Protests rise over Super Bowl plan to limit sales near stadium

By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 14, 2000

TAMPA -- Protesters are expected to converge on City Hall this morning to voice complaints about a proposed Super Bowl "Clean Zone" that limits where merchants can operate around Raymond James Stadium.

The zone, which the City Council could approve today, would ban inflatable ad ballons, steamers and open-air cooking around Raymond James Stadium from Jan. 17-29, and would require vendors to operate out of stores or set up shop in approved white tents.

The zone would stretch from Lois Avenue east to Glen Avenue, and from Hillsborough Avenue south to Palmetto Avenue, and would include the Tampa Bay Center mall and Tampa Bay Office Park. The ordinance is meant to protect official NFL vendors from unlicensed competition, and to prevent "ambush marketing" from targeting the throngs of visitors in town for Super Bowl XXXV.

Mauricio Rosas, a community activist who will present more than 300 protest signatures to the council this morning, is upset about a designated free-speech area in the zone that will be set aside at Columbus Drive and Himes Avenue. He thinks it's too small, especially considering the political passions in the air of late.

Tampa Sports Authority Chairman David Mechanik, who helped draft the ordinance as a member of the Tampa Super Bowl Task Force, said the free-speech area was an accommodation for activists. "People don't have a right to speak on every area of public property, just as you can't decide to go into the mayor's office and protest the election," he said.

He added: "Part of the purpose of the regulation is to maintain some order and control. There are going to be literally thousands and thousands of pedestrians going through that area than you'd normally see in a game."

Alice Hernandez, 80, who lives within blocks of the stadium on Braddock Street, said she planned to rent out her yard to a man selling T-shirts and other items during Super Bowl week, but feared that the "Clean Zone" would prevent that. "I don't think it's fair to anybody," she said.

Council member Charlie Miranda said current zoning laws already forbid people in residential areas from carrying on business in their front yards.

Strip club kingpin Joe Redner, who will join the protesters, called the zone "a terrible abuse of power to make the rich richer." He thinks the ordinance will unfairly punish entrepreneurship and diminish the freewheeling ambiance surrounding the Super Bowl. "That's what people go for! It's the carnival-like atmosphere," he said.

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