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About The Starlight Express
The very First Issue of Starlight Express Newsletter was created
by the Editor and Chief Pat Ifft on
February 29, 1992 and since then is
maintained and produced monthly by her for 17 years!
All Starlighter's owe immense gratitude
to Pat in keeping them informed with all happenings good and bad.
Thank you Pat
March 5, 2009
Pat Ifft,
Editor (eifft@tampabay.rr.com)
Webmaster, Louisa Simos
www.starlight-tower.com
March arrived roaring in off
the Gulf, giving us a taste of the bluster that we’d pay any
price for around August 15. But the sunshine is glorious and
we’ll soon be ready for a cool dip in the pool and/or sea.
There’s a lot to talk about……including news of the upcoming
annual shuffleboard tourney. So here goes.
 Our
50th Anniversary Year / End-of-Project Celebration will
be happen on March 21st with the annual
Shuffleboard Tourney and Dinner. Committee volunteers
met and came up with some great plans for a day of fun, friendly
competition and great food. Marlene Reid will
wear her chairman hat, and she and Dan will
work with Anne and Lorne Hiller,
Ursula and Denis O’Connor,
Sophie Bryk, Marcia Thorpe,
Mary Quinn, Chuck and
Anne Prokop, Edith and Don
Schneider, Al Stucko, Bill
& Joyce Graff and Jim and
Verna Murphy. Play will begin at 10 a.m., break
for lunch and resume at 1 p.m. Dinner will follow about 5 p.m.
This year the menu includes lasagna, salad, Italian bread and
the yummy pies from Village Inn. There will be door prizes and a
sing-along to close out the evening. Cost for dinner is $10.
Children under 6 free, children 6-13 yrs. $6.00. Sign up on the
sheet in the mail room. Marcia Thorpe (#906)
will accept your payments (must be in an envelope, well
identified). And many thanks to CPS personnel who power- washed
the courts, prepping them for Denis O’Connor
and his crew, who will restore them to prime playing condition.
Important Notice:
We have just learned that
residents of all 8th and 9th floor apartments must again vacate
their units in order for their walkways to be redone. Dates are
Wednesday, March 11at 8:00 a.m. until Friday morning, March 13.
The Restoration
project is winding to a close. New a/c gratings are being
installed on all floors. What a difference that makes! The
building painting is continuing, and with ongoing good weather,
the end is in sight….hopefully the end of March.
Here’s Victor
putting up a new grating on the 2nd floor. Everyone
seems to have survived the mandated evacuation days as walkway
coatings were applied. (See notice above). Homes away
from home were as close as Unit 106, Gulf Winds and the SunDial,
to Indian Rocks, Orlando, and New Orleans! Final phase of the
project will be the installation of walkway railings.
The
personnel of the Board of Directors is as follows:
Marlene Reid continues as President, and Lynn
Dopp as Vice President. Arlene Kuhn is
Secretary and Bill Wales is Treasurer. Members-
at-large are Lee Brand, Bill Isaacs
and Gina Machado. Bill Isaacs will head the
committee to amend the Association documents. Lee will handle
garage issues, and Arlene will research feasibility of a cover
for our pool. Gina will work with Marlene on updating the office
files and records. Thanks to all these people who give many
hours to the Association.
The beach groin/renourishment
issues continue. On February 17, a group of Starlighters
attended a meeting at City Hall to allow stakeholders (persons
or an organization that has an interest in the outcome of, or is
impacted by, a project, service, or decision) to voice their
opinions on a permanent solution to the erosion/renourishment
problems of Upham Beach. The surfing community is opposed to the
placement of any type of permanent groin structures. Our
“Advocate-in-Chief”, Kevin Hing, has spent long
hours in meetings, phone calls and correspondence, voicing the
concerns of the beach residents. Dr. Nicole Elko,
Coastal Management Coordinator, Department of Environmental
Management for Pinellas County in an email on 2/24, assured
Kevin that the goal of the project remains the same as it ever
was: providing storm protection for upland infrastructure and
maintaining a 40’ wide (minimum)
beach. This is the trigger width at which our beaches must then
be renourished. Permanent structures are being designed for
Upham Beach. The engineers and Dr. Elko believe that user
concerns and resident concerns are not mutually exclusive, and
that a design that achieves both objectives is a possibility.
The next Stakeholders meeting will occur in about two months,
with various structural designs to be presented at that time. In
the meantime, have you noticed the accumulation of sand in Blind
Pass? It’s a wonder that boats can navigate through there at
all. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to walk over to Sunset Beach and
never get our feet wet!
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Remember the
story of Tom Sawyer painting the fence? Here’s (left)
Starlight’s own Christy Hayes, giving
the new look to our garage doors.
If she tells
you, “It’s lots of fun!” beware!
The next
thing you know, you’ll have a paint roller in your hand.
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| And right is CPS project Foreman Norm Bavis
checking on the painting on the 2nd floor. |
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A few “good neighbor” reminders:
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Please take large
and bulky trash directly to the Starlight dumpster. Garbage
room receptacles are for small items only.
And do not put garbage in the CPS
dumpster.
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Please be
considerate and lower TV/stereo volumes after 11 p.m.
Here’s some news about Starlight folks
Welcome to these new Starlighter renters: Beth
and John Dubeau in #107; Robert
and Jill Chalmers in #1001; Nina Reid
in #209; and new owners Art and Janice
Doyle #905 and 506.
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Note received
from Ric Garland (707-708) in snowy Quebec,
thanking the Board for their efforts to get the building
repaired properly. Ric says, “Despite the economic turmoil,
the old adage “location, location, location” will bear out
that our common investment to fix the Starlight structure
will reap dividends.” Ric and Sue
will come down in April.
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Congratulations
to Louisa and Evangelos Simos
(908) on the birth of their second grandchild, a boy, born
to their daughter Demetra and her husband Robert Paguio.
Louisa is our talented web master.
Please keep these Starlighters in your thoughts and
prayers...
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Jackie
Dickinson is in Bayfront Hospital and is doing as
well as can be expected. Our thoughts and prayers are with
her and her family
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Sue Alley
(705) is having a long recovery from pneumonia.
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Jack
Erigo (401) is recovering from shoulder surgery,
and is out and about.
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Ed Gibson
(402) is home after 2 weeks at Palms Hospital and is doing
well.
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Sandy
Bogden (805) called to say that her Dad,
Phillip, who lives in Crucible, PA ,broke all his
ribs in a fall. Phil enjoys reading the Starlight Express.
Get well soon, Phil. (Note: Crucible is south of Pittsburgh,
almost to the WVA line.)
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Please keep
Joan Carlock in your thoughts and prayers.
Jack and Joan were longtime winter residents of Starlight.
And this is a good
place to mention that the “Sunshine Fund”, used to buy cards and
flowers or plants for those who are ill, needs some restoration.
See Gina Machado to contribute….any amount is
welcome.
A former longtime resident, Lorraine
Fricek Smith compiled a wonderful scrapbook of
Starlight memorabilia from 1958 until recent times. Here is a
picture of our great old building when she was a girl. The
quality isn’t the best because I took a picture of a picture. (I
haven’t set up our printer to scan.) But you can tell that the
open balconies, the beach, and the grounds all gave a sleek,
streamlined look that can’t be recaptured.
This
professional photograph was ordered by the builder, John
K. Ruff when the building opened in November, 1958. The
original pool was a different shape, but the seawall has never
changed in all these years. The seawall cap was added later.
Top o’ the Mornin’ and Happy Birthday to these March
celebrants:
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Shirley Lino – 5th; Dennis
Dickinson – 14th;
Bill Bowers
– 18th; Sheila Klitsky – 18th;
Frank Gulia – 29th; George
Bayetakos – 31st.
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Starlight Tower - March 2009
Starlight Express Newsletter