Some parts of the Tampa Bay area political establishment reacted with shock and dismay after the Tampa Bay Times reported earlier this month that then-Tampa Port Authority chairman William "Hoe" Brown ran a thriving slum behind his business office in Seminole Heights — a group of five trashed single-wide mobile homes that Tampa's directer of neighborhood services Jake Slater called "deplorable" and "not fit for human habitation."
Although City Councilman Frank Reddick has complained for a couple of years about similar code enforcement problems in his East Tampa district, the Buckhorn administration remained relatively quiet about it all. But no longer.
At a Sunday morning press conference held in front of an especially egregious example of a trashed home, Buckhorn talked tough to other slumlords not keeping up their properties.
"There’s no excuse for this, and those who would allow it, those who would allow their buildings to fall into disrepair, and allow renters to live in squalor? Shame on them," Buckhorn said. "Shame on them. If they did that to a pet, they’d go to jail. Shame on them. And we’re coming for them. And If you’re going to treat people worse than you treat animals, we’re going to be coming after you."
