Two people from Sarasota scored $1 million from the Florida Lottery on Thursday.
42-year old Evan Fried and 54-year-old Sandra Rmus of Sarasota both claimed their prizes after winning the 500X THE CASH Scratch-Off Game. According to the Florida Lottery, Fried took the lump sum of $820,000 after purchasing his ticket from Publix.
Rmus also took the lump sum payment of $820,000 after purchasing her ticket from a different Publix, the Florida Lottery says. Both Publix's will receive a $2,000 for selling the winning tickets.
The $50 500X THE CASH Scratch-Off ticket's top prize is $25 million, which is the largest prize out of any Florida Lottery Scratch-Off.
There are a lot of reasons people are moving to Tampa Bay and causing so much congestion. Long time locals are unhappy about it. There's always traffic. The cost of living has gone up. As for me, I'm always surprised it took this long. Tampa should've been overcrowded decades ago.
Florida became my permanent home about 10 years ago, but I'd been hoping to have a Florida license plate on my car ever since my first visit about 25 years ago. I'll never forget it. It was in February and I couldn't stop thinking, "Wait, you can live like this? And it costs LESS?" So the fact that it took so long for the Tampa area to become so popular is hard for me to understand.
We have great beaches nearby. There's no state income tax. There are plenty of things to do. We have great sports teams. We get concerts from club shows up to arena and stadium acts. The foodie and craft beer scenes are bursting. And we don't own an ice scraper. But on the Tampa reddit today, one local asked ... what's missing? What's that one thing our city could have to make life perfect?
Light Rail Service
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)This is already in the works. High speed trains that would take you from Tampa to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami are high on the wish list for many. It looks now like it's about 5 to 10 years away with a station most likely in the Ybor area.
Buildings with residences over businesses
Geno/BeasleyYoung people don't want to drive anymore. They want to be able to walk everywhere like they do in most major cities. Businesses are on the ground floor and residences are above. This is actually starting to happen in Tampa. Midtown is a great example.
That "1 Place" To Go
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)New York City has Central Park. One resident said they'd like to have a place like that in Tampa. I would argue that the Riverwalk is that place. So much great work has been done in that area downtown. Visitors love it but for those who live in the suburbs or in a different part of Tampa, it's probably just not something they take advantage of enough.
More Parks
(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)Do you feel that we have enough of them? According to Tampa.gov, the city has 194 parks with over 300 miles of trails and 3,226 acres of parkland.
Affordable Housing
(Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)This is the obvious one. Rents and home prices have gone up around the country, but nothing like the situation here in Florida. The City of Tampa and St. Pete both have projects in the works to try to combat the uptick in housing and apartment costs.
Public Transit
Chris Hondros/Getty ImagesSure we have the bus system, but many dream of a day when they can just jump on a subway and head to the beach. Since Tampa has never really had a public transportation system, housing is so spread out that it would be tough to reach everyone. Plus nobody wants to put up with the headaches that the construction would bring so we're kind of stuck with buses.
Snow
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)The person who said this said they were kidding. I hope so. I would never go back to winter life!
