Small Business Administration Provides Hurricane Assistance Loans

New Tampa and Wesley Chapel residents whose homes, possessions or businesses suffered damage or loss as a result of Hurricane Irma may be surprised that the Small Business Administration (SBA) can help them get back in business or help them be made whole again.

The SBA is providing assistance with low-interest disaster loans for Florida residents and businesses in the 48 counties covered by U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s disaster declaration covering areas affected by Hurricane Irma. Hillsborough and Pasco are among the Florida counties eligible for federal assistance.

Homeowners can apply for low-interest loans up to $200,000 to repair or replace damage to their primary residence and along with renters, can apply for up to $40,000 to cover personal property, including vehicles. SBA homeowner disaster loan rates are advertised as being as low as 1.75 percent with terms up to 30 years.

Help For Businesses, Too

When it comes to assisting businesses and private nonprofit organizations of any size, the SBA disaster loans address not only physical damage to assets such as real estate, infrastructure and inventory, but economic loss as well. Owners can apply for up to $2 million for physical loss and $2 million to cover working capital.

Those loans, called Economic Injury Disaster Loans, are available even if no physical property damage has occurred.

The SBA is advertising loan rates as low as 3.305 percent for businesses and as low as 2.5 percent for non-profit organizations.

The SBA may not be the first place people might think of for homeowner or renter disaster assistance, so public affairs specialists like Mary Gipson and Laura Wages have been dispatched from the agency’s Disaster Assistance Field Operations Office in Atlanta to spread the word about the resource through local media, including a recent stop at the Neighborhood News office.

Gipson says providing disaster assistance is part of the job. “In times of presidential or other federal agency-declared disaster, we make loans to businesses of all sizes, nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters,” she says.

Applications for physical property damage loans need to be filed by Thursday, November 9, and the deadline to return economic injury applications is June 11, 2018.

According to Gipson, if you think you have a claim, apply sooner, not later.

“Do not delay when completing your SBA application,” she says.

The SBA loaned $40,900 in Tampa in 2016, with no reported loans in Wesley Chapel, according to data on its website, sba.gov, where you can find more information and apply online.

You can call (800) 659-2955 (or {800} 877-8339 (for deaf and hard of hearing applicants) or call Mary at (202) 579-3172.

If you prefer to do business in person, there is an SBA Disaster Recovery Center serving Hillsborough and Pasco county residents 36 minutes south of County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.,  at Hillsborough Community College at the Regent (6437 Watson Rd. in Riverview). It is open daily from 8 a.m. — 8 p.m., according to the SBA website. Applicants can get assistance filling out the form and have their application reviewed before submitting it.

‘Let’s Not Be Still’ Walk To Be Held Oct. 15!

On Saturday, October 15, which is National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day, Heritage Isles resident Kimberley Asante will lead an event called “Let’s Not Be Still!”

It’s New Tampa’s first walk to support the Star Legacy Foundation, which provides research, education and support for families who have lost their babies due to miscarriage, stillborn birth or death shortly after birth.

“In 2016, I was pregnant with my daughter,” says Kimberley, who lives in Heritage Isles. “My cousin, who lives in Spain, was pregnant at the same time and was due 10 days after me. We shared a lot of our experiences, because this was the first pregnancy for both of us. On December 31, my baby, Maya, was born happy and healthy. Unfortunately, 2 weeks later my cousin’s baby was stillborn. It was such a horrible loss for the whole family.”

Kimberley decided to do something in honor of her cousin and many other families who suffer similar losses. She says she tried to find an event to participate in, but couldn’t find anything closer than Atlanta. That’s when she decided to organize the event herself.

The “Let’s Not Be Still” walk will start at Heritage Isles Country Club (10630 Plantation Bay Dr.) with registration at 8 a.m. and a family walk at 9:30 a.m. There’s a “diaper dash” for toddlers ages three and under, and a “kids fun run” for ages four through 12. Also, there will be a remembrance ceremony at 11 a.m.

For information or to register, visit LetsNotBeStill-Tampa.org.

Another New Tampa Resident Taken Too Soon — Joel Miller (1988-2017)

In February of 2015, I finally got to do the exclusive interview that former Wharton High football star Joel Miller had promised from Day One he would give me — where he finally got to tell me and our readers his side of the story of the locker room incident between him and former University of South Florida (USF) head football coach Jim Leavitt that ultimately cost Leavitt his job when Joel was a walk-on onto the USF team.

Unfortunately, that incident became the defining moment of his too-short life and that interview was the last real conversation I ever had with Joel, who passed away unexpectedly on September 10 at the too-young age of 29. Joel was a month or so older than my older son Jared, who first got to know his friend when both played youth football for the New Tampa Wildcats.

Jared and I spoke shortly after we heard the news that Joel had passed and both of us were heartbroken for his entire family — his mother Kathy, his father Paul and his siblings.

“Joel and I became a lot closer after high school,” Jared said. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Of course, Joel would become one of the top running backs in Hillsborough County when he played for Wharton, where he ran for more than 2,600 yards his final two high school seasons and won Hillsborough County’s 2006 Golden Helmet Award for Class 5A-6A players.

He and Jared remained friends following the Leavitt incident, when all this smart, tough, talented young man wanted to do was to finally be able to tell his side of the story.

We published my interview with Joel in our February 28, 2015, issue, and it was easy to tell that he still hadn’t reconciled how or why the incident happened or how he ended up being blamed for what happened to Leavitt afterward.

“I wasn’t the whistleblower who called the media after the incident,” Joel told me. “I never wanted anyone to find out what happened. I just wanted to play football.”

I was sad that neither Jared nor I were able to attend Joel’s Celebration of Life at St Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd. on Sept. 23, but I tried to picture myself in his parents’ shoes and my heart bleeds for Kathy, the long-time local school teacher who I know loved Joel the way I love both of my boys.

Like many other people, I found out about Joel’s passing on Facebook, where I saw this post from Kathy:

“My baby Joel passed away today. I am numb and heartbroken. As you all know, we were very close… I don’t even know what to say or what to do…I know he knows I love him and hope he is at peace… My Joely.”

And then, after his memorial service on the 23rd, Kathy posted:

“Our family would like to thank everyone for donating money towards Joel’s Memorial Service. It was beautiful. Thank you to all who attended the Celebration of Life. We truly appreciate it very much. It was great seeing everyone and hearing the stories that included Joel. We also appreciate all the cards, texts, phone calls, visits and food. This has been a very difficult time for all of us. It still doesn’t seem real. We want each and every one of you to know how much your support has meant to us. Love, the Miller Family.”

A few days later, on Jared’s own 29th birthday, he posted:  “I dedicate this birthday to Joel Miller. I will forever miss you man! Wish that you were here. Love you, bud. My prayers are with your family!”

And, one of Joel’s former coaches at Wharton (and for the New Tampa Wildcats) Craig Rainey, who also was our neighbor when I first moved my family to Florida, posted this:

“Joel, I really don’t even know where to start and can’t believe it. I will never forget you coming in as a freshman introducing yourself, telling me you were our starting running back. From that day forward I knew you were going to be fun to coach and you were. So glad that we developed a friendship and always kept in touch. I have many memories that I will never forget. You were a great kid and touched so many around you. I love you and am going to miss you kid. RIP. Godspeed. Heaven has gained another angel. My thoughts and prayers are with the entire Miller Family.”

Rest in Peace, Joel. You are missed.

  

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.”

Local Couple Teach How To Mentor At-Risk Kids

Joe & Carol Gravante have turned their love of children and their own empty nest into an opportunity to teach a free mentoring class to help adults mentor at-risk kids. The classes began last week at Bridgeway Church on Wells Rd.

Joe and Carol Gravante, residents of Heritage Isles in New Tampa, are empty nesters who say that God gave them a new purpose after their three boys grew up and left home.

After raising their sons and hosting at least two dozen foreign exchange students, including 12 who stayed with them for a year and attended local schools, the Gravantes have turned their attention to mentoring at-risk kids in our community.

“Carol and I had started working with a mentoring group in Tampa several years ago, and when we first started we had no idea what we were doing,” Joe explains. “The training that we received was more about how the foster care system works, the formalities, not how to actually deal with the kids themselves. There was nothing available (to teach us) how to communicate and how to handle certain situations you might be put in that are different from raising your own kids.”

So, Joe says, he and Carol shared resources with other people they knew who also were mentoring. His sister-in-law in Missouri, for example, who helped him find school resources for a tenth grader who needed help to pass his classes. Joe also did online searches for answers to questions he had, and he tried different techniques with the teenagers he was mentoring.

Now, Joe and Carol have taken their experiences and developed a curriculum to help people learn skills that will help them be good mentors. After teaching the class Joe developed last year, it will be offered again this year at Bridgeway Church, located at 30660 Wells Rd. in Wesley Chapel. The classes started September 25 and meet every other Monday. There is no cost to attend, and childcare is provided for people who sign up for the class and need it.

Class topics include effective communication, anger management, time management, bullying, dealing with attitudes, when to say “yes” and “no” and much more.

“Really, these classes are good for anyone who’s raising kids, or even in the workplace,” says Carol.

Other Options

Joe says they also are currently coming up with a schedule of opportunities for people who want to serve their community and help kids, but don’t have the time to commit to mentoring a child one hour every week.

“We have two focuses,” explains Carol. “Some people want to get involved right away and do something purposeful.”

For those people, the couple is organizing events where anyone can come out and interact with at-risk kids in a large group setting. Joe and Carol say they have a friend with a horse ranch where they have taken groups of kids, and volunteers help to lead the horses and play with the kids.

“People find it’s quite fun!” Carol says. “Some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of working with at-risk kids. They worry they have too many limitations or the kids have too much baggage, but the events help people get more comfortable until they are ready for a one-on-one relationship with the students.”

Their goal is to encourage more people to provide that time to help students who need it. After all, Joe says, every child he’s mentored has benefitted from the experience.

“These kids just need time and attention,” he says.

Joe knows that because he once benefitted from mentoring, too.

“I had this (U.S. military) Colonel who changed my entire life,” he says. “I grew up in the city of Pittsburgh (PA). It was a steel mill town, and that’s all I knew. When I joined the military, this amazing man took the time and energy to make me see I could be so much more than what I was. He mentored me from 20 years old until 30-something. He was the one who really set me on the right path.”

Joe says the cycle of being mentored, and now being in a position to pay his experiences forward and serve his community, continues with the kids he’s impacted.

“I see the kids I’ve mentored already giving back in their communities,” he says. “It’s so good to see that you can make a difference that way, no matter how old you are.”

For more information or to register for the mentoring class, contact Carol at (813) 753-8338.