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A factory and a friendship
By SHARON L. BOND, Neighborhood Times Business Editor
ST. PETERSBURG -- The future home of Greeno Painting Services does not belong to L.M. Gaines. Nor is it his place of business. Yet he's been there early in the morning the past few months, and most days, and stays until time to quit. "I'm the man that opened up and the man that closed the gate," Gaines said recently. He climbed out of the Bobcat he was using so he could talk. He was clearing the site of debris. Later he would plant trees and bushes there. Gaines, 56, a well-driller by trade, is doing these hours of work for free. He says it is because he likes to help people, likes to stay busy. But he also saw the chance for minority contractors, including himself, to get work. Other volunteers are glad for something new in the neighborhood, where worn-looking businesses outnumber new plants, which haven't been built here in years. To business owner Kevin M. Greeno, Gaines has been not only a valuable worker and adviser, but a door to the African-American community that lives and works near the plant Greeno is building at 230 21st St. S. Gaines is black; Greeno is white. In just a few months they formed a relationship that benefits them both, one that could connect future jobs at Greeno with Midtown residents. Greeno, 43, cannot get over the willingness of people in Midtown to help him. "People have been here on Saturday and Sunday, digging ditches, building trenches for runoff," said Greeno. "I've been on thousands of projects and never had volunteers," said Greeno. "I couldn't pay these people for the amount of work they've done. There is no way. We're talking about hundreds of hours here." The welcome from the community is almost as important as the work the volunteers have done. Greeno was a stranger to this part of town. He looked for a site on which to build for a long time and finally was guided here by a real estate agent who told him he should take advantage of the city's Enterprise Zone. The zone offers some tax advantages for locating in redeveloping areas. Some business acquaintances warned him to stay away. "They said it's not safe down here. I've found that not to be true. I feel good down here. I've made a lot of friends," Greeno said. People stop and ask about the plant; some ask about jobs. Business people looking for new locations stop for advice. Gaines has not done everything at Greeno's site for free. Greeno hired him to drill the plant's well. After meeting Greeno, Gaines asked to bid on the job and told Greeno he would like him to consider other minority contractors. Greeno did, and hired minority-owned companies for the electrical work, installation of a sprinkler system, air conditioning and to pour concrete slabs and the parking lot, among others jobs. "We employed about 57 people. About 50 different workmen and contractors came from the Midtown area." The bulk of Midtown sits south of Central Avenue. Many of its residents are African-Americans. The area is targeted for help because the median income as of 2001 was $19,277. The median income in all of St. Petersburg is nearly twice that amount. The Greeno site is in the north central part of Midtown, in an industrial area where the buildings look worn, some even appearing empty though they are going concerns. Deserted shopping carts dot the rights of way on some blocks while lots on others are packed with supplies such as wooden crates of sewer gaskets or huge coils of plastic tubing. The paint factory is a prefabricated steel building that marks a step up to the next level for Greeno's business, a painting company that has been in his family for three generations. He paints residential and commercial structures and caters to the wealthy. The plant will enable him to have a spray-painting assembly line. With it he says he can better and more cheaply apply paint to a variety of surfaces. Instead of assigning a painter to do trim in an upscale house, for example, Greeno would remove the trim and take it to the plant for spraying. He does metal as well as wooden doors in the booth where he can get a cleaner, near flawless finish. With new houses, trim can be sprayed before it is installed. Greeno also hopes to become a source for painting companies that need spray painting done but cannot or do not want to build booths in their own shops. The booth alone is a $150,000 investment, Greeno said. The plant is about a month away from completion, but Greeno already is doing some spraying there. In all, it will an $800,000 project when fully equipped. Greeno began his building project in November on a vacant lot that used to be a junkyard. He had rented two Bobcats, small tractors used for excavation, and he was out struggling with one of them on a Sunday morning. He noticed a man peering through the fence at him but didn't stop. In a few minutes, the man was on the other Bobcat helping him. It was Gaines. "I had my well-drilling equipment over there," Gaines said pointing to the next block. "I saw him trying to use the backhoe, and I've been here ever since." Gaines leaves the Greeno site when he has a well to drill but then is back. He has four rigs and 26 years experience in Pinellas County. The drilling business is a bit slow now, he said. Eddie Roberson owns Roberson Electric and said he has been a traveling electrician for 20 years. Greeno hired him to wire the new building. Roberson, 54, remembers when the Greeno site was a junkyard. He likes the change. "It's good for the area but we need more of it," Roberson said of the new plant. "How do we interest more people to come down in here? How many people in the inner city are going to be employed?" Greeno has a full-time crew of five men with various stages of painting experience. A lot of the other work, such as bookkeeping and clerical is farmed out. The plan will give him a chance to get everything under one roof. Eventually, Greeno would like to have the plant running three shifts with five plus employees on each shift. Beginning salaries could be in the $25,000 range. Greeno said his workers make their money on bonuses rather than base salary. Bonuses are awarded for things such as quick turnarounds on jobs. Neighborhood Times is beginning an occasional series in which we will look at businesses operating in Midtown, the 5.5-mile area in St. Petersburg targeted for increased resources and efforts to boost living conditions. Many of the city's poorer residents live in Midtown. What types of businesses operate there?
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
