Neighborhood notebook

By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 4, 2002

Pizza vendor to go to trial

YBOR CITY -- Pizza Man is headed for trial.

Asres "Oscar" Gesses, arrested twice by Tampa police for selling pizza too late at night, is scheduled for a nonjury trial Oct. 29.

Gesses sells pizza from a window in the Italian Club building on Seventh Avenue. In August, he was arrested on two successive weekends for selling pizza past 3 a.m.

Because the club is zoned for liquor, nothing can be sold from its premises past 3 a.m. City officials say the law applies to Gesses because he rents space from the club.

Gesses, who is a native of Ethiopia, spent a night in jail Sept. 13 for failing to make his first court appearance Sept. 9. He said he couldn't read the date on his copy of the arrest notice.

Developers propose townhome project

PORT TAMPA -- Yet another housing development may be cropping up on the southwest end of the peninsula. Developers are seeking to build 36 townhomes on 1.8 acres on Prescott Street, just east of West Shore Boulevard.

The land is zoned commercial and being leased to a trucking company.

A zoning change request is set to be heard by the City Council on Oct. 10.

The developers made a presentation to the Port Tampa Civic Association last week. Residents raised concerns about stormwater control and tree removal.

Three other major residential projects are in the works nearby.

City Times: The rest of the stories