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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

Zephyrhills renews city attorney’s contract

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Matthew Maggard will continue serving as the city attorney for the City of Zephyrhills, for at least three more years.

The Zephyrhills City Council unanimously renewed an independent contract agreement with Maggard, which is effective Nov. 1 and runs through the end of October 2023.

The contract terms remain the same as the existing city attorney agreement.

The City of Zephyrhills has renewed its independent contract with City Attorney Matthew Maggard through October 2023. He has been serving the municipality since 2016. (Courtesy of City of Zephyrhills)

Under those terms, the city is required to pay a minimum fee of $700 per month as a retainer, with attorney services rendered at $150 per hour, and staff services are $50 per hour. The city also will provide Maggard with health insurance on the same basis as it is provided to the council. Another perk: Maggard will be provided an education allowance to attend the Florida Municipal Attorney Association Conference, and an additional local government-related conference.

As city attorney, Maggard, 35, attends all council meetings and workshops, and provides legal counsel to the city council and city staff.

The lawyer represents the city in litigation, collects delinquent taxes, forecloses liens upon real property, prosecutes code enforcement violations, and is the legal advisor to the police and fire departments. He also prepares and reviews all resolutions, ordinances, contracts and legal agreements, too.

Recent undertakings have included: Overseeing consolidation of the city’s fire department with Pasco County; updating the public-private contract on the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center; and, helping the city facilitate a partnership with  a couple of litigation firms to seek damages in a massive federal lawsuit against companies who manufactured firefighting chemicals later found to contaminate some of the city’s groundwater, wastewater and water wells.

Maggard started working for the city in 2016, taking over for then city attorney Joseph Poblick, who held the position for over a decade until he was appointed a Pasco County Court judge.

Maggard also runs private practice in partnership with Danny Burgess, former executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs and currently a candidate for Florida Senate District 20.

The Dade City-based law firm, Maggard & Burgess P.A., handles most aspects of Florida law, including injury, family, business, real estate, banking and foreclosures, criminal defense and traffic, and landlord-tenant, as well as wills, trusts and probate.

Zephyrhills City Manager Billy Poe, who often works closely with the city attorney, expressed his appreciation for how Maggard goes about his duties.

Poe explained, “If ask him a question and he doesn’t know the answer, he doesn’t try to make something up. He says, ‘Give me a few minutes, let me go figure it out, let me go look it up,’ and he comes back with the right answer. …He goes and finds the answer and gets it to me.”

Council members similarly shared overwhelming positive reviews of Maggard’s performance thus far.

Council Vice President Jodi Wilkeson praised Maggard’s responsiveness, whenever a need arises.

“I feel like we have a great working relationship with all of our staff, particularly (Maggard), and I’m hoping for many more years of success,” she said.

Added Councilman Ken Burgess: “I think he’s doing a really great job for us and we made the right decision there (to initially hire Maggard).”

Councilman Lance Smith acknowledged he was initially “a little concerned” about Maggard’s limited legal experience when the city brought the young attorney aboard several years ago. But, those concerns alleviated over time, Smith said, noting the attorney has “fit in well” with the city.

Maggard has some deep ties in public office.

He is the nephew of both Pasco County Commissioner Ron Oakley and State Rep. Randy Maggard.

The city attorney is a graduate from Florida Coastal School of Law and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2013.

Published October 21, 2020

Community input sought on strategic plan

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Pasco County is embarking on its five-year strategic plan and is seeking feedback from its stakeholders and the public in general to help shape the plan.

The county had planned to hold SWOT — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats — analysis sessions before the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to its plans, and now it is reviving the effort, according to a Pasco County news release.

A series of community meetings will be held to solicit feedback and ideas. The first session is  set for Oct. 22, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Cooperative Extension Office, at 36702 State Road 52 in Dade City.

The Pasco County Commission is seeking input on these topics:

  • Identifying Pasco’s competitive advantages in the Tampa Bay region
  • Exploring opportunities for increased levels of service
  • Preparing Pasco County for the next five years of growth
  • Identifying potential challenges
  • Improving operations and service delivery to the community

The SWOT strategic planning tool helps to clarify and summarize key internal and external issues and opportunities that affect Pasco County.

By conducting these sessions, the county is seeking to gain a better understanding of Pasco’s unique assets and competitive positioning in the Tampa Bay region, according to the news release.

This process will help develop the strategic plan — in areas related to capacity for growth, as well as cultural, economic, technological, intellectual and physical assets to promote Pasco County’s economic vitality.

Preregistration is required, face masks are required and social distancing guideline will be followed. Several virtual sessions will be offered for those who prefer not to participate in person.

To learn more about the process, view a complete community meeting schedule, and register to participate, visit bit.ly/PascoSWOT.

For more information, call (727) 847-8115, or email .

Published October 21, 2020

Wesley Chapel woman pens children’s book

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A conversation Jessica Valentin had with her daughter, Isabella, inspired the Wesley Chapel woman to write her first children’s book.

Jessica said they were in the car on the way to an appointment, when she was encouraging her daughter to use her writing and drawing skills.

To make the conversation more concrete, she asked her daughter what kind of story she would like.

Jessica Valentin teamed up with illustrator Stephanie Richoll for the book, ‘Tony and His Mythical Friends.’ Valentin is already working on a second book, in what she hopes will become a series of books. (B.C. Manion)

Isabella responded: “Mom, I love unicorns.”

So, they began brainstorming about a story that would involve the mythical creature, and from that kernel of an idea, Jessica fleshed out the outline of a story.

They decided that Jessica would write the story, and Isabella would draw the characters.

“It became a family affair,” Jessica said.

Kayla, Isabella’s twin sister and the twins’ younger sister, Iliana, suggested names for the other characters in the story, and shared their perspectives.

They decided to try to publish the story, and Jessica decided to hire a professional artist to illustrate the book. She selected professional artist Stephanie Richoll to illustrate the book, and the two plan to continue the collaboration on future projects.

Jessica’s husband, Anthony “Tony,” a retired New York City police officer, has been a huge supporter, the author said. He’s the one who is covering the costs for the venture.

Initially, Jessica had hoped to find a literary agent and a publisher for the project.

But, when she wasn’t making any progress, she didn’t want that to be the end of the story.

So, she decided to self-publish the book, “Tony and His Mythical Friends,” and is selling the book on Amazon.

At one point, the book reached No. 59 on Amazon, in the Children’s Folklore and Myths category, she said.

The book tells the tale of a camping trip, where a boy notices a flickering light at a nearby campsite and decides to check it out.

He discovers a group of unusual-looking campers.

It’s a story that touches on the themes of kindness, inclusion, empathy and friendship.

Of course, publishing a book in the time of COVID-19 has its complications.

On the one hand, the pandemic gave Jessica time to work on her first book, and another one that’s in progress.

On the other hand, book readings she’d hope to give to help promote the book have been put on hold.

Meanwhile, she’s using social media tools — such Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — to help get the word out about her book.

She realizes that she is an unknown author, with much to learn.

She’s undaunted.

She wants to help children to develop a love for reading, and she hopes this book — and others she has planned, will help make that happen.

“They can escape their world or their stress,” Jessica said.

Surprisingly, the author did not enjoy reading or writing when she was young.

“I wanted something different for my girls,” she said, adding that she frequently read to them when they were small, hoping to help them appreciate the power of stories.

She has big ideas for where she wants to take her writing.

“I want to reach more kids. I’m just at the beginning,” the author said.

She acknowledges achieving her goals will take time and won’t be easy.

“You always start at the bottom. No one really starts at the top,” she said.

Even if her books never become No. 1 bestsellers, she thinks her efforts are worthwhile.

“It’s a love letter to my kids,” the author said.

To find out more about the book, go to Facebook: Tony and His Mythical Friends by Jessica Valentin; Instagram: @tonyandhismythicalfriends; or, Twitter: @TMythicalFriends

The author also can be reached at .

Published October 21, 2020

A chance to tell your neighborhood’s story

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Hillsborough County’s Office of Neighborhood Relations is now accepting applications for the 2021 Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program.

During this application period, the program features new project categories that are aimed at bringing neighbors together and boosting community pride.

The program provides up to $5,000 of funding for neighborhood organizations that want to strengthen and engage their communities through innovative and creative community projects.

The new categories are:

  • Neighborhood Identification
  • Leadership Empowerment
  • Safety Opportunities and Education
  • Environmental Enhancements
  • Health and Wellness Engagement
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • Neighborhood and Community Innovation.

Applicants are encouraged to be innovative and original, and to select a project that is creative, engaging, enduring, and unites the community.

Neighborhood, civic, homeowner, and crime watch associations in Hillsborough County that are registered with the Hillsborough County Office of Neighborhood Relations are eligible to apply. That also includes the associations in Temple Terrace, Tampa and Plant City.

Prior to submitting an application, applicants are encouraged to participate in a min-grant training session webinar, which is a comprehensive review of the application, grant criteria and projects that qualify for the mini-grant. Organizers also must answer questions about the program.

Webinars will be announced at a later date, online at HCFLGov.net/Neighborhoods.

The deadline to apply for a mini-grant is at 5 p.m., Dec. 4.

Visit tinyurl.com/yybu9ddc for more on the grant application process, the requirements, and to complete the application.

For information, call the Office of Neighborhood Relations at (813) 272-5860.

Published October 21, 2020

Upgrades coming to Zephyrhills CRA area

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The Zephyrhills Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board has approved a budget of $578,244 for fiscal year 2020-2021 — and identified a number of priority projects.

The project is an increase of $91,234 over last year’s $478,010 budget.

The Zephyrhills Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has approved a budget of $578,244 for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. That’s an increase of $91,234 over last year’s budget of $478,010. The CRA district includes more than 500 acres —generally encompassing the center spine of the city, between Hercules Park to C Avenue, and from Zephyr Park to 17th Street. (File)

The increase is primarily due to greater revenues collected from ad valorem taxes from the city and Pasco County. Those revenues came in at $426,470, compared to $319,031 last year.

The remainder of the CRA budget is made up of reserves for future projects ($150,174) and miscellaneous revenue ($1,600) from interest and reimbursements from Zephyrhills Main Street Inc.

The CRA board unanimously approved the budget, which then was passed through the Zephyrhills City Council. (Although it is a separate board, the CRA board is made up of members of the Zephyrhills City Council.)

Funds will be allocated to projects within the city’s 500-plus acre CRA district, which generally encompasses the center spine of the city, between Hercules Park to C Avenue, and from Zephyr Park to 17th Street.

Priority projects include:

  • Hercules Park upgrades
  • Sidewalk improvement, in partnership with the city’s public works department
  • Lake Necessity improvements
  • Installation of public artwork and artistic connections, such as murals, from Fifth Avenue through downtown side streets
  • Incentives for development opportunities and growth in the CRA

Meanwhile, the budget funds existing grant programs and incentives, such as residential grants (façade, paint, homeownership) and commercial grants (façade, signage).

Zephyrhills CRA Director Gail Hamilton detailed the success of assorted grant programs, noting the agency last year distributed seven homeownership grants, which set a record for new homes purchased within the district in any given year.

The homeownership grant provides $5,000 to new homeowners in the district. It requires a homeowner to apply before purchasing and closing, and file for the homestead exemption for five years.

Funding also is allocated to continue the Saturday neighborhood clean-up improvement program, which was shuttered for much of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff expects to restart the program in 2021, Hamilton said.

Downtown landscaping and public artwork opportunities are just some of the initiatives funded in this year’s Zephyrhills CRA budget. (Courtesy of Main Street Zephyrhills)

Elsewhere, the agency has multiple outstanding approved projects budgeted from 2019-2020 that simply will be rolled over to the new budget year.

That includes installing signage posts and frames along Fifth Avenue, from Zephyr Park to Ninth Street. The CRA initially struggled getting bids for the project, as manufacturers shut down or scaled back amid the pandemic.

“Factories are up now, so we can get that project finished,” Hamilton said.

In conjunction with that, the CRA agency currently is consulting with Kimley-Horn planning/engineering firm on developing concepts and modifications for gateway signage, hammering out desired styles and exact locations, such as the prime U.S. 301/Fifth Avenue intersection.

The idea is to give residents and visitors directions to shopping and dining “to draw people down Fifth Avenue,” Hamilton said.

The gateway signage requires the approval of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), as it falls under CAF (Community Aesthetic Features) installed in or on the right of way, Hamilton said.

Sprucing up downtown landscaping is another ongoing project that shifted into this year. It involves tidying up circular medians and installing pots, benches and chairs that match existing light poles and trash cans throughout.

Published October 21, 2020

Contract extended on intersection improvement

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The Pasco County Commission has granted an extension of 240 calendar days to D.A.B. Constructors Inc., to complete the construction of intersection improvements at State Road 54 and Morris Bridge Road and Eiland Boulevard.

The project had been scheduled to be completed by Nov. 22, but needs to be delayed because of utility coordination and relocation delays in the state Department of Transportation’s project that is widening State Road 54 to Curley Road.

D.A.B. also is the contractor on that project.

The contractor can’t proceed until utilities have been coordinated at the intersection. This coordination effort resulted in the need to extend the intersection improvements (SR 54 at Morris Bridge and Eiland Boulevard) construction contract by an additional 240 days.

The new completion date is expected to be July 19, 2021.

Published October 21, 2020

Use care in watering — or face fines

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Here’s a friendly reminder from the folks at Hillsborough County Public Utilities: Pay attention to the county’s watering restrictions.

Residents living in unincorporated Hillsborough County are allowed to water their lawns twice a week, and those restrictions are effective throughout the year, according to a Hillsborough County news release.

To help conserve on water, make sure your watering systems have no leaks, that spray patterns are directed properly and that the sprinkler heads are in working order. (Courtesy of Hillsborough County)

The ordinance covers all sources of water, except for reclaimed water.

These are the watering rules:

  • Lawn watering must be done before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m., and property owners can only water once on the designated days.
  • Addresses ending in 0, 1, 2, or 3 can water their lawns on Mondays and Thursdays.
  • Addresses ending in 4, 5, or 6 can water their lawns on Tuesdays and Fridays.
  • Addresses ending in 7, 8, or 9 can water their lawns Wednesdays and Saturdays.
  • Locations with no addresses, such as common areas, and locations with mixed addresses, such as office complexes, can water their lawns on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Hillsborough County Code Enforcement enforces the county ordinance for year-round watering restrictions.

Violations may result in citations starting at $100.

The release also provides this advice, from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Science: A rule of thumb is to water the lawn when 30% to 50% of the lawn shows signs that the grass has folding leaf blades, a blue-gray color, or footprints are visible in the grass.

It’s also a good idea to check to make sure that the sprinkler system is working properly and that there are no leaks, broken sprinkler heads or misdirected spray patterns, the release added.

To report properties that are not adhering to watering restrictions, call Code Enforcement at (813) 224-8993.

Learn more online at HCFLGov.net/WaterRestrictions.

For more information on conserving water, visit HCFLGov.net/WaterConservation, or call the Water Conservation Hotline at (813) 663-3295.

Published October 21, 2020

Local chiropractor keeps Lightning fit for ice

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Dr. Timothy Bain dreamed of someday hoisting the NHL’s Stanley Cup, as he grew up in the Northeast and played and watched hockey.

Little did he expect, however, to actually get that rare opportunity.

“Who knew at 53 (years old) that this would happen? I thought it’d happen at like 23,” Bain quipped, in reference to hoisting the Cup, after the Lightning’s Stanley Cup win after six games against the Dallas Stars.

The Wesley Chapel resident has been the Lightning’s team chiropractor since 2011.

Tampa Bay Lightning team chiropractor Dr. Timothy Bain celebrates the organization winning its second Stanley Cup in franchise history. The Wesley Chapel resident spent 65 days with the team in the NHL playoff ‘bubble’ in Canada from late July through late September. (Courtesy of David Miles)

He also runs his own practice, B3 Medical, with locations in Wesley Chapel, New Tampa, Carrollwood and Riverview, and works with a sports performance facility at Saddlebrook Resort & Spa designed for elite-level athletes.

Bain assists Lightning players on injury prevention and body maintenance.

The scope of work includes neurological-based adjustments, post-concussion therapy, craniosacral therapy, plus other exercise therapies to help improve muscle tissue on extremities, such as feet and ankles.

“Ultimately, it’s about getting the athlete better,” Bain said, describing his role with the team.

The chiropractor’s work to enhance players’ bodies for the ice was deemed so critical that he was included in the team’s 52-member traveling party (including players and coaches) to the NHL’s quarantine “bubble” for the postseason tournament in Canada.

“They were really great at saying, ‘We need you there, we want you there, you’re a big part of our team,’ and it made me feel really good and proud of that,” Bain said.

The traveling party spent a combined 65 days at hotels in Toronto and then Edmonton through the team’s lengthy title run, from late July through late September, where all games were played without fans in attendance. The great measures were put in place to safely complete the NHL playoffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Bain and other Lightning personnel, being away from family and home for so long was quite challenging. So, too, was being cooped up in a hotel room, ice rink or training room.

The Wesley Chapel physician made the best of it, however.

He approached it as a valuable bonding experience, particularly when the club shifted to Rogers Place in Edmonton for the conference finals, where rinks and hotels are intertwined.

He likened it to a kid’s summer camp, where everyone bunks together on the same floor and is around each other seemingly at all times.

“We lived on basically one floor, and we walked to the rink and walked back to the floor,” Bain said. “We had a really small, little treatment room, and all the guys kind of came in there and hung in there while they were getting treated, or waited to get treated, so we became a real close-knit group through this whole bubble process.

“I never want to have to leave my family again for that long, but it was a really great experience,” he said.

Boredom might’ve set in for some on non-game days, but Bain kept busy all throughout.

He worked with each of the 25-plus active players on various therapy regimens and body maintenance, all while keeping tabs on his medical businesses back in Tampa.

“Me, I really didn’t have a lot of downtime,” Bain said. “All of us therapists were extremely busy from sun up to 12 a.m., 1 a.m. We had guys working on different things and keeping them on track. You may have had an hour here or an hour there to grab a sandwich, but you really didn’t have a ton of downtime.”

Circumstances aside, seeing the Lightning win the Cup for the first time since 2004 ranks among his life’s most special moments.

“I was hoping to win a Stanley Cup since I can remember, and so this is a way to have that dream come true,” Bain said.

Like other staff members of the Lightning — Bain has since enjoyed some personal time with the Cup, like hugging it during the team’s plane ride back to the United States.

He’s partaken in other Cup traditions — kissing it, sharing drinks out of it, and otherwise marveling at it in the training room and lunchroom at team headquarters.  “We really had a lot of great time to spend with the Cup,” Bain said.

As a hockey lifer, Bain appreciates the significance of the moments.

The Tampa Bay Lightning won its second Stanley Cup in franchise history after downing the Dallas Stars in six games in the NHL finals last month. The NHL playoffs were played in Canada without fans.

Aside from playing hockey as a youth and working for the Lightning, Bain’s also been a longtime referee in the sport’s minor leagues.

The Cup is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America. Part of its lore is being the only trophy in major sports not reproduced each year.

When a team wins the Cup, they are allowed to hold on to the trophy for one year, and the name of every player, coach and front-office employee is inscribed onto it.

With that, it’s widely considered bad form for players and hockey fans to touch the Cup if their team didn’t win it in a particular year.

Naturally, Bain had never touched the Cup until now.

“There’s no trophy in the world like it, right?,” Bain said. “There’s only one of these things, and part of that joy is being able to spend some time with it.”

 

Talent, grit, leadership carried Lightning

The Lightning had its fair share of opportunities to claim an NHL championship since Bain began working for the club nearly a decade ago.

Before this banner season, Bain was sure the 2018-2019 team would win the Cup following its 62-win regular season — which tied the 1995-1996 Detroit Red Wings for most by a team in the regular season in NHL history.

That squad, however, was shockingly swept in four games by then No. 8 seeded Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round.

Bain had a front row seat to that squad’s April 2019 playoff meltdown.

“We had the superstars,” he said, “(but) we didn’t necessarily have the grit and the determination and the size to get through the way that the game is (loosely) officiated and played differently throughout the playoffs.”

Bain also viewed the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 teams capable of winning a title, until key injuries to goalies and others hit at the wrong time.

This year was different though. A couple circumstances gave Bain unwavering confidence the Lightning would finally pull off a Cup win.

He credited the organization’s respective acquisitions of forwards Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow and defensemen Zach Bogosian, Pat Maroon and Luke Schenn.

Those players, Bain said, “changed the culture enough” by bringing some toughness to the club to complement its offensive-minded skill players.

The team chiropractor singled out Maroon for his leadership in bringing the team together during a critical weeklong trip to Sweden back in November.

“Where there may have been cliques before, Pat Maroon changed that,” Bain said of the 32-year-old defenseman who also won the Cup in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues, becoming the third player in the NHL expansion era to register back-to-back titles with different teams.

Another watershed moment, Bain said, came when the team was exacting revenge over Columbus in a five overtime 3-2 victory in Game 1 in the Eastern Conference first round on Aug. 11 — the fourth-longest game in NHL history.

“When we won that game, that’s when I thought, ‘This is gonna happen,’” Bain said of the possibility on the Lightning winning the Cup.

Besides the outright win, it was the team’s composed locker room between each period that opened his eyes: “When the guys were coming out or going in, they were all laughing and having fun, and there was not a guy in there that was nervous, and they kept it that way through five overtimes.”

He added: “Everybody was on the same page, they all bought into a system and put aside their own personal stuff to win a goal, and it was an amazing thing to be a part of.”

Now that he’s hoisted the Cup, Bain already has a new goal — defending the Cup in 2021, hopefully at Amalie Arena, in front of 20,000 or so screaming Lightning fans.

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it? That was the hardest part, is we weren’t able to do that with all the fans,” Bain said.

Published October 14, 2020

Efforts underway to encourage tourism

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It’s no secret that Florida’s tourism economy has been decimated from impacts of COVID-19, and Dana Young, president and CEO of Visit Florida, recently detailed tourism losses the state has suffered during a Zoom breakfast meeting with the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.

At the same session, Young outlined efforts that have started to spur a tourism rebound.

“Prior to the pandemic, Florida tourism had just capped off our 10th consecutive year of record visitation. We welcomed over 130 million visitors to our state in 2019,” Young said, during the Oct. 6 meeting.

“And, these folks contributed $91 billion to our economy and supported 1.5 million jobs,” Young added.

In fact, she reported that Florida’s State Economist Amy Baker warned last year that tourism-related revenue losses posed the greatest potential risk to Florida’ economic outlook.

“A little over a year later, that prediction has come true. In the long-range financial outlook released last month to the Legislature, the economists reported that the pandemic’s fiscal impact on tourism accounts for half of Florida’s $2.7 billion budget shortfall,” Young said.

Hotels have been hit hard, Young said, in response to a question from a Zoom listener.

“The latest number I saw was that hotels in Florida had lost over $5 billion, and that was several weeks ago, so I’ve got to think that number is significantly higher,” she said.

But, Young said Visit Florida is ready to meet the challenge.

Speeding up recovery, if only just by a few months, will restore millions of dollars in tax revenues and create thousands of jobs for Floridians, she said.

“Since the pandemic began, Visit Florida and my great research and marketing professionals have been carefully monitoring public health data, travel-related metrics and trends, to guide our decision-making process,” she explained.

When the virus began making news in China, Visit Florida decided to stop advertising in that market.

“When travel essentially ceased to exist in March, Visit Florida pulled out all of our advertising, in preparation for the recovery,” Young said.

Doing that saved $13 million that is now being invested in a recovery campaign, she said.

“The timing of our recovery plan, as in everything at Visit Florida, is driven by data.

“We’ve been monitoring traveler sentiment, destination readiness and all sorts of trends out there — to determine in a data-driven way, when we should start advertising again.

“We want to make sure that people are ready to book travel, or receptive to seeing messages about travel,” she said.

“In these early stages of recovery, we know that people are more likely and more comfortable to travel closer to home. So, in-state travel is absolutely critical to our rebound.

“Floridians hold the key to our recovery, particularly in these early stages.

“In our first round of ads, we’re looking to remind Floridians of why they should be so proud to live here, and live in a state where the world dreams of vacationing.

“We want to take that pride and we want to channel that into getting Floridians to travel within our state, and harness that into supporting our Florida businesses, so many of which are hurting badly right now,” Young said.

“We’re trying to introduce them to maybe a part of Florida that they’ve never seen.

“Maybe they thought they would have to fly to another state or another country to have experiences that they can have right here at home,” she added.

The budget for the in-state marketing campaign is $3.4 million.

Visit Florida also understands how important it is to attract out-of-state visitors, too, Young said.

It launched a new effort last week that focuses on key drive markets to Florida, around the United States, particularly in the Eastern United States.

The tourism organization’s research reveals that people are willing to travel about 700 miles for a Florida vacation, Young said. So domestic marketing focuses on areas such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Birmingham, Nashville and Philadelphia.

The budget for that campaign is around $10 million, Young said.

“While we have heard anecdotally that other states are at a complete standstill about marketing to out-of-state visitors, we at Visit Florida plan to continue to be very aggressive in our approach, to save as much of the winter season and early 2021 as possible,” Young said.

“We want Florida to be the first destination that comes to mind when travelers sit down and plan a vacation, and heavy marketing is the best way to accomplish that goal. So, that is what we are doing,” Young said.

During the pandemic, the North Tampa Bay Chamber has shifted presentations that typically were given at in-person breakfast and luncheon meetings to Zoom sessions instead, allowing members to hear from speakers on a broad range of topics — without risk of exposure to COVID-19.

Published October 14, 2020

Starkey Ranch K-8 is set to open next fall

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A new kindergarten through eighth grade school that’s being constructed in the Starkey Ranch community now has an official name: Starkey Ranch K-8.

The school is scheduled to open next fall, and will part of a complex that includes a district park, a theater and library. The district park opened in November 2017.

This is what the Starkey Ranch K-8 School campus will look like. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

The quartet of community amenities resulted from a public-public-private partnership involving Pasco County Schools, Pasco County and the Wheelock Communities, the private developers of Starkey Ranch, a community off State Road 54 in Trinity.

Starkey Ranch K-8 School is the public school district’s first school specifically designed for elementary and middle school students.

The school is expected to have about 1,000 elementary school students and 600 middle school students. The campus includes a gymnasium, athletic fields, a running track and sports courts that will be available during non-school hours to residents, through a shared-use agreement.

Additionally, the third part of the partnership involves Pasco County, and involves the construction of what’s been dubbed TLC, which stands for theater, library and cultural center.

The TLC will accommodate public library patrons and students. It also will have a 250-seat theater and three makerspaces.

The Pasco County School Board approved the school’s official name during its Oct. 6 meeting. The board prefers to name schools after the general location, features of the area or historical information about the area.

Published October 14, 2020