The Laker-Land O' Lakes/Lutz-April 27, 2016

Page 1

The LAKER

ee r F

LAND O’ LAKES/LUTZ EDITION

LAKERLUTZNEWS.COM

Auto Accident? Slip and Fall? FREE CONSULTATION

No Fees Or Costs Unless You Win HOLLIDAY KARATINOS LAW FIRM, P.L. HelpingInjuredPeople.com Call Attorney

APRIL 27, 2016

Timing on traffic signals tweaked By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com

Motorists cruising through the intersection of State Road 54 and U.S. 41 might have noticed some differences in the timing of the traffic signals. The intervals between green lights and red lights have changed there and also in front of Lowe’s home improvement store off State Road 54. Not everyone is happy with the change, especially motorists who say they sit through more than one light interval to make a left turn heading south on U.S. 41 to See SIGNALS, page 11A

KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTOS

Motorists turn left from southbound U.S. 41 onto eastbound State Road 54. State highway officials tweaked the timing of traffic signals to improve traffic flow, but some motorists say they don’t like the longer waits to turn left.

JIM HOLLIDAY 813-868-1887 “I Will Aggressively Fight To Protect Your Legal Rights” 18920 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Ste 101 Lutz, FL (Corner of Sunlake & Dale Mabry)

Walk-Ins Welcome

Your Local Real Estate & Property Management Experts

B

INSIDE, PAGE 1B JOSEPH SPENA/PHOTO

Corporals Endricks and Meddaugh, of the Special Incident Response Team, stand in front of their vehicle at the third annual Law Enforcement Officer Family Fun Day on April 16.

Former health clinic could house tax office DennisRealty.com

DennisPM.com

Air Conditioning • Plumbing • Electrical

Way e h t e c i Serv e! B a t h g u

it O

CORNERSTONEPROS.COM

813-949-4445 #CFC1428982 #CAC1816647 #EC0001103

SUPER SERVICE AWARD 2012 ,2013, 2014, 2015

ee Fr

The LAKER WESLEY CHAPEL/NEW TAMPA EDITION

LAKERLUTZNEWS.COM

Auto Accident? Slip and Fall? FREE CONSULTATION

No Fees Or Costs Unless You Win HOLLIDAY KARATINOS

ee Fr

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

The LAKER

LAKERLUTZNEWS.COM

Auto Accident? Slip and Fall?

By Kathy Steele

FREE CONSULTATION

The site is located at the corner of of heading toward a construction start Magnolia Boulevard and Wesley Chapel Amici Plaza in spring with an opening likely Boulevard, which is also known as County ksteele@lakerlutznews.com by the end of 2016. Road 54. Pasco County records show a conceptual Pasco County is moving forward with acOwners of Amici Pizza & Deli are planthe plan with about 3,000 square feet for Road ning to build a new stand-alone restaurant, for quisition of right-of-way along County restaurant, and about 1,800 square feet 54 to prepare for the expansion of the twowith additional retail space, on Wesley retail. the lane road into a four-lane road at Chapel Boulevard. “We’d like to have our own building and 54 junction of State Road 56 and State Road The new restaurant is a short distance a bigger kitchen,” said Andrea Mannino. from the existing Amici restaurant in Grand No decisions have been made on the adSee PIZZA, page 13A Oaks Square, at Wesley Chapel and Pet Lane. ditional retail space, he said. Andrea and Josephine Mannino, are

LAW FIRM, P.L.

No Fees Or Costs Unless You Win HOLLIDAY KARATINOS LAW FIRM, P.L. HelpingInjuredPeople.com

HelpingInjuredPeople.com

Call Attorney

JIM HOLLIDAY

Call Attorney

JIM HOLLIDAY

813-868-1887 “I Will Aggressively Fight To Protect Your Legal Rights”

813-868-1887 “I Will Aggressively Fight To Protect Your Legal Rights”

18920 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Ste 101 Lutz, FL (Corner of Sunlake & Dale Mabry)

101 18920 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Ste Lutz, FL (Corner of Sunlake & Dale Mabry)

Walk-Ins Welcome

Walk-Ins Welcome

FLORIDA STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL

EDITION

JANUARY 27, 2016

Pasco administrator to retire in

By Kathy Steele

ksteele@lakerlutznews.com

Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker expects to be very busy over the next year and a half. She’ll be crossing off a to-do list, one by one, before leaving in 2017 to go on a lengthy road trip with her husband. The couple will hit the road with their recreational vehicle and their motorcycles, on a tour of as many baseball parks and national parks as they can squeeze into a year. “That’s been our dream,” Baker said, so letting her contract lapse in July 2017 makes sense. But, don’t expect a lame duck administrator. “There’s no kicking back here,” Baker said.“This isn’t me slowing down. ” Baker has told Pasco County commissioners she won’t seek renewal of her current two-year contract, which makes her

2017

last day July 9, 2017. the jail and construction of new fire stations By then, Baker will • Relocating have worked 35 years central Pasco more government offices to in public service, 24 Baker also plans to fill vacancies for a of those years with few key leadership positions that remain, Pasco County. cluding an assistant county administrator infor Her to-do list, in public safety and administration. short form, includes: Progress has been made, Baker said, but • Completing mas- government services still could be more ter plans and updates customer-friendly. for storm water, solid A culture that was decades in the waste and tourism making is being changed, she said.“You don’t • Funding and building a diverging get to dia- turn a canoe.You’re turning mond road design to ease traffic congestion a ship.” Public service wasn’t Baker’s first at State Road 56 and Interstate 75 career choice. • Completing the State Road 56 extenOver the years she worked sion as a waitress, • Nurturing SunWest Park, the county’s flight attendant and a theater manager. She also served in the U.S.Air Force Reserve. fledgling aqua park Her undergraduate degree was in • Replacing and repairing aging busiinfra- ness administration. structure and roads damaged by the It wasn’t until she accepted a secretarial summer flooding • Making progress on the expansion of See RETIRE, page 11A Michele Baker

Kumquats reign supreme at area festival By Kathy Steele

ksteele@lakerlutznews.com

®

Saturday, January 30, 2016 9 AM - 5 PM Historic Downtown Dade City

FREE ADMISSION KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTOS

©

WESLEY CHAPEL/NEW TAMPA

Amici Pizza plans stand-alone location

Mark Pizzurro, Joe Traina and Peter Abreut

anticipate opening their craft brewery

in Land O’ Lakes in spring.

I th

The first kumquat tree in St. Joseph took root more than 100 years ago, when C.J. Nathe planted it in his backyard. He added a few more, and soon he had small grove on an acre of fertile ground. a The kumquat king, as Nathe was later dubbed, transformed a quiet back road community into the Kumquat Capital of the World. An open house will take place on Jan. and Jan. 29 at the Kumquat Growers 28 packi h d

Margie Neuhofer and her h

b

dJ

KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTO

DON’T MISS A SINGLE ISSUE!

The full version of The Laker is now available online. Visit LakerLutzNews.com and click E-Editions in the top left corner.

By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com

The former location of Pasco County’s health clinic in Land O’ Lakes is now nearly empty. The only remaining service being provided there is the special nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC. Staff members who used to work at the health clinic, including a physician and nurses, have been reassigned to other offices in New Port Richey, Dade City and Zephyrhills. County officials cite decreases in numbers of people seeking out immunizations and family planning services at the clinic as reason for the relocations. The health clinic building is next to the county’s David “Hap” Clark Jr. office building in the Central Pasco Professional Center, at 4111 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTOS Pasco County commissioners ap- The Women, Infants and Children program is the only program currently operating in the building pear ready to hand over the space to that formerly housed the Pasco County health clinic in Land O’ Lakes. Tax Collector Mike Fasano, who made a pitch for the deal at an April 19 workshop in New Port Richey. His staff now “People are standing all occupies space on the first floor of the Hap over the place trying to get Clark building, which also houses the super- services,” Fasano said. visor of elections and other county The health clinic had departments. the opposite problem, Commissioners discussed long-range county officials said. planning for its facilities’ upgrades and how The county took more to pay for improvements to the county’s than a year to assess how storm drainage system. many patients came to the Fasano said he is prepared to use his clinic and what services budget to renovate the 10,000-square-foot they requested, said Mike building and to relocate his staff to the for- Napier, the county’s health mer health clinic site. department administrator. “I don’t want money,” Fasano said.“All I The data showed dewant is that building.” clines for many of its Fasano told commissioners he needed a medical services, including firm answer by the end of May. childhood immunizations. The WIC program would need to relo- At the same time, the WIC Tax Collector Mike Fasano wants to relocate his staff from cate so renovations could occur. program surprisingly re- the David ‘Hap’ Clark Building to the former Pasco County “If I don’t get into the building, then I’ve mained steady at about 50 health clinic building, next door. got to go find a building,” Fasano said.“I hate clients to 60 clients a day. to see a building go vacant.“ “We tried marketing opportunities to Staff members with the county’s enviThe growth in the Land O’ Lakes area is find out why,” Napier said. ronmental health division also were fueling the need for additional space, Fasano No answer was found, but Napier said it transferred from the health clinic building said. made sense to transfer staff to other loca- to other offices. The tax collector’s Land O’ Lakes loca- tions while keeping the WIC program in They spend most of their time in the tion is overcrowded, he said. Land O’ Lakes. field, Napier said.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.