Home Care In Palm Harbor, FL

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Amy Moore loves the Palm Harbor Community, where she was born and raised.

Moore has moved around the country for the last 20 years while her husband served in the Army, but the couple moved back home earlier this year.

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“We’ve lived everywhere from Alaska, Hawaii, New York, Tennessee and this is where we want to be,” Moore said.

When Moore heard some of her neighbors were struggling this holiday season, she wanted to help. It started with a post in a Facebook group about people asking where they could find an affordable place to live.

“One of the ladies actually ended up making her own post about an extended stay motel where multiple families lived,” Moore said. “To be honest, I wasn’t aware that was happening in this area.”

Moore and a couple of friends began collecting toys, clothes, school supplies and everyday essentials to give to those families. When they put out a call for some donations, the community answered.

“We weren’t expecting it to get like this,” Moore said. “We thought a few sponsors, a few gifts, someone suggested an Amazon Wishlist. It went from less than 100 things to over 300, 400 things.”

Those hundreds of gifts fill the lobby at the Palm Harbor Inn.

The motel off of Highway 19 North has become home to working families in a tough financial spot. While inflation has been gradually slowing this year, a recent study from WalletHub ranked Tampa Bay second in the country’s metro areas with the highest rise in inflation, behind Miami.

About 75% of occupants in the motel’s 100 rooms live there full-time and stay for up to two years, according to the property manager. Heidi Meyer moved to the inn last year from Holiday because she couldn’t afford to keep up with rent.

“This place was affordable and once we moved in here, it’s like one big family community,” she said. “Everybody looks out for everybody. We all do the best we can here, and this is the best we can do right now.”

Meyer works full-time as a security guard. But after paying rent and gas, there isn’t much extra money leftover to spend. Meyer said the gifts from the community will go a long way this Christmas.

“It means a lot to us,” she said. “It’s a godsend. I’m going to cry. It means a lot to all of us. It really does.”

Deb Kurtz has driven by the Palm Habor Inn for years, but never knew families like Meyer’s were living there full time. She and her husband stopped by to donate a few items and a check large enough to cover someone’s rent.

“It’s important to help people who don’t have as much as we do,” Kurtz said. “None of us, at some point, were that far away from being homeless or being in bad shape. Everybody’s been through rough times, so give each other a hand up.”

Moore believes everyone deserves to have a good holiday, no matter what situation they may find themselves in. She is overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers.

“It just shows the kindness of the community and the spirit,” Moore said. “It’s awesome.”

Moore is planning to organize another donation drive for families living at the Palm Harbor Inn around back-to-school time and again next Christmas.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. - County leaders in Pinellas say they want to improve the road, sidewalks and drainage systems in part of Palm Harbor, but the residents who live there say they have concerns.

The proposed improvements are planned for a one-mile stretch of Nebraska Avenue from Alternate U.S.-19 to Westlake Boulevard.

"We did not ask for this, and we don’t want it," Ada Henderson, who lives along Nebraska Avenue, said.

Right now, the two lanes vary in width from 11 to 12 feet, and there are sporadic sidewalks and ditches on both sides, the county said. The proposal would make the lanes a consistent 11 feet wide, sidewalks six feet wide on the south side and create a 10-foot-wide multiuse trail on the north side of the road.

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"People will be backing out into this path and into the street. They're going to run people over if they think that's going to be safe for people to have bicycles or a baby stroller. It's not safe," Henderson said. "You're not supposed to put a path in front of people's driveways, in front of their homes. People won’t be able to park. They won't be able to get their mail."

Henderson and Steve Ehlers, who also lives along Nebraska, said they’re concerned about traffic, safety and the value of their homes decreasing.

"You'll have no real driveway," Ehlers said. "You'll have just a parking lot right in front of your house. The houses are maybe 25 to 30 feet from the county right of way mark."

Ehlers and Henderson said residents are also concerned the project would eliminate the majority of the street’s trees.

"They want to cut most of the old growth trees down, which we find is one of the characteristics of Palm Harbor," Ehlers said.

The proposal also suggests possibly adding a roundabout at 16th Street.

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"They're not going to be able to maneuver around this roundabout," Henderson said.

Their biggest concern, they said, is for the safety of students from nearby schools who frequently walk and bike Nebraska Avenue.

"Right now, it is not safe, and what they’re going to do is going to be even worse," Henderson said.

Henderson said she’d rather see four way stops, traffic lights, streetlights and crosswalks with blinking lights added to Nebraska Avenue.

Right now, they have more than 400 signatures on a petition against the project.

The county said in a statement:

"The Nebraska Avenue Roadway Improvements Project is still early in the design phase. The design has changed significantly since it was first envisioned, particularly regarding tree preservation. Our aim is to make the route safer for schoolchildren and other pedestrians, improve drainage, and maintain the community’s charm. We are reviewing comments received from residents during a Project Information Meeting in February and in the months since, and we will continue to actively engage with the community."

Residents said they feel like the county hasn’t been listening to them. They plan to voice their concerns again at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting.

Construction is supposed to start in spring of 2024 and wrap up by the end of summer 2025.

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A new half-constructed roundabout in Palm Harbor is causing confusion among residents. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is adding a roundabout at U.S. Alt 19 and Florida Avenue. They told us the goal is to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, but some Palm Harbor residents said it's doing the opposite. The roundabout is still under construction, but several people in the area think this is creating a dangerous situation for drivers.

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A new half-constructed roundabout in Palm Harbor is causing confusion among residents.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is adding a roundabout at U.S. Alt 19 and Florida Avenue. They told us the goal is to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, but some Palm Harbor residents said it's doing the opposite.

The roundabout is still under construction, but several people in the area think this is creating a dangerous situation for drivers.

Brad Napoli lives just down the street from the roundabout.

"If you just look at it, like watching cars go through it right now, nobody knows how to use it," Napoli said.

Napoli added that he thinks it's creating more harm than good. He said drivers are confused and the road is narrow, showing ABC Action News photos of a car accident he saw at the roundabout.

“They went straight through the middle of it. There's no lights out here, there's no traffic signs warning of a new traffic route," Napoli said.

FDOT said they worked with the construction team to make sure proper signage and barrels were in place. As far as lighting goes, they're working on it.

“As soon as the project wraps up—we're working with Duke Energy—they're going to come in, and they're going to add lighting to the area, so there will be lighting added," Kristen Carson with FDOT said.

They expect to wrap up construction in August, so we will not see more lights until then.

Carson said roundabouts take an adjustment for residents and drivers. She said FDOT is confident this roundabout will slow drivers down and make it safer for pedestrians.

“Roundabouts essentially take a little bit of time to get used to, but there's really tremendous safety benefits to roundabouts,” Carson said.

FDOT expects to wrap up construction in August. Click here to read more about the project plans.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A lifelong University of Michigan super fan, Dorothy Emling, 87, will attend the 2024 Rose Bowl college national championship playoff football game on Monday against Alabama, fulfilling a 50-year bucket list wish.

“I’m so ready,” she said. “I’m so pumped.”

What You Need To Know

Emling lives in Palm Harbor with her daughter but grew up in Lincoln Park, Mich., where she said everyone who lived Downriver rooted for the Wolverines. The great-grandma said she has always wanted to see Michigan play in the Rose Bowl.

“It’s been on my bucket list for 50 years,” she said. “I was supposed to go back in 1997 and my hubby got sick and we couldn’t go and that’s the year that they won the championship.”

Emling’s son, David Buko, 58 who lives in Freeland, Mich., granted his mom’s wish and called to surprise her with the news while she was at the doctor’s office.

“He said, ‘What are you doing?’ And I said, ‘Well, my knee went out. He said, ‘So, do I have to take a wheelchair and push you?’ I go, ‘Where?’ He goes, ‘The Rose Bowl,’” said Emling. “I go, ‘The Rose Bowl?’ The nurse comes in and goes are you alright and I said, ‘I’m going to the Rose Bowl.’”

Emling will meet her son in California on Saturday where they’ll attend both the Rose Bowl parade and game.

“My son has a chair for me. So, I can watch the parade,” she said. “Right on the Rose Bowl street that they go by. I’m so excited.”

The great grandma packed one bag for the trip that was full of nothing but Michigan apparel. She’ll also meet her Palm Harbor friends, Pat and Chris Howes, both 72, whose grandson Noah, plays on the Michigan football team as a tight end.

Emling said it’s going to be the trip of a lifetime and joked that she can finally pass away.

“I can go in peace now,” she said. “Go to heaven.”

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A church in Palm Harbor is hosting a dedication concert for its brand-new pipe organ, which was installed over the summer.

What You Need To Know

Parishioners raised over $ 1 million to get the 2019 pipes delivered to their sanctuary from a company in Canada. It took several weeks to install them.

Thomas Sheehan, the associate director of music and organist for the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., has been tapped to christen the instrument. Sheehan has played the organ for some of the most memorable memorials in our country’s recent history, like the funerals for Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and the American service for Queen Elizabeth.

For him, no instrument really tops the intricate sound an organ can make.

“I love the sort of limitless sound variety that the organ has,” he said.

And, boy, does he love testing those limits.

“[It can do] a generic organ sound, but it can also sound like a flute or a trumpet. It just sort of has so many different options to it," he said.

He’ll be showcasing those options in front of hundreds of people at St. Alfred’s Episcopal Church in Palm Harbor on Friday night.

The congregation is dedicating this organ after a long and winding road finally leading to Sheehan’s performance.

It’s something fellow organist, and St. Alfred’s choir director, Kevin Johnson, has dreamed of for over 22 years.

“It's such an emotional moment,” Johnson said. “It's a dream realized.”

Johnson has been wanting a pipe organ in this parish for over 20 years.

In 2021, he and the church began efforts to raise enough money to buy the 2019 pipes that make up this organ and have them installed in the sanctuary. In just a year and a half, they raised $1.2 million.

“It's been a long process, but it's been an exciting one,” Johnson said.

He says it took a month to individually install each pipe, then another two weeks to properly tune each one. When he was first able to hear its majestic sound, all that waiting was worth it.

“In one of my practice sessions, I was playing the last few chords of a Franck chorale and the tears just started to come,” Johnson said.

Now, he gets to hear his church’s new organ played by a master of the instrument.

“It was a real blessing to be able to have him come and play for us,” Johnson said of Sheehan.

For Sheehan, it’s a blessing for him, as well, and said the hard work for Johnson and the congregants is finally complete so now comes the time to rejoice in their house of worship.

“I feel like everybody just gets to relax and just enjoy the day,” Sheehan said. “Yeah, the fruits of the labors.”

Friday’s dedication is also the same day as the church’s 60th anniversary.