Times' North of Tampa staff is moving

The St. Petersburg Times committed to covering northern Hillsborough more than two decades ago, and people who read our North of Tampa section can see that the commitment remains strong.

Each week, our reporters deliver community news from Westchase to the University area and north to rural Keystone and sprawling New Tampa.

Our base of operations?

A sliver of an office in the Shoppes of Carrollwood on N Dale Mabry. You know, near Bally Total Fitness and Abby's Health & Nutrition — at least those are today's landmarks.

Innumerable neighbors have come and gone, including the Calico Cat gift shop, where you could buy that last-minute teacher's gift, and Mel's Hot Dogs with its "weiner mobile." Honey's, the latest eatery to betray diets, moved this year to another spot on Dale Mabry.

Now it's our turn.

While we're still dedicated to covering the area, our lease here runs out this month and we have decided not to renew.

The Carrollwood office is not one of the Times' most visible or pristine bureaus, so understandably it doesn't generate a great deal of reader traffic. Rather than look for offices elsewhere in these economically depressed times, it makes sense to relocate our reporters to other bureaus where space is available.

Make no mistake. Our work in your neighborhood will continue. The Times' circulation in Hillsborough and Central Pasco has increased dramatically in recent years, and quality community journalism plays a part in that success. So there's no way we're leaving North Tampa — just this building.

Wednesday will be our last day here. Should you stop by, you may catch us packing boxes and snacking on dishes from our office potluck.

From then on, reporters Marlene Sokol and Arleen Spenceley will work in our Wesley Chapel office, just north of the Hills­borough line in Pasco County off State Road 56. New Tampa reporter Phuong Nguyen already is based there, a prime location to spot news along the ever developing Bruce B. Downs Boulevard corridor.

Reporters Richard Danielson, Jared Leone and Nicole Hutcheson will join me in the Times' downtown Tampa office on Ashley Drive.

Our parking spaces will change, but reporters' assignments won't. They'll keep serving the latest on those pesky speed humps in Carrollwood, on the "road to nowhere" in New Tampa and on Town 'N Country's golden anniversary.

Since several of us live in North Tampa and New Tampa neighborhoods, our eyes and ears will stay tuned to the human interest stories you love to read about, like the grandmother who paid her bills by selling bottled water on Bearss Avenue or the 19-year-old who saved up and owns a tanning business in Tampa Palms.

Of course, we'll miss seeing the friends who trickled into the office over the years. The senior gentleman who would stop by for a copy of the Times' tbt* publication, so he could read it while exercising at Bally. The lady looking for yesterday's crossword puzzle. The guy on the bike who bought stacks of papers just for the discounts — Farewell, Coupon Man!

But you, our general readership, won't have to miss us.

We'll still be in your mailbox or your subscription to the St. Petersburg Times every Friday, as always.

Suburban reporter Marlene Sokol contributed to this column. North of Tampa editor Sharon Tubbs can be reached at (813) 226-3394 or tubbs@sptimes.com.