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Protest set for prime time

Advocates for the homeless plan a ''sleep-in'' at the site of the televised GOP debate.

By JACOB H. FRIES, Times Staff Writer
Published November 24, 2007

Rev. Bruce Wright (left) listens to Kathy Hines who is the overseer of the homeless encampment along 18th Street North in St. Petersburg. Hines is known as "Mom" in the homeless community.
	[Martha Rial | Times]

ST. PETERSBURG - It has the makings of a public relations nightmare: CNN, big-name politicians - and more than 100 homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks outside the Mahaffey Theater, the site of Wednesday's GOP presidential debate.

With the national media coming to town, advocates for the city's homeless announced on Friday their plans for four days of protest, including a "sleep-in" and hunger strike.

While organizers said they would act peacefully and within the law, the specter of a confrontation with police looms, recalling the incident in January when officers slashed the tents of homeless people. Advocates said that with a spotlight on St. Petersburg, they have the advantage. The city, they believe, can't risk another black eye.

"I'm sure Mayor Baker doesn't want another embarrassment, but the possibility of embarrassment falls on him, not us," said the Rev. Bruce Wright, an advocate for the homeless who is organizing the protests. "It's really hard to say what their response is going to be. I would hope that they would adhere to protecting the constitutional right of dissent, of protest, of free speech."

Several phone calls to Rick Baker's cell phone went unanswered on Friday.

Bill Proffitt, a police spokesman, said he had heard of the protest but did not know what exactly was planned. He said he did not anticipate any problems, saying the department routinely staffs large events and expected several other groups of protesters.

"We don't know what they're going to do until we get there," Proffitt said. "We have a plan to secure the area around the Mahaffey, and we're going to do that. If they are inside the perimeter, we are going to ask them to leave. ... If they are outside the perimeter, they can protest, as long as they do it lawfully and peacefully."

The protest is to begin on Sunday evening with the homeless and their supporters gathering for a meal and interfaith service outside the theater at 400 First St. S in downtown. Wright and a small group will start their hunger strike, he said. Then on Wednesday, timed to the debate, they plan a "lively rally."

Wright said the group will sleep on the sidewalks but won't block them, which is prohibited. Part of the reason they're protesting, he added, is to raise concerns about the government-sanctioned tent city that is scheduled to open next weekend at 49th Street and 126th Avenue.

Wright and other advocates say the location, the center of the county rather than St. Petersburg, seems like an effort to make the homeless invisible. They also worry that when Pinellas Hope opens, the city will begin enforcing an ordinance passed in March that bars sleeping on any right of way if shelter space is available.

St. Petersburg council member Bill Foster said that ordinance will be strictly enforced once the tent city opens.

"Those who don't want to go to the tent city because they are afraid of the system, we will not tolerate them," Foster told the Times earlier this month. "The red carpet is gone."

Proffitt said he didn't know what the Police Department planned to do when Pinellas Hope opened.

"That's the $64,000 question," he said. "I imagine we're going to nail that down next week."

[Last modified November 24, 2007, 08:01:49]