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St. Pete Homeless Clearing Away Possessions

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By CARLOS MONCADA | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Homeless people had until noon today to voluntarily remove their personal belonging from sidewalks and public rights of way downtown.

For the most part they have already done so, heading off a potential confrontation with the city.

"In most cases, the items and materials have been removed,'' said St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor David Metz, who was not expecting any immediate enforcement action.

An ordinance the city council passed Jan. 25 prohibits people from keeping their personal items outdoors on public and private property, including outside city hall, where piles of sleeping bags, bicycles and other belongings were being kept for weeks.

On Friday, code enforcement officers posted notices there and at another location giving homeless people until noon today to remove their items before the city would put them in storage.

"We're in a position where we could enforce that today, or anytime in the next day or so,'' Metz said.

By late this morning, most of the piles outside city hall had disappeared, but an advocate for the homeless said they may reappear later today.

"In most cases they've been moved to storage,'' the Rev. Bruce Wright said." Or those who are able to carry them just carry them into the park during the day and then at night go back to the sidewalks.''

Wright said some police officers have erroneously tried to enforce another ordinance at Williams Park downtown that bans sleeping, lying or reclining in public areas during the day.

"To say you can't lie on a blanket in a park - I mean, everybody does that,'' Wright said. "So there's some confusion about some of that.''

Metz said he had not heard of police enforcing the no-sleeping ban but agreed it did not apply to parks.

"It's only really the right of way, including the sidewalk area,'' he said.

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at cmoncada@tampatrib.com or (727) 451-2333.

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