As part of its mission to reduce traffic congestion and save commuters time and money, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) offers an innovative school-based program to match parents and their children for carpooling.

Begun with one Pinellas County school in 2003, the TBARTA School Pool program has grown more than 20 percent in the past year and is now offered at 37 schools in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. More than 1,200 families participate.

“The School Pool program is one of our most successful initiatives and it is absolutely free to schools and parents who want to participate,’’ said TBARTA Executive Director Bob Clifford.  “We have agreements with schools in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties but would like to expand the program to schools in all seven TBARTA counties.’’

TBARTA works with school principals and parent-teacher organizations to set up the program. Parents who are interested in carpooling register with their school and are provided matches using TBARTA’s computerized ridesharing software. TBARTA has applied for grant funding to eventually offer online registration and ride matching, as well as matches for children who bicycle or walk to school.

Parents who participate in School Pool save money on gas, as well as wear and tear on their cars.  Fewer cars around school campuses reduces congestion in drop-off and pick-up zones and improves air quality through reduced emissions.

At Clearwater Fundamental School, more than 200 families participate in the program.

“With no district-provided transportation, some of our families travel close to 40 miles per day driving their child to school,’’ said Principal David Rosenberg. “Thanks to TBARTA, parents are able to easily form carpools, allowing three or four families to share the responsibility of driving. Without this service, many of these families would be forced to move to a different school. The positive impact for us cannot be discounted.”

More information on the School Pool program, as well as other TBARTA Commuter Services, is available at www.tampabayrideshare.org. Principals or parent-teacher organizations who are interested in starting a School Pool program are invited to contact TBARTA at 800-998-RIDE.

Co.Design

A clean energy-powered concrete canopy with curving walkways and an underwater reef has won an international design competition to replace an aging pier in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The concept, by L.A. starchitect Michael Maltzan and Oakland-based Tom Leader Studio (the landscape architects behind this great railroad park in Birmingham), is expected to supplant the funky inverted pyramid (some say eyesore) that has presided over St. Pete’s waterfront for nearly four decades. The pyramid sits atop a pier that has declined in recent years. Rather than shell out for a retrofit, the city wants something fresh that can “redefine what the [pier] should be, and give it a new identity within the framework of an evolving downtown edge.”

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Dr. Beach has once again named Sarasota’s Siesta Key Beach #1 in the U.S.!

Siesta Beach in Sarasota boasts that it has the finest and whitest sand in the world, and I cannot argue with this claim; the powdery sand is nearly pure quartz crystal.  The beautiful blue-colored water is clean and clear, making it so inviting to bathers and swimmers.  The beach is hundreds of yards wide, attracting volleyball players and beachcombers as well as those who just want to find their place in the sun.  Waves at Siesta Beach are normally measured in inches and the beach gradually slopes into the Gulf waters, making it a very safe area for children.

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American Style Magazine is once again asking for votes for Top 25 Arts Destinations. St. Petersburg and Tampa are included in the mid-size cities list, and Naples, Bradenton and Sarasota are in the small cities list.

Click here to vote

St. Petersburg came in at #1 in the mid-size cities category last year, with Tampa at #7. In the small cities category, Sarasota was #5, Bradenton #10 and Naples #18.

The iconic buildings and attractions along Tampa’s emerging Riverwalk are being pulled into the information age with help from the University of South Florida chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), working with the Friends of Riverwalk.

Together they developed seven stations where anyone with a cell phone can learn more about many of Tampa’s downtown treasures – from a three-diamond rated floating restaurant, to a  Native American settlement, parks, museums, performing arts centers, the Aquarium and the gateway to Tampa’s future.

At each stop between Channelside Bay Plaza and the Patel Conservatory, a sign prompts visitors to call a special number where they will hear brief descriptions of the surrounding points of interest in a voice familiar to many Tampa Bay residents, News Channel 8 anchor Gayle Sierens.

Once connected, they select from a menu of choices and get informed about such highlights as the Yacht StarShip restaurant, Tampa’s earliest settlement Cotanchobee Ft. Brook Park, the Sail Pavilion, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Glazer Children’s Museum and even USF Park among many others.

Katya Torres, a business management major who graduated in December, junior and communications major Maishia Yang, senior and finance major Thao Tran and Yazhuo Liu, a graduate student in industrial management systems engineering comprise the team that was instrumental in making this new project a reality. They will stand with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, SIFE advisor Dameion Lovett who serves as assistant director of University Scholarships and Financial Aid Services and executives from major sponsor, Verizon, to launch the new service Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. at MacDill Park, located at 100 N. Ashley Drive.

The research that went into the project provided an education. “I was surprised to see that there’s such a wonderful small business community in downtown Tampa,” Torres said. “I learned that they really help each other and work together. I was also struck by how much they are involved with civic organizations and charities.”

Two years in the making, the idea began taking shape between former SIFE president and chapter co-founder Ferdian Jap and Friends of Riverwalk Executive Director Roger Kurz. With help from Lee Hoffman, the City of Tampa’s development manager who supported the project with the colorful signage everything looked promising except for one key ingredient – money.

SIFE members had to get creative. They came up with a charity event during Gasparilla but it wasn’t until Verizon stepped in with a sizable donation that the project reached completion. “Verizon’s involvement really got things moving,” said Torres. “The project is pretty much self-sustaining and really low-maintenance. The Friends of Riverwalk board of directors will oversee things long after we’ve all graduated and gone on to pursue our careers.”

Working on the project helped reinforce Torres’ decision to plan to continue living in Tampa as she makes plans to attend law school. “This is a wonderful city, a growing city and a truly great canvas for entrepreneurs,” Torres said.

According to Torres, “We form lifelong friendships, we connect with local businesses, we get tremendous mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs in addition to learning about how to raise money. And one of the most satisfying parts is getting involved with educating the community about financial issues and finding ways to make sustainability a winning proposition for businesses.”

Newroot news

Usually when you see someone holding a cardboard sign in St. Petersburg, they are asking for money, food or work. But this past Saturday (Jan. 21), a slew of signs around downtown read “FREE HUGS.” As part of the annual National Hugging Day, Keep Saint Petersburg Local organized the Free Hugs Fest, which had locals embracing all along Central Avenue, Beach Drive and at the Saturday Morning Market.

Even St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster was on deck with arms outstretched.

“Today is national hugging day and we are out supporting local businesses,” Foster said. “As mayor, this is just fun.”

Foster later added that he even showered and put on some “good smelly stuff.”

Free Hugs Fest was the brainchild of Sheri Kendrick, owner of Enchanted Forest Photography and a Keep Saint Petersburg Local board member.

“I saw some YouTube videos of other National Hugging Day events,” Kendrick said. “I was so moved with the whole thing.”

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Tampa Bay Business Journal

A new, permanent art installation called “Agua Luces,” Spanish for “water lights,” is planned in Tampa.

The project, an extension of the city’s “Lights on Tampa” installation, will permanently light four bridges with low-energy LED lighting, a statement from the city of Tampa said.

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Tampa Bay Times

There’s a timeless appeal in browsing a museum or strolling through an art gallery.

But people are busy. They don’t always have time to sit, to analyze, to appreciate. They’re running into a shop for a quick latte, they’re downing beers with friends after a hard week at work.

Wouldn’t it be nice to experience art, kind of … accidentally?

Look around. More and more restaurant, bar and coffee house owners are hosting painters, photographers and sculptors, offering the stark walls of their facilities as a commission-free gallery. Local artists get exposure and make sales. Shop owners get free decor, plus a slate of fresh customers who may be friends with the artists.

It also opens unexpected eyes.

“Some people find the gallery scene intimidating and don’t go in because they feel uneducated about art or pressured to buy,” said Coralette Damme, a.k.a. the Crafty Hag, an artist and printmaker who has shown work in several coffee shops around town. “Those venues may be harder for an artist to get their work into, as well.”

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TBO.com

Chef Ferrell Alvarez runs into it all the time at his Café Dufrain restaurant on Harbor Island: Customers who don’t know or care how much of their meal is made with local ingredients.

They usually have never heard of Pasture Prime Farm in Summerfield, the source of his restaurant’s pork and beef. They don’t know that the greens come from the Urban Oasis vertical grow farm and Sweetwater Organic Farm in Tampa. Or that the chickens the restaurant uses are raised without the hormones used by large-scale industrial farmers

To educate Tampa Bay-area foodies and the dining public, Alvarez started The Local Dirt, a magazine he hopes to use to spread the gospel of locally grown food.

The free quarterly publication, which has a circulation of 20,000 copies for its inaugural issue, will appear in groceries, health food stores and other shops starting today.

Alvarez shares publishing duties with Ty Rodriguez, general manager of Café Dufrain, and Cathy Hume, co-owner at Urban Oasis. None had prior publishing experience, so they collaborated with Fourthdoor Creative Group, producers of local publications, including Blu, South Tampa Magazine and Vue.

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Tampa Bay Times

A few years ago, Ryan Iacovacci moved to Sulphur Springs, a neighborhood with a reputation for drugs and crime, and he vowed to change it. He was an idealistic, radical University of South Florida student who believed in grass roots advocacy. For him and many others, such advocacy comes not by way of marches or protest but through something everyone loves: Food.  Iacovacci is the founder of the Birdhouse Buying Club, where members pool their money to buy organic or local produce that’s unavailable or too expensive at grocery stores. Right now, the club is made up of about 40 of Iacovacci’s friends and acquaintances but, in time, he hopes to expand it into Sulphur Springs and transform the neighborhood.

He wants to change Sulphur Springs’ nutritional habits, create jobs, stop kids from selling drugs and empower them to turn wasted neighborhood oranges, kumquats and mulberries into money.

“We are working to build a sovereign food system that has the strength to resist economic shocks and make more affordable local fresh food,” he pledges.

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