Blurbex

The Times grabbed a hold of the Evander Preston story today, previewing a City Council item that will review the legality of handing out alcohol on city sidewalks and streets.

The media seems to have latched onto the “Woodstock Santa” title that City Councilman Bill Foster gave him in a recent city memo. Foster is fond of affixing the “Woodstock” label to anything homeless (I’ve quoted him calling the homeless “Woodstock wannabes” in the past).

The best part of the article is the comments. Most of the comments on my original story about Preston’s gift-giving came from angry downtowners. But the majority of online Times readers seem to sympathize with Preston.

A small sampling:

“City Council may just be worried about him running for office. He gives the people what they want.”

“A bunch of do-gooders whining and crying because they don’t approve of one man’s gesture of kindness. Way to have the Christmas spirit, you Grinches. I too always try to give out a few beers and stuff to the homeless this time of year.”

“It is probably better that they stand on every corner begging for money so that they can buy their bourbon. I am tempted to buy some myself and give it to them.”

“Sure beats a bowl of thin soup, some stale bread, hollow promises and hope to quell the misery.”

“Foster’s measure would make it illegal for me to walk across the street and hand my neighbor a beer. Butt out Foster. Who are you to decide what is charity and what is not.”

“I hope he won’t forget the crackheads this year, either!”

“Terri’s Law”, anyone? It’s amazing how so called conservatives are always ready to make a new government intrusion to affect the behavior of one person. So much for limited government…”

I’m set to talk with Preston today or tomorrow about all the media attention and I’ll share his comments with readers. In the meantime, check out this Tampa Bay 10 news feature on him.

In a recent issue of CL, I reported on Pass-A-Grille gallery owner Evander Preston and his Christmas tradition of handing out bourbon and cigars to the homeless at Williams Park. As online comments revealed, some downtowners are upset by Preston’s gift-giving. Now the controversy has reached the higher echelons of St. Petersburg’s government.

On the City Council agenda for tomorrow, Bill Foster is expected to ask the city’s Public Safety, Services and Infrastructure Committee to review a possible ordinance that would ban handing out alcohol on city streets or parks.

In a memo sent to Council (see below), Foster calls Preston the “Woodstock Santa” and proposes an ordinance that would prevent future gift giving.

He then rails against Preston:

“Mr. Preston is an affront to every business owner and resident of the downtown area, and should not be a welcomed figure in St. Petersburg.”

The debate over Preston’s actions is also fierce in this week’s Going Postal section. Read those comments here.

And if you haven’t heard the audio from a Los Angeles radio interview done by Preston, check it out here.

I just finished reading “Zoo Story”, the Lowry Park Zoo epic written by St. Petersburg Times reporter Thomas French.

Fascinating stuff.

I read the last two chapters of the series in earnest, because they describe last year’s controversy regarding the death of Enshalla, a tiger, and Herman, a chimp. French’s story provides a little more background on those events and also adds the zoo’s response to criticisms I first aired in my Oct. 25 cover story about the zoo, “Endangered Species.”

If you’re looking for more details about that contentious time in the zoo’s history, check out my story here.

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.”

Those St. Pete homeless advocates are at it again!

Since Sunday evening, Rev. Bruce Wright and Eric Rubin have gathered with other activists and segments of the homeless population protesting St. Pete’s treatment of street people. By setting up camp — literally — outside the Mahaffrey Theater, the activists had hoped to bring national attention to the city’s homeless plight during the CNN/YouTube debates. (The irony being the last time St. Pete’s homeless made national attention, YouTube was also involved.)

Of course, that sort of thing doesn’t play well with Mayor Rick Baker, so city officials confronted the group yesterday afternoon, asking them to leave the Mahaffrey property. The activists are also holding a hunger strike, which may have accounted for some irritable, raised voices when this little powwow occurred. Eventually, the activists agreed to leave their patch of grass in front of the Mahaffrey.

They’re currently across the street.

Anybody who has followed the events of these homeless advocates for the past few years probably could have seen this coming. Wright has a penchant for high-profile confrontations. But I don’t think this protest can be chalked up to a few angry activists looking for media attention. If anything, it’s the city that has raised its rhetoric in recent weeks.

There was Councilman Bill Foster’s comment to a Times reporter: “Those who don’t want to go to the tent city because they are afraid of the system, we will not tolerate them. The red carpet is gone.” There was the city’s refusal to sign an agreement penned by Pinellas Hope’s organizers. And, as I posted earlier, there’s been an increase in passive-aggressive tactics to rid city property of vagrants.

City officials seem to be the ones eager for a confrontation. And after Dec. 1 — when Pinellas Hope tent city opens — there will be one.

It’s your ball, Mayor.

If you read with rapture my Urban Explorer column about the Family Impact Summit last month — where Christian fundamentalists headed workshops like “The Homosexual Agenda” — you might be interested in a more tolerant (and some would say, sane) event celebrating the relationship between religion and gays, lesbians and transgender people.

“Faith and Fairness: A Celebration of Faith and Diversity” is a daylong event sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, Equality Florida and over 40 congregations.

From noon to 9 p.m. participants can expect speakers from various church’s and theology institutes along with workshops that challenge the religious right’s interpretations of the Bible and homosexuality. St. Petersburg’s Trinity United Church of Christ, 1150 49th St. N., hosts the event.

For more information or to register, visit celebrationfd.com or call 727-321-1088

In case you haven’t heard by now, another tent city is coming to Pinellas County.
On a 10-acre tract of land off of 49th Street at 126th Avenue North, next to a UPS warehouse and surrounded by swampy woods, a camp of tents will emerge by Dec. 1.

The tent city (called a “soft shelter” by its proponents) is Pinellas Hope, an audacious Catholic Charities emergency shelter program that will offer shelter, meals, showers and bathrooms to nearly 250 homeless men and women. Catholic Charities donated the land, the Pinellas County Commission kicked in $460,000 and charities donated $500,000 to run the camp from Dec. 1 to April 1, which also happens to be the county’s prime tourist season.

“It’s a first step,” says Sheila Lopez, chief operating officer for Catholic Charities, who contributed the land for Pinellas Hope. “Somebody has got to do something.”

But — as is the case with all homeless issues in the county — not everyone agrees this is the best step to take. Some advocates say the presence of Pinellas Hope could actually harm homeless individuals on the streets.

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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!

Over 1,000 men, women and children living in 483 apartments — where did all those Central Park residents go?

That’s the central questions of last week’s Urban Explorer. Using records obtained from the Tampa Housing Authority, I tracked down a handful of former tenants of the notorious housing project in downtown Tampa to see where they were living now.

The results? The vast majority of Central Park residents are now interspersed throughout the poorest neighborhoods of Tampa, including Sulphur Springs, “Suitcase City” near USF and Ybor City.

Dr. Susan Greenbaum, USF professor of anthropology, is not surprised.

“It wasn’t a very broad pattern of dispersion,” says Greenbaum, who helped organize a graduate project a few years ago to assist the THA in developing a plan for relocating the residents. “It was in the same places that people had been located to in the past.”

Back in the late 90s, Greenbaum studied the earlier public housing relocations of College Hill Homes and Ponce de Leon Courts.

“You can’t cure poverty by moving people around” was her conclusion from that study, she says. “In a lot of ways you make it more difficult for them.”

She notes the loss of “communal ties” and the hidden costs of moving.

“Remember the last time you moved and how much you enjoyed that?” she says. “Multiply that by 400 and suddenly take away all the resources that you had to buy new curtains and cleaning supplies.”

Interestingly, the handful of former Central Park residents I spoke with had few complaints about moving. In their words, any place was better than Central Park Village.

Actual housing may be better, Greenbaum acknowledges, but an improved quality of life is a much harder shift.

“It’s like going from terrible to bad,” she says.

Channelside’s attempt to Save the Arts (a fundraiser for Visual Arts for Students with Disabilities, the Education Channel and Gala Corina) this weekend looks to be a success. Adam Rose, the event’s creator and GM of Channelside IMAX, put the attendance at around 4000 throughout the day and the estimated net (from a Bennigan’s donation and StA T-shirt sales) at $8,000. He also pointed out that several groups approached him to make the event an annual occurrence, and plans are in the works to absorb the film festival of the newly impoverished Ed Channel into the next StA. (Their Independent’s Film Festival, which happened in September, screened at Channelside.)

Michael Mendolusky with dancing baby Olivia and Nikki Ferraro (d’Visitors lead singer) come to see Jay Giroux beautify an old CL box.

The locale, however, was less than ideal. On Saturday night Channelside was the eye of a meat market hurricane — frat boys and hot chicks swirled about as funky models and out-of-place creative types descended on the downtown Tampa nightspot. It was hard to tell if people were there for the arts, or because Channelside was their usual game. Auditorium frontman (and fellow Creative Loafer) Joran Oppelt, a self-proclaimed “jaded, bitter musician,” played late in the evening and couldn’t argue with the good attendance numbers. “At least there were people there,” he said. “[It was] smarter than doing it at a theatre and no one showing up.” But if the bodies aren’t paying attention, is art really being saved?

After watching the fashion show by Aleka Phoenix, Ivanka Ska, and (2007 Best of the Bay’s best designer) Ben Chmura, I literally had to run to Tampa Theatre (well, you know, park then run) to catch the screening of Itty Bitty Titty Committee at the second-to-last night of the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (just renamed the Clip Film Festival, by the way; their new logo will be unveiled early next year). The screening brought out between 700-800 people, mostly women.

Itty Bitty Titty Committee (directed by Jamie Babbit) is the first production of Power Up, a professional organization that promotes the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment, the arts and all forms of media. The film, which proved a good counterpoint to StA’s skinny-thigh-dominated fashion show, follows the CIA (Clits in Action) as they tag L.A. plastic surgery clinics with slogans such as, “Women come in all shapes.” Interesting, since in this Hollywood-produced film most of the leads are as bite-sized as their mainstream counterparts. The character’s MO is “reclaiming public space for women,” even if many of them are vaguely (or completely) unaware of the effects of the societal demands on women’s lives. But it’s the thought that counts … right?

Pass the celery stalks, please.

Interesting fact I found out while reporting this week’s Urban Explorer column: Spending a night in jail can cost some cash. Twenty bucks to be exact.

Several of the released inmates I interviewed for the story told me they paid the jail $20 to be held for the night. Col. David Parrish, who has acted as the commander of the Hillsborough County jail system since 1981, confirmed the jail charges a $20 initial fee when someone is booked and jailed.

Inmates cost money, he says, so several years ago Parrish researched how other jail systems in the country helped fund their operations. He found legislation from Minnesota that authorized jails to charge inmates “per diem” and brought it to the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners. But, fearing inmates’ families would not put money in their accounts for fear of being charged, Parrish suggested they only charge an initial “per diem” fee upon booking.

Last year, jail officials collected $800,000 for the county jail fund. Over the years, several inmates have challenged the fee in court and failed.

So, if you come to jail with $20 in your wallet, jail officials will collect it. If you don’t have it, they’ll take it the next time you stop by. But don’t assume claiming pauper status will keep you out of the slammer.

“If you don’t have it,” Parrish assures, “We still book you.”

Remember Castel Bantuit, that Halloween store that never quite opened in Largo? The one with the huge gargoyles and hearse parked out front that Largo code enforcement officials shut down a day before the grand opening?

Well, owner Helene Urbin recently found a space in Clearwater last month for her numerous horror-iffic items — including caskets, gothic T-shirts and ghoulish costumes — just in time for our spookiest holiday. Urbin says she was never able to resolve all the issues the Largo codes department had with the 15,000-square foot building and began looking for another space to put all of her haunted house props and products.

“They just wouldn’t let us in,” says Urbin. “They were hitting us with bogus fines.”

So, instead of watching another Halloween come and go, Urbin leased space on Gulf To Bay Boulevard and Highland Road.

“All the stuff I was going to put in Castel, I’m putting in here,” she says about the smaller shop.

No word yet on where she’ll fit those huge gargoyles.

Three crimes this week in St. Pete recall themes from last week’s CL story “Damage Control;” namely, a rising murder rate, declining numbers of police officers and frustrated residents who are relying on weapons instead of the police to protect themselves.

The first crime happened over the weekend. Miguel Bell was found dead in an alley off 21st Street South. Police say he had been shot multiple times. That makes Miguel the 23rd person murdered in St. Petersburg so far this year.

Then Tuesday evening, Derrick Pittis averted a home invasion when he shot an armed man who broke into his garage. The Times reports that Pittis recently bought his handgun after two people were killed during home invasions.

That same night, a man fleeing police sped the wrong way down I-275 and struck an oncoming car, killing a passenger and injuring three others.

According to the police reports, 32-year-old Charles Hicks first attempted to ram two police cruisers with his 1996 Ford Escort. When officers followed the Escort, Hicks drove the wrong way onto an I-275 exit ramp. Per department policy, officers did not pursue him as he sped the wrong way down the interstate. By the time police (traveling the right way on the interstate) caught up with the Escort, Hicks had already collided with another car.

Neighborhood activists will no doubt point to these three incidents as proof that St. Pete has a crime problem (Check out this week’s Influencer feature for Karl Nurse’s take on St. Pete crime). One of the main factors, they say, is the amount of officers leaving the department. Police union officials have told me some officers are leaving because of restrictive policies that they say prevent them from fighting crime. Policies like the department’s no-chase rules that prevented officers from aggressively pursuing last night’s reckless driver.

I’m guessing several cops are none too happy about that.

Channel 10 personality Holley Sinn interviews Ms. Loafie 2007 Ashle Smith and Loafie host Tim Wilkins as CL Senior Editor Eric Snider looks on, Cuban bread in hand. Photo by: Larry Biddle.

If you didn’t make it to this week’s 2007 Best of The Bay award show (aka The Loafies), you missed something special. A crowd of hundreds rocked the Tampa Theatre on Monday night, boisterously celebrating what Creative Loafing’s readers deemed the best in People & Politics, Food & Drink, Urban Exploring, Goods & Services and Arts & Entertainment. Along with pictures from the event, a complete list of Readers’ Poll winners is in this week’s Loaf, which is hitting paper boxes today.

If you can’t get to a paper box, or you’re just dying to know who did all the winning, click the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for the complete list of Readers’ Poll champions. (You can also click here for a complete list of our critics and staff picks.)

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No, it’s not one of the awards we’ll be giving out tonight at the inaugural Best of the Bay awards show, but maybe we should of.

I just talked to Petra Gearhart — the woman who almost single-handedly saved nearly 100 cats from a South Tampa trailer park slated for demolition — and she has turned her personal cat-trapping pastime into full-time employment.

Gearhart is now the feral cat coordinator for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — the first position of its kind in the country, according to the ASPCA. She works as part of Operation Orange, the ASPCA’s newest campaign to “create a country of humane communities, one community at a time, where animals receive the compassion and respect due to them as sentient beings, and where there is no more unnecessary euthanasia of adoptable animals simply because of a lack of resources or awareness.” The project seeks to bring different organizations together to educate and prevent animal overpopulation.

Read about one of Gearhart’s latest successful feral cat projects here.

Here’s two tails up and a hairball to you, Petra.