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St. Petersburg experiences a run on rickshaw services
By LEONORA LaPETER
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- Suddenly, everybody wants to be a rickshaw operator. The city has had not one, but two requests in recent months to operate rickshaws downtown. Christine Emmerson, a 44-year-old with four kids and part-time jobs as a janitorial supply company bookkeeper and purveyor of corn dogs, is poised to receive approval from the City Council today to run 10 human-powered rickshaws downtown as early as two weeks from now. Her competition is a 21-year-old college student from Tampa, who has three bike-powered rickshaws or "pedicabs" running in Ybor City and wants to operate three more in St. Petersburg. Christopher Giunta, a senior majoring in business management, is out of luck for now because, remarkably, the city's code anticipates this situation and calls for only one "festive tour vehicle business" in the area. Emmerson, doing business as Hong Cong Taxi, applied for the license to operate downtown first. "I definitely want to fight to get in there," said Giunta, whose Ybor City Peddlers Co. is patterned after a vegetable peddling business his grandfather ran in Ybor decades ago. "When they only allow one business to do something like that, it's basically setting up a monopoly for that person. I want to encourage the other rickshaw company, but I think it's unfair for anyone else who'd like to try. I think two businesses can survive there, too." Julie Weston, the city's development services director, said the City Council can change the code to allow for more than one business if it wants. She said the city wants to see how Emmerson's business goes before addressing Giunta's request. Emmerson and her husband, Jeff, 41, a Tradewinds Island Resorts purchasing manager, were looking to rent space for a catering business from a local man when he offered to sell them his stainless steel rickshaws for $1,500 a piece. He had planned to start his own business but changed his mind. They've arranged to store the rickshaws at the Florida International Museum for a fee. They secured insurance and started collecting names of people to run the rickshaws for tips of between $3 and $5 a ride. The Emmersons, who one day hope to work for themselves, will make their money by selling advertising on the sides of the rickshaws. The City Council is likely to approve the rickshaw business without discussion today.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
