Publishing in Ybor ANGIE AND PATRICK MANTEIGA
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ngie Manteiga started working for his father’s newspaper before he did, recalled La Gaceta editor and publisher Patrick Manteiga, her Plant City High School sweetheart and husband since they were 19 years old. She learned advertising design and layout production in 12th grade; he rose through the ranks, handling sales and circulation, eventually taking over the trilingual weekly from his late father, Roland Manteiga, in 1998. The couple work in tandem but independently in the small Ybor City news bureau. “I get up every hour or so to harass her and kiss the top of her head,” he said. Disagreements are rare, but stuff happens. When it does, she likes a quick fix while he feels the need to dig deeper. “I like to resolve how it happened,” he said. She said, “He likes to pontificate. I don’t like to be pontificated.” Patrick will ask her to read his editorials occasionally. Was he too sharp? Or too easy? Her opinion matters. “Sometimes,” he said, “she’ll tell me to tone it down a bit.” He typically complies. Daughter Erin was born in 1985, Emily arrived in 1990 and son Joey in 1991. As infants and toddlers, all three came to work with their parents. More recently, granddaughter Lola Grace, now 3, accompanied Erin when she joined the advertising staff.
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FEBRUARY 2016
The Manteigas drive together every morning from their Temple Terrace home, stopping en route for eggs and café con leche at a Cuban sandwich shop. Now that they are empty-nesters, the couple, both 51, often stick around for dinner and drinks to indulge their love of Ybor. They’re greeted everywhere they go. “Ybor’s like a big Cheers, only it’s outdoors,” he said. “We started our family young,” she added. “This is like having our college years now, going out and having fun.” At home, the publisher might get notice of other deadlines from his loving co-worker. “He thinks he’s the boss all the time,” she said. “Accolades are nice, but you still have to take out the trash.” “She gets in the way of my grandeur sometimes,” he teases. “I’ve tried to supervise her all my life. It just doesn’t work.” — Amy Scherzer