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St. Pete And Tampa Homeless Are A Matter Of Opinion

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2007

TAMPA - The tale of two Tampa Bay area cities and how they treat the homeless illustrates how hospitality seems to run in cycles.

Just 11 months ago, St. Petersburg was vilified after police tore through a campsite established by homeless people. Officers used box cutters to destroy tents and cardboard shelters.

The city has turned things around.

In Pinellas County, there now is hope. Specifically, Pinellas Hope, a tent city set up on a 10-acre tract that opened up this weekend. The campsite will accommodate 250 of the city's 2,500 homeless this winter. The project costing about $1 million offers free shelter, meals, showers and a chance for the homeless to build productive lives.

Now, across the Bay, Tampa is looking a bit like Scrooge..

With more than 1,000 shelter beds available, Tampa has had a reputation of being homeless-friendly, with numerous charitable organizations that feed and house the needy. The atmosphere was highlighted 18 months ago when a historical downtown Catholic church offered its front steps and small lawn as a safe haven for a handful of homeless at night.

The church has given the snoozing, sometimes boozing, street people the boot, saying too many of them have shoehorned themselves into the property, caused disturbances, boozed it up and left new messes every morning.

The people banned from the steps of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, at Twiggs Street and Florida Avenue, now are scattered throughout nearby alleys, behind buildings and under bridges.

Nevertheless, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio thinks her city's treatment of the less fortunate is commendable.

"We have some wonderful social service agencies," she said. "Metropolitan Ministries and the Salvation Army and other smaller organizations, along with those of us in public office, all try to set a tone of caring and compassion."

Taking care of the homeless is a combined effort, she said. There's no model in any community in the nation that is a template of how it should be done.

"In the absence of a holistic approach to those who are homeless," she said, "we all fall short."

The Sacred Heart situation was unfortunate, but the church considered it a safety issue, she said. ""It had the right to do that," she said. "It is their property."

Some 9,500 homeless people call Hillsborough County home, but there are only enough beds for about 15 percent of them, said Lesa Weikel, community relations manager for the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County.

There are 1,500 shelter beds available, she said.

"The rest are either on the street or doubled up with friends or families," she said. "Some who can afford it are in hotels."

Shelters are run by the Salvation Army, Metropolitan Ministries and other organizations.

She said that contrary to popular belief, the number of homeless does not swell in the winter but stays pretty constant year-round. And a recent survey of the homeless found that most are from the Bay area.

"The trend in general is that local government is doing more and more to restrict homeless people. They make it illegal to sleep on sidewalk or say they can't sleep in a park. They make it illegal to do a lot of things that are life-sustaining.

Enter charitable organizations or churches such a Sacred Heart, which opened up its front steps and lawn.

"We had always wished they would have opened up their doors," Weikel said. She understands why the homeless were given the heave-ho, though.

"Whenever you have a lot of people congregating in a small area, frustrations and tensions rise," she said. "I don't know what's more frustrating than being homeless."

The city didn't ask Sacred Heart to ban the homeless. The people who were the first to use the church's steps made the complaint.

Across the Bay, St. Petersburg's public tussle with the homeless began in January when police raided the homeless camp in a downtown park, cutting up the tents and cardboard shelters. The city also passed an ordinance that criminalized sleeping on the street when there are beds available.

St. Petersburg spokeswoman Beth Herendeen said the city has worked long and hard to erase the stinging public opinion formed by the January raid.

"I would hope that the city is compassionate and wants to help those who want help," she said. "Not just the city leaders but the city in general the residents, businesspeople, the city as a whole.

"But a lot of people are less tolerant of those who don't want the help," she said. "We want to offer services for those who want to improve their lot, but it's a two-way street. We want to respect those folks and want, in return, respect from them."

Last month, a confrontation brewed near Mahaffey Theater when a group of homeless people refused to move a campsite they erected to catch some of the glare of a national spotlight on a Republican presidential debate being held there.

At the same time, Catholic Charities of St. Petersburg opened Pinellas Hope, a 10-acre site for the homeless that has helped salvaged the city's image. Pinellas Hope opened on Saturday.

It is a $1 million project funded by Pinellas County, St. Petersburg and retired businessman Harry Stonecipher and administered by Catholic Charities. The land, in an industrial area, belongs to the Catholic diocese.

Catholic Charities President Frank Murphy said it took a public relations nightmare to turn things around.

"Pinellas did draw public attention to it; that's a fact," he said. "I think there was a lot of built-up frustration back in January."

Pinellas Hope can accommodate 250 homeless people, he said. There are an estimated 2,500 in St. Petersburg, with 7,000 in Pinellas County. There are enough shelter beds for all but about 1,200.

He said Pinellas Hope "is not going to solve the problem, but we are doing something, though."

That may be enough for the court of public opinion that and the fact that police have not cracked down on the homeless sleeping on the streets.

Neither side of the Bay is winning the public relations battle, he said.

"We're all losing,' Murphy said. "This problem is not going to go away."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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