Welcome to the Summer of 2017!
Good Deeds
Third Annual Piper Fire Footgolf Tournament raised $5,790 for Children’s Burn Foundation.
The BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit is partnering with the City of St. Petersburg, the United Nations, The Ocean Project, the World Ocean Network, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and thousands of communities around the world recognizing World Oceans Day on June 8 from 6-10 pm at North Straub Park.
MarineMax Clearwater has successfully raised over $5,000 in support of Relay For Life. Proceeds accumulated from several events hosted at the MarineMax Clearwater store during the month of April, including a Premier Jewelry event, and donations from the sales team for each boat sold.
PARC’s third annual Top Chefs event will be held at The Birchwood in their Grand Ballroom July 15 with restaurant participants Birch & Vine at The Birchwood, Guppy’s, Rusty’s Bistro at The Sheraton Sand Key, 1200 Chophouse, Clear Sky on Cleveland, and Tryst. WFLA News Channel 8 Jenn Holloway emcees.
Check out 4th Thursday YAPPY HOUR from 6-8PM! Join Pinellas Ale Worksand Friends of Strays Animal Shelter for Good Times, Cute Dogs, Cold Beer… and support a great cause!
Business
Jabil Circuit Inc. is dropping “Circuit” from its name. The company’s name will be “Jabil Inc”.
Starting in September 2017, Iceland Air will now fly direct from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Tampa International Airport twice a week!
The beer industry contributes more than $21.68 billion a year to Florida’s economy, according to a new study commissioned by the National Beer Wholesalers Assoc. and the Beer Institute.
Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) announced today that it will begin the next steps in its transition to a Downtown Tampa location after August 13, 2017.
TradeWinds Island Resorts added an on-site real estate brokerage office – TradeWinds Real Estate Company, LLC – located at TradeWinds Island Grand Resort. The office will serve owners of the Jacaranda Beach Villas residences, a 288-unit condo-hotel located on-property, as well as resort guests who are seeking expertise and guidance on local real estate opportunities. Leading the new venture is Mike Felice, vice president of broker services for the newly formed office.
Oprah hires Home Shopping Network CEO Mindy Grossman to run Weight Watchers.
Tampa Bay Innovation Center will host Florida Business Interiors and Haworth for their June TECH Talk program on Tuesday, June 13, at 8:30 am at the Microsoft Headquarters offices in Tampa, 5426 Bay Center Dr, Suite 700.
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital welcomed new leaders for anesthesia department, Dr. Mohamed Rehman.
13 Fishing, a major developer and designer of fishing rods, reels and more opened its headquarters in Clearwater.
The Florida Aqaurium hired new CEO Roger Germann from John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and Creative Pinellas will sponsor a regional arts summit is set for July 21 at the Epicenter in Clearwater.
Rhapsody International streaming music CEO Mike Davis is the new CEO at Valpak.
St. Petersburg & DTSP
Rick vs. Rick: Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker is running for a third term as he seeks to unseat incumbent Rick Kriseman.
At press time; St. Petersburg City Council will potentially allocate $17.5 million to kick off construction on a new pier at its June 1 meeting, paving the way for construction to begin next month, which is closely aligned with the city’s latest timeline. The funding will go toward the first phase of construction on pilings, the deck and sea wall. An official groundbreaking is expected sometime around the third week of June.
The historic State Theatre in St. Petersburg’s Central Arts District was rebranded with a new logo, brand guidelines and website that reflects the historic background and iconic architecture of the State Theatre.
Hyatt Place, Downtown St. Pete will become St. Pete’s tallest building (41 stories) featuring 175 rooms, making up 13 stories in the mixed-use development dubbed One St. Petersburg. The complex will also feature 253 condominium units in the heart of downtown. Late 2017.
Florida’s Best Restaurant is the The Mill, not a Miami or Orlando player, but a favorite of ours that soon will launch a chain. (Florida Trend)
Food Truck Rally- St. Pete Grouper Grunge Fest 6/16 (6 to 10 pm) Port St. Pete, 250 8th Ave SE
The city is accepting applications for the 2017 cycle of its South St. Petersburg CRA Grant Program to help support private investment in the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). The deadline to submit application is Friday, June 16th at 5:00 pm. City Council recently approved budget amounts for the CRA grants including nearly $412,000 for commercial grants and nearly $122,000 for housing & neighborhood revitalization and multi-family residential property improvement grants. http://www.stpete.org/city_departments/southside_cra.php
Port Tampa Bay is getting $9 million to widen and deepen its Big Bend Channel that would allow it to service larger cargo ships. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has allocated $9 million in Fiscal Year 2017 federal funds toward the $55 million Big Bend Channel project. The channel, which connects to the Tampa Harbor main channel, will be deepened from 34 feet to 43 feet and widened from 200 feet to 250 feet.
Tampa Bay Rays opened a ridshare lot at The Trop, making it more convenient to grab Uber and Lyft.
Pinellas County:
Be sure to bookmark the Pinellas County news site to get the latest on what’s going on . http://www.pinellascounty.org/News.htm
Hurricanes: With the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially starting June 1, Pinellas County is offering various emergency preparedness tools and reminding residents to plan and be ready ahead of the season. To help residents prepare, Emergency Management has made copies of the 2017 All Hazards Preparedness Guide available at county government facilities, public libraries, city locations and online at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency
The guide provides residents important tips on a variety of emergency and hurricane-related topics, as well as a basic, fillable template for an emergency plan.
Pets: In a continuous effort to ensure public health and promote responsible pet ownership, Pinellas County Animal Services is taking its services and rabies clinic on the road. To better serve our residents in North and South County, Animal Services will be hosting a mobile clinic – June 16, from 9 am – 3 pm at St. Petersburg Health Dept. (205 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N). The mobile clinic will offer licensing, rabies vaccinations and microchipping. At that time, staff will be able to update microchip information and provide vaccine records. www.pinellascounty.org/animalservices
The Beaches & Beyond
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has allocated $30 million to the Pinellas County Shore Protection Project, aimed at restoring and protecting the county’s beaches including Sand Key, Treasure Island, & Upham Beach.
Pinellas County figures from 2015 show beach-related tourism spending hit $2.3 billion annually and supported some 47,000 jobs while contributing $145 million per year in state and local taxes. The project is designed to reduce storm damage to condos, roads and other upland infrastructure and provide environmental benefits for nesting sea turtles & shorebirds.
The eight month Upham Beach rock groin installation begins in June, supervised by Pinellas County. The Yellow bags will be removed from the five locations currently on the beach and replaced with four new limestone rock t-groins.
St. Pete Beach will host a Powerboat Race June 17-18.
St. Pete Beach approved a new fire contract retroactive to Oct. 1 2016 and through Sept. 30, 2019 which addresses fire fighters’ pension plans and retirement system.
St. Pete Beach celebrates its 60th anniversary. Connect with news, meetings and events at http://www.stpetebeach.org/
In Sunset Beach, Unified Parking Partneers constructed a new Gulf Boulevard commercial parking lot.
Treasure Island continues the city/hotel discussion about parking, tourism and trash pick up issues in monthly meetings between city and hotel owners.
It’s sea turtle nesting season. Remember to turn off outside lights, draw drapes and avoid using flashlights or fishing lamps on the beach; remove obstacles such as sand castles or sand pits that may make it too difficult for hatchlings to make their way to the shoreline; keep the beach clean.
- Eliminate trash items that may entangle baby hatchlings and adult turtles; and don’t approach or harass adult turtles as they make their way back to sea.
- If you spot turtle tracks or what might be a nest, and it does not appear to be protected by stakes or ribbon, call the Clearwater Marine Aquarium at (727) 441-1790, ext. 1. Or contact the Sea Turtle Trackers, Inc. They don’t have a central phone number yet, but you can usually reach one of these folks: Turtle Joe 727-744-6524, Theresa 727-501-5581 https://www.facebook.com/seaturtletrackers or go to www.seaturtletrackers.org
Gulfport GetGO is an all-volunteer transportation service operated and administered by the 501c3 Gulfport Multipurpose Senior Center Foundation. Initial funding for the two 6-person low speed vehicles was made possible through tax deductible donations and a matching grant from the Foundation. GetGO’s complimentary transportation is available to anyone, with service provided from any point within Gulfport to any other point in Gulfport, seven days per week from 10 AM to 10 PM. Since its inception, the free service has proven to be very popular on a daily basis, and has experienced notable success in serving the city’s many special events. While improving mobility for Gulfportians, particularly those over the age of 60, the service also addresses major parking challenges in the area’s waterfront destination.
Treasure Islettes 47th scholarship awards $3,000 goes to each of four graduating Pinellas high school students: Taylor Anthony – University of South Florida; Jennifer Dawson – Louisiana State University; Katherine Gomez – University of Central Florida; Alex Tallman – St. Petersburg College Funding for the scholarship program comes through weekly Thursday night bingo games. Thursday Night Bingo. Early bird games begin at 6:45 pm & regular games 7:45 pm.
Great snack bar, free coffee and cash prizes. The games are held at the Treasure Island Community Center Park/Gulf Boulevard at 106th Avenue (behind Walgreens).For more information about the Bingo games please contact, Linda Hepp – 727-270-3178.
Tidbits compiled by Nanette Wiser
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