When the sprawling residential-commercial development project that was to be known as Serenova was still on the drawing board, one of the people involved in the project suggested that the center of economic activity in the county was even then shifting from West Pasco to Central and East Pasco. The U.S. 19 corridor would become economically "blighted" and have to be redeveloped, this person suggested. Serenova never got built and the 6,500 acres it would have occupied ended up in the hands of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The U.S. 19 prediction, alas, is still looking viable. ...more

November 14, 2009

Leadership Tampa gives its annual Parke Wright III Award to a leader who has "made a significant difference in the Tampa Bay community." ...more

February 7, 2009

The Hillsborough County School District continues to iron out wrinkles in the bus system that plagued the district at the beginning of this school year. ...more

October 27, 2008

The race for the Pasco County Commission's third district pits veteran incumbent Ann Hildebrand against newcomer Teresa Conroy. ...more

October 19, 2008

When the Legislature voted in May 2007 to create the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, hailed the move as a "tremendous victory" for the Suncoast. TBARTA, he predicted at the time, will "have a huge impact in addressing our transportation needs." Barely 18 months later, getting TBARTA into a state in which it can do anything about the transportation problems in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough and four other counties in west-central Florida is proving a difficult task. ...more

October 18, 2008

Think for a minute about the challenges facing Hillsborough public schools: nearly a dozen high schools labeled as "dropout factories" because as many as 40 percent of students are left behind, a transportation quagmire that's hurt children and families, and spending practices that leave taxpayers wondering where the money goes. ...more

October 14, 2008

The Hillsborough County School Board continues to try to figure out how to unravel a transportation mess. ...more

September 17, 2008

A state report on district transportation problems and a bus driver shortage identifies issues of the bus driver turnover rate, low driver pay, lack of benefits and incentives. ...more

August 24, 2008

Yesemia Polo wants to get to her classes at Jefferson High School but has missed three of four days this week through no fault of her own, her stepfather said. Mario Cabrera said his 17-year-old stepdaughter, who is starting her junior year at Jefferson, waited at the assigned bus stop at MacDill Avenue and Abdella Street in West Tampa on Monday and Wednesday with six or seven other students. School was canceled on Tuesday because of Tropical Storm Fay. ...more

August 22, 2008

Why don't opponents to an elected county mayor with veto power want to fix an archaic governmental system? Why are they afraid to let the voters decide whether to change the structure of county government? ...more

August 1, 2008