For the last two months, Tampa has been enforcing an ordinance that bans panhandlers, but permits newspaper vendors. And for the last month the category of vendors has been broadened to include former panhandlers hawking Tampa Epoch. It might as well be the Tampa Loophole.
First Amendment notwithstanding, I don’t get it. As we know, it’s been determined that transactions–from firefighters with boots to beggars with signs–are not safe to conduct at busy intersections with lights that regularly go from red to green. While many motorists don’t like being hustled and others just don’t like the way it looks, the overriding reason has been public safety. Ask Police Chief Jane Castor, who knows a thing or two about the subject.
But somehow safety is a non-issue when it comes to hawking newspapers?