Compiled by Michelle Colesanti

Help Improve the County Recycling Program

Residents 18 years of age or older who have single-family curbside solid waste and recycling collection services provided by Hillsborough County are invited to participate in a small focus group session to help improve our recycling program. Participants will be asked to share information on their knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes about residential recycling. The focus groups are free and open to the public, and are approximately 90 minutes long.

Seating is limited; light refreshments are provided. The registration links for available dates/times and locations are listed below:
Focus group schedules are at HCFLGov.net/RecyclingSurvey

Locally, it will be held on Monday, November 14 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Southshore Regional Library, located at 15816 Beth Shields Way in Ruskin.

HCPA’s Bob Henriquez Launches New Sales Search Website Page

In a continuing effort to make Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez’ office’s data more accessible, transparent and useful to the public, he has unveiled an entirely revamped Sales Search page on the HCPA website.

The new Sales Search page allows users to research sales data of Hillsborough County properties from the past 10 years and then export the results to a spreadsheet for further analysis. The search engine can identify every sale of an individual parcel from the last 10 years and queries can be fine-tuned for specific neighborhoods, prices, dates, number of bedrooms and baths, and extra features such as swimming pools and patios.

“We’ve taken what was already a robust Sales Search page and made it even valuable for the user, particularly those who are performing detailed research of sales,” Henriquez said. “With our website receiving as many as 2 million page views per month, this new Sales Search page will provide even more access and transparency to our information portal.”

The look and functionality of the new Sales Search page is the result of feedback the HCPA obtained from both real estate professionals and the general public. With this input, the result fields displayed on the user’s computer screen now includes vital elements such as zoning classification, year built and heated square feet. Moreover, the data exported to a spreadsheet includes more than 40 categories of property information, including owner information, legal description, land value and acreage.

The HCPA’s new Sales Search page can be found by visiting http://www.hcpafl.org/ then clicking “Search” on the top navigation banner, then clicking “Search Real Estate,” followed by “Sales Search.” Users can also bookmark the Sales Search page with this link:
http://gis.hcpafl.org/propertysearch/#/nav/Sales%20Search

Anyone requiring assistance using the new Sales Search page should contact the HCPA staff at (813) 272-6100, or through the HCPA’s “Feedback” page found under its “Contact Us” website page. Group instruction to realtors and other professionals is also available.

First Hillsborough County Community Law Enforcement Workshop In December

The first Hillsborough County Community-Law Enforcement Workshop, originally scheduled for Oct. 17-18, has been rescheduled for Monday and Tuesday, December 5-6 at Clair-Mel Elementary School, 1025 S. 78th Street in Tampa. The workshop will still be held from 5-8:45 p.m., and the theme is “Community and Law Enforcement working together toward greater intercultural understanding.”

The new deadline to pre-register for the workshop is Tuesday, November 29. Twelve Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputies and 45 citizen attendees will be pre-registered from a pool of persons who pre-register. Call 272-5720 or email WilliamsLA@hillsboroughcounty.org or JenkinsAD@hillsboroughcounty.org to request an invitation to attend the workshop. 

The Community-Law Enforcement Workshops are sponsored by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), United Way Suncoast, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the School District of Hillsborough County. In the next 12 months, Hillsborough County will sponsor a total of eight workshops: five for adults, two for youth, and one leadership retreat for elected officials and community leaders. The workshops, approved in August by the BOCC, are free and open to the public, with limited space available. Dates and locations for the final seven workshops have not yet been determined.

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Michelle Colesanti
Michelle has been with the Osprey Observer for almost nine years, and her current position is Assignment Editor. She resides in Bloomingdale with her husband Phil, two sons, Philip and Matthew, and Tigger the cat.