Sunday marked my wedding anniversary.  It was a big day, so many years ago.   Carolyn O’Connor walked down the isle with her dad and shortly thereafter changed her last name to Marlowe.

Anyone who has been married for any length of time knows that “for better or worse” means that there are good times and not so good times.  We’ve had both over the years.  Fortunately, we were both raised to believe that, if something broke, you fixed it.  In this day of disposable products and disposable relationships, I guess that may sound a bit quaint, but I believe it is still valid today.

Cities have the same ups and downs.  There are good times and not so good times.  I believe New Port Richey is on the cusp of some really good times.  We’ve got a lot of excitement in town.

Gulf Middle School, long a poster child for troubled schools everywhere, has had a remarkable change over the last year.  A new principal set a high performance bar for his teachers and students.  The results are already showing.

We are seeing changes downtown, with a new coffee shop scheduled to open in a matter of days.

Mezzaluna closed and signs immediately went up announcing that Johnny Grits will be arriving later this summer.  Carolyn and I decided to check out Johnny Grits’ Palm Harbor location for lunch Sunday.  The food and service were VERY good.   The existing restaurants in New Port Richey are going to need to be ready with their “A” games daily once Johnny Grits opens.  Competition is a good thing.

I’m looking forward to the day the old North Funeral Home (aka Spoonbills) is demolished and replaced with a brand new restaurant.  The existing building has got to go.  I vividly remember my brother’s funeral in there.  The existing building footprint also negates the site’s best feature… the riverfront!  With any luck, we’ll see fast track construction on this critical corner of the Main Street bridge.

I’ve talked previously about New Port Richey becoming a dining and entertainment district for West Pasco.  Imagine a day when you can head to downtown New Port Richey and decide on the way there what you want for dinner.  I believe we are closer to that than you might think.

The city council is working with staff to craft measures to improve the “curb appeal” of our residential neighborhoods.  These measures include both the parking ordinance and an upcoming rental inspection ordinance.  Getting these right is more important than getting them done fast.  That’s why I’m not upset that we pushed off final approval of the parking ordinance last week to deal with all the potential issues.

We are going to spruce up a Sims Park that is showing its age and you’ll be amazed at what it looks like by Christmas.

Last, but certainly not least, I heard from a reliable source last week that one of the big properties on US 19 that has been empty for years has just changed hands.  There is hope for the US 19 corridor.

Much like a marriage, a city is what we make of it.  We all need to work hard to make our city everything it can be.

Rob Marlowe, Mayor

(In Roman numerals, “XL” stands for “forty”.   Yes, Carolyn and I are celebrating our “Ruby” anniversary this year.)