FLORIDA
WEST COAST
Opinion by:
E. Eugene Webb PhD
For some insight check out this FOX 13 News piece by Dan Matics: ‘We are exhausted’: St. Pete bars, restaurants against mayor's two strikes and you’re out proposal.
Mayor Kriseman
told Fox News he is asking City Council to change things from fines to pulling
the establishment's ability to operate after midnight if a business or bar has two
violations.
10
Tampa Bay Hews Author: Candice Aviles: St Petersburg city council votes no on 'two strikes' and
you’re out proposal
St
Pete Catalyst by Margie Manning: City Council nixes effort to crack down on Covid code
violations
From
the Catalyst article “Council members Foster and Lisa Wheeler-Bowman cast the
only two votes for the plan, while Council members Montanari, Blackmon, Gina
Driscoll, Darden Rice and Brandi Gabbard voted against it. Council member
Deborah Figgs-Sanders was absent.”
How
much of a role did politics play?
From
the St. Pete Campaign Finance Portal
Running
for Re-election:
Brandi Gabbard
Gina Dirscoll
Thinking
About Running for St. Pete Mayor:
Ed Montanari
Robert Blackman
Running
for St. Pete Mayor:
Darden Rice
In addition, the bar business in general is a
good friend at campaign time to the politicians who lean their way.
Mayor Kriseman’s
plan was loaded with potential legal issues that could have found the city
caught up in a continuing stream of legal battles with the bar and hospitality people.
Not a
good way to invest your time or resources given everything else that is going
on.
You do
have to give the Mayor some high marks for stepping into the breach of an argument
like this and taking an aggressive stand.
One
can only hope that the bar businesses in Saint Pete will get the message and
act responsibly.
But
then hope rarely springs eternal.
E-mail
Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (E. Eugene Webb) Friend
request. Like or share on Facebook and follow me on TWITTER @DOC ON THE
BAY.
See
Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos.
Disclosures:
No comments:
Post a Comment