For a good portion of both 2010 and 2011, the Tampa City Council spent considerable time discussing and debating what to do about the growing homeless population in the city. Ultimately they came up with a partial ban on panhandling, prohibiting it for everyone except newspaper hawkers six days a week (anything still goes on Sunday).
But the issue hasn't gone away, and Mayor Bob Buckhorn is poised to do more. Assistant Police Chief John Bennett said there has been an increase of complaints about the homeless, increased victimizations of the homeless population, and an increase of crimes where the homeless have been the aggressors.
These points concerned City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern, who chastised city officials for not creating more beds for the homeless. Her comments prompted push back from Thom Snelling, the city's planning and development director.
This article appears in May 2-8, 2013.