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JUNE 30, 2021
Official praises Pasco’s progress
By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano has personally witnessed how the area where he grew up and now governs has evolved over the past several decades. Case in point:When Fasano moved with his family to the Holiday area some 50 years ago as a 12-year-old boy, he recalls seeing
signage advertising homes selling for just $6,999. That’s quite the far cry from today, with billboards promoting $300,000 to $500,000 residences along State Road 52 and 54. “It’s just absolutely amazing where we’ve come over time,” said Fasano, speaking during an East Pasco Networking Group breakfast meeting earlier this month, at IHOP in Dade City.
The area’s reputation also is changing, Fasano said. “Pasco has changed over time, not only politically, but also as far as the businesses in Pasco County. “We’re no longer the stepchild to Pinellas and Hillsborough (counties), if you will. We’re now looked at as a leading communiSee PROGRESS, page 11A
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Tamika Diaz, of Wesley Chapel, leads children in an uplifting and inspirational dance during the Juneteenth Celebration at Union Park.
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Wesley Chapel’s Union Park community celebrates Juneteenth By Kevin Weiss
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The second annual Juneteenth Family Day Celebration in Wesley Chapel’s Union Park community brought on added significance. Just days prior to the weekend event, the U.S. Senate passed legislation declaring June 19 a federal holiday, and then President Joe Biden signed it into law. The groundbreaking development brought extra spark to all involved, event organizer Melissa Akers-Atkins acknowledged. “We were very excited,”Akers-Atkins recently told The Laker/Lutz News. “It happened Thursday, so we were excited that Saturday we were able to announce that and celebrate it again, even more. It was just a little different you know.” The event was held to commemorate the day – June 19, 1865 – when the last enslaved Blacks, in Galveston, Texas, learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had freed them. Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. The June 19 celebration at Union Park was coordinated by a handful of neighborhood residents, led by Akers-Atkins. Other members of the planning committee included Tamika Diaz,Alexandra Archibald, Mesha Pierre,Talana Brown, Antoine Williams and Michaela Steward. Songs, dance, music, food, prayer, prizes and fellowship filled a day of activities from
Faraasha Bell Fonoti, 14, and NeVaeh Akers-Atkins, 13, both of Wesley Chapel, receive a round of applause that left them delighted after performing a step dance, which requires the shoes on the pavement to be the percussion aspects of the dance. Derived from African and slave dances, stepping or step dance is energetic and expressive.
1 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Union Park clubhouse on Bering Road. The festival drew over 100 attendees and also had several Black-owned vendors and other organizations on hand.This included multiple young entrepreneurs like 14-yearold Jordan Parramore, the owner/operator of Jordan’s Juice Bar, selling juice pops and
coco bombs. The event began with an opening prayer from Carmel Friendship Church pastor Quincy Stratford, then a discussion on the meaning of Juneteenth led by co-organizer Tamika Diaz. See JUNETEENTH, page 11A
Tampa International Airport is ‘recovering aggressively’ By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
There’s no doubt that Tampa International Airport — like airports across the country — took a major hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the airport is taking steps toward an aggressive recovery. That was a key point shared by Veronica Cintron, the airport’s vice president of communications, during a Zoom presentation in early June to members of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce. As more Americans are getting vaccinated — and with summer vacation season here — air travel is experiencing an uptick. The Tampa airport, known as TPA for short, saw about 62,000 passengers on the Monday of Memorial Day weekend — making it the second busiest day of the pandemic.The only day that had been busier to date was Wrestlemania Sunday, which recorded 66,000 passengers in a single day, Cintron said. “Leisure is recovering far more aggressively than business,” she told North Tampa Bay Chamber members. Initial expectations were that it would take two years to three years for business travel to return.
But, Cintron said:“I am telling you, in being at the airport, you’re starting to see those folks who are wearing their logo shirts, they’re wearing company clothes. They’re coming with their carry-ons and you know they’re business travelers. We were not expecting to see that now.” Business travel is now expected to resume quicker than initially thought, she said. “We are recovering aggressively. We’re going to get back to 22 million customers very soon, as early as September, we might be back,” she said. While traffic is picking up now, the bottom dropped out in 2020 because of COVID-19. The airport was coming off 22 million passengers in 2019, leading up to the pandemic. “Early on, we got hit. Think about the impact when you see, at your worst, in this pandemic, we saw maybe 1,500 passengers in one day. In one day, for an entire airport complex.Think about that,” she said. “It was eerie. It was like a ghost town. “So, for our retailers and our restaurants, and the different concessionaires that operate out of the airport, many of them had to close. It was not sustainable to be open, when nobody is coming,” Cintron said. The airport’s revenue losses exceeded
$300 million, Cintron said, which is amplified because the airport is a regional economic driver. Still, she noted:“During shutdowns all over the country, people were still flying here.They wanted to be outside. They wanted to enjoy those outdoor attractions,” Cintron said, and they wanted to enjoy the area’s beautiful beaches. TPA also was one of the first to develop a comprehensive safety program. It installed acrylic barriers, instituted social distancing for seating and required masks. “We led the nation in doing so, really creating a model for other airports to follow, at a time of great uncertainty,” Cintron said, and the airport’s efforts led to international recognition. The financial well-being of the airport has a spillover effect on the region. As the nation’s 28th busiest airport, TPA supports 10,500 jobs directly and 121,000 jobs indirectly. It has an estimated $14 billion impact on the economy. The three largest airlines, by market share at TPA, are Southwest,American and Delta.The most popular markets for passengers flying from TPA are New York, Chicago and Atlanta, Cintron said.
There are about 500 daily flight operations at TPA, including 90 nonstop destinations.The airport has about 30 international destinations. As TPA looks ahead, it is always seeking to enhance its services, Cintron said. Recently, Breeze Airways chose TPA for its inaugural market with nonstop flights from Tampa to Charleston, South Carolina.The airline plans to operate 10 inaugural routes from TPA, mostly to cities not currently served, including Louisville, Kentucky and Richmond, Virginia. “When there’s competition, it benefits all of us,” Cintron said. TPA’s international travel is beginning to pick up, but that’s happening gradually, Cintron said. Copa Airline, which serves Panama City, Panama, returned to the airport in early June, and British Airways was expected to return later in the month. Grand Cayman expects to return this fall. All of those plans are subject to change, however, because of the uncertainty about international travel at this point in the pandemic, Cintron said. TPA continues planning for the future. See TIA, page 11A