Category: COMMUNITY

BY SAMANTHA OUIMETTE
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Domestic violence. Theft. A shooting.

For Wellington Bond, these things comprise a normal day at the office.

Bond, 39, is an officer in the St. Petersburg Police Department, entering his fifth year of service after a career of what he describes as doing a little bit of everything, from delivering pizzas to working in retail.

After deciding to return to school to become a police officer, Bond says, he is now living his dream.

“When I was younger, my dream was to be in the Army. I think everyone should serve their country when given the opportunity,” said Bond, a native of Michigan. “Due to health issues, I was unable to enlist. So I’ve decided to serve my country by serving the community, and I get to live my dream every day.”

No two days are the same for Bond, which he says adds to the appeal of the job. He patrols some of the nicest neighborhoods in the city and some of the most poverty-stricken ones as well.

This particular day would see him in both environments, from a domestic-abuse follow-up involving a wealthy BP oil ship captain and his immigrant wife, to walking around a neighborhood of Section 8 housing searching for a man who was caught on camera picking up $300 in a convenience mart minutes after a woman dropped it. Bond identified the man, but since the money was found on the ground it could not be considered theft. There was no arrest.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the day came at its conclusion, when Bond was called to help investigate the scene of a shooting. In the dead of night, he and other officers investigated abandoned houses for the alleged shooter and interviewed neighbors.

With a wife and three children, Bond notes that the excitement of the job comes with the knowledge that there may be a night when he never returns home to his family. He says that although he checks in with his wife as often as possible, the worry is still there, but that his family supports him because he’s doing what he loves.

Bond also gets to see first-hand the way new police Chief Anthony Holloway’s initiatives are benefitting the community. He notes that the most prominent initiative is the “park, walk, and talk” program, where officers are required to leave their cars for at least one hour each week and engage people in the community.

“Chief Holloway is big on always letting us know that he’s one of us, and he wants us to let people in St. Petersburg know that we’re just like them and hold the same concerns that they do,” Bond said. “Because it’s a new program it’s hard to assess the impact it’s had so far, but from my experience I can see that it’s helping people become less hesitant to talk to police. And that’s our end goal.”

The program is mutually beneficial since it helps officers see the community develop first-hand rather than from a car. An area such as Midtown is seeing growth in new businesses. Bond notes that this has led to rising crime rates, but that the crimes are less violent.

Though the job may be dangerous, Bond says that getting to see growth and improvement in areas such as Midtown is as an indicator that he and the Police Department are making strides there. Making St. Petersburg a better, safer place for himself and those around him, Bond says, is the most fulfilling job of all.

“I know it sounds cliché, but honestly, if I can make a difference in just one person’s life then this has all been worth it,” he said. “All the stress, all the worrying, it doesn’t matter. I just want to make this city a better place.”

BY SHELBY BOURGEOIS
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Sometimes it begins with a 3 a.m. call, other times with an urgent email or a late morning text. No matter what time her work day begins, Danielle Rotolo has the same routine.

“When I come in, in the morning – well, even before I come in, in the morning when I wake up and I’m sitting in my bed, I’m looking at my phone and my emails,” she said. “Everything is always pending news.”

Rotolo, 30, is a media relations specialist for All Children’s Hospital, a 259-bed pediatric hospital in St. Petersburg. All Children’s is a member of the prestigious Johns Hopkins Medicine, and it is the only licensed specialty children’s hospital on Florida’s west coast.

As part of a three-person team, Rotolo does everything from managing the hospital’s Facebook and Twitter pages to setting up media events and working with reporters.

A big part of her job is managing patients’ stories, Rotolo said. She is required to keep updated on patients’ conditions and facilitate their interaction with the news media.

“Our policy is, if media shows up, to always have a member of our staff with the reporter, photographer, whoever it is,” she said.

Rotolo acts as a liaison to ensure no patients feel as though their privacy has been violated. There are regulations and guidelines, like HIPPA, that specify what type of information can be released, and to whom. Rotolo works with patients and reporters to make sure that while stories and information get out to the public, no patients feel like their boundaries have been crossed or their privacy compromised.

That is not the only reason for “media babysitting,” as Rotolo calls it. There have been times when reporters tried to sneak past the lobby check-ins to find people involved in newsworthy incidents or get a statement from a doctor.

“You never know when somebody has a hidden agenda,” she said. “You never know if they’re really doing a story about cleanliness in the workplace or something … You never know.”

Even though she is used to telling stories, from her time in college and television news, Rotolo said she gets a little something extra out of her job now. “There’s more purpose,” she said with a smile. Working with the hospital, she gets to tell the stories of two-time cancer survivors and young mothers who pull through unlucky accidents.

Last summer Rotolo went to Washington, D.C., with one of these “stories” – Tony, a two-time cancer survivor, and his family for Family Advocacy Day, an event sponsored by children’s hospitals. “He was there to tell his story,” Rotolo said. “He went to lobby for All Children’s Hospital and what children’s hospitals need.”

She’s known Tony, now 16, since he first came to All Children’s for treatment. “That kid is involved in everything, he’s great,” said Rotolo. Despite his condition, Tony is a varsity soccer player, she said.

Rotolo grew up in Tampa and graduated from H.B. Plant High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and broadcast journalism in 2006 from the University of Central Florida.

During her college years, she pictured herself as a TV anchor or producer, and three weeks before graduation landed a position with WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, as a reporter and anchor. From June 2006 until May 2009, Rotolo kept up the fast-paced life of a broadcast journalist, doing several stories a week, performing live shots and generating story ideas in Tupelo and then Fort Meyers at WBBH.

“I literally worked every single shift, which included midnight to 9 a.m.” she said. “Little things like that, being away from home, working crazy shifts …. That was kind of my draw to get away from news. I was just ready to come back home and have more of a normal schedule, normal life.”

Rotolo returned to the Tampa area in December 2010 and worked at KForce Inc. as a copy writer and public relations manager until February 2014.

That’s when she made the jump to media relations at All Children’s. In addition to a less demanding schedule and being closer to home, Rotolo enjoyed the change in staff.

“People are nicer,” she said. Television newsrooms tend to become “competitive hot beds,” she said, while All Children’s is more familial. Walking down the hospital hallways, Rotolo greeted every employee – from doctors to custodians – by name and with a smile.

Rotolo didn’t leave the world of journalism completely. “I still see a lot of the same people,” she said. She frequently runs into old colleagues in the media, which often helps. Rotolo believes that her reporting background is a benefit. She can use some of her connections to further hospital stories. Having experience in the field as a reporter also gives her a dual perspective.

“I can think like a reporter,” she said. “I’ve been on the other side.” Working as an anchor and reporter helped Rotolo know what reporters want, whether it is television, radio or print.

“You’ve got to know your media,” she said. “TV wants video, radio wants engaging speakers. You have to know what they want.”

Rotolo also sets up hospital events like telethon and radioathons. She has a hand in the scheduling and planning and coordinates with media to make sure the community knows about upcoming events.

Asked if she has any regrets about leaving broadcast news, Rotolo shook her head.

To her, All Children’s Hospital has given her a new opportunity to explore the things she loved about journalism, but with a little more purpose and a lot more family.

BY HILLARY TERHUNE
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Beer and college are practically symbiotic. You can’t have one without the other.

The long-standing relationship reached a new level in November 2013 when 3 Daughters Brewing, a new  brewery at 222 22nd Street S in the Midtown area, partnered with the University of South Florida St. Petersburg to give biology students college credit for brewing beer.

The internship gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of science in a real life situation.

“Chemistry and microbiology are very important to the brewing process,” said Jessy Weber, 21, a senior biology major.

Weber, one of the program’s first three interns, helped develop the lab, which is in the heart of the brewery. She ordered equipment and started setting up the lab before the brewery even opened.

The lab is “something most breweries don’t have,” said Tim Dominick, the tasting room manager.

Interns who work in the lab are responsible for one of the most important parts of the brewing process.

“PH, alcohol by volume, international bitterness units, and standard reference method color are the main chemistry aspects of beer we test in the lab,” said Weber. The standard reference method is what brewers use to give beer a specific color.

All the factors have to be consistent to sell beer, according to Weber. Interns also test yeast in the beer samples.

Yeast is the most important element of beer, according to Dominick. It is a single-celled organism that turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide in the fermentation stage.

“We perform yeast cell counts on a regular basis to quantify the concentration of the yeast and how much we should be putting in the next batch of beer,” said Weber.

They also make something called an “agar plate,” a petri dish that contains a growth medium used to culture microorganisms. They do this to test the amount of bacteria in the beer, Weber said. If there is too much, the beer can turn sour.

All of these tests are vital to brewing. Interns who assist in these processes learn that biology isn’t just for pre-med students any more.

“I never considered the science behind beer,” said Weber. “Biology majors are expected to go to med school or become marine biologists.”

Weber is now an employee. She occasionally helps out in the lab, but for the most part she works in the tasting room and gives tours of the lab and brew house.

The lab isn’t the only part in the brewing process. In fact, it’s a tedious task to brew the proper batch. It takes time and effort and cleaning – a lot of cleaning.

“Everybody thinks brewing beer is glamorous,” said Dominick, “but you spend more time doing paperwork and cleaning.”

It’s a long process, Dominick said. A batch of beer that takes three and a half hours to brew will end up taking eight hours because they’ll spend four and a half to five hours cleaning.

“It can’t be cleaned enough,” he said.

They pay close attention because even the smallest amount of dust can change the flavor of a batch entirely.

The idea for the brewery came from Mike Harting, the owner, and Ty Weaver, the head brewer, Dominick said. Harting once managed Bella Brava, a thriving restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg where Weaver was head chef.

Weaver wanted to create his own brews to expand the menu, and when they put the beer on tap they found that the craft brew accounted for about 40 percent of all beer sales.

Weaver and Harting went back and forth on the idea before opening 3 Daughters last December. The brewery celebrated its one-year anniversary with the release of a few new beers and a party on Dec 12.

Want to know more?
The brewery’s website is at 3dbrewing.com

BY HILLARY TERHUNE
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – A portly black cat slouches across a counter near the entrance of Pet Pal Animal Shelter, almost like he owns the place.

“That’s Romeo; he works here,” said Scott Daly, the shelter’s executive director.

Romeo is one of a few permanent residents at the shelter. His job title is “experiment cat.” When the shelter needs to see if a dog would be safe around cats, they bring in Romeo.

“He’s never in any danger, of course, but he’s an important member of our team,” Daly said.

Since Pet Pal opened in 2006, its mission has been to give unwanted animals a second chance. It is a nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter at 405 22nd St S in the Midtown area of St. Petersburg. It houses about 50 animals on average.

The shelter’s staff doesn’t just take in cats and dogs. There’s room for everything from reptiles to pot belly pigs. At the end of November the shelter took in a baby pot belly pig whom the staff named Moonpie. The pig has since been placed in a forever home, but for the shelter it’s proof that every animal deserves a second chance.

Almost all of them come from shelters where they might have been euthanized because of “time limitations, illness, injury, or lack of training,” said Daly.

“It’s not the shelters’ fault. There is an overpopulation crisis, and they don’t have the means to accommodate these animals.”

The overpopulation Daly talks about is the reason that about 2.7 million cats and dogs are euthanized in the U.S. every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

It’s also one reason that Pet Pal doesn’t take in strays. The shelter is dedicated to giving animals a second chance at life and providing as many opportunities for this as possible. If the shelter were to take in every stray that was dropped off, the opportunities to save animals from being euthanized would begin to dwindle, said Daly.

“It has to be a very special circumstance,” he said.

The shelter also prides itself on education. Its mission statement is about raising awareness and educating the public on how to be responsible pet owners. Half the battle in combating overpopulation is educating people to spay or neuter their pets, Daly said.

Daly is an animal awareness veteran. He has more than 20 years’ experience in veterinary clinics and animal shelters and was once an animal cruelty investigator.

It’s no easy task taking care of all the animals that Pet Pal does, and it relies solely on donations, Daly said.

The shelter holds an annual silent and live auction event, called Puppy Love. Anywhere from 400 to 600 people attend the event. It is the facility’s major fund-raiser, Daly said.

Pet Pal also operates a thrift store at 1500 34th St. N in St. Petersburg. The proceeds from sales help run the shelter.

The most important part of keeping the shelter running, Daly said, are the volunteers. Volunteering is the key to Pet Pal, and Daly wants everyone to know that it’s not just about walking the dogs.

“We have to take care of them and we have to love them,” he said.

Pet Pal sees many volunteers from local high schools, mostly students who need community service hours to qualify for Bright Futures scholarships. In order for high school students to volunteer, they have to meet specific qualifications.

“They have to be goal oriented; they can’t just want to come in and play with puppies,” Daly said. “It’s more than that.”

The shelter also has animal volunteers, like Romeo the black cat and a bird named Quincy.

Quincy is a permanent member of the Pet Pal staff. After his owner died, Daly took him in, promising to never place him for adoption.

Quincy now greets visitors and wishes them goodbye.

Many volunteers also come from local colleges, mostly Eckerd and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and the shelter has a partnership with the Salvation Army, which has a community service program for people who have had brushes with the law. These applicants are thoroughly screened before they can volunteer, Daly said.

“We want this to be a safe environment,” Daly said. “We do not take sex offenders or people charged with domestic violence.”

Pet Pal also gets a lot of help from a baseball team you may have heard of.

“We are very grateful for the Rays,” Daly said.

Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays are advocates for the animal shelter. Every season Longoria donates $100 to Pet Pal for every home run he hits.

The Rays also do a calendar every year that features shelter animals alongside Rays players and their dogs. Proceeds from those sales go to the shelter. The 2015 calendar, which costs $20, is available at Pet Pal, the Rays team store in Tampa or by mail by calling (813) 228-7157.

Want to know more?
Visit Pet Pal’s website at petpalanimalshelter.com

BY SALEM SOLOMON AND SUSAN GODFREY
NNB Student Reporters

ST. PETERSBURG – It was a ritual of Watson Haynes’ boyhood.

Virtually every Saturday the minister would come to his home. They would walk to Webb’s City, a sprawling drugstore complex on the western edge of downtown. There they would sit at the lunch counter and drink milkshakes while the pastor talked about the importance of community involvement and civil rights.

Much of the talk “was over my head; I was young,” said Haynes, 61. He did not understand why the minister was interested in him or why his mother insisted that he go.

He did not know – until later — that the minister, the Rev. Enoch Davis, was an esteemed civil rights leader who had helped lead the campaign to integrate lunch counters like the one at Webb’s City.

“I never understood why he chose me out of the other kids,” said Haynes, “but I look back now and I am grateful.”

In fact, Davis was one of many people who mentored Haynes in the years that followed. And that is why, Haynes said, he has spent much of his life paying it forward in jobs that enabled him to invest in others, especially young people.

Today, as president and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League, Haynes champions efforts to improve educational and economic opportunities for the young, help adults become self-sufficient through good jobs and home ownership, and ensure equal opportunities for everybody.

Before that, he was an education and community outreach coordinator for St. Petersburg College. And before that, a founder and CEO of a nonprofit called the Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free St. Petersburg, and before that executive vice president of a drug treatment organization called Operation PAR.

“Service is the price you pay for the space you occupy,” Haynes once told a blogger for Eckerd College. “It’s a natural part of what I do. If all you’ve got to say at the end of your life is, ‘I did everything I could for myself,’ you’ve not achieved very much.”

Haynes grew up in the Gas Plant neighborhood, where opportunities were scant and people were poor and black. In the 1980s, the neighborhood was supplanted by Tropicana Field and its parking lots. Haynes likes to joke that his boyhood home stood where third base is today.

He was one of seven children of a single mother with a third-grade education, a stern work ethic and steely determination that her children would amount to something.

Emma Haynes earned $7 a day, six days a week, her son said. She went to night class to learn how to read. At holiday time she always prepared meals for elderly neighbors as well as her family. The neighbors ate first.

The Gas Plant – so named because of two natural gas tanks that towered over the neighborhood – could be hard. Haynes remembers watching in horror as a gang that called itself the Third Avenue Maniacs “sliced up a guy who ‘didn’t have a hall pass’ right in front of me.”

But it was also a neighborhood where people looked out for each other, where children were always under the watchful eyes of elders like the Rev. Davis.

At church, Haynes said, he came under the wing of a junior college professor and coach named Frank Pierce, who persuaded him to get involved in the NAACP, politics and the Democratic Party.

At St. Petersburg High School, where he was one of the first black students to break the barriers of segregation, a teacher named Katherine Zinn persuaded him to run for class office. To his surprise, he was elected class vice president as a junior and class president as a senior.

Later, as a young man, St. Petersburg stalwarts like insurance executive and developer Ted Wittner, utility executive Andrew Hines, and city manager Don McRae offered counsel and a hand up.

Haynes said he was 13 when he got his first job, at a drugstore in his neighborhood. At 19, he was hired by the state Department of Labor, where he got nine promotions over 13 years.

Meanwhile, he was attending classes at St. Petersburg Junior College and then Eckerd College, where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration through the school’s program for experienced learners. Later, he said, he earned a master’s in management from National Louis University in Tampa and an associate degree in theology from Florida Theological Seminary in Tampa.

Haynes has remained active in politics, but not always as a Democrat. He and Charlie Crist became friends at St. Petersburg High, and Haynes has been at Crist’s elbow over the years as his friend sought office as a Republican, Independent and Democrat.

Haynes himself twice ran unsuccessfully for the St. Petersburg City Council.

Haynes also has served as associate pastor at Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church, president of the Midtown Rotary Club, and board member and chairman of the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

In keeping with his priorities, he is a past chairman of Concerned Citizens for Quality Education for Black Students, which monitors how blacks fare in Pinellas public schools.

But one of the young people he tried to help slipped through the cracks – his own son.

Watson Haynes III, 41, has battled the demons of bipolar disorder for years, his father said. In June 2012 the younger Haynes, a trained boxer, got into a fight with a 57-year-old man in Williams Park.

When the man died from his injuries several days later, Haynes was charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty and is serving a 15-year sentence in state prison.

The elder Haynes said he should have invested more time in his son’s life. “We reconnected but not soon enough,” he said. “There are things that I really wish I could have done differently for my son. His mother and I were in constant battle over how to raise him.”

As an Urban League executive and community activist, Haynes said, he is determined to keep helping  other young people, as so many helped him when he was young.

If he needs a reminder, he need only look at the desk in his office.

Years ago, it was donated to the Urban League by Webb’s City, the place where he once got weekly milkshakes with the minister who had helped integrate its lunch counter.

NNB student reporters Chanel Williams and Hillary Terhune contributed to this report, which includes information from Eckerd College’s News and Events website and the Tampa Bay Times.

BY JULIET MORALES
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – As a machinist for more than 20 years, Hermes Valentin has built countless parts for private industry, NASA and the military.

But no customer was more important than a Rottweiler named Sam.

Crippled by a bum hip, Sam could barely limp around. His days seemed numbered until his wealthy owner turned to Valentin, a college student in New Jersey who had been working with machinery since he was 16.

“He paid $15,000 to have a titanium hip made for his dog,” said Valentin. “It brought me joy to be a part of saving the life of this dog so he and his family could be together a while longer.”

Valentin, 40, is the lead machinist at LumaStream, a LED manufacturing company at 2201 First Ave. S in St. Petersburg’s Midtown area. He uses computer numeric-controlled machinery – called CNC – to make parts from metal and other material.

As he works, Valentin likes to listen to classical music. “Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky – there’s no interruption in it,” he said. “It’s a smooth flow, and it just keeps you concentrated.”

When he’s not working with the heavy machinery, Valentin is the father of a 7-month-old son, a hair stylist, a culinary school-trained cook, and a supporter of causes that range from animal welfare and civil rights to education and the environment.

On his left arm is a tattoo of hair clippers. It’s Valentin’s way of honoring his late grandfather, who learned to cut hair during the Great Depression so he could “feed his family,” he said. “Out of all his grandchildren, I was the only one to take something of his and was able to learn and follow in his footsteps.”

If Valentin is a bit unconventional, he seems like a good fit for LumaStream, a new company that also defies convention.

Eric Higgs, a sculptor and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur,” founded the company in 2009. He had sculpted a project in Tampa and discovered that it would cost a fortune to illuminate it. Bulbs using light emitting diodes would be cheaper, he learned, but the quality of light was unsatisfactory. The industry had not moved much beyond the Edison light bulb to greener LED technology.

So Higgs joined forces with a Canadian engineer who was working on the problem, and together they found a way to make LED lighting more efficient, reliable and controllable. They also made it safer by reducing fire and shock hazards that came when high-voltage power was delivered to low-voltage technology.

Higgs established LumaStream to manufacture the invention and put its headquarters at 2887 22nd Ave. N, next to Mazzaro Italian Market. In late 2013, the company moved to its energy-efficient building on the northern edge of Midtown.

Higgs also struck a partnership with St. Petersburg College’s Midtown Center nine blocks to the south. In one part of the LumaStream building is a classroom where SPC students get training in machining and high-tech manufacturing. Three students who have completed that training now work for LumaStream.

Valentin was born in Newark, N.J., and grew up there and in Puerto Rico. He speaks Spanish as well as English since Spanish was spoken in his home, and he knows some Portuguese since he lived in the Brazilian section of Puerto Rico.

He got into machining as a teen, when he needed to earn money for car insurance, and studied computer programming and engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., in 1994-1997. But his training goes well beyond that.

“As a young boy, I was taught by my father that knowledge is power,” he said. “The more you know, the more opportunities will open up for you.”

It was while he was working as a machinist in aerospace and defense contracting that life became extremely stressful, he said. So he took a leave of absence to learn a new career as a hairstylist.

He said he was trained in the tradition of John Sahag and Paul Mitchell, legendary names in hairstyling, but along the way added his own touches.

“I met amazing people and had many opportunities,” said Valentin, who noted that his customers have included sports celebrities like Mike Alstott of the Buccaneers and former baseball pitcher Dwight Gooden.

“I still do hairstyling, but mainly house calls and some work at home,” he said.

He said he’s also at home in the kitchen, since he once attended cooking school in New York and specializes in Italian and Spanish cuisine. “I love cooking for people because the reaction I get from my cooking is like watching their palates explode from the flavor.”

LumaStream brought him to St. Petersburg.

“I was laid off for about 10 months, and during my job search and application process I was called by a recruiter to interview with LumaStream,” he said. After researching the company, “I saw the great potential that LumaStream has and I knew that with my knowledge I could be part of making the company the best it could be.”

What he loves most about his job? “The freedom to do what I do,” he said. “I am at a stage where I can see a blueprint (drawings of parts) and in my mind I can already start the programming process to be able to make the part.”

Juliet Morales is a reporter in the Neighborhood News Bureau of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Reach her at (954) 562-4814.

BY KELLY MIYAR
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – The new art gallery on St. Petersburg’s historic 22nd Street S features art, of course – specifically African and Caribbean art.

But depending on when you stop in, owner Carla Bristol has other offerings in her Gallerie 909.

Musical instruments are scattered about the room, ready for impromptu jam sessions.

There are spoken-word performances from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sundays, professional photo shoots every third Saturday, wine tastings, and musical performances.

There’s even something for teenage boys. Bristol says sagging pants – a style statement for some in urban culture – are demeaning. Young men who sign a pledge to keep their pants pulled up get a “U Don’t Have To Sag To Have Swag” card and free ice cream. So far, six have made the pledge.

For Bristol, 46, a sense of community is as important as an appreciation of art.

“This place shows importance for both the community and art,” she said. “To me, one of the words that I value most is exposure. I want to expose others (to art) and I want to stay relevant with what’s needed in the community.”

Bristol was born in Guyana on the northern coast of South America. She was 11 when her family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y. A desire for warmer weather prompted her to move to St. Petersburg in 1996.

In April, she opened the gallery in one of the old buildings along 22nd Street S that entrepreneurs Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy have bought and restored.

During the days of segregation, 22nd Street – “The Deuces” – was the main street of a thriving black community. In its heyday during the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than a hundred businesses dotted the neighborhood.

Then decline and decay set in with the coming of integration, drug trafficking and Interstate 275, which in the late 1970s effectively cut the neighborhood in two. In recent years, the city and private business people like the Brayboys have sought to revive the area.

Gallerie 909 features artists from all around the world. Every four to six weeks a new artist is featured. A variety of artwork – ceramics, paintings, sculptures, furniture and even some jewelry – is showcased.

Bristol stresses African and Caribbean art. “I find that although we have a lot of galleries here in St. Pete, none of them specifically feature African or Caribbean art,” she said. “They may carry a small collection of it, but that’s it. I wanted a place to showcase ‘black art’ because it deserves to be shown.”

Gallerie 909 got its name because of its address, but Bristol incorporated the uncommon spelling because she wanted a French influence.

“I knew that the restaurant next door was going to be a Creole restaurant so I decided to spell it as Gallerie,” she said.

In June, Bristol left her job as an account manager at a business services company so she could focus on Gallerie 909.

“I am an art enthusiast! I love art,” said Bristol, who has filled her home with paintings. When she isn’t at Gallerie 909, Bristol is spending time with her 10-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son.

Gallerie 909 was recently recognized as one of the area’s top five art galleries by readers of the Tampa Bay Business Journal in the paper’s annual Best in the Biz: Readers’ Choice Awards. Some 15,000 votes were tallied to determine the winners. The Dali Museum, the Chihuly Collection and the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg and the Michael Murphy Gallery in Tampa also were recognized.

Two local musicians, Claude Kennedy and Abasi Ote, shared their talents at Gallerie 909 in November. Kennedy played the flute and Ote played a unique blend of drum and native flute.

“Gallerie 909 is a warm and inviting place,” said Ote.

He and Kennedy are scheduled to perform again on Dec. 26 at the Gallerie 909 world music concert.

If you go
Gallerie 909, at 909 22nd St. S, is open from 1 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays, and on special occasions. For more information, see its website at: http://www.gallerie909.com/about-us.html

By NANCY McCANN
NNB Student Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG – Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy have opened a new Creole restaurant on St. Petersburg’s historic 22nd Street S.  Although they are busy being entrepreneurs, it is just as important for them to welcome people to the neighborhood and share its history.

“I’m Mr. B and this is Mrs. B,” Elihu Brayboy likes to say when introducing himself and his wife.

The Brayboys, both 65, are investing $800,000 to buy and restore four buildings along the street that was known as “The Deuces” when it was the main corridor of black St. Petersburg during decades of segregation and discrimination.

The restaurant is at the intersection of 22nd Street S and Ninth Avenue, a five-minute drive from downtown St. Petersburg.

The Brayboys are proud that the entryway and open-style kitchen of Chief’s Creole Café used to be Sidney Harden’s grocery, which served black customers from 1942 until 1992.

“It breaks my heart when people see an old building and think they’re seeing just an old building,” said Mr. B.  “Harden’s grocery was a cultural market with things like chitterlings, rabbit and possum.  We feel so blessed to be saving this building.  This building meant a lot to a lot of people.”

When they were tearing down Harden’s old meat locker, Mrs. B said, they found two aprons that once belonged to the butcher.  The butcher’s family shed tears when the aprons were returned to them.

Chitterlings and possum are not on the menu of the new restaurant, where entrees like red beans and rice with sausage, Creole gumbos, jambalaya and other Louisiana favorites range in price from $9 to $15.

Every week there is a “Soulful Sunday Supper,” including baked ham, fried or baked chicken, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, corn bread, seasonal vegetables, and bread pudding or ice cream.

The “chief” in the restaurant’s name refers to Elihu Brayboy’s late mother, Mary Brayboy Jones, whose specialty was the Creole cooking of her native Louisiana.  She got her nickname from her take-charge personality. Some of the dishes on the menu are prepared from her recipes.

“Chief was raised around great cooking by her mother and other relatives,” said Mr. B.  “After she moved to St. Petersburg with my father, she ran a small catering business serving famous entertainers and their crews who came to town.”

He said that his mother and father divorced and she later married Norman E. Jones Sr.

“Our dessert, ‘Down on Central Jones’ ice cream, is named for my stepfather’s radio program, broadcast from Tampa in the 1950s,” said Mr. B.

Jones’ program was “for and about African Americans locally and nationally” and “helped introduce jazz to the Tampa Bay area,” according to the website Radio Years.

“Something people find interesting about my stepfather is that he was chairman of the National Black Citizens Committee for (Alabama Gov. and presidential candidate) George Wallace (in 1972), because he believed many of the governor’s policies supported blacks and helped them flourish,” Mr. B said.

Many people remember Chief through her work as a nurse at Mercy Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center and Eckerd College’s student medical clinic, Mr. B said.

The Brayboys’ restaurant is two blocks south of Sylvia’s – a soul food restaurant that opened last year in a restored building where Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie performed during the Jim Crow era – and seven blocks south of 3 Daughters Brewing, a popular night spot.

Memories of the people who lived, worked, survived and thrived in segregated African-American neighborhoods are important to the Brayboys.  They want it known that amid the tough conditions of segregation, there were many positive experiences.

The Brayboys grew up and dated as teenagers in the neighborhood – now called Midtown – that developed along 22nd Street S.   They remember their community as a place where people were deeply connected, pulled together, and treasured their close, personal ties.

In their book, St. Petersburg’s Historic African American Neighborhoods, Rosalie Peck and Jon Wilson say that 22nd Street between Fifth and 15th avenues S was at one time the lively hub of a black neighborhood that sprang up in the 1920s and thrived until the middle 1960s.  Peck and Wilson call 22nd Street S “the most important thoroughfare for the city’s African American residents, a ten-block strip . . . brimmed with businesses, professional offices, grocery stores, a movie theater, a hotel, funeral homes, a hospital and bars and nightclubs.”

Now the Brayboys are working to preserve some of the original architecture and structures along the Deuces.

Many of the businesses closed when segregation ended in the 1960s because black residents could now live, attend school, and shop in once-forbidden places.

About the same time, the drug culture and violence “showed up on 22nd” and greatly contributed to the neighborhood’s downfall, Wilson wrote in the St. Petersburg Times in a 2002 article titled “To Know This City – First Know This Street.”  Then in the 1970s, the construction of Interstate 275 displaced numerous businesses and homes in what some old-timers call the death blow to the community, Wilson wrote.

One of the biggest hindrances to the restoration and historic preservation of African-American neighborhoods is that “banking has not embraced the black community,” said Mr. B.  “Financial institutions generally don’t see Midtown as a good investment market, but eventually this will change—it will happen.”

The new St. Petersburg College Midtown Center on 22nd Street S, scheduled to open in 2015, will boost nearby commercial redevelopment, he said, because students will shop near campus.

In the meantime, the Brayboys are among those opening up channels for more investment and restoration in Midtown.  In addition to their new restaurant, they have started an art gallery, a consignment store, and an ice cream parlor.  Their daughter, Ramona Reio, owns a hair salon and their son-in-law, Damon Reio, owns a fitness center in one of their buildings.

The Brayboys are happy with the neighborhood.

“We purchased our first building on the 22nd Street S corridor in 2008,” said Mr. B. “In six years, we have not had a single incident . . .  no break-ins, robberies, vandalism, or graffiti.”

On Sept. 30, Sidney Harden’s granddaughters, B.J. Harden and Shirley Newsome, were among the Brayboys’ special guests at a dinner to celebrate the past and the imminent opening of the new restaurant.  They worked at Harden’s grocery when they were teenagers, sometimes until midnight because “Big Daddy” – their affectionate name for their grandfather – kept the door open until there were no more customers, they said.

“It’s very good – I know real Creole cooking and the gumbo hit the mark with just the right amount of spice-kick,” said April Drayton, 45, a local fashion designer who attended the dinner.  “I usually don’t eat anyone’s potato salad but my mom’s, and I liked this. And the décor is unexpectedly nice.”

Chief’s Creole Café has two lead chefs – Craig Blanding and Rodney Rayford – and five other employees.  Mr. B said that “all seven people are paid a living wage” with no one at minimum wage.

“It’s like having a newborn baby,” Mr. B said when asked what was hardest about the restaurant venture after 30 years in the rental house business.  “Now that it’s ‘live,’ it takes a lot of physical and mental stamina . . . 10 to 12 hours on-site and it’s still on you mentally when off-site . . . Hopefully, we will soon have a life again.”

In addition to regular operating hours – Wednesday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. – the   Brayboys hope to host special events and private parties, Mrs. B said.

On election night, 12 visiting African journalists were at the restaurant for re-election victory parties for Pinellas County School Board member Rene Flowers and State Rep. Darryl Rouson.

“There was dancing and a lot of fun,” said Mrs. B. “We hope to have more of these special occasions.”

By KARLANA JUNE
NNB Student Reporter

When authorities discovered her in July 2005, the little girl was living in a tiny room in a filth-filled house in Plant City. Her swollen diaper was leaking down her legs. She was emaciated, covered with sores and lice, and unable to speak. She was almost 7.

The St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) put two of its finest on the story. Reporter Lane DeGregory and photographer Melissa Lyttle began the five-month process of piecing together the powerful story of a feral child and the remarkable couple who adopted her.

The article was titled “The Girl in the Window” and ran in the Times on July 31, 2008.  The photos Lyttle took captured the essence of a child who didn’t know how to live as a human. In 2009 the project won a Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and a first-place award for best published picture story from the National Press Photographers Association.

Lyttle’s pivotal role in that project typifies her 14-year career as a photojournalist. She has won a slew of prestigious awards. She has established herself as a mentor to countless photographers around the county. And over a decade at the Times, she forged what she calls “an enduring and extraordinary partnership” with DeGregory.

“Lane writes like a photographer sees,” said Lyttle, 37.

***

On a Tuesday this summer, Lyttle spent a busy morning in the Times newsroom.

Outside her cubicle was a single color photograph of a baby lying next to a dog, cuddling. On the back wall, a Society of Professional Journalists plaque rested next to a paper fan adorned with a picture of a man who looked like Jesus.

“You are probably wondering why I have this fan,” Lyttle said.

She picked it up and waved it. “This is the ‘hot Jesus,’” she said with a laugh.

Lyttle and DeGregory did a story earlier in the year, titled “Easter Every Day,” on the Holy Land Experience, an amusement park mecca for Christians in Orlando. There were several Jesus look-alikes, but one named Lester had ripped jeans and a white T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves. The two journalists deemed him the “hot Jesus” and decided to bring home a box of fans for colleagues.

Lyttle grew up in Jacksonville and attended community college with dreams of becoming a veterinarian. She needed an elective that was far removed from the dense academic material she was taking for prerequisites. A darkroom photography class sounded appealing.

“It woke something up in me,” Lyttle said. “Photos really force you to be outside your head.”

She decided she wanted to be a photographer, not a veterinarian. So she passed up a full soccer scholarship to Auburn University and transferred to the University of Florida.

After graduating from UF with a degree in journalism, Lyttle landed a job in Fort Lauderdale at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, where she stayed for 4 1/2 years. She got restless there and began looking for other opportunities.

For years Lyttle had followed the work of Jamie Francis, an award-winning photojournalist at the St. Petersburg Times.

“You see who is doing the work and you want to emulate them,” Lyttle said.

In January 2005, she got a call from the Times offering her Francis’ position. He had just left for the Portland Oregonian.

She had arrived.

For nearly 10 years, Lyttle specialized in documentary projects, news and portrait photography at the Times. Her work was recognized by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism, Pictures of the Year International, the National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Southern Short Course, and the Alexia Foundation.

She is the founder of an online photo community called “A Photo a Day,” which started in 2001 with a daily email exchange between Lyttle and a photographer friend and has grown  to more than 2,500 members worldwide. She also mentors younger photographers on Twitter via hashtag #dearyoungphotographer.

***

Lyttle excused herself and turned toward her laptop to choose a photo for the Times Tumblr blog. She was responsible for picking a picture daily from a queue where her colleagues dump their favorite images from the day before. It is called, for now, One Compelling Image. The purpose of the photo blog is to bring more traffic to the Times website.

A large part of Lyttle’s day was spent in the newsroom, hunkered over her laptop doing research on stories or going to meetings. On Tuesday mornings, she attended a meeting of the enterprise team, a specialized group of journalists who focus on stories that often take more than a year to report and write. Some of the team’s work appears in the Floridian, a monthly supplement. At the Tuesday meetings, the team throws around story ideas.

Lyttle wants to go back to Haiti. January 2015 will mark the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that brought the tiny country to its knees. She was one of the Times journalists who covered the disaster in 2010. She wants to explore how the people with disabilities and mental illness are coping five years later. She talks about the children fitted with prosthetics; are they getting new limbs as they grow? Are the mentally ill living in better conditions than they were before?

Lyttle has traveled around the country and to many parts of the world, capturing images, telling stories through the lens of her camera.

She and DeGregory worked together for nearly a decade.

“At this point we’re such a good team that we are totally in sync with where we need to be when… so she [DeGregory] can hear things best and I can see them best,” Lyttle said this summer. ”If she tells me I should really go see something, I trust it’s going to make a good photo.”

In September, that partnership ended. Lyttle left the paper to move on to her next challenge.

“This wasn’t how I pictured my career at the TBTimes ending. My heart hurts for the newspaper industry … took the buyout, Lyttle announced on her Twitter feed Sept. 24. “I love(d) being a newspaper photographer and I love(d) telling stories in my community. I don’t intend to stop doing either (for long).”