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Angels come to park's aid

Owners of Mariner's Cove, county staffers and others rush repairs to damaged homes so residents can stay.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published February 10, 2006

LARGO - Robert Bosley thought he'd have to abandon his haven of 20 years after rains ruined his home at Mariner's Cove Mobile Home Park.

But Bosley is grateful he won't have to leave the park. The owners of Mariner's Cove and his church have chipped in to help. Park manager Dolly Rivera said the park plans to give Bosley another home on higher ground that needs some repairs, and Bosley's church has offered to fix it up.

"I hadn't slept for three days," said Bosley, 70. "It's home to me."

Bosley was one of several residents whose homes were flooded by the Feb. 3 storms. Thursday, Pinellas County building inspectors and code enforcement officers visited the park to survey the damage.

They inspected 22 units to see if they were safe to live in. Some of the other homes were not inspected because residents were not there to give consent. Officials expected more than 40 badly damaged homes, but just three were classified as unsafe Thursday. All of those residents in unsafe homes already had other living arrangements when county staffers arrived, county communications director Marcia Crawley said.

Two other homes needed floor or roof repairs and residents were given 15 days to make them. The county's Human Services Department also visited homes and registered 10 families for help with groceries and medical needs.

Meanwhile, park owners, county staffers and local businesses brainstormed ways to keep residents from being uprooted.

Two days earlier, Mic Moriarty felt hopeless. He thought he might have to walk away from his home and lose the $10,000 he invested in it. Relief came Thursday when county officials told him he could stay. The park owners covered the labor costs to stabilize his floors and fronted the material costs, allowing him to pay it back gradually at $10 a month.

"It's more than I expected. They are really helping people get back on their feet," Moriarty, 49, said.

Park owners made the same deal to other affected residents.

Maria Maldonado, her husband and two boys might have had to leave their home, too.

Water soaked her floors, making them unstable, and leaked through the roof into her boys' bedroom, leaving the ceiling sopping and peeling.

County workers on the scene contacted the American Red Cross of Tampa Bay, which agreed to pay up to $500 for materials to fix her home. They then tracked down a friend of a county employee who agreed to fix Maldonado's roof for free.

"Some of these things are not black and white," Crawley said. "They become more gray when you're working with human needs."

By early afternoon, Cockney Roofing was on the scene to patch up Maldonado's roof.

"To me it's an honor to live in this country," said C.P. Conlon, the president of the roofing company who moved here from London about 20 years ago. "If I can give something back, I will."

Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 10, 2006, 01:11:18]