Baker's City Council Seeks BAN on Homeless

If debate started on this on Wednesday why is this the FIRST I've read about it? Where'd they have THIS hiding???

March 15, 2007
City to vote tonight on tent city
The St. Petersburg City Council will debate this evening whether to outlaw a controversial tent encampment that has housed up to 75 homeless people since January.

The city is considering several measures to ban camping and sleeping on public right of way throughout
much of the city, including the tent site at 18th Street and First Avenue N.

The debate is scheduled to begin sometime after 6 p.m. at City Hall, 175 Fifth St. N. The public will be allowed to address the council.

If the measures pass as expected Thursday, it is unclear when they might be enforced.

City officials started Wednesday coaxing those living at 18th Street to a vacant lot the city controls.

The Lakewood United Church of Christ also is considering whether to open its own tent city, despite the city’s objections and questions of its legality.

Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis has said those living on 18th Street will be asked to move or risk being arrested.

By 1 p.m, most of the people living on 18th Street had moved. Of about 60 tents, only 13 remained.

"Arrest is always an option, but it's not the first one we'll utilize," Davis said last week, when asked about a potential police showdown. "Reasonable people will move. If we're put in a position to have to take an enforcement action, I think people in the public will understand that."

-- By Aaron Sharockman, Times Staff Writer


See complete coverage on St. Petersburg's homeless struggle.




March 15, 2007 in Pinellas | Permalink