2 days ago
St. Petersburg explores program to make downtown cleaner, safer
The St. Petersburg City Council discussed ways to make downtown cleaner and safer Thursday after residents, business owners and employees pleaded last week for help following the fatal stabbing by a restaurant owner of a man who police said attacked him.
City and downtown officials pitched a program to clean sidewalks and remove graffiti, pay safety ambassadors to collaborate with local police and build relationships with people living on the street to better connect them with mental health and housing resources.
'I know there's a speculation that somehow this is an anti-homeless initiative, but it absolutely is not,' said Jason Mathis, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, a private nonprofit company that supports urban redevelopment projects. 'Your housing status doesn't make it that you want a less clean or more clean downtown.'
The so-called Clean & Safe Program is not intended to discourage homeless people from being downtown, but instead help them find resources and housing options, Mathis said.
Mathis proposed a pilot project focused on high traffic areas such as downtown, Beach Drive, Central Avenue and Williams Park. It would include creating a commercial improvement district, in which businesses would pay a franchise fee to the city that would be passed along to a nonprofit to run the program. Mathis said the downtown partnership would not compete for the job.
If businesses aren't on board with how to pay for the effort, Mathis said the program could also be funded through parking revenue, private donations or using Community Redevelopment Area funds if the county agrees. City Administrator Rob Gerdes said parking meters could be expanded to the Edge District.
Multiple residents, business owners and employees described problems with cleanliness and safety in the downtown area at last week's council meeting. Some residents said they were harassed or threatened while working or walking around downtown.
'We see it everyday — individuals living on the streets or in temporary hotel housing exhibiting behaviors that represent deep, unmet needs," Karen Carmichael, the Downtown Neighborhood Association's president, said at the June 5 meeting. 'This is no longer a housing issue, it's a public safety issue.'
The address of the man who was stabbed and killed last month is listed as a room in the Williams Park Hotel on First Avenue North, according to a police report from a separate incident on the same day.
In March, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a ban on homeless people sleeping in public spaces. This includes park benches, sidewalks and streets. The law also lets business owners and residents sue counties or municipalities for failing to comply.
Residents at the June 5 meeting expressed concern with the city's enforcement the new law, as well as concerns with the city's compliance. Residents also circulated a petition, now with more than 400 signatures, in support of the Clean & Safe proposal.
Other residents at Thursday's general City Council meeting at 1 p.m. expressed concerns that the Clean & Safe program would exclude or criminalize people who are homeless from the St. Petersburg community.
At a Thursday morning committee meeting, council member Brandi Gabbard said the proposed program should primarily focus on connecting homeless populations with available resources.
'The cry for us to do more is really to help individuals who need help and cannot get those services,' Gabbard said. 'If we're not actually helping individuals and creating this in a way that it has [an] outspread to the entire city and a benefit, then I don't even want to continue this conversion.'
Council members also discussed how the program would work with the existing CALL program, where social workers respond to mental health crises or homelessness complaints. The St. Petersburg Police Department also has a unit to assist the homeless in its patrol response division.
Council member Richie Floyd said there's still 'a lot to shore up' with the Clean & Safe proposal.
'So many times I see what the issue with homeless people and transient populations are is that they just get shuffled around the city,' he said. 'We can't make this an effort to do that regardless of who's in charge of the outreach and we have to think at a higher level.'
The council agreed Thursday to hold another meeting to further discuss the topic.
