Blurbex

What are you doing for the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War?

(One idea: On your way home from the office today, check out the local Tampa protest.)

One thing I noticed after moving back to Tampa Bay, after a brief stint in Arizona, was the lack of immigration debate in Florida. Immigration issues certainly don’t top the list of state problems like they do in the Southwest and Midwest. I’ve always found this surprising considering Florida has the third-largest immigrant population in the nation (and one of the highest redneck ratios, too).

But Florida’s laissez-faire attitude toward immigration may be changing.

In December, a Quinnipiac University poll reported two-thirds of Floridians want stronger immigration enforcement. And now, state legislators have filed 11 bills targeting immigrants this session, almost double the amount of last year.

One of the bills, sponsored by Republican Don Brown of DeFuniak Springs, models one of the harshest state laws in the country. Florida’s HB 73 is mirrored after an Oklahoma state law passed last year. The bill would require law enforcement officers to report a person’s immigration status, limit access to driver’s licenses for legal (and illegal) immigrants, require employers to verify the immigration status of newly hired employees, and levy extra penalties for transporting or harboring illegal immigrants. In January, USA Today reported that the Oklahoma law is “rattling” the state’s economy as illegal immigrants flee en masse.

Here’s a rundown of the other bills:

HB 159 and SB 388: The “Florida Security and Immigration Compliance Act” would prohibit contractors not registered with the federal work authorization program from receiving public contracts. The immigration status of any person charged with a crime or applying for state benefits would also be scrutinized.

HB 571 and HB 540: Would require “law enforcement officers, sheriffs, chief correctional officers, & circuit court clerks to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement office of U.S. Department of Homeland Security suspected illegal aliens arrested, detained, or convicted of a felony.”

HB 577 and HB 1086: Would charge illegal immigrants with a misdemeanor or felony for residing in the U.S. unlawfully. The bill would also create a classification system of those charged — “undocumented alien” or “illegal alien,” depending on if they’ve been deported before.

HB 821: Also called the “Florida Safe Borders Act of 2008,” this bill combines elements of HB 73 and HB 571 while adding a penalty for public employees who do not report a person’s immigration status.

SB 124: This bill “requires denial of agricultural land classification and assessment for a minimum period of 2-10 years for knowingly employing persons who are not authorized to work by federal immigration laws or the Attorney General of the United States. Provides an additional civil penalty of $25,000 for each employed unauthorized alien.” Say goodbye to Plant City, y’all.

HB 1247 and SB 2738: This law would require jail officials to determine the immigration status of every incoming inmate and report it to the federal government.

SB 1364: Creates a law prohibiting people from assisting illegal immigrants in gaining false documents.

How will Florida pay for such measures while we’re facing a record budget shortfall? The federal government, of course! Many of the bills above provide for charging the feds for having to carry out immigration duties.

My question is this: Are these bills necessary? And if so, which ones? But more importantly, would you be willing to destroy Florida’s agricultural and hospitality industries in order to create a more legal citizenry?

(Photo above courtesy of Nila Gurusinghe on Flickr)

In light of the recent ordinances targeting the homeless, and the waning influence of homeless advocates, I recently interviewed Rev. Bruce Wright of Refuge Ministries. We talked about his 15 years of activism related to homelessness and the present situation in St. Pete.

Wright, 46, could be called the Michael Moore of St. Pete: supporters praise his uncompromising fight for the city’s poor and critics deride him for his leftist rhetoric and “in-your-face“ political stunts. Though Wright still holds a lot of influence in the progressive community, city leaders have been increasingly hostile toward him.

Read the interview after the jump and then check out this week’s Urban Explorer, which examines the push for a homeless-free downtown.
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It’s starting to look like St. Petersburg might succeed in sweeping the homeless out of downtown.

At tomorrow’s St. Pete City Council meeting, councilmembers are expected to pass two more ordinances targeting the city’s homeless that would ban all storage of property in the right-of-way, and prohibit sleeping or “reclining” in the downtown area during daylight hours.

A St. Pete Times article today says a compromise might be a storage area at St. Vincent de Pauls on Fifth Avenue North and the Salvation Army on Fourth Street South, however a city official mentioned funding a guard for the storage sites, which might not go over well with taxpayers.

This follows an expanded anti-panhandling ordinance passed earlier this month and a series of rules passed last year aimed at tent cities, camping in city limits and sleeping on sidewalks.

In fact, more ordinances governing homelessness have been passed in the last year than any other year in recent memory. By next week, those unfortunate individuals who have found themselves living on the street will no longer be able to sleep (day and possibly night), ask for money or store their belongings. Many of the ordinances have targeted the downtown region, which in all likelihood will push these individuals into surrounding neighborhoods or municipalities.

All issues have multiple sides, but most of the attention has gone to the opinions of city officials and business owners. Below are two letters CL has received in recent weeks regarding the situation in St. Pete.

The first is from G.W. Rolle, a formerly homeless man who spent four years on St. Pete’s streets. Last year, he was featured in the widely viewed Easy Street documentary chronicling the homeless situation here.

The second letter is from Richard Shireman, one-half of the city’s Homeless Outreach Team and a longtime staffer of Operation Par Inc., which serves the needs of people suffering from mental illness.

Follow the jump for both letters (mostly unedited, though I’ve added Web site links for context):

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Just in case you thought those anti-war types only like to protest against the Iraq War, Jay Alexander from Tampa’s monthly Vigil for Peace sent me these photos as proof of what some demonstrators do to support the troops.

Over the holidays, Alexander and other volunteers passed out 700 phone cards to veterans at Bay Pines VA Medical Center and James A. Haley VA Medical Center. The phone cards were provided by the national Veterans for Peace and CREDO (part of the group, Working Assets).

And if you didn’t read my December Urban Explorer column on Tampa Bay’s anti-war protests, check it out here.

The Buena Vista Neighborhood Association isn’t wasting any time to work on their improvements to St. Pete’s Bartlett Park neighborhood and for city recognition. Resident Scott Swift forwarded me information on the new association’s latest clean-up and petition drive this last weekend:

We picked 10 full bags of garbage on 13th Avenue and went door to door with our petition to have our new association recognized by the City. I am thrilled to report that everyone we met with supported the formation of a new neighborhood association and NO ONE declined to sign! Some people weren’t home, but we collected 19 signatures (excluding several people already in our group who will sign later) just on 13th Avenue alone!

Going door to door allowed us to get feedback from 13th Avenue residents regarding their concerns. The key things we heard were disillusionment with the status quo & concerns about drugs and speeding. Other broader concerns were drop out rates of school children and lack of parental responsibility.

I have attached pictures from the cleanup. Since some of you receive e-mail at work, I have excluded shots of the more “interesting” litter we found (at least 3 used bullets and several drug baggies and one pink thong!!). Not surprisingly, all the ammo and drug paraphernalia was located in front of the 2-3 properties that residents have constant concerns about regarding drug dealing.

So far we’ve had a positive meeting the Deputy Mayor David Metz and Susie Ajoc, have covered about 15-20% of the area we need to cover with the petition, distributed our 1st newsletter, cleaned up 10 bags of litter on 13th, met lots of interested residents, and finalized our mission statement. All in just our first 2 weeks!

The new association split from the established and recognized Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association. Read what caused the split here. And don’t forget to read the reactions to the new organization on my first blog post about it here.

The results are in and Barack Obama has “won” Iowa. Of course, as soon as I walked into a local caucus precinct tonight, I knew it.

At the Des Moines precinct I attended, over 200 people showed up to support their favorite candidates, almost triple the amount in 2004; 130 of them were for Obama. And during the part of the caucus where candidate supporters persuade and cajole each other into switching sides, there were no Obama defectors.

The significance? In the cafeteria where I sat, I saw a microcosm of America: young, old, men, women, black, white and brown, first-time caucus goers and longtime politicos.  There was definitely energy in that room and it will be interesting to see how far that takes Obama.

Oh, and Huckabee took the Republican side. But considering the evangelical base in Iowa, that’s hardly news.

I almost heard a collective sigh in Des Moines when I stepped out of the high school. Political eyes will be off Iowa for a while and this Midwest state can go back to the normal stories it produces; namely, septuplets and ethanol.

Here are two photos from an Obama rally I attended last night at my old high school in Des Moines. I’d put the number of attendees at a few hundred. This is the first time I’ve heard Obama speak in person and let me say — I was not impressed. The crowd didn’t seem impressed either. The Illinois senator was hoarse from long days of campaigning and his talk about hope, change and special interests sounded too forced and familiar. Still, I imagine this 10 p.m. rally was not typical Obama flavor.

The only real significance of the rally was the amount of 20-somethings in the crowd. Obama is the leader in polls here, but only based on a projected 60 percent of Iowans who will caucus for the first time. If these young Democrats decide to go out for a few beers instead of caucusing, Obama may not do well.

Speaking of caucuses, I’m on my way now to one. Despite living here for the 2000 and 2004 elections, I’ve never attended one.
I’m actually excited.

I’m attending a Democratic caucus and not because I’m partisan. Democratic caucus are so much more fun than Republican caucuses. Today, Republicans will simply gather in a high school gym and vote privately. But for Democrats, it’s a little more complicated.

First, attendees find their candidate’s crowd and stand with them. Then the precinct captain counts the number of people in that group. Candidates with less than 15 percent support aren’t considered viable, so their supporters disband. Then the other candidates’ groups will try to get those disbanded to join their teams. This is where grand promises are made. Afterwards, supporters are counted again and a complicated formula decides the number of delegates.

But the most fun is the part where supporters cajole each other into joining their candidate’s group.

Last night, over a pitcher bought for my friends by an Obama supporter, a female friend of mine told me caucus goers enjoy making huge promises during the caucus. In 2004, she was supporting Kucinich, but their group didn’t have enough people. So, one of the Kucinich supporters offered to mow an Edwards supporter’s lawn for a month to get her to switch.

It worked.

I’m usually a Letterman-over-Leno fan, but I have to say that in their first late-night faceoff since going back to work, Leno was the winner. Letterman’s material was tired, and so was he, whereas Leno was definitely on top of his game. And Huckabee — well, it was clear why he’s winning hearts, if not minds. Like an Iowan told Ben Montgomery in today’s Times, “He has that charm in front of people that makes him look human.” A reasonable facsimile of a human! Perfect!

But something’s bugging me about Huckabee (besides his insane flat-tax talk and his belief that rampaging Pakistanis are pouring through our borders). He reminds me of someone, and I can’t settle on who it is. I know there’s some Nixon in there someplace, but it’s more Nixon crossed with… Jack Lemmon? Kevin Spacey? The guy who played Bosley on Charlie’s Angels? Anyone else have a suggestion?

I’m in Iowa this week visiting friends and family and let me tell you — the political ads and phone calls are as thick as the snow on the ground. You can’t even throw a snowball without hitting some campaign staffer. Two or three candidates come into town every day and more than a few conversations have involved “Who would win?” bets if Chuck Norris and Oprah Winfrey got into a scrap.

What does it matter? Good question. Our own Wayne Garcia gives his own take on the Iowa buzz here. He’s agreeing with the New York Times assessment that Iowa doesn’t matter.

Those comments, some of the columnists at the daily here write, are fighting words. Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen says the big issues of the day — like immigration and overseas outsourcing — are played out in Iowa every day.

My past experience living here for eight years puts Iowa’s importance somewhere in between. Either way, there’s no denying that Iowans love their few months in the spotlight. Everywhere I’ve went for the last four days, someone was talking about the candidates, giving their opinion.

Some of the stranger highlights:

• Drunk 26-year-old Jewish woman: “What? You’re voting for Obama because he makes good speeches? That’s like Hitler!”

• 22-year-old nursing student: “Wouldn’t you like to live in an alternate universe where Al Gore was running?”

• 27-year-old audio/visual engineer: “Huckabee is scary. But I like Chuck Norris. If Chuck Norris was his vice president, I might actually vote for him. Wouldn’t that be great? Chuck Norris as VP!”

• 62-year-old retired lawyer: “John Edwards made 40 million from hedge funds and he fights for the little guy? Never believe anybody who says they became rich fighting for the little guy.”

(That last quote says a lot about the race here. Edwards has essentially been campaigning in Iowa for the last four years, and yet, polls consistently put him below Clinton and Obama. I doubt he’ll last after the caucuses.)

One thing that I have noticed is several younger people plan to caucus for the first time tomorrow. A Des Moines Register poll published this week makes the same point. And so far, Obama and Huckabee are leading in the Iowa polls.

Representative? Probably not. But there’s no denying this cold little state will set the tone for the next several weeks.

Tomorrow, I plan to attend a Democratic caucus to see what it’s like. I’ll post my experiences. In the meantime, enjoy the Florida weather. It was -5 degrees here last night.

If you’re still looking for some Good Santa nonprofit opportunities, check out the Christmas/Kwanzaa Toy and Gift Drive at 1221 22nd Street South tomorrow.

A.J. Ali, who used to produce the Straight From Da Streets public access TV show, says this is the first drive of its kind for the children of Midtown.

It will run from noon – 4 p.m.

We’re still receiving more comments over last week’s Urban Explorer, which profiled Pass-A-Grille gallery owner Evander Preston’s gifts to the homeless this year (hint: they’re alcoholic and smokey). I was curious what may have sent the traffic over there and found Jackie Dowd’s Orlando-based blog The 13th Juror. Check it out: She has a wealth of info about the homeless situation in Pinellas County and Florida. But what’s choice is this YouTube video she posted:

UPDATE: Looks like a California radio station picked up the Evander Preston story, too. Check out the audio here.

This is cross-posted with the Political Whore blog, which has extensive debate coverage here.

Results are in from the Rise Up! The System is Broken event.

They conducted two polls. One was your basic plurality poll; the other, an instant run-off option.

Tallies for the first poll are:

Ron Paul: 240 votes
Dennis Kucinich: 26
Barak Obama: 13
John Edwards: 10

The Instant Run-Off poll tallies are:

Ron Paul takes it with 174 votes. And the Democrats lead with Kucinich at 29 votes and Obama at 22.

Now you know where your Tampa Bay progressives are standing.

If you thought St. Pete’s lovable, huggable (if a little stinky) homeless men and women were gone from the debate site — think again.

Police have given them the OK to stay the night in the shadow of the Mahaffrey Theater.

Eric Rubin, one of the more vocal homeless advocates, called the camp-out/protest a success. In today’s Times, City Councilman Jamie Bennett told a reporter that those who don’t go to the Pinellas Hope tent city won’t be arrested. (A far cry from Councilman Foster’s earlier comment that the “red carpet is over.”) That was one of the homeless protesters’ demands.

“We were hoping with enough press, they’d do the right thing,” says Rubin.

Rubin also says that the last three days of constant media attention have “energized” the homeless. He says several homeless individuals held a meeting on the steps of City Hall last night asking each small camp of street people — from those at City Hall to the people sleeping by St. Vincents — to join as one community to better fend off attacks from city officials.

Meanwhile, Robin Dilley — who is sleeping by the Hilton on Beach Drive tonight — says she hopes people keep the city’s most vulnerable residents in mind even after they’re gone from the debate site.

“You all like building these buildings,” the former addict says. “More hotels that you don’t need. More stadiums that you don’t need. We need a day center. You want us to get a job? Give us an avenue. Then we’d have no excuse.”

Mike Fox, one of the many organizers of the Rise Up! The System is Broken demonstration at Pioneer Park had a few comments as he packed up his signs tonight.

“I think it went fabulously,” says Fox, who even after 12 hours of preparing for this event, jumps around animatedly. “Even though you had divergent views, everybody seemed respectful of each other.”

He was also pleased with the “boatload of media.”

“There were a lot of strong activists here,” said the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee member and state coordinator for the Progressive Democrats of America. “A lot of very strong activists marching together. Community was built today.”

Fox is hoping that the contacts made today will make Tampa Bay’s progressive community a force to be reckoned with. “It’s a good time to be a Democrat in Tampa Bay,” he added.

I asked him why his fellow organizers decided to protest today. Can’t they give the Republicans just one day of peace?

“Oh, this wasn’t targetted at Republicans,” he said. “It was targetted against the broken system. I would be here if the Democrats were in the same position.”

Just returned from the pre-debate demonstration at Pioneer Park. Nearly 30 organizations — from the Green Party and the Pinellas Democratic Party to Code Pink and the Florida Rainbow PUSH Coalition — came out in force to support anti-war and anti-corporate causes. I give it one and a half fists up. Here’s the rundown:

Pioneer Park was overrun with tables and people pushing their various causes. But one man stood out: Brian Moore, the Socialist Party’s nominee (they do their primary voting a bit different, you see). Moore was subject of a well-done St. Petersburg Times profile months ago and has used some of his media publicity to criss-cross the country looking for votes. He might actually be on the ballot in California, he tells me.

I quizzed him what question he’d like to ask the Republican candidates and he answered passionately, but predictably:

“Why has capitalism failed American and failed the world?”

Ron Paul supporters had fun with him.

Here’s Chris Brudy serenading the crowd. You might remember “Guitar Chris” from a recent profile for our 2007 Summer Guide:

However, the Ron Paul contingent, criss-crossing downtown in the Ron Paul “Magic Bus” (my words, not theirs), was surprisingly absent. I could hear some disgruntled progressives rambling about “those crazy Ron Paul” supporters and their decision to go it alone.

At one point though, those Ron Paulites did show up — and drowned out the press conference with their shouting.

However, homeless advocates and a few homeless kept the mood upbeat toward the end of the press conference by clomping down Beach Drive in masse with a banner chastizing the city: “Hey Mayor Baker, Jesus was homeless, too.”

Then the mass of rabble rousers, close to 200 by this point, marched to Mahaffrey Theater where some protesters were already gathered.

At one point, several Rudy Giuliani supporters were nose and nose with the protesters. But that wasn’t the only flash point.

This Ron Paul supporter criticized the homeless for not getting a job.

“You’re making good conversation,” the Ron Paulite said. “Why don’t you get a job?”

“You go and not take a shower for a week and try to get a job,” retorted the homeless man.

And this Iraq veteran had a big problem with this Vietnam veteran outside of Starbucks on Beach Drive.

“Let me serve my war,” said the Iraq Veteran, who wouldn’t give me his name because he was wearing the uniform. “Your time is done. You were in Vietnam.”

To which the Vietnam Vet replied, “It took me 10 years after I got back. I was just like you.”

And then, in the heat of the moment, Iraq Veteran let this out: “I’m in intel [intelligence?] and we are going to war with Iran in six months no matter who you vote for!”

Whoa.

This is about the time the rain come pouring down and I had to duck inside Corigan’s for a few drinks. I met up with a Ron Paul supporter and took a ride on the magic bus. More on that later.

Just getting in from the circus that was downtown St. Pete:The UNITY demonstration — also known as the Rise Up! The System Is Broken event — had a fairly large turnout.

My estimate: 150.

However, the Ron Paul contingent, criss-crossing downtown in the Ron Paul “Magic Bus” (my words, not theirs), was surprisingly absent. I could hear some disgruntled progressives rambling about “those crazy Ron Paul” supporters and their decision to go it alone.

However, homeless advocates and a few homeless kept the mood upbeat toward the beginning of the Unity March by clomping down Beach Drive in masse with a banner chastizing the city: Hey Mayor Baker, Jesus was homeless, too.

Some other highlights:

“In the ’60s, I could pick up chicks with these.” — Guy Fox, protester

Progressives and Ron Paul supporters get in a little tiff.

“I’m happy to get the message across that our country is going in the wrong direction.”

If you happen to step into the Bank of America offices in downtown St. Pete today, look up.

Three activists from two local environmental groups — Earth First! and Rising Tide — unleashed a balloon-propelled banner earlier today attacking the bank for funding new coal plants and investing in mining companies that use environmentally destructive practices to extract coal.

The protest was part of a nationwide day of action to pressure Citi and Bank of America to divest from coal as part of a larger climate change campaign. (Check out this video from California of a similar event.)

After hearing about it, I rushed over and snapped these photos. The activists had already left; BOA customers and employees tried their best to ignore the huge banner stuck to their ceiling. They weren’t interested in talking to me about it either.

Afterwards, I met up with one of the protesters at the Globe Coffee Lounge. He told me that, if anything, this might pique the interest of a few bank customers so that they look into how Bank of America invests its money. But it also serves to raise the local groups’ profiles. In larger cities throughout the U.S., Earth First! and Rising Tide are noteworthy radical environmental groups, usually doing various protests that end in arrest.

This isn’t their first direct action protest, this USF student said, and it certainly won’t be their last.

Behind this fence is the most expensive hedge in town.

Jim Shanklin, owner of this house on 22nd Avenue North, has paid $550 in fines and nearly $10,000 in legal bills defending his right to grow a 10-foot hedge to keep out bottles and prying eyes from the busy thoroughfare. The city of St. Petersburg has probably spent thousands of dollars forcing Shanklin to cut said hedge down to six feet. (That’s not even counting the fight they had over the sign he hung from the hedge for months protesting codes enforcement.)

City Hall eventually won, but it seems Shanklin has the last laugh. After a judge ruled against him, Shanklin put up a fence shielding the hedge and slapped on a vinyl sheet depicting — yep, you got it — a hedge. He defines it as art, which is not subject to signage rules in the city.

“The actual hedge wasn’t [legal], but I can have a picture of one?” he says. “Come on!”

(Photo courtesy of Jim Shanklin)

Do you miss Beerfest already?

Don’t worry, Tampa Bay, there are more opportunities to swig brew. After all, we are the No. 6 party town in the nation (at least according to Maxim magazine).

Today marks the two-year anniversary of Brandon’s Drinking Liberally, one of the local versions of a national group seeking to foster political discussion over a few brewskies.

Last year, I spent a night with these beer-swilling politicos in the heart of Ronda Storms country. It was a lively night — even Joe Redner showed up during his ill-fated county commission seat run — and organizers tell me the group has grown rapidly since. If it sounds like your type of crowd, grab a few bucks and head down to Old Chicago, 2042 Badlands Drive, around 7 p.m. If you’re late, don’t worry: they’ll be there for a while.

If Brandon is too far for you, St. Petersburg and South Tampa also have chapters. St. Petersburg liberals meet tonight at Limey’s Pub, 1492 4th St. N., around 8:30 p.m. The South Tampa chapter meets the first Thursday of every month (next meeting Nov. 1) at MacDintons Irish Pub, 405 S. Howard Ave., around 7 p.m.

Cheers!