Hillsborough Commission: No Panhandling on State and County Roads

Gerald White stood before the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday to voice his opinion on an issue that has divided jurisdictions and fueled public safety regulation debates in Tampa Bay for the past two years.

Regulate panhandlers in the county, or ban them altogether?

"I'm concerned about Little League teams who sell their candy on the roads," said community activist Gerald White. "I'm concerned about how this would affect minors in Hillsborough County .. We have a problem, and we need to do something about it."

White was among a half dozen citizens, newspaper vendors and law enforcement officials who addressed commissioners during an hour and a half public hearing on whether to amend the county's existing ordinance on solicitation and distribution on county roads by expanding the prohibition to include state roads.

Their decision?

After debating public safety concerns and the effect on newspaper vendors and charities, commissioners voted 6-1 (Commissioner Les Miller dissented) to amend the ordinance and effectively ban panhandling on county and state roads in Hillsborough County.

A Tampa municipal ordinance currently allows soliciting on city streets if safety vests are worn and the person panhandling is not a minor. The City Council recently voted down a proposed partial ban that would have banned roadside solicitations on major, arterial roads.

Before the vote, commissioners wrangled over how to handle amending the ordinance in light of the county's 12 percent unemployment rate, which some say has prompted a spike in the number of panhandlers in the area.

Commissioner Les Miller said he sympathized with members of the community who were jobless and needed to panhandle in the medians to survive.

"Most people are out there supporting families to put food on the table," he said. "Taking that away from them ... I have a serious problem with that."

Col. Greg Brown of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said changing the ordinance would make enforcement easier for deputies, who wouldn't have to figure out what type of road they're on — state or county, for example — before deciding how the ordinance applies to violators.

Brown stressed the importance of public safety by citing the death of a man who he said was killed while panhandling.

"Alongside the body was a cardboard sign that said, "'Please help, hungry and homeless,'" he said. "The man died when a semi [truck] hit him."

Commissioner Mark Sharpe asked Brown about how to handle newspaper vendors, some of whom receive their only income from selling the St. Petersburg Times and The Tampa Tribune.

Sharpe suggested a grace period from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Sundays for solicitors, but Col. Brown spoke against that.

"That's not a good idea," Brown said. "Some people say there is less traffic, but people tend to drive faster. There's little room on those medians."

Other suggestions presented by commissioners included asking newspaper hawkers to solicit on less-busy roads, or asking them to sell papers in the parking lots of businesses that are closed on Sundays, such as banks.

But Gary Steel, a single copy manager for The Tampa Tribune, said the two newspapers sell about 20,000 newspapers between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sundays.

"Over 200 hawkers would lose their sales if they moved off road or to business locations," he said. "This has happened in St. Petersburg since the ban last spring. The Times and Tribune would lose a significant amount of their advertising revenue."

Some members of the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners see today's action as yet another step in an ongoing regulation of panhandlers.

"This is an ongoing issue, we've always known we'd need to do this ordinance," said Sandra Murman, who represents District 1 on the commission. "It's a public safety issue."

With the prohibition extending to state roads, Murman said the county will have to explore expanding service options for people in need, including workforce training.

"We are working on alternatives for services, because if you whack something on one side, you've got to shore it up on the other," Murman said.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe said he hopes today's vote urges the City of Tampa to get involved in the discussion.

"My issue isn't just this. It's the municipalities," Sharpe said. "The city has to engage with us."