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Tarpon police asked to control troublesome panhandlers

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: October 24, 2009

TARPON SPRINGS - Panhandlers have been growing increasingly aggressive and menacing downtown and in other commercial areas of the city.

Now, however, they are spreading into residential neighborhoods, former Mayor Anita Protos warned during Tuesday night's City Commission meeting.

Protos said she and other people constantly are being approached at local shopping plazas by vagrants asking for money. Often, those requests sound more like demands, she said.

In addition, Protos said she had seen homeless people using Mother Meres Park, in the heart of downtown, as an outdoor restroom during early morning hours.

Something has to be done to control the problem, which seems to be getting worse, Protos said.

The city's panhandling problem may not be totally homegrown. Protos told commissioners she recently saw a truck sporting a Pasco County license plate drop people in residential neighborhoods so they could solicit for the homeless.

Commissioner Susan Slattery said she shared Protos' concerns. Commissioner Chris Alahouzos said he has received complaints from downtown shopkeepers about homeless people sleeping behind businesses and urinating behind shops.

Acting Police Chief Robert Kochen said police do what they can to stop trespassers and arrest the disorderly. Police, however, cannot tackle the problem of homeless people creating a public nuisance on their own, Kochen said. There has to be a concerted community effort to address the issue, he said.

Nonprofit organizations in the city, he noted, offer services for the homeless not offered elsewhere in North Pinellas or West Pasco.

Police issue trespass warnings to troublemakers and make numerous arrests, Kochen said, but officers have to be careful not to tread on a person's constitutional rights. One individual has been issued 14 citations but returns to Tarpon Springs each time he is released from the county jail.

Another homeless person could live with his mother but chooses to stay on the street, Kochen said.

He said he will review portions of a St. Petersburg anti-panhandling ordinance that seem to be able to withstand a court challenge and make suggestions to the city manager and commission on whether to enacted a similar law here.

Commissioner Robin Saenger, vice president of the Homeless Leadership Network, said growing homelessness is a problem unique to Tarpon Springs. Troublesome panhandlers are a minority among the homeless, she said.

Saenger said she will give the city a pamphlet it can copy and distribute. The booklet explains it is better to donate to agencies that serve the homeless rather than give a panhandler money.

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