It's looking like there will not be a fence surrounding the Ybor City entertainment district at this year's Guavaween celebration.
That's the sentiment that was expressed at Thursday's Tampa City Council meeting. Speakers were Ybor bar owner Richard Boom and Marc Hamburg, an executive board member on the Ybor Chamber and the chair of the Guavaween committee.
Last week CL reported on the dissension between members of the Ybor City business community and the Ybor Chamber regarding Guavaween. The annual Saturday night before Halloween extravaganza in Ybor is a big fundraiser for the Chamber, but hasn't done much for the bottom line of many Ybor businesses in recent years.
Boom, the owner of the bar A Dirty Shame, began by telling the Council, "We had reports from the media (last year) that it was a wonderful event. In fact, it was quite detrimental to our businesses."
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2012.