Pebble Creek, Cross Creek & Live Oak Could Lose City Fire Services

The City of Tampa and Hillsborough County are in a dispute over usage of Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 21 on Cross Creek Blvd. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Since it opened in 2002, Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 21 on Cross Creek Blvd. has not only serviced City of Tampa residents in New Tampa, but has also been contracted to respond to the homes in the New Tampa communities located in unincorporated Hillsborough County. That city-county agreement, however, is in peril.

While it may not be time to call 9-1-1 on the negotiations just yet, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn says that unless the county bridges the gap between what it has been paying and what the city thinks the county should be paying, Fire Station 21 — located on Cross Creek Blvd. just west of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. — will no longer respond to calls from residents in Pebble Creek, Live Oak, Cross Creek and the other communities located in unincorporated Hillsborough County.

“Effective Dec. 31, if some accomodation is not reached, the city is not going to be providing service to Pebble Creek anymore,’’ Buckhorn told the Neighborhood News on Sept. 29.

The county is paying the city $218,000 a year, plus any adjustments related to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), to service unincorporated New Tampa,

Buckhorn says that total should be closer to $1.46 million.

“We have told the county, ‘Look, we are not doing this anymore’,” Buckhorn says. “You can pay us what we think we are owed and deserve, or you can go provide the service yourself or contract with Pasco County. We don’t care (which one). We’re happy to be here for you, but we’re going to do it at a rate that compensates us appropriately.”

Without a contract with the city, Hillsborough has limited options. One, according to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones, would be to stand up some kind of a response unit in the area. Another would be to contract with Pasco County, whose nearest fire rescue station is No. 26 in front of the Meadow Pointe I community in Wesley Chapel, about six miles away from the easternmost part unicorporated New Tampa.

The nearest Hillsborough County fire rescue station is No. 5 on E. 139th Ave. in the University area.

The best option, according to Chief Jones, is reaching some agreement with the city. However, it is requesting that the county to pay 40 percent of the annual costs to operate Station 21, City of Tampa chief financial officer Sonya Little wrote in a letter to Hillsborough County chief financial administrator Bonnie Wise.

According to the letter, Tampa has calculated the annual operating costs of Fire Station 21 at $3,652,432, and 40 percent of that number is $1,406,973.

“In these tight budget times, we’re looking at every agreement we have and making sure we are being fairly and adequately compensated,” Buckhorn says, “and this is one that is so glaring and so out of line, we just said enough.”

Jones said the county found the $1.4 million figure “shocking.” According to numbers he says are from the city, less than two calls a day to unincorporated New Tampa are handled by Fire Station 21, or approximately 40 minutes a day (or 2.78 percent) of service.

“We thought that was a little bit of a jump without some rationale behind it,’’ Jones said. “We measured calls and amount of time, and it’s a very small number for us to pay that amount of money.”

Buckhorn doesn’t agree, however.

“The frequency of the runs have increased significantly,” Buckhorn said. “We calculated down to the man hour, down to the cost of the vehicle, to be 40 percent of our time up there out of Station 21.”

Jones says the City of Tampa is seeking money for everything from the cost of the building to vehicle depreciation to uniforms.

“Basically all the costs to run the fire station,’’ he said.

The county, however, is arguing that many of the costs the city wants to reimbursed for have nothing to do with the contracted services provided. Jones said the county is more than willing to make up for any CPIs that may have been missed in the past, and to pay its share of the operating costs of the fire vehicles used, as well as the materials and supplies associated with the calls to unincorporated New Tampa.

But the city, Jones says, built the fire station for the residents of New Tampa, not to accommodate any contract with the county. It owns the station, and the land it’s on, and Jones doesn’t think costs associated with that should be passed on to the county.

Buckhorn said the agreement between the city and county (which dates back to 1998) has long been an issue downtown, when some of the county’s players involved in negotiations worked for the city. Wise was former mayor Pam Iorio’s chief financial officer for eight years before joining the county in 2011, and Jones was the Tampa Fire Chief before retiring in 2010. He was lured out of retirement in 2015 by the county.

“The two of them well aware of the longstanding inadeuqacies of it,” Buckhorn said.

Buckhorn said Jones complained about the agreement before retiring. Jones says he doesn’t recall ever having that conversation with Buckhorn when he was mayor, or before that when Buckhorn served as a city council member.

Both sides will continue to negotiate. The interlocal agreement they renewed in 2013 states that either party can terminate the agreement upon 90 days notice, which would mean Buckhorn would have had to exercise the option on Oct. 1 to meet his Dec. 31 cutoff date.

According to Buckhorn, the county has offered to pay an additional $40,000, which he said was “pretty much insulting.”

Jones said the county has offered to pay $56,000 more, as well as an additional $32,500 yearly for expendables. Even using Jones’ numbers, the difference between the city and county is still roughly $1.3 million.

“It’s a huge gap,” Jones said. “Is there a meeting place? I would hope there is. I’m confident we’ll come up with a resolution.”

Here Are 10 Important Lessons We Learned From Hurricane Irma

Wesley Chapel Nissan organized a last-second food drive, filling six Nissan Titan pick-ups trucks with food supplies and driving a caravan to the old Target on S.R. 54 near the Suncoast Pkwy. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

When Hurricane Irma blew through Florida Sept. 10-11 and left a trail of devastation in its wake, for many, it was a week fraught with fear and indecision. Ultimately, for most in the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area, Irma spared us the worst of her wrath. Here’s some local takeaways from a crazy week:

1. Storms Are Stressful — It was, in a word, a crazy week. Between the forecast track of Irma changing every few hours, the panic that set in and left most store shelves empty as the Category 5 storm approached Florida, and the final days of deciding whether to board up the windows and hunker down or get in the car and leave (which had it’s own set of perils, as rooms and gas were in scarce supply as far north as Tennessee), the hurricane tied everyone’s stomach up in knots. There have been other hurricanes, but we’re not sure any previous storms produced the kind of nervousness we saw this time around.

2. Be Prepared, Darn It! — This goes without saying. It’s also coming from the guy who was wondering what all the fuss was about when water began flying off the shelves a week before Irma arrived; a guy who decided to board up his windows the day after the entire area ran out of plywood and who finally decided to move his family into a shelter the morning the storm arrived. Next time, the first item on my checklist: make an actual plan.

3. Oh, And Batteries! — Dear People: That drawer full of AA and AAA batteries to keep your kids’ electronic devices and games running just aren’t going to cut it in a storm.

Sincerely,

C and D batteries.

P.S. Remember us?

4. Meteorologists Aren’t So Bad — We all know that no weatherman is perfect. Here in Florida, we curse them daily. We demand perfection from them.

But, while it was easy to make fun of the ever-changing spaghetti models, and the way they scared the bejeezus out of most of us with their Irma forecasts, remember this: every station’s weather person told millions to flee, and millions did — and are still alive because of it.

5. No, Really, They Aren’t! — Whether it was FOX 13’s Paul Dellagatto, or ABC Action News’ Denis Phillips, or your favorites from Bay News 9 and the Weather Channel, many found comfort in their most trusted weather person.

My wife was on a first name basis with Phillips during the storm. She asked constantly if “Denis” had updated his Facebook status yet. His posts were calm, reassuring, and most important, honest. He said it was going to be bad (it was), he said it was going to be scary (yep), he said it was going to do some damage (it did) and he reminded us not to panic (although some of us did anyway).

When there was no power or no signal, a friend from California cut and pasted his updates into texts so she could read them.

Thanks, Denis.

6. You Can’t Please Everyone — Hurricanes are unpredictably predictably unpredictable, or something like that. However, many people afterwards were actually angry that the storm didn’t pass right over their homes — because the forecast said it would —and now they had a 15-hour drive back from Atlanta. And, all this water they bought. And, so much time wasted boarding up. It was all for nothing! Waaaah.

Would these people have been happier had the storm passed through and took their house with it? Would that have made it all worth their time?

7. Our Schools Rock — How great were the Pasco and Hillsborough County schools during Hurricane Irma? Many of us take our schools for granted, but they are remarkable places that take care of our kids during the day and then, in a crisis, can spring into action and provide shelters (and three squares a day) for thousands of people, old and young, and even their pets.

To make this happen required administrators and teachers going above and beyond, and dozens of volunteers giving their time to meet the needs of the evacuees. We saw volunteers getting aspirin for one person, an extra blanket for another, and even a cup of ice for an older lady to feed the chips to her nervous dog.

Yes, we know it wasn’t cozy or luxurious and the internet and phone service were spotty and the food was meh, but our schools were what they needed to be: Safe.

8. Tampa Bay Was On The Ball —Yes, there were still people without power heading into last weekend, but it’s not for a lack of trying. The pictures of literally hundreds of trucks from power companies lined up on the interstate and ready to head south were reassuring, as was everything about the county’s response.

Almost second-by-second updates, an app that was useful, first responders ready to go and an overall feeling that those in charge  were in control. The county planned for a Category 5 storm. You could tell. Here’s hoping they can keep it up during the recovery mode.

9. It Takes A Village — Hundreds of stories have unfolded since the storm, good stories that remind you how lucky we are to be surrounded by neighbors, friends and even strangers, who rushed out to help those with no power, those in need of a tree being removed and those desperate for food and water, just needing a shower or a bag/cup of ice or a generator.

There’s really no shortage, it seems, of people willing to help, with countless posts on Facebook offering to check on people’s homes while they were returning from evacuation, towing cars out of flooded areas and helping others to safety.

10. We Got Lucky!

That is all.

While It Rained Cats & Dogs, Pets Had Homes In Wesley Chapel Schools

John, Elaine & Pepper Goacher of New Port Richey were hosted by Wiregrass Ranch High before, during and after Irma rolled through Florida on Sept. 10-11.

When it came time to open more schools as shelters as Hurricane Irma made her northerly turn through the Florida Keys and Naples with a bead on Wesley Chapel, Pasco County Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning didn’t hesitate to open seven more schools as shelters on Sept. 9, at 3 p.m., 30 or so hours before the storm rolled through our area as a high Category 1 or low Category 2 hurricane.

And pets, surprisingly, we’re allowed at all of them.

That wasn’t an easy call for Browning to make — of the 14 shelters originally opened in Pasco, pets were allowed at just two.

But, Browning knew that many residents would rather suffer “Irmageddon” with their animals in tow than without them, and he knew it wasn’t time to worry about the mess the animals would leave behind.

“We made them all pet shelters because, the fact of the matter is, and I don’t want to be morbid about it is, but it’s a lot easier cleaning up dog poop than it is carrying out body bags,’’ Browning said.

Browning had just left the kennel area at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), which he acknowledged wasn’t pretty. He called it a madhouse.

Others agreed.

“Have you been in the pet room?,’’ volunteer Kate Fletcher, a seventh grade civics teacher at John Long Middle School, asked. “It’s a zoo, literally. It’s a menagerie.”

Not only were there cats and dogs, she said, but there were birds, a snake, a ferret and rabbits and hamsters. “Pretty much any animal you can think of as a pet,’’ her daughter Maddy, 15, who also was volunteering, chimed in.

In the open breezeways at WRH, near the gymnasium where the pets were housed, people milled about with their dogs, taking slow walks around the campus while chatting on the phone, as news that the storm was on its way created a stir.

The bond between pets and their owners — or parents, as some pet owners would refer to themselves — is a strong one.

“It’s a fascinating dynamic,’’ Browning said. “We had people calling the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) today, and even shelters, and saying if I can’t bring my pets in, I’m not coming.”

For some, even the shelters were tough to handle. One woman, according to Fletcher, was in hysterics about having to crate her dog in the gym from 9 p.m.-7 a.m.

She cried as she pleaded with anyone that would listen to her, begging for the dog to be left with her. She even threatened to just leave with the dog, so they would not have to be separated.

Fletcher said she stepped in and told the woman that “36 hours of having your dog freaked out, is that worse than one or potentially both of you not getting through this?”

John and Elaine Goacher of New Port Richey sat on a maroon iron bench watching the other dogs while feeding treats to Pepper, their 12-year-old Dalmation/Labrador mix.

They couldn’t sleep the night before, so they left the morning of the 10th for safety. They contemplated heading north towards family, but decided on Wesley Chapel.

“It had to be somewhere we could take Pepper, that was for sure,’’ said John, who noted that he passed up a number of other shelters as they drove east across the county.

It was the Goachers’ first hurricane, but they suspect it wasn’t Pepper’s. They adopted her from a rescue in Alabama, who said she was one of many puppies taken in after Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Maybe that explained Pepper’s unusually calm demeanor.

Most Of Wesley Chapel Spared From The Worst Of Hurricane Irma’s Wrath

Scenes similar to this one in nearby Dade City were common across Pasco County, although Hurricane Irma inflicted less damage on Wesley Chapel than many other areas. (Photo: Brandi Whitehurst, PIO for Santa Rosa County Emergency Management.)

In the days leading up to the arrival of Hurricane Irma, one of the most devastating storms to ever threaten Florida, the frenzy was real.

Bottled water, plywood and food flew off the shelves at local stores, days before Irma touched down. Roads were clogged with evacuees heading for higher ground or, as the storm got closer, local shelters. Gasoline was practically drained from every station from Miami to Atlanta, GA.

“We were scared. Everyone was scared,’’ said Meadow Pointe III resident Inelia Semonick. “Waiting for it made everyone nervous.”

The waiting, as it turned out, was the hardest part for most Wesley Chapel residents.

After making landfall and devastating the Florida Keys and Naples as a Category 5 storm, Irma moved up the Florida peninsula and lost much of her power, hitting the Tampa Bay area as a Category 2 hurricane. It still delivered a blast of howling winds, rain and the snap, crackle and pop of tree branches breaking off, but did minimal damage to most of  our area, although plenty of clean-up remains and flooding continues to plague the east and west sides of the county a week after the storm.

“This is not over, we’ve got a long way to go,’’ said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco’s assistant county administrator for public safety. “I told our teams, when we go into recovery mode, that’s when we usually have problems with the community and neighbors. We are always judged by the recovery, not always by the response.”

The 26 shelters throughout Pasco County were able to release some of their 24,100 occupants the morning after the storm. Residents returned home to find trees uprooted, fences down and the power out.

While most power in Wesley Chapel was restored, even as the Neighborhood News went to press on Sept. 15, there were still hundreds of local residents still waiting.

The four power companies that service Pasco County — Duke Energy, Tampa Electric Company, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and Sumter Electric Cooperative — reported a high of 217,382 addresses without power, out of 261,000 total addresses, or 83 percent.

As of Sept. 14, that number was down to 51,847, or just 19 percent.

“While Hurricane Irma could have been much worse,’’ Pasco County administrator Dan Biles said, “she still left quite a mess across the county.”

(l.-r.) Meadow Pointe III residents Javier Casillas, Ernie Rodriguez, Gary Suris and Nick Casillas begin cutting up the second of three trees they removed on Beardsley Dr. (Photo courtesy of Inelia Semonick).

The county says that, at the peak of storm damage, 749 roads were closed, but that number was down to 126 by the end of last week.

County crews leapt into action to meet the demands of residents across Pasco.

“Awe-inspiring efforts,’’ said Biles, citing the work of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), the Pasco School District, local charities like the Salvation Army, the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and others. “Our partners throughout the community have really helped us through this and allowed to get us where we are today.”

The community also has been lauded for its response. As residents returned to homes, or opened their doors Monday morning to assess the damage, many immediately went to work checking on their neighbors and lending plenty of helping hands.

A Few Local Stories

Robert Castillo II rode out the storm in Westbrook Estates with his fiancé, Brittany Velez, and 10-month-old son Robert III. Castillo said that having a newborn to care for heightened the anxiety of the storm.

Like many, he was relieved when he opened his front door Monday morning.

“The anticipation was crazy,’’ said the Wesley Chapel realtor, “but we didn’t get the full brunt of the storm by any means.”

Robert turned to helping his parents, who live in Zephyrhills and had a tree downed, as well as neighbors who needed to clean up and dispose of sandbags.

In Meadow Pointe III, Ernie Rodriguez joined neighbors Gary Saris and Javier and Nick Casillas in clearing a fallen tree from busy Beardsley Dr., using a chainsaw to cut the limbs and move them to the side so traffic could pass. A few yards down the road was another tree, and after that, another tree.

“We did enough to clear the road,’’ Rodriguez said, who then returned home to check on an elderly neighbor. “That’s what people do, right? They help out in times like this.”

Many others across the area joined in, swapping generators, providing their homes to those without power who might just need a shower, and teaming up to clear away debris. Local businesses rushed to re-open so power-free people could eat, with many offering ice to their fellow residents.

District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who lives in Seven Oaks, said he was moved by the outpouring of support in the area he represents.

“It’s been a joy to watch how the community has come together and answered the call,’’ said Moore, who used social media to rally people to Wesley Chapel High to help load wheelchairs, beds, oxygen tanks and other equipment into trucks to help those with special needs, especially the elderly, return to their homes.

“I’ve been getting calls, texts and messages on Facebook, from people asking what can I do, what do you need?,’’ Moore said five days after the storm ventured north of our area. “It’s never ending.”

Wesley Chapel Nissan, which already was organizing a drive to collect supplies for Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas before Irma hit, ended up diverting a large portion of those non-perishable foodstuffs, water and more to the National Guard soldiers who were stationed on S.R. 54 in the parking lot of the former Target store near the Suncoast Pkwy.

“We had local people in need,” said WC Nissan’s Troy Stevenson. “And, so many people pitched in to help,” including Comm. Moore and Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce president Hope Allen.   

For the most part, there seems to be relief that the most dangerous storm — and certainly the most hyped storm — in more than a decade seems to have only grazed an area that was forecasted at various times to be directly in the path of Irma’s eye.

The Norlands, who live in Quail Hollow, didn’t realize just how much damage Hurricane Irma did to their home until the day after the storm. (Photo: Cristy Norland)

But, the relief and rosy post-hurricane outlooks are hard to read for some residents, especially those in the Quail Hollow and Angus Valley areas of Wesley Chapel, which traditionally experience flooding after storms.

In their preparation for Irma, Cristy and Josh Norland, who run the Bacon Boss food truck and live on Quail Hollow Blvd. just past Cypress Creek, piled sandbags two feet high to protect the home they rent from expected flooding. Inside, Cristy put her more valuable and treasured items, like her dining room table, up on bricks.

The Norlands, including daughters Bria (13), Cassi (11) and Anni (7), weathered the storm at her mother’s house 10 minutes away, and were surprised that the storm passed by without doing nearly the damage they had expected.

When they returned to their home the next morning, however, their relief was quickly washed away by what they saw.

“I just about a had a heart attack when I turned the corner and saw what is now a lake,’’ Cristy says. “It was like a bad scene from a movie. There was water all around the house, two feet deep. I knew right away the sandbags hadn’t done any good.”

Inside, however, the water was only two inches deep, and hadn’t yet breached the surface above the bricks, providing the Norlands with some relief.

“I thought, ‘Thank God we had the precaution to put some things on bricks,’’ says Cristy, who returned to her mother’s house to call her landlord.

When she returned to her house four hours later, another shock: the water in Cypress Creek had continued to rise. The water was up to her thighs in the driveway, it had risen past her windows, and those bricks she had perched important items on? “Comical,’’ she says.

She adds that she saw tadpoles swim by and earthworms float through as she waded through her kitchen. While the food truck was safe, moved before the storm to her mother’s house, the Norlands run their business out of their home and stored much of their commercial equipment in the garage.

The waters, which Cristy says “turned little old Cypress Creek into a raging river,” were devastating.

“A total loss,’’ she said. Her church helped them salvage what they could, but Cristy says ¾ of the house went to the dump.

The Thursday after the storm (Sept. 14), the Bacon Bus food truck had its first gig in two weeks in Lakeland.

The forecast called for rain.

Pasco’s Masonry & Landscape Depot Beats The Big-Box Stores On Price & Selection!

Owner Alfredo Colon invites you to check out Pasco’s Masonry & Landscaping Depot on U.S. Hwy. 301 in Dade City.

It doesn’t take long after pulling into to Pasco’s Masonry & Landscape Depot, off U.S. Hwy. 301 and just a short drive from Wesley Chapel, to notice that they probably have what you came in to find.

There are piles of various mulches — red, brown, cypress, pine bark, etc. — to your right, and stacks of decorative rock, flagging and veneers all around you. There are slabs of marble for your countertops and everything from black and red lava rocks to black canyon granite in wire barrels and wooden buckets, as well as more than 3,000 trees and shrubs for your landscaping needs.

Piles of materials for masonry construction, like 20-foot rebar (which owner Alfredo Colon says is preferred by contractors and not accessible everywhere), cinder blocks and precast lintels, also are available.

Inside the small storefront, there are various tools and other landscaping and masonry items for sale.

“We have pretty much everything,’’ Alfredo says.

And if Pasco’s Masonry doesn’t have what you need, Alfredo says he can get it for you — usually for less than it would cost you from some of the more familiar chain stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Colon knows that running his family business against those bigger and more recognizable options isn’t easy, but he says he’s up for the challenge. What he lacks in brand recognition for the moment, he  makes up for with cheaper prices, better and more personalized customer service and accessibility to Pasco Masonry’s management.

Selling in bulk, in addition to also carrying the smaller bags of mulch and rocks that you might be looking for, also sets him apart. You can buy a yard of mulch for $26, or if you desire, just a bag for $2.50.

Colon says that aggregates — the rocks, which include everything from decorative stone to gravel — are his biggest sellers.

“We tell people to just come on in, back up your truck and we’ll load it up,’’ Alfredo says. “We try to make it an easy trip for our customers, so they don’t have to park, grab a cart, walk around a store and fill it up, pay for it, then go unload it back into their car or truck.”

After 27 years as a contractor in Westchester County, NY, Alfredo and his family — wife Clarissa, 24-year-old son Andrew and 20-year-old daughter LoriAnne — moved to Florida two years ago to get away from the cold.

He says he always had the desire to own his own masonry house, and thought the area between Wesley Chapel, Dade City and Zephyrhills would be a perfect spot, considering all of the dirt roads and new construction.

Although he had his eye on a few spots in Wesley Chapel, he settled on a spacious four-acre property in Dade City that formerly was occupied by JLP Motorsports.

“That really gives us lots of good garage space (to store products),’’ Alfredo said. “And, having this much land is nice.”

Pasco’s Masonry & Landscaping Depot opened seven months ago, and Alfredo says that business has so far been good enough to exceed expectations.

“It won’t be too tough once we get going,” he says. “Every new business takes 2-3 years to get going, and what we offer here and what Lowe’s or Home Depot offers is a lot different. You can’t buy bulk material at Lowe’s, and if you do, you have to order it online and it’s going to cost you three times as much as I’m selling it for.”

Alfredo, who says he was the superintendent on the George Washington and Manhattan Bridge projects in New York City, says his varied background makes his business multi-dimensional.

For adding hardscape to your property, which can help increase its value, he sells Belgard products, which is backed by the Good Housekeeping Seal for quality and assurance.

At Pasco’s Masonry, there is a large, stone fireplace built, as well as an outdoor deck, fire pit and decorative retaining walls. Not only does Alfredo have the Belgard products for such projects, he says “I’ll even build one for you.”

Before getting into construction, Alfredo says he studied horticulture at the state University of New York at Farmingdale – which is part of the reason Pasco’s Masonry & Landscaping Depot specializes in both of Alfredo’s loves.

And now, with many homeowners looking to replace mulch,  trees and shrubs that were displaced or washed away by Hurricane Irma, Alfredo says Pasco’s Masonry can help.

In fact, not only does the store deliver, but Alfredo says he also can come to your home and help shape what your landscaping should look like, as well as recommended the kinds of foliage you should be planting.

“I always had an interest in landscaping and trees,’’ Alfredo says. “Now I see the opportunity to get what I always wanted. I like to design stuff for people. I’ll go out there and lay it out, and let you know which shrubs and trees you need.”

The same goes for granite countertops. Pasco Masonry & Landscaping Depot will come out to measure your counters, cut your marble (or whatever surface you choose) for you, and then return and install it.

Since opening, Alfredo says he has already done five countertops.

With a touch of pride in his voice, Alfredo says the biggest difference between Pasco’s Masonry & Landscaping Depot and the chains is that his is a true family business.

Clarissa helps manage the store, and when she’s not busy with her full-time college schedule, LoriAnne pitches in as well.

Meanwhile, Andrew is learning the ropes, as Alfredo’s hope is to one day leave the business to him.

“That’s my goal,’’ he says.

Pasco Masonry & Landscaping is located at 10301 U.S. 301 in Dade City, and is open Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m-4 p.m., and 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, check out PascosMasonry.com, @PascosMasonry on Facebook, or call (352) 437-4408.