Tampa City Council Allows Street Soliciting to Continue

You know the economy is bad when the Tampa City Council refused to vote for a ban on street-medium soliciting. Councilman Tom Scott had the best response to people who wanted the ban.

"We have a 13 percent unemployment rate in Hillsborough County," said Chairman Tom Scott. "Everybody who has an income, you ought to thank God every day for that. You never know where life is going to take you."

St. Petersburg made it illegal for panhandlers and newspaper sellers to stand on the medium and solicit. St. Petersburg has been known for Draconian policies toward the homeless; including the destruction of homeless people's tents. St. Petersburg's law as pushed some people to the city of Tampa.

Local law enforcement and community leaders claim there has been an increase in accidents because of solicitors on the medium. They failed to support the claim with facts at the City Council meeting.

But council members were more moved by stories of people trying to scrape by.

"I have a right to earn a living," said Sonia Long. She said she has a college degree and never expected she would support her children by selling newspapers on an east Tampa street corner.

"I challenge you to show me how many accidents are because of us," she said, noting that a recent uptick in bicycling deaths wasn't caused by street vendors.

Darren Driscoll, an independent contractor for the St. Petersburg Times, said he employs 180 people in Hillsborough County every Sunday. In five years, he said, none of his workers has been involved in an accident.

"I feel we're part of the solution with today's economy," he said.

Kay Andrews, publisher of the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin, said people sell newspapers on the street to put food on their tables.

"It has supplemented many incomes," she said. "It's unfortunate that a lot of our elderly people and our young people have to do this, but they do it. They do it with integrity and honesty."

Alex Pickett wrote about how many homeless people make an honest living by selling newspapers. The City Council made the right decision by not destroying these people's livelihood. Too bad the same thing can't be said about St. Petersburg.