City Council Looking into Ban on Downtown Panhandling

The issues was discussed during Thursday's meeting.

The Tampa City Council on Thursday voted to explore banning panhandling in downtown Tampa and Ybor City, in addition to near places like automated teller machines, sidewalk cafes and banks in the city, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Rules were also requested to restrict the storing of personal property in public places, urinating in public and sleeping in parks, on sidewalks or on public rights of way, the Times said. In Hillsborough County, panhandling was banned on state or county roads in 2011. What do you think about the panhandling issue in downtown Tampa? Tell us in the comments.

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Tampa City Council Moves to Ban K-2, Spice

The Tampa City Council will vote on an ordinance to make it illegal to sell, possess or manufacture the synthetic drugs.

Spice, K-2 and other popular synthetic drugs may soon be banned in the city of Tampa. Sales of the synthetic drugs would be illegal under an ordinance the Tampa City Council is expected to vote on April 18. Tampa's city attorney has drawn up an ordinance that would make it against the law to sell, possess or manufacture synthetic drugs within city limits. The new law would impose a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail for offenders. The ordinance is expected to pass. Other municipalities as well as the state are working to make the retail drugs illegal in Florida. According to WFLA.com, Tampa assistant city attorney Julia Mandell said that: "It is really an alternative mechanism to our municipal authority to get to the place that we can …

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Red-Light Cameras Net City Nearly $1 Million

The traffic cameras are making money and reducing crashes, TBO.com reports. What do you think of them?

What's your take? Are red-light cameras a good way to create revenue or reduce crashes? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.   The City of Tampa has earned nearly $1 million from red-light cameras installed at several major intersections last fall, TBO.com reports. Red-light runners have paid the city $3.4 million in fines, budget director Dennis Rogero told the City Council on Thursday. After splitting the revenue with the state and paying the Arizona company that oversees the camera program, Tampa earned just less than $1 million in profit. That's about half the amount the city expects to earn by Sept. 30, the end of the budget year, TBO reports. The city now has 28 cameras watching 15 intersections. As for the most …

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Tampa Welcomes Urban Chickens

The city council is paving the way for residents to raise their own cluckers.

Tampa’s going to the birds. Literally! The Tampa City Council has voted 6-1 to alter the ordinance regulating livestock within the city limits. The changes, which will go into effect in January 2013, will make it simpler for people to raise chickens in their own yards, according to TBO.com. While city laws don’t necessarily ban backyard birds, they do make it difficult for people to pull it off. For example, the current rules say there needs to be a 200-foot buffer between neighbors and chicken coops, TBO reports. The new rules have been under consideration to meet a growing trend toward urban gardening. As more people feel the economy’s pinch, some are looking for ways to stretch their dollars. This includes growing backyard vegetables …

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Tampa Approves Domestic Partnership Registry

Tampa City Council approved the creation of a domestic partnership registry on Thursday, April 5, TBO.com reports.

Tampa unmarried couples living together will soon have some of the same rights as married couples. Tampa City Council approved the creation of a domestic partnership registry on Thursday, April 5, TBO.com reports. The council voted 7-0. The registry covers gay and straight couples and it gives partners the right to make primary decisions and it gives them access to each other in hospitals. It also allows partners to make life-and-death decisions about the other, including burial details, and it allows partners to list each other as emergency contacts for police and rescue officials, according to TBO.com. The registry will accept its first members in July.

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City Council Workshop Addresses Code Enforcement

Dealing with snipe signs, and the handling of vacated and derelict properties will be discussed Thursday morning.

Tampa City Council will hold a workshop Thursday morning, "To discuss Code Enforcement Policy Issues dealing with Civil Citation and the Foreclosure Registry," according to the city council's online calendar.  The city's budget office is scheduled to report on: Susan Long, a veteran Seminole Heights civic activist and code enforcement board member, said the feasbility of having city departments like parks and recreation or solid waste handle such task will be discussed during the workshop.  Snipe signs, or those flyers and posters that are surreptitiously tacked to street signs and utility polls, are also on the agenda. The signs are illegal, but currently there's no real sanctions for posting them. ”My understanding is if they're found, …

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Shawn Hicks

11:30 am on Friday, March 23, 2012

Susan has been active in combating code issues for many years and is a seemingly tireless advocate for clean neighborhoods. I appreciate her efforts. Sadly, even with a hundred Susans, we'd still have problems since the system itself is broken. When property owners can be cited for the same violations repeatedly for years with no actual improvements, we have to ask why even have the code …   more ›

Garbage Fee Increase Approved by City Council

The new rates would go into effect on April 1.

Tampa City Council voted 5-2 to increase the fees that residents pay for garbage collection. According to an article on TBO.com. Council members Frank Reddick and Mary Mulhern voted against the increase.  The increase would go into effect and would raise customer's monthly bills by 15%. "This is ridiculous," said Susan Long, a past president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, according to the Tampa Bay Times. She said the city should explore privatizing collection, like in unincorporated Hillsborough County, the newspaper reported. "If the county can do it with private haulers," she said, "we should, too."

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Looking for a Prostitute? It May Cost You an Extra $500

Under a new city ordinance, drivers caught buying drugs or soliciting a prostitute may have to pay a hefty fee to get their cars back.

Soliciting a prostitute or buying drugs from your vehicle may end up costing you a hefty extra fee. Drivers engaging in one of these activities could have to pay $500 to get their cars back under an ordinance that won the initial approval of the Tampa City Council on Thursday, Dec. 1, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The city currently impounds vehicles when their drivers are arrested for a prostitution offense, but owners pick up the bill only for towing and storage costs, which are typically less than $150, according to the Times report. Today, Council members approved the ordinance 6-1, with member Mary Mulhern voting no. A final vote is scheduled for Thursday, Dec.15.

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Panhandling Banned 6 Days a Week in Tampa

Starting Nov. 1, panhandling will only be permitted on Sundays within the city limits.

On Thursday, the Tampa City Council chose to ban panhandling on Tampa streets for six days a week. The new ordinance goes into effect on Nov. 1, pending it is signed by Mayor Bob Buckhorn. Sunday will be the only day that newspaper hawkers, charities and the indigent will be permitted to seek money from motorists. The measure was passed  by a 4-to-1 vote with Mary Mulhern voting no and Charlie Miranda and Lisa Montelione absent.

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Tampa Moves 6-Day Ban on Panhandling Forward

Newspapers are exempt under the proposed ordinance. The council’s next vote will be Oct. 20.