved and renamed it “Remington’s Steak & Seafood.” The unveiling of the new name and menu could happen by the time this issue reaches your mailbox but will more likely take until at least the following weekend — May 3-4 — before the sign goes up and the new eatery becomes a reality.

At our press time, some of the renovations

were still being finalized, as Mark decided he was going to keep The Wexford open until the official switchover takes place.

“I’m excited about Remington’s Steak & Seafood,” Mark says. “This will be a locally owned, reasonably priced steakhouse that definitely should be able to compete with the popularly priced chain steak places in our area.”

Mark also says that, in addition to its renovated main dining areas (both inside and on the spacious patio) the new Remington’s will have two private dining rooms suitable for parties and an all-new fun “feel,” but that still leaves the one burning question...

What About The New Menu?

Mark literally let me know that he had received approval to go with the Remington’s name two days before this issue went to press. It had been several months since Jannah and I had eaten at The Wexford and our photographer Charmaine George had never eaten there with us, so we had to move quickly.

I first asked Mark if any of The Wexford’s menu items were staying and, even though he said that all of the coming-forward items are going to be given upgrades, we sampled the potato skins, Shepherd’s pie quesadillas, fish & chips and the bacon cheeseburger & fries — and the latter two items appear on the next page.

Mark didn’t want us to use a Birkin’s steak picture for this story, so I found the generic top sirloin with baked potato picture shown on this page to give you a feel for the style of cuisine at Remington’s because, as Mark says, “The steaks

will be the stars of this new show.” And, as you can see from the extensive sampling from the menu in the ad on the next page, there will be a wide variety of what he calls “Choice +” steaks, all at a few dollars less than the local chains.

So, whether you’re craving a ribeye, NY strip, filet mignon, T-bone, top sirloin or even lol lipop lamb chops, Remington’s will satisfy you. The only steaks I see missing are a bone-in ribeye/ tomahawk and prime rib, but those could be added down the road. In the meantime, the most expensive steak on the menu is the 23-oz. T-bone with two sides for $34.95. The 14-oz. NY strip is just $24.95 with two sides!

As for the seafood side of the menu, there will be escargots and shrimp cocktail appetizers, grilled salmon, fried and grilled shrimp dinners and the aforementioned fish & chips.

Remington’s other entrées will include country fried steak or chicken fried chicken, grilled chicken breast, a boneless BBQ pork chop, Shepherd’s pie, mac n’ cheese and a limited supply each night of a half or whole rotisserie chicken. There also will be a daily Happy Hour menu (served 3 p.m.-5 p.m.), with some of the items mentioned above, plus two sides, for just $14.95!

Speaking of sides, Remington’s will offer everything from mixed veggies, green beans

French onion and a Soup of the Day, burgers, sandwiches, salads and an $8.95 kids menu (for ages 12 & under), plus decadent desserts.

In other words, once it opens and people get to sample the new Remington’s, Mark believes it will be here to stay!

Remington’s Steak & Seafood is located at 2836 E. Bearss Ave. The hours have not been officially set, nor does it have a phone number or online presence yet, but check our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page for updated info!

(Formerly The Wexford Irish Pub & Grille) 2836 E. Bearss Ave

Palms Connection Plaza Tampa, FL

APPETIZERS:

Escargot in Butter

Filet Tip Skewers

Potato Skins (photo)

Crab Rangoon

Shrimp Cocktail

Fried Pickles

Shepherd’s Pie

Quesadilla ...and more!

SOUPS:

French Onion

Clam Chowder

Soup of the Day

BURGERS & SANDWICHES:

Philly & Chicken

Cheesesteaks (photo)

Black Angus Burgers

Homemade Reuben on Rye ...and more!

WINGS

Bone-in or Boneless

ROTISSERIE CHICKEN

STEAKS:

Ribeye

Filet Mignon

Top Sirloin

NY Strip

T-Bone (photo)

Filet Medallions

Lollipop Lambchops ...and more!

SEAFOOD:

Grilled Salmon

Grilled & Fried Shrimp

Fish & Chips

OTHER ENTREES:

Chicken Fried Steak

Grilled Chicken Breast

Boneless BBQ Pork Chop

Mac n’ Cheese

KIDS MENU:

Chicken Tenders

Mac n’ Cheese

Steak Bites

DESSERTS:

Cheesecake

Key Lime Pie (photo)

Brownie w/French

Vanilla Ice Cream

Chef Michael Turanjoe Is Redefining The Grill At Morris Bridge’s Menu!

By Gary Nager

When someone like Frank Gouveia — the owner of The Grill at Morris Bridge, one of the most popular independent restaurants in New Tampa — tells you that he found a new chef he thinks is the “best I’ve had yet. Please come by and check him out!,” it’s almost impossible for someone like me to resist.

But, Frank is right. New Chef Michael Turanjoe (right) is bringing a unique creativity and panache to The Grill’s already impressive menu and he doesn’t plan to stop revamping and adding new menu items... basically ever!

“Once I create something new, I have a tendency to get bored repeating the same dishes all the time,” Chef Mike says. “I’m like, ‘I’ve done that. What’s next?’”

Still only in his 30s, Chef Mike still somehow has nearly 20 years of experience in the restaurant business. He has “worked everything from short-order to 3 Michelin star restaurants, Asian to Italian, and pizza to sushi to make myself well-rounded.”

He has been a sous chef under Chef/owner Jeannie Pierola at her Counter Culture and Edison: Food + Drank Lab restaurants in South Tampa, and an Executive Chef/trainer for Ameri can Cruise Lines.

“He walked in here to try the place,” Frank says, “and walked out as my new Head Chef!”

Among the new menu items he’s added to the regular and Bar Bites menus at The Grill include mushroom arancini (balls of crispy fried risotto topped with tomato mayo and sherry aioli); crispy grouper bites with a zesty Old Bay remoulade; pork Milanese (breaded and fried pork cutlet, topped with arugula, pickled red onions, tomatoes, shaved parmesan and grilled lemon); seared Florida grouper atop goat cheese and pea risotto and a confit of baby vegetables; plus homestyle meatloaf on a bed of cheddar whipped potatoes, haricot verts and topped with caramelized onion jus; and my current favorite — the baked rigatoni with spicy Italian sausage,

Chef Mike also is bringing a new energy to The Grill’s already-popular wine dinners. The most recent one (on Apr. 2) featured the pork loin roulade with sweet cornbread & spinach stuffing, corn basil cream and candied pecans shown in The Grill’s ad on pg. 40; as well as the mole marinated hangar steak with gorgonzola whipped potatoes, grilled asparagus, lemon zest and herb beurre blanc shown on the next page. The hangar steak had a nice exterior crusting and was super-tender and absolutely delectable. We rarely save room for dessert, but I loved the salted caramel cheesecake shown on the We didn’t attend

that Stags’ Leap wine dinner on Apr. 2 but Chef Mike included all of the dishes served that night, including his rigatoni Bolognese — which our friend and long-time Tampa Palms resident and Grill regular Mike Wallace said was “Awesome”— among his new weekly Chef’s Specials.

Chef Mike also was featured on a Season 4 episode of The Food Network’s “Chopped” (bottom photo on next page) back in 2019, entitled “Beef Cake Mistakes.” He ended up getting “Chopped” (meaning he didn’t win), but says it was “still a great experience for me.”

And, although Jannah and I missed the Apr. 2 wine dinner, we’re hoping to make it to the next one — on Wednesday, April 30, 6:30 p.m. — because it features three Wilson Daniels Italian wines (plus a Hungarian dessert wine), each paired with a delicious dish. The second course is a grilled shrimp bucatini pasta puttanesca (paired with a Volpaia Chianti Classico from Tuscany) that I can’t eat, but the third course alone — a parmesan-dusted grilled petit filet mignon served with smashed fingerling potatoes, garlic broccoli rabe with spicy Italian sausage and

All photos by Charmaine George

a Super-Tuscan demi-glace, paired with a Sette Cieli Yantra Super Tuscan wine — would almost be worth the $99 per person price of admission for me! The problem is that this issue will not hit mailboxes before Apr. 26, which means that this wine dinner may already be sold out (Frank says they pretty much always do sell out) by the time you’re reading this — what an unfair tease!

But, fear not, because Frank says that all three pre-dessert courses will likely end up on Chef Mike’s weekly Chef’s Specials, which means that you (and we) will probably still have a chance to taste them if we don’t attend the wine dinner.

And yes, The Grill still has outstanding craft p.m.); 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. on Thur. & Fri. &

Bagels Plus On Fletcher Ave. Reopens Five Months After Kitchen Fire

By Gary Nager

When you’ve known someone for more than a quarter of a century, you might think you “really” know them, but sometimes, you might be wrong to make that assumption.

Case in point: I first met my friend “Steve” (right) when he first opened his Bagels Plus in a former (but already closed before he bought the building) Bruegger’s Bagels location on E. Fletcher Ave., less than a half-mile west of Bruce B.Downs (BBD) Blvd., way back in 1998.

I also thought I remembered Steve telling me that he bought an H&H Bagels location in New York not long after it was revealed that Kramer, the kooky character on the hit NBCTV show “Seinfeld,” had been on strike for years from the original H&H Bagels in Manhattan.

Well, it took a kitchen fire and the shop being closed for five months — Bagels Plus finally reopened at the end of March — for me to find out just how wrong I was on both counts.

First, although everybody still calls him Steve, my friend the bagel maker’s real name is Monsieur (yes, like “Mister” in French) Aziz.

Second, Steve never owned an H&H location, “They were my competitors when I had my first Bagels Plus in Roslyn, Long Island.”

One thing I did not get wrong, however, was that Steve did bring the ability to make true New York-style bagels with him when he moved to Florida — “to get away from the snow” — even though most New Yawkas say that there are no “real” bagels in Florida because we can’t duplicate the water in the Empire State.

Steve showed me the five special water filters he has in Bagels Plus to reduce the “hardness” of the water here, even though New York is one of the few cities in the U.S. that doesn’t filter its water because of its natural “softness” and purity.

But, he attributes the authenticity of his bagels to the way he makes them. “We use wheat flour and some vegetable flour, yeast and water to make our bagels,” he says. “That’s it. We don’t add oil, salt, malt, sugar or any of the other things you don’t need that other people use to make bagels.”

Photographer Charmaine George and I watched Steve make a batch of bagels and we agreed that he did not use any of the ingredients he mentioned that other people do use.

He says that one of the most important things is that “real New York” bagels have to be kettle-boiled before they are baked.

“And, you need the right kind of kettle,” he says. “The kettle isn’t a very expensive piece of equipment, but you really need it to make the bagels correctly.”

Whatever Steve and his happy crew have been doing to them, there’s no doubt in most local bagel lovers’ minds that Bagels Plus had the closest-to-New-York bagels anywhere near New Tampa or Wesley Chapel prior to the fire that caused Steve to not only shut his doors but basically rebuild the interior of his shop from scratch.

“The fire ended up being a blessing,” he says. “Because when the fire inspectors came to take a look afterwards, they said that one of the support beams in the front of the store (now re placed) was ready to fall down. Without the fire, we would never have known about it.”

Steve, who also previously owned a men’s clothing store in Manhattan, also had opened a similar men’s store in the Target-anchored Univer sity Plaza behind what is now his bagel shop.

“I was thinking about moving the clothing store to this building, but when I heard that it had already been a bagel shop, I made the owners an offer on the spot.” And the rest is history.

Oh, Those Bacon, Egg & Cheeses!

Although both of my sons now live in Lakewood Ranch, when I told them Bagels Plus reopened right before my most recent visit to them, they both insisted that I bring them Steve’s famous bacon, egg & cheese (BEC) bagel sandwiches.

“I’ve tried to make a bacon, egg and cheese like Bagels Plus at home,” my older son Jared — who wants to open a Bagels Plus franchise near him — told me. “I just can’t get the eggs the way they make them.”

Truth be told, many New York bagel shops make their bacon (or sausage or ham), egg and cheese sandwiches with fried eggs — and Bagels Plus will make yours with a fried egg, if you pre fer — but anyone who works the grill at Steve’s shop knows how to pour just the right amount of the already-cracked real eggs onto the hot flattop griddle and fold those eggs into the perfect size to just stick out on all sides of the bagel.

And, if you like your bacon crispy like I do — I know there are people who prefer their bacon “wet,” which I try to not hold against them — there is always a ready supply of perfectly crisp bacon waiting to be placed in generous amounts atop your eggs. And then, a single thick slice of yellow American cheese is gently placed atop that combo, which melts the cheese just enough.

Steve’s BEC makers, led by his manager Trista, also are happy to add salt & pepper or, for folks like me, to “scoop out” your bagel before assembling your sandwich. That not only gets rid of about 1/3 of the bagel’s calories, it also allows it to toast up extra crispy, especially when it is put through the conveyor belt toaster twice. The only time they won’t put it through the toaster is when your bagel has just come out of the oven.

Bagels Plus also offers a large variety of cream cheese options — from regular and light plain to bacon scallion, light strawberry and a salmon cream cheese that is made with real smoked salmon. You also can get a generous por tion of sliced smoked salmon with your choice of cream cheese on your favorite bagel (bottom bagel pic on next page). There’s also a variety of fresh salads (tuna, egg and chicken), roasted tur key and Black Forest ham available, plus freshly baked croissants, muffins, black-&-white cookies, delicious apple or strawberry turnovers (photo below), almond horns and cinnamon rolls.

And yes, Steve still pretends to pocket new customers’ credit cards and throw an empty cof fee cup at them to make them think it’s full. He’s a character, but it’s hard to dislike a guy who has been keeping it New York real for 27 years!

Bagels Plus (2706 E. Fletcher Ave.) is open Mon.-Sat., 6 a.m.-4 p.m., and 7 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sun. For more info or to pre-order bulk bagels (because they do often run out),

Sushi Bowls By Kazoku Sushi Opens In New Tampa’s Pebble Creek Collection!

A new fast-casual “bowl culture” restaurant has opened in the Pebble Creek Collection plaza at 19651 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (behind Hungry Crab Juicy Seafood) in New Tampa.

Sushi Bowls by Kazoku Sushi, features not only fresh raw tuna and salmon and cooked imitation crab poké bowls, but also amazing appetizers like chicken gyoza dump lings, crispy vegetable spring rolls, crab Ran goon (all shown in the top left picture), fried sushi rolls (middle left photo) and deliciously unique “Sushi Fries,” which you really have to taste to “get it!” (middle right).

The husband-and-wife team of Sergio and Cristina Chanquin (top right photo), who also own Sushi House in Ybor City, are proud to bring their skills to New Tampa

The Kabob Café & Grill In Highwoods Preserve Adds ‘Breakfast Kitchen’

There are quite a few Indian restaurants in New Tampa, but one thing is for certain — none of the Indian restaurants in our area also served American breakfast — until now.

The Kabob Café & Grill, located at 18101 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. (in the same location that also has been Sukhothai and a couple of other restaurants) recently added Breakfast Kitchen & More, which serves American breakfast every day (except for Mondays, when the restaurant is closed) from 7 a.m.-11:30 a.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, the Kabob Café & Grill offers a lunch buffet with a large variety of Indian (predominantly North Indian/Pakistani) items. The buffet be gins at 11:30 and the restaurant’s full Indian menu is available every day for lunch and dinner (it stays open until 8:30).

While that may seem a little confusing, owners Javed and Rabia Mubin hope you will come try Chef Keith’s tasty breakfast items, including the bacon, egg & cheese croissant sandwich (top left photo) and Protein Power Bowl (lower left). Please note that because Kabob Café’s entire menu is Halal, the bacon on the bacon, egg & cheese is beef (not pork) bacon, which I don’t believe I’d ever had before, but Jannah and I agreed it tasted very much like pork bacon. The chicken in photographer Charmaine George’s Power Bowl combined egg whites, grilled chicken, spinach, feta cheese and avocado, which also was quite tasty. The Breakfast Kitchen also serves waffles, French toast, oatmeal and Greek yogurt bowls, om elets, Benedicts, breakfast wraps and more.

We also sampled the buffet, which has many Indian favorites, like Tandoor oven-baked chicken and Naan breads, as well as chicken biryani (bottom right photo) and butter chicken, as well as some items I’d never tried before, like goat qourma (or korma), tender beef nihari (which tastes a lot like my mom’s brisket/pot roast, but slightly spicy), and vegetarian dishes like palak paneer (curry with spinach, cheese, tomato & creamy sauce), channa masala (chick peas with spices, tomatoes & onion) and halwa, which is a sweetened semolina flour mixture that can be a side dish or dessert. Speaking of dessert, the

banana pudding with vanilla wafers was my favorite, but there’s also Gulab Jaman (deep-fried dough soaked in rose-flavored sugar syrup), Rubri Kheer (Indian-style rice pudding) and more.

For more info about Kabob Café & Grill, which has a 4.9-star (out of 5) overall Google rating on 900+ reviews, and Breakfast Kitchen & More, visit KabobCafeGrill.com or call (813) 405-8740. — GN, all photos by Charmaine George

Coming Soon: Kay’s Kitchen Chicago-Style Fried Chicken

Jannah and I also happened to meet Kay Lee (photo), the owner of Kay’s Kitchen Authentic Chicago Style Fried Chicken, which is coming soon to the former Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant location at 2808 E. Bearss Ave., in the Palms Connection plaza (as we reported last issue, Don Julio’s moved to the end cap in the same plaza).

Kay says that what sets her apart from all of the other fried chicken restaurants in our area (especially around Wesley Chapel) is her authentic Chicago-style mild sauce. Kay also operates two popular food trucks in the Riverview area, so visit KaysChickenKitchen.com to check out her menu, which also includes fried shrimp, fish and more. And, please tell Kay we sent you! — GN

Grilltopia Brings South American Cuisine To The KRATEs!

Although the KRATE at The Grove con tainer park already has a wide variety of Latin food — including Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Mexican and Venezuelan, the new Grilltopia offers a unique mix of South American cuisines.

Whether you like Brazilian, Colombian, Venezuelan, Argentinian or even Uruguayan food, Grilltopia — which has been open for less than two months in the space previously occu pied by Yummy Tablas in the KRATEs — has something for you to try. Grilltopia’s exterior sign says that owners Patricia (whose parents are from Uruguay) and Miguel (who is from Venezuela) want to “Meat You Here.”

Start with pinchos (top left photo), which are kabobs that are popular all over the South American continent and are available in perfectly grilled beef or chicken (or a combo of each) with crisp, delicious fries.

Speaking of grilled meats, the parrillas (top right) are grilled meat combos that can include skirt steak, pork chops, sausages, chicken, picanha (a Brazilian sirloin or rump cap), tenderloin, short ribs, blood sausage or pork belly, in a variety of combinations. Parrillas are served with a choice of dipping sauces and two or three side dishes, from yuca bites, to rice & beans, potato salad and our new-found favorite, a thick slab of fried white cheese (above center).

Also available is a variety of pepito sandwiches (far right), a Venezuelan delight with beef, chicken, or “mixto” (mixed) and many of the same meats, as well as bacon, are available on these sandwiches, which also offer lettuce, toma toes, cheese, string potatoes and different sauces.

The different meats also are available on bowls with quinoa, fried or cauliflower rice,

and there are fresh juice drinks, smoothies and South American beers and sodas, too.

Grilltopia is not an inexpensive dining experience, but the portions are large and the flavors are unique, so give it a shot and please tell Patricia and Miguel that I sent you!

closes at 9 p.m. on Mon.-Thur., at 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. & at 7 p.m. on Sun. For more info, call (813) 909-6354 or visit “Grilltopia Krate” on Facebook. — GN; photos by Charmaine George

PeppaJak Is Now Open In Former Bacon Boss HQ Spot At The KRATEs

We were saddened to see that The Bacon Boss HQ, one of the original — and most pop ular — restaurants to open in the KRATE at The Grove container park (at 5888 Grand Oro Ln., #112), had closed on March 30.

In their Mar. 20 announcement on the Best of Wesley Chapel Facebook page, however, own ers Christy and Joshua Norland did say that the Bacon Boss food truck will “continue to grow” and be available and that a new chicken concept food truck called Cluckology (photo below) also is in the planning stages, so at least the delicious burgers, hot dogs, fries, tots, chicken sandwiches and mac & cheese options so many of us have come to know and love will still be available now that the Bacon Boss HQ has closed.

I did visit The Bacon Boss HQ one last time a few minutes before it opened on the day before it closed and there already was a family and two other people, all of whom said they were

Owned by my new friends Alex Q and Ash ley, PeppaJak is the “Jak of All Kravz,” and based on my first visit, I’d say it’s an accurate description!

Alex and Ashley also own an extremely popular PeppaJak location in Riverview, which also features “kravz” like Philly cheesesteaks, and

thick and juicy and the skin-on fries were crispy and not over-seasoned. Alex then gave me a small sample of two of the menu items that are available at the new location — crispy and delicious mac-&-cheese bites and some super-yummy boneless chicken tenders. I told Alex I don’t really do spicy (and they are available plain), but I really liked the sweet-&-spicy sauce he suggested!

Alex says a new online ordering system should be available by the time this issue hits your mailbox, “and we’ll also have a new phone number for this location by then, too!”

For more info about The Bacon Boss and Cluckology, visit “The Bacon Boss” on Facebook or call (813) 922-9290. For PeppaJak, visit PeppaJak.com or call (813) 374-5846. — GN

Two More Restaurants Exit The KRATEs; Einstein Bros. Bagels Coming

Although Google lists the Indian Street Kitchen — which has been located next to the former Bacon Boss HQ (now PeppaJak; see story on previous page) for less than a year — as “Temporarily Closed,” according to some of the other tenants at the KRATEs, the Indian street food restaurant owned by the same owners as the sit-down Persis Indian Grill in the nearby Village at The Grove plaza, is permanently closed.

We were not able to get official confirmation from the Persis owners, however, so we will update you if there is still a plan to re-open Indian Street Kitchen.

Also recently closed at the KRATEs is the Tutti Frutti Café, which is owned by the same owners as Café Zorba, the Greek/Mediterranean KRATE located two doors down from the former smoothie/juice shop.

Again, we weren’t able to receive confirma tion from the owners, so if anything changes, we’ll update this story as well.

Nice Move, Einstein!

Wesley Chapel residents are apparently already excited about the sign that went up in the plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (just south of S.R. 56) that also is home to Nutrition Smart that Einstein Bros. Bagels is opening in the plaza.

As soon as I was

alerted to the sign by readers Marisa and Theo Panopoulos, I had a nice chat with Kurt, a Wesley Chapel resident who is the general manager of the closest currently open Einstein Bros. location (on E.Fowler Ave., near USF).

Kurt told me that although the Einstein Bros. corporate entity (both of these locations are corporate-owned, not franchises) was hoping to have the Wesley Chapel location open by the end of May, “It looks like sometime in late July or early August is more likely.” Kurt also said he believes he will end up moving to become the GM at the new store.

In the meantime, Wesley Chapel still has a Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. on S.R. 54 west of I-75, at the front of The Grove, as well as Bagels & Deli Co. in the Pebble Creek Collection on BBD, about 2.5 miles south of the planned Einstein Bros. Also, check out the reopened Plus on E. Fletcher Ave. (see pg. 38). — GN

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