The issues of citizens in Tampa panhandling on street medians has dominated local media in recent months, and shows no signs of abating anytime soon.
Public opinion polls show the public wants such an ordinance in effect, duplicating what the city of St. Petersburg did last summer, but Tampa City Council members, almost to a person, have been resolute in discussing why a simple ordinance banning such activities isn't a sufficient response to the homeless issue at this time.
After neighborhood activist Spencer Kass against castigated the board for failing to put such a measure on the March 1 ballot (after he was unsuccessful in a nearly impossible effort to amass 18,000 signatures in the waning weeks of last month), several members of the board spoke out passionately about why they felt putting the measure on the ballot would be an injustice. That came after Kass said he wanted Tampa citizens to now reach out to members of the city's legislative delegation, saying, "hopefully our legislative delegation will be a little more sympathetic to the small businesses, and the individuals of this city who are suffering under the danger that this panhandling is causing."
This article appears in Jan 6-12, 2011.