Commissioner Weightman PHSC cricket EDC

1:05:41Well, Well Commissioner Oakley was insinu insinuating is he makes one heck of a beef tenderloin. And so he'll be hosting a luncheon at the office here once that cow's wrapped, right? I have to get that steering just I think the battery just spun out. So uh kicked off today, want to congratulate Dr. Chesse Pizer's PHSC he had his investiger. Yeah. Uh so he's the fifth president of PHSC here in Pasco and Hernando County's And um PHSC

1:06:12is growing with our county and they're just such an integral part of our DNA. I just wanted to recognize them this morning and congratulations to Dr. Pizer and and his staff and in the in the college. Um next.

1:06:27So last week we had so cricket's growing in Pasco County, and we had the fourth annual President's Cup. uh West of Chapel District Park which there historically hosts the event and it's growing every year. And this year we had uh seven teams, one from Connecticut, Cleveland, New Jersey, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina. And then we had uh the Orlando Stars and the Tampa Tigers come in and play over the weekend. And so As they're growing, you know, obviously

1:06:57Um Keith and his team are trying to manage all the diversity of sport that's come here to the sports coast. And uh these guys are eager. And it's just a growing unique sport within the Pasco County and Greater Tampa Bay community. Very much like crick like um pickleball You know They have their their own worlds in their demands. And so it's an interesting bunch of folks that come and travel and and stay here. So congratulations to those guys and Look

1:07:28forward to to next year.

1:07:30And it looks like that was a beautiful day.

1:07:31Uh it's Chamber of Commerce day.

1:07:33Look at that.

1:07:34It was a nice day.

1:07:35In short sleeves.

1:07:37Yeah. Cool but but not not not that cool. Next up so we had Um

1:07:43wait.

1:07:43Yeah, here we go. They gave me a a kid's bat.

1:07:50You know, that thing can double, you know, like the old school school days. Um Those cricket those cricket bats have could have multiple uses on them.

1:07:59Yeah, but look at our field. It's looks like it's getting a little overused.

1:08:03Well,

1:08:04that's they are overused.

1:08:05That's not good right there.

1:08:07Gotta look at some maintenance for our wreck since you brought it up.

1:08:11Wow. That is not good. There's no good what is that a soccer field?

1:08:15It's uh yeah, it's multi use field.

1:08:17Well where's the grass?

1:08:19It's all around. That's you can tell that's where soccer starts. Soccer season's in full swing.

1:08:26Not getting there. Okay.

1:08:28All right. Next.

1:08:31Okay, so then we have so uh EDC, so the EDC has their Um had our annual meeting and they're starting to kick off their list of events. And so the Grow Pasco events coming up. That'll be Thursday, March 20th at Saint Leo. There'll be fifteen sessions and some thirty different businesses that'll come to that event. And um So they're just, you know, getting the word out there and It's open and More businesses that come and

1:09:01network and spend the day. uh getting to know One another.

1:09:07There was something else I forget, but We ha I believe we had the uh Employee appreciation day.

1:09:16Yep,

1:09:16I wasn't

1:09:17here for that,

1:09:17Yeah.

1:09:18But it it went very well. Very well. I

1:09:20was out of town a

1:09:21lot. I think we're fixed food for Three thousand people I believe and I don't know the exact number on that, but it had seven hundred meals they packed in in boxes and sent out. So it was Very well attended. Where did you do it? Was that Cruise Lake?

1:09:40It w it worked uh very well on West Chapel Park. Actually I w was my uh park for a while until Y'all got more people in your districts and so they divided up and took a little of my land away from it. You're still

1:09:57the largest.

1:10:00I am still the largest. Don't forget it.

1:10:03And

1:10:04then

1:10:04and then we had our transportation meeting But I guess if Chair Starkey, you want to talk about it, but we was a nice kind of conversation. Uh when you look at regionalism and transportation with the fifty four and forty one uh potential improvements that are coming on the pipeline, but I'll wait and we can Commissioner Starkey.

1:10:26So the the the one flaw and it was nice to have perspective from Witt, from Pinellas, who's their playing director and their MPO guy and others. In the one piece of the

1:10:36that was discussed and it was a great point having other commissioners from other counties So when the intersection is going to be whatever it's going to be if it's a fly. If it's a fly over a fifty-four over 41. The pedestrian portion of the project, there's I don't I couldn't understand if there wasn't enough right of way. There's there there's not one and so There's gotta be a way to at least get the most basic level of foot traffic across

1:11:07because there's train there and everything else. And I personally think that there's a pedestrian pro component to the project. It's gotta be on the south side. because a great point was raised. If you're coming out of the shopping plaza Or any of the shopping plaza uh like where Big Lots is and whatnot in the gas station at fifty-four and forty-one on the northeast side. Drivers aren't paying attention to pedestrians. They're looking, their eyes are focused on finding the

1:11:37gap in traffic. and jumping out in a row to get to where they're going to go across four or six lanes, whatever it is. And so that was a really good point that was made. So based on that point we we kind of collectively agreed, I understood it that having pedestrian opportunities on both sides of that intersection were probably not the best move. uh design of it because of the commercial opportunities on the north side of the road. 'Cause when you're coming down used to have Wendy's and

1:12:07you have you know other places, you have the beefs and the other plaza just where Benedetto's used to be. So I I'm kinda thinking that the board's leaning if we figure out I guess working with D O T on how to get some level of

1:12:21We need an overpass. We need a lot of people.

1:12:30appreciated the other folks there from other parts of the world really taking a look at it. um in understanding the need for that intersection and the improvements that need to come, that way we can give people some more time in their life and not stuck behind the steering wheel.

1:12:47I I just think that they should be planning a pedestrian um or cycling component or multimodal whatever over forty one as well as the cars, number one. Number two, they did The the um Yeah there's a four lane. I think it's two lanes in either direction, but there's there's no uh space if we ever add some kind of transit. um to go over. So I think that's short sighted as well. So even

1:13:17if it's just a Ten, twelve foot. blank median in between the two lanes. We should go ahead and account for something in the future because A county that's growing as fast and we went over the numbers there um in the area uh a county that's growing as fast as ours and only having two east-west roads. I guess we could kind of count half a c county line road. maybe one day we'll start counting that one as well. But We're

1:13:48gonna need you know, it's not for us. It's in the future. uh um we're gonna need some transit options and we shouldn't be building that overpass and not taking something More growth. in my opinion, into account. So

1:14:04Yeah, that overpass is gonna be I mean, there's no red lights anymore. So if you're going east and west You're just rolling right right over it. So There's no traffic stopping mechanisms. for people. So if they're wanting to figure out how to way to cross north and south They're gonna be taking their lives into their own hands. they get anywhere near there. So Just a piece for us to think about. Um But I I I think it's time to make a decision

1:14:34that my statement of done is better than perfect. We've been trying to how long y'all been. But we don't have the money on this. That's the problem.

1:14:42They have thirty-three million dollars, right? Thirty, thirty or twenty-two, twenty-two, thirty million dollars. uh uh of two hundred million dollars worth of acquisition. So we we just have to board with supporting letters. But we're gonna need we're gonna need Fed help on that one to bring it sooner rather than later. And um it is part of the SIS system, so it's part of the evacuation route for the Tampa Bay area. And the number one priority when you look at our pro the regional

1:15:13priorities for an improvement. And um it's pretty sad that's the number one priority and there's no funding. So Yeah, so thanks for bringing that up. Yeah. And I I think we continue to um have regional support for the mer the MPO merger discussion. Um We um did not have a Hillsborough Commissioner present at the meeting. Um But uh the Hillsborough County T PO voted in favor. Of continuing

1:15:44and moving towards a regional solution. Overriding some views of the Hillsboro and Tampa City Council positions. We'll say it like that. Okay. Commissioner Yeager.