For years now, members of the Ybor City business community have chafed at its reputation as a crime-infested neighborhood.
The recent shootings at Club Empire and Club Manilla certainly haven't helped that reputation, but as Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor attested once again today, crime has dropped radically in the region since 2003 (over 70 percent overall).
At the Ritz Ybor nightclub in the heart of the entertainment district, representatives from over 100 businesses gathered to hear Chief Castor, Ybor City Development Corporation leader David Scott and police officer Sean Mahabir, who covers the neighborhood for the TPD, discuss a new Business Watch Network being formed in the Ybor area.
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2011.