Meadow Pointe resident and Weightman Center College eighth grader Josh Patrick was solely twelve years outdated when he arrange his first assembly with District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman final August to speak in regards to the lack of sidewalks on Curley Rd. and Wells Rd. heading to the Wesley Chapel College Complicated.
“My mother all the time drives me to highschool,” Josh says, “however I noticed a number of children strolling and driving bikes that needed to dodge vehicles on a regular basis as a result of there are not any sidewalks. I simply felt like one thing wanted to be achieved.”
Not solely did Commissioner Weightman agree, he advised Josh to seem at a Pasco Metropolitan Planning Group (MPO) assembly to current the problem, which he did (left picture) on Jan. 9 of this 12 months. Due to Josh, the county requested funding to assemble the sidewalks from the state legislature, which accepted $1.5 million on this 12 months’s state finances in June.
“Sidewalk appropriation requests are my legislative ask for each session,” Comm. Weightman says. “However Josh positively made this occur.”
Josh says there’s a cause why he succeeded the place others have failed. “More often than not, when somebody advocates for one thing, it’s often all the time ‘involved mother and father’ who attend these conferences,” he says. “I simply suppose it’s much more impactful to have the scholars themselves there.”
Josh was subsequent invited to attend the examine presentation ceremony (high picture) on Sept. 12 with District 54 State Consultant Randy Maggard, District 23 State Senator Danny Burgess, Pasco County administrator Mike Carballa, Pasco College Board members Megan Harding (District 5) and Colleen Beaudoin (District 2), and Dr. Toni Zetzsche, the chief communications & neighborhood engagement officer for the Pasco College District.
Weightman says that the survey work for the Wesley Chapel sidewalk mission will start subsequent month and can take six months to finish.
On the similar time, the county will negotiate the design payment with a guide and get the duty order executed. Then, design and allowing will take about 9 months, the procurement of all the wanted property for the mission will take one other six months, with one other two months to award the contract and ten months to finish the development. In different phrases, by the point the mission is accomplished — round July of 2028 — Josh might be a junior in highschool.
“However, not less than it’s going to be achieved,” Josh says. “It exhibits that simply since you’re a child, it doesn’t imply you possibly can’t get issues completed.”
After all, Josh’s mother and father, Mark and Marsha Patrick, are extraordinarily happy with their son. We’re super-proud of him, too.
Nice job, younger man!
