Tampa council again rejects panhandling ballot request (Miami, St. Petersburg: apartment, buy)

[craigm1841]

What kind of society do we live in where the residents of Tampa, the people whos tax money pays for upkeep of the roadways, dont even get the opportunity to vote on whether or not panhandling should be legal at intersections?

When someone gets injured or dies due to panhandling, whether it be a victim of a panhnadler, or a panhandler gets run over- Members of the local governement need to be held accountable for neglecting to even let this issue end up on a ballot. What is going on in Tampa Bay people?


Article follows:





By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - For the second time in a month, a Tampa activist asked the city council today to put a referendum on the March ballot asking voters if they want to ban panhandling.

Once again, he was rebuffed.

Spencer Kass asked the council to take up the issue at today's meeting, but council members declined, citing a number of reasons, including the possible effect on charities and newspaper hawkers who use the city's roadways to raise money for their causes.

Councilwoman Mary Mulhern cited economic and humanitarian reasons.
"Things are really bad," she said. "To be asked as a city council to tell people they can't ask for help on the city's streets is difficult," she said, "and it won't solve the problem."

Mulhern also said she hadn't seen any data proving that it was a public safety issue.

Councilman Charlie Miranda agreed.

"There's got to be compassion here," he said. "Even in war, you pick up the wounded."

Council Chairman Tom Scott reiterated that he is working with the city's legal department on a plan to identify roadways where solicitation might be prohibited during rush hours.

"To say that council hasn't done anything is completely false," he said.
Kass said he and others were prompted to pursue a ballot measure because in November the city council refused to consider a proposal to impose a ban similar to the one in St. Petersburg and the reluctance of Hillsborough County to adopt tougher restrictions.

Tampa officials have said St. Petersburg's solicitation ban and the economic recession have factored in the recent increase in panhandling on Tampa's roadways.

Kass and others organized a petition drive to put a referendum on the ballot, but fell short of gathering the required 18,000 signatures before a Dec. 26 deadline.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has previously said the city's rules on median solicitation aren't working. She wants tougher restrictions but said they must be countywide.

The Iorio administration proposed a ban on median solicitation last year, but the city council eventually backed away from it. Instead, council members opted for watered-down rules allowing solicitors to use rights of way if they followed basic safety requirements.

Before that, the city had prohibited soliciting on rights of way unless the council granted a permit. That conflicted with a federal court ruling out of Miami that states Miami-Dade County's anti-loitering ordinance is unconstitutional as well as a state law passed in 2007 that exempts nonprofit groups from local permit requirements.

Several homeless advocates urged officials not to pursue a ban and to instead focus on providing housing and other safety nets for the county's homeless population.

[tewas]

I've seen people walking within traffic lanes asking for money at the stop light, and it is just a matter of time when some poor soul will get hit by a car. Tampa really needs to end this practice and focus on charities and support groups that are already established and provide food/housing to the homless people.
On the other side, looks like not everyone is anoyed by bright green vests asking for money, since they did not get enough signatures to put on the ballot. Or signature collectors did a poor job. Maybe they should stand in the intersection and ask for signatures

[craigm1841]

Originally Posted by tewas

I've seen people walking within traffic lanes asking for money at the stop light, and it is just a matter of time when some poor soul will get hit by a car. Tampa really needs to end this practice and focus on charities and support groups that are already established and provide food/housing to the homless people.
On the other side, looks like not everyone is anoyed by bright green vests asking for money, since they did not get enough signatures to put on the ballot. Or signature collectors did a poor job. Maybe they should stand in the intersection and ask for signatures

I sure as hell didnt hear about the petition. My name would have been the first one on it.

It is 2011 and walking around with a peice of paper and asking for signatures is still the best practice we have for getting something on a ballot? What is wrong with this picture? We put someone on the moon over 40 years ago, The company that makes my car can unlock my car doors via satellite. I think it is time for a better solution than pen and paper.

Maybe it is time for the government to make smart phone apps for things like this...

[tewas]

I agree that walking around with pen and paper is not the most effective solution. However until we move to electronic voting, i just don't see anyone collecting signatures electronically via app or internet site.
Craig, maybe they did come by your apartment, but i bet you were at work, like most of the people who want panhandlers out of the streets.

[algia]

I think they "HOPE" Panhandlers get hit by cars so the Gov doesn't have to deal with them! and can continue their Country Club runs undisturbed!

Our Gov is no longer "for the people" but "against it's own people"! Just watch Food Inc, Outsourced...etc....this panhandling problem is piece of cake by comparison........but people's complacency and lack of care is what brought us to this point.

[tewas]

Algia you are correct for the most part. Food Inc, Outsourced and other documentaries have shed quite a bit of light, but i would not take them as a point of reference. They have their own agenda and bias so i bet there are some facts that were "skipped" by the creators to make their story as it is now.
However I'm with you on a statement that government is no longer for a people. That day ended when corporation paid for election of the government, now they just battling in between to see who can buy off senator. It's good if you happened to happen to have the same views as a corporation. All we want is some Jersey Shore, Lohan rehab and Obama's birth certificate. Give them food and games and they will follow you, too bad food is running out

[algia]

Ohh, I agree, of course they have their own agenda...those are just drops by comparison as well....just like all Michael Moore's movies...most ppl see them as fiction all tho their not.....

Like you said, when $73 million dollars is what it takes to become Governor....there are few "politically correct" words left to describe what our Gov has become! more like: "what people?, there are real people living here on this land"? what?

Originally Posted by tewas

Algia you are correct for the most part. Food Inc, Outsourced and other documentaries have shed quite a bit of light, but i would not take them as a point of reference. They have their own agenda and bias so i bet there are some facts that were "skipped" by the creators to make their story as it is now.
However I'm with you on a statement that government is no longer for a people. That day ended when corporation paid for election of the government, now they just battling in between to see who can buy off senator. It's good if you happened to happen to have the same views as a corporation. All we want is some Jersey Shore, Lohan rehab and Obama's birth certificate. Give them food and games and they will follow you, too bad food is running out

[Pragmaticus]

I think a lot posters are being short sighted here!

Who wants to pan handle for the sake of panhandling if they can find other job to do that and they can feed themselves and their families.

Some people consider them like criminals just because it is an “eye sour” to them. The realty is if these people have no other source to make money, they ain’t going no where.


Rather than finding a petition to get them out of your way (I wouldn’t sign by the way) how about finding something they can work and make money and they won’t be in your way.

People fell to recognize, if you just ban this without addressing the real problem, it will just come up with another name and you keep petitioning and wonder why people don’t sign it or argue how silly the process is not automated!

[Kevin from Tampa]

idiots. I wish I voted in Tampa (I live just over the Pasco line). get those dimwits out.

[TB Fla]

Don't know what the city council's problem is but the Panhandlers need to go. There are enough shelters that give away food in Tampa that there is no reason anyone needs to stand on the street corner asking for money unless they need it for drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.