Tampa City Council Will Address Panhandling — Again
Council members asked the city's legal staff to prepared two proposed ordinances: one would ban street solicitations six days a week; the second would allow newspaper sales.
After nearly three hours of discussion on Thursday, the Tampa City Council asked the city's legal department to draft up two proposed ordinances to eliminate panhandling on Tampa's streets.
Currently, pedestrians can solicit from motorists in the city limits of Tampa during daylight hours if they wear brightly colored safety vests and remain on medians, the roadside right of way or sidewalks.
The first proposed ordinance would be based on one currently being considered by Pasco County that limits panhandling to just Sundays.
The second proposal would repeal Tampa's current solicitation ordinance, thereby bringing Hillsborough County's panhandling ban into the city limits. Next, the city would adopt an ordinance similar to Jacksonville, which allows newspaper sales in roadways.
The Council will discuss both of these options on August 4 and could choose to move one along forward for a second reading and a vote, or they may choose to eliminate both proposals.
At the start of the discussion, Mayor Bob Buckhorn made his first appearance before the Council since being sworn into office.
"This is a complicated problem, there is no simple solution," Buckhorn said. "Whatever compromise you come up with, something is better than nothing."
Joe Clay
9:26 am on Sunday, June 19, 2011
Oh no, Buckhorn is incorrect. There is a simple solution. Don't allow anyone to panhandle (grift) from the roadway, including newspaper vendors. The roadway is NOT for solicitation and it wasn't designed for it—especially with all of these traffic "calming" measures the city has recently taken up to effectively screw up major roads like N Boulevard.