Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Apparently, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker was not initially aware of the Police solution to the homeless problem in the city.  In his own words from the St. Pete Times:

“I did not know that the operation had occurred until it occurred,” Baker said Monday. “I was aware that the fire marshal had identified a very grave concern. I did not know the specifics to the solution.”

Hmmm. Okay. I’ll buy that for now.  More from the St. Pete Times:

The decision to raid the camps and cut tents was made during a meeting Friday of top city officials. Police Chief Chuck Harmon, Deputy Mayor David Metz, Maj. Melanie Bevan of the Police Department, Lt. Rick Feinberg of the Fire Department and several others gathered to discuss how to deal with the fire hazards they had seen at the homeless camps.

Right. So a good chunk of top city officials made the decision, and Mr. Baker still remained unaware. Still more from the Times:

Harmon said the officials didn’t want to arrest anyone or create a major confrontation. Then Bevan suggested just cutting the tents if someone protested by refusing to leave, and others agreed, Harmon said.

But Harmon said no one in the group talked about the fact that they were seizing or destroying private property. (emphasis mine)

So, not only are we left with the distinct impression that St. Petersburg city officials might be walking the fine line between incompetence and stupidity, but it is clearly pointed out to us that not a single one of them even considered private property issues.  And by issues, I mean rights. You know, those pesky things that get in the way of government, private industry and folks who are “forced” to buy something off a homeless person at an exorbitant rate. 

It is truly sad when people are treated as second class citizens simply because life was less than kind to them.  What does it say about our society that we can go ahead and cut down the tents of the homeless, but we’re incapable of stopping at red lights?  That you can be accused of being a sandbagger for providing the police with information about an accident?  Are we that concerned with ourselves that we are blinded to the plight of others? And Rick Baker. What does he think about police and fire officials recent actions regarding the homeless? From the St. Pete Times, again:

I’m not going to talk about that.

I for one will be interested to see the consequences of these actions, if there ever are any. If this doesn’t shake the confidence of local residents, I don’t know what will. An SUV tax? Just plain awful.