The Tampa City Council has yet to act on a proposal to close Ybor City businesses at 1 a.m. for six months.
The council did not take action on the proposal, suggested by Council Member Gwen Henderson, during their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
The proposal comes in the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting that left two people dead and 16 others hurt. Loved ones and gun safety advocates held a vigil for the victims — 14-year-old Elijah Wilson and 20-year-old Harrison Boonstoppel — on Wednesday.
Several people at the meeting spoke out against the proposal during a public comment period. Some of them said the plan would not address the root cause of the violence.
“If you really want to solve the problem, what you would do is add money into the budget so we can stop band-aiding these issues and get down to the real issue,” one speaker said, criticizing the council for not investing in communities to combat poverty.
Johnny Johnson, vice president of Rise Up for Peace, lost his son to gun violence in 2017. He told the council they must find another way to solve this issue.
“This is always a kneejerk reaction when we have gun violence and shootings, something that’s been ongoing. The solution to close the businesses early is not going to resolve the problem. Again, I stand here as a victim of gun violence,” Johnson said.
'A senseless act of violence'
Jamaris Glenn, co-owner of the restaurant and lounge 7th + Grove, said the police, educational system, and community failed Elijah Wilson.
“To see that these other businesses are being affected because of this, it was senseless, it was a senseless act of violence, and because of our own failures is just absolutely not OK,” Glenn said.
He also said closing at 1 a.m. would directly affect his business and employees.
“To inflict an abatement or a curfew or whatever you want to call it is basically destroying their dreams because I would have to lay them off," Glenn said. "I would have to lay off my dishwashers. We hire felons, single mothers, we hire people who are transgender, we hire the unhoused, and putting those curfews is a big strike to our labor because we’ve already suffered enough.”
Several Ybor City business owners agreed the closure would hurt staff.
“So we’re not trying to solve any problems by doing things like this, all you’re doing is hurting the livelihood of business owners as well as a lot of the bartenders and managers that work there,” said Rick Kowalczyk, owner of the LGBTQ venue Southern Nights TAMPA.
Later in the meeting, Henderson reflected on the community’s response to her proposal.
“What’s important is, especially today, in light of what’s happened, is the dialogue. Had I not proposed it, I don’t know if we would have seen all the citizens that care about Ybor City that have proven their resiliency, what they care about in terms of the economic vibrancy of Ybor City and it continuing, people keeping their jobs and feeling safe,” she said.
Council Member Guido Maniscalco also shared his thoughts about closing businesses early.
“I’ve heard from both sides, I don’t agree with that. Why punish the business owners?” he said.
A call for a juvenile curfew
Henderson’s proposal is not the only one on the table. Andrea Zelman, Tampa’s city attorney, said she prepared a proposed ordinance for the council that calls for a juvenile curfew.
“Obviously it’s not going to solve every problem. But it’s something easy that the city can do, and I think again, as several people have discussed, in this particular instance, there was a 14-year-old that was involved and was ultimately killed,” Zelman told the council Thursday.
She also said proposals like closing businesses early and changing alcohol and beverage permit hours would take more time, especially when considering legal and property rights.
After a lunch break, council members spoke with Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw about the shooting and the proposals presented. Bercaw said the investigation into the shooting is still ongoing, and he still believes there are two additional suspects who fired shots on Sunday. He said the department is receiving lots of videos about the shooting from the public, via a tips website they created in partnership with the FBI.
Bercaw also weighed in on safety measures in Ybor, such as whether East Seventh Avenue should be closed off.
“I’m a huge proponent of that road being staying open as late as possible,” he said, referencing the wave of people who come out of clubs once they close.
“So we have to have a place available for them to come out so they’re not walking out into traffic.”
Council members asked Bercaw to keep them updated on ongoing conversations with the community on promoting safety in Ybor.
