Six of the seven Council members voted in favor of asking the Tampa legal department to amend Section 16-43(c) of the Tampa City Code, which currently requires a permit and insurance for any public gathering of 25 or more people where food is served. Councilman Charlie Miranda was not present to vote on the motion introduced by Councilman Guido Maniscalco, who called for the change after seven Food Not Bombs activists were arrested last month while serving homeless people food and coffee in Lykes Gaslight Park without a permit.
Per Councilman Maniscalco’s recommendation, the legal department will report back to City Council on March 16 with a draft ordinance that mirrors St. Pete’s law allowing groups of less than 50 people to congregate in any public park without having to wrangle a permit and purchase insurance.
After hearing from a long line of activists and concerned citizens, Councilman Maniscalco explained the value of a change.
“We need law and order, but we also need love and compassion…I think the St. Pete model is a step in the right direction,” he said, noting how the ease in restriction would facilitate homeless people’s access to a basic need offered in a public space.
Not all Council members were jazzed on the idea of opening up Tampa’s parks to crowds of hungry homeless people.
“I think if we bring these people together in one place we can do a better job of helping them with what they need besides food,” she said.
She explained that doing so would consolidate the efforts of support groups, effectively offering a designated one-stop shop where homeless people could access vital resources such as food and medical care.
For now, the focus is to “find a solution to what happened in January in a meaningful way that’s within jurisdiction of the law,” Maniscalco replied.
Video of the January arrests went viral after Cliff Connolly filmed the ordeal and posted it on Facebook. He was one of many people who lined up to address the Council with concerns about implications of the current policy.
Connolly criticized Tampa for “criminalizing compassionate acts” in order to improve the aesthetics of downtown by driving out homeless people.
Those being pushed out are “part of the residents that live in the community downtown,” said local attorney Michael Maddux who represents Food Not Bombs. “Just kicking them out of downtown isn’t a solution.”
Maddux was one of several speakers to pinpoint the lack of housing as the perpetuating factor of homelessness in Tampa.
Underlying public comment is the sentiment that the Council’s choice to amend the ordinance is as much about acknowledging the need for an altruistic public as it is about changing permit requirements.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 2, 2017.