It seems that residents and some area businessmen in Ybor City are more than a little upset with the new Hillsborough County Sheriffs office plans for 2 new parks to be located in Ybor City. The historic Ybor City district’s  Barrio Latino Commission voted 5-1 rejecting the added parks to the historic Ybor City district. More input was needed. The 1st new to be created park is for  9/11 Victims Park and 2nd park/ memorial for officers that have fallen in the line of law enforcement duty. The parks are right next to the newly relocated & approved local baseball legend Al Lopez  House for a National Baseball League Museum and 2nd house that was relocated for a newly created Sheriffs Dept Law Enforcement Museum on 19th Street and 9th Ave across from Centennial Park. Both buildings were recently moved to empty lot’s next to Centennial Park & the H.C. Sheriffs Dept. Operations office in Ybor City. It was a shock for sure from the Sheriffs office administrators.

“They were trying to fix an eyesore of a parking lot!” we were told.by a business owner on 7th Ave. There is more to come as the issue comes in front of Tampa City Council shortly…

 Sheraton Hotel Riverwalk Sales manager, Paul Sparks celebrated a week long Blurrrthday. Happy wishes Paul. The overflow of the monthly Bear Soup Party will be relocating from the Social to Honey Pot on the 2nd Saturday each month. The over capacity popular Bear crowd forced the new move.

Not 1 or 2 but 3 film crews and production companies are shooting major movies and series TV shows in Ybor City this week and next 2 weeks thereafter. Our signed confidentiality statement says we can’t say anything until September 1! The word is out!!! A call for extras in shots will be on Craig’s List!  Boy, the food Sunday night we sampled by the caterers was awesome.

Remember the ‘Ybor Tree Murders’ from last November? 120 trees were cut down! Now without explanation it seems that a lot of the Palms in and around Ybor City and downtown have a wilt killing the palms that line many of our busy streets.

Lastly congrats to Ybor’s own Cuban Sandwich Winner 2 years in a row, Michele Faedo. She will be taking her crew to Las Vegas this November for the Sandwich Playoff. She was selected by Food.TV Network to be one of the celebrity chef sandwich contestants. What they don’t know is she makes the Best Stuffed Deviled Crab in America!