Mayor Rob Marlowe
Spring has officially sprung. That means that the Chasco Fiesta can’t be far behind. This year’s event promises to be one of the best ones ever. From Building 429 at the Christian Music concert on March 29th to Eddie Money on April 6th, the schedule is chock full of great music. You can check out all the details on the Chasco Fiesta website.
Chasco will also have the popular street and boat parades, on March 30th and April 6th respectively.
Parking is going to be tight this year. The Central on Orange Lake is under construction, so you can’t park in the old Baptist Church parking lot anymore. The good news is that both Community Congregational and First Methodist have large parking lots within easy walking distance from the park and will let you park there for a small donation.
Chasco will be running a shuttle service that will make additional parking available. The details for the shuttle service can be seen on the Chasco website.
The work on Orange Lake is drawing to a close. We are going to have a ribbon cutting for the decks on Thursday, March 28th at 9:00am. I predict that these two decks will be very popular with folks visiting Sims Park and Orange Lake. Something I didn’t realize was how nice the lighting is going to be. Speaking of lighting, the LED lights under the Main Street bridge should be operational by this weekend.
A dedicated core group are attempting to reboot Greater New Port Richey Main Street, Inc. They are currently looking for volunteers to serve on the Board and on various committees. You can reach them by emailing director@nprmainstreet.com or calling them at 727-842-8066. This effort will ultimately succeed or fail based on their ability to refocus the organization on the four pillars of the national Main Street program.
Back in January I promised an update on my electric car adventure. It has been three months since I traded my Silverado in on a 2011 Leaf. I haven’t been to a gas station and haven’t had to borrow my wife’s car because a trip was going to be too long. I’ve been to south Tampa (near MacDill), downtown St. Petersburg, and Wesley Chapel, all without any issues. There are charging stations all over, with more being installed all the time. The DC fast chargers are particularly nice to use when driving out of town. In the time it takes to grab lunch or make a snack break, the car can be refilled back to an 80% charge level. I’ve had to pay to use the fast chargers, but most of my charging has been in my own driveway. As a result, my fuel cost has been a fraction of what it would have been even in a very efficient car.
Plugging in when I get home takes seconds. The same goes for unplugging the car first thing in the morning. It is nice heading out every morning with a “full tank”. The Leaf is definitely a “keeper”.
Look for me at the Chasco Information booth. I’ve signed up for several shifts there and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you at this year’s Chasco Fiesta.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor