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More officers, plenty of beer will be at Gasparilla

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE and JOSH POLTILOVE

cwade@tampatrib.com jpoltilove@tampatrib.com

Published: November 6, 2009

TAMPA - City officials trying to balance community needs with safety at the annual Gasparilla Parade have come up with these compromises:

•50 more officers will patrol the neighborhoods off Bayshore Boulevard during the Jan. 30 event;

•Beer tents will not be banned.
Tampa police said Thursday the added officers will patrol neighborhoods that previously have had problems with fighting and underage drinking during Gasparilla, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

Also, Mayor Pam Iorio will provide a recorded message to University of Tampa and high school students warning that underage drinking at Gasparilla won't be tolerated, McElroy said.

Besieged by calls and e-mails from angry residents about drunken partygoers, fighting and urinating in the streets after this year's event, Councilman John Dingfelder had asked the city to look into the possibility of banning beer tents from the west river side of the parade.

That brought out concerned representatives of several local charities to Thursday's city council meeting, ready to plead their case against banning beer tents.

Representatives told the council that they depend on the beer sale proceeds, and the money goes toward helping some of the city's most vulnerable residents.

"I don't think anyone can contest the idea of making Gasparilla more family friendly," said Luis Viera of the Hillsborough Achievement and Resource Centers. "But going after charities that are in dire need, especially in this economy, would be misguided."

As it turns out, there was no such proposal on the table, and Dingfelder has backed away from pursuing it after learning that Iorio, not the council, has control over wet-zoning permits for the tents.

Dingfelder also withdrew a request to send letters from the city council to the owners of local grocery, liquor and convenience stores asking them to voluntarily cut down on alcohol sales during the adult parade, which attracted more than 300,000 revelers to downtown Tampa this year.

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