Institutional Group
I have heard that the City Attorneyis directing code to comply the case against the illegal boarding house at 1303 E. New Orleans Avenue because Code is only finding 5 people there. I find the 5 people rule interesting.
From City of Tampa Ordinances:"Family: Any number of people related by blood, marriage or adoption or not more than five (5) unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit, using a single facility in a dwelling unit for culinary purposes. The term "family" shall not be construed to include a fraternity or sorority, club, roominghouse, institutional group or the like. "
I would think that since the 1303 could be categorized as an institutional group. 1. The non-profit group Clifford Hill Community Outreach Center Inc. is based at that address. 2. They were licensed by the state first as an ALF at that site (Agency for Health Care Administration), then as as Rooming House (Department of Business Regulation -DBPR) and now as Transient Apartments (Also by DPBR) 3. An online search reveals that they offer shelter services among other services.
For these reasons they should not be in compliance.
Other Tampa Ordinances:
"Dwelling unit: A room or group of rooms forming a single independent habitable unit used for or intended to be used for living, sleeping, sanitation, cooking and eating purposes by one (1) family only; for owner occupancy or for rental, lease or other occupancy on a weekly or longer basis; and containing independent kitchen, sanitary and sleeping facilities.
Roominghouse: A building or group of buildings containing in combination three (3) to nine (9) lodging units intended primarily for rental or lease for periods of longer than one (1) week, with or without board.
Lodging unit: A room or group of rooms forming a separate habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping purposes by one (1) family only, without independent kitchen facilities; or a separate habitable unit, with or without independent kitchen facilities, occupied or intended to be occupied by transients on a rental or lease basis for periods of less than one (1) week
Household means a person or group of persons living together in a room or group of rooms as a housing unit, but the term does not include persons boarding in or renting a portion of the dwelling."
F.S. 509.242 Public lodging establishments; classifications.--
(e) Transient apartment.--A transient apartment is any apartment building in which units are advertised or held out to the public as available for transient occupancy.
(f) Roominghouse.--A roominghouse is any public lodging establishment that may not be classified as a hotel, motel, resort condominium, nontransient apartment, bed and breakfast inn, or transient apartment under this section. A roominghouse includes, but is not limited to, a boardinghouse.
509.013
(11) "2006->Ch0509->Section%20013#0509.013">Transient establishment" means any public lodging establishment that is rented or leased to guests by an operator whose intention is that such guests' occupancy will be temporary.
Side note. I heard they bought a house somewhere and the residents in the church are going to be moved there.
21 comments:
Everyone is SESH is in agreement on this one.
It IS a roominghouse.
I guess the city wants to make a statement and tell us to go shove it up our rears.
Once again, this issue will be left up to the citizens of Seminole Heights. If I remember correctly from previous experience, There is something in the code that stipulates when each individual "tenant" pays their rent separately, it is classified as a rooming or boarding house. This home is clearly illegal as it is a boarding house.
I am still waiting for someone on the taxpayers salary role to step forward and do something to help this neighborhood. I can't help but to agree with the blog master and many several prior posters. FIRE CURTIS LANE! The longer this case drags on, the more I am beginning to agree with the other phrase "IMPEACH IORIO!"
Do you think for one minute, that the city would tolerate this home any other neighborhood. I have decided they are tolerating it here because they are afraid of the tenants scattering through the city.
Breaking news in Tampa Bay!!
Sexual offenders residence mysteriously burns down sunday night !!!
jk,Cmon I was JUST KIDDING.
Houses "mysteriously" burn down everywhere!!!
Why not here too?
If that happened to 1303, can you imagine the investigation process?
Everyone within a 5 mile radius would be suspect!
As someone who has been passionately working on this for some time I feel I have some insight which might be helpful. This is a messy situation, long overdue for correction. However, one of the issues is that it is unclear exactly what the rules are and who should enforce them. I am NOT siding with the city or more importantly with code, as it is my opinion that we should have arrived at the place we are now, YEARS AGO! However, there are things to be sorted out. When you have a situation that has been going a certain way for year and years, once the flaws are discovered it takes some time to fix them and install a system that works. It will not be Seminole Heights that single handedly fixes this. It will be Seminole Height that continues to work with the other involved parties. TPD, DOC, Code, Zoning among these others. Quick fixes will do no good. As we saw in court, every thing we feel we know, will be challenged. Only enforceable rules and provable facts will make any difference. This is a time to put the house in order, and make sure that all the agencies involved not only understand the rules but also communicate with one another working towards the common goal of enforcement.
There is a task force, which is now about two weeks old, and one of their goals is to fix this situation and to put in place, the mechanism to see that it does not reoccur. This may seem slow to us, as we are all so fed up. But in the long run this is the way it will be best handled. It is also a victory for all that have worked so hard on this situation.
Government is a cumbersome lumbering animal, which sometimes seems to be immobile. The seeming inactivity drives us all nuts! But it is what we have. I suggest that all of you who are as frustrated with all this as I am, participate. Go to the political forum Tuesday and the one which will be held after the first of the year. Educate yourself about your candidates and vote! When your association asks for people to attend court, or city council, or future Mayors Meetings, then go.
Do not underestimate the power of the citizens of Seminole Heights and the part you could and should play. The best, most successful government is one that serves you because you serve it.
One last thing. The remarks about”would not happen in any other neighbor hood.”. Balderdash! It does. As a matter of fact, just yesterday, in doing some research on where the original residents of 1303 are living today, I discovered, yet another house, NOT in our neighborhood that houses six offender/predators, is an RS60, and on which the home owner is claiming HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. I have turned them in. I know of at least one house in South Tampa. These houses, some with in code, some not, are all over the city. Of course, for obvious reasons, there are more in lower income areas. But it is NOT a problem only in SESH. Everyone needs to stop feeling picked on and get a grip. Sometimes it is not “just us”. Sometimes the problem is far larger!
Well, I have tried to refrain from commenting on this because it gets my blood boiling. But here goes! I am sick and tired of reading about my neighbors researching, investigating, reporting, etc. on this house. Why the FFFFFFKKKK do we pay taxes. It is so we have people (law makers) protect our rights, better our quality of life etc.
Before you sit back and say it is a long process, yada yada. Ask yourself where has Curtis Lane, Harold Scott, Bill D, Dawn Colvin, Pam Iroio, Shannon Edge, Corrodo Sanditago been thru this entire process. I for one watch all of the advances and improvements being done in this city by our own residents. IF this is the case, lets stop sending tax dollars to the city of Tampa and send them to seshca.
I am going to this town hall meeting and demanding answers and future plans of our law makers. Where has KEVIN WHITE been. This is in his own back yard! How has he come to help the citizens affected by this mess? I am taking off Tuesday morning to head downtown to meet with Public Records to view personnel files of the code inpectors/managers to see if any one of them have been reprimanded for their inadequate performance. Illegal closing of cases etc.
IN THE MEANTIME, SOMEONE WAS SELLING OR GIVING AWAY IMPEACH IORIO SHIRTS AND FIRE CURTIS LANE. WHERE CAN WE PICK THEM UP?
It is a sad day when our law makers value the rights of convicted offenders more than the safety of law abiding, tax paying, REGISTERED VOTERS!
Just remember, you get rid of Pam Iorio, you will get rid of the majority of deadbeat staff that either came with her or the ones she coddles and allows to be lazy and perform at minimum levels.
KICK THEM ALL OUT AND TAKE BACK TAMPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree, take back city hall, impeach iorio and her cronies.
Your too late for the Town Hall meeting. The last one for 2006 was held three weeks ago. Where were you?
Too late for Town hall, I think you mean The Candidate forum on Tuesday evening. I am not sure what you hope to accomplish but let me help you out.
1) As far as the Mayor is concerned, she will not be there. I would assume none of her staff will. She does not come up for re-election for this year so she will hide out til closer til election. Probably hoping some of this will blow over.
2) As for your TSHIRT idea. While she won't see it, I would imagine every news network in the city will be covering the candidate forum, so if you have enough of them in the crowd, I would be a station will interview a tshirt wearer, or at least reference them in the newscast. SO, I would probably say this could be effective. I think if you really want to make an impact, you will need something much more viral than tshirts. Consider bumper stickers, etc. Something that will be visable all over town. The Mayor's popularity is diving at a record pace. When she first took office, and probably the following year and a half, her popularity was tremendous. WHen you googled her name, you never found any bad publicity. Now the net is full of Iorio horror stories. People are tired of her wasteful spending and want to take back control of city hall. Now is the time of year to strike. From an analyst point of view, you are heading into her final year. She will have to campaign against all of the bad publicity. If you remember last year, she announced candidacy just a few months prior to election. All the other candidates had to suffer the mud slinging. She came so late we did not even get to see her platform or substance. We voted her in because she was nice and seemed to be the cleanest of all the dirty candidates. Also, with the tax notices just going out, you can drive the message home to focus on her ridiculous spending habits. She has added nearly 1 million dollars in addtional salary to the payroll, she has added layers to city hall so that services are not readily available to the citizens, she has swandered millions on a riverwalk park with no amenities, etc. That is the angle to take.
3) Since these are future candidates, I would encourage you to arrive early for the meet and greet prior to the forum. As this will be your opportunity to be heard by potential candidates. I believe the Civic associations will ask questions. I don't think there will be an opportunity as a resident to stand up and speak. I could be wrong, but I think they are working from a list of predetermined questions. (Does anyone know any different on this one?)
4) The people that you will want to speak with want your vote, so this is still a good opportunity to get some face time prior to the forum beginning.
I too am sick and tired of hearing the yada yada regarding how the system this and the system that. We work our ASSES off in this hood trying to make a difference. We work FAR MORE here than they do anywhere else in this City. I am totally tired of hearing "be patient". I am glad that Sherry has so much understanding of what the "issues" are but the true issue here is that we have had an illegal boarding house with up to 16 sexual offenders living there and a series of serious missteps by the Code Enforcement office that would indicate incomptetence on a level I have never seen before. At some point, Sherry, we need to get our picket signs and head downtown with them.
I LOVE IT, LETS GET THE TSHIRTS AND THE PICKET SIGNS...FIRE CURTIS LANE AND IMPEACH IORIO. JUST THINK, IF YOU BLACK HER EYES DURING THIS ELECTION, SHE WILL BE EASY TO TOPPLE DURING HER ELECTION. ONCE YOU HAVE A TAINTED POLITITIAN, ALL THE OPPONENTS WILL COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK TO RUN AGAINST HER IF THEY THEY SHE COULD BE BEAT. LETS SEND THE MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR TUESDAY NIGHT THAT WE ARE TIRED OF THIS ADMINISTRATION, HER DEPARTMENT HEADS LACK OF CONCERN FOR THE RESIDENTS OF TAMPA. EVERYONE ORDER/WEAR/MAKE YOUR TSHIRT AND PICKET SIGN. I AM DEAD SERIOUS. I AM DESIGNING MY NOW. ALSO, WITH ALL THE MEDIA THAT READS THIS BLOG, SHOW UP IN FORCE. LETS CREATE OUR OWN CHANGE SO THAT OUR CHILDREN HAVE A BETTER TAMPA TO CALL HOME!
I think it is pathetic that average citizens (no offense everyone as I know that no one in this neighborhood is average)have to spend their time and energy investigating and doing the work for people that we are paying tax dollars. What is worse is that Pam Iorio does nothing to solve the problem. SHAME ON PAM!
agreed. Imagine, we were weren't here putting in the countless hours, what would happen? What happens when our neighborhood says enough is enough and sits back and lets the city do their job? Could you imagine the mess Tampa would be in. I agree that if we want a clean and safe Tampa, we must first start by cleaning city hall!
I wonder which is worse:
1) Pam Iorio rushes in before lawyers can figure out jurisdiction and law in a grey-area case, and kicks the blighters out! Only to be sued when it turns out they violated some beaurocratic code and as a result the city delays Nebraska paving for yet another year.
-or-
2) Pam Iorio waits for the lawyers and agencies to figure out who has to do what, then gets them gone for good. No messy lawsuits or drain on city coffers.
???
The city government isn't some magic organization that automatically takes care of everything. I agree this has turned into a cluster f*#k, but it appears they are trying to fix the problem at its core and not just the one house in the one neighborhood.
And while I'm standing on the darned soapbox, give the Mayor a break, will ya? She inherited a mess with legislative strings attached to most of her budget. She's doing a darned good job playing bob and weave around a hostile county commission (some of whom YOU voted for) and getting creative with the funds she's got at her disposal.
You all voted to keep Rev Scott and his insular, race-based politics, and you all voted to keep Kevin White and his fancy suits bought with laundered donations in the primaries. This was their chance, in an election cycle, to show how they could help the neighborhood. They are more local than the mayor and supposedly more available to our complaints. Heck, you don't even have to impeach them as their terms are up and they want your vote again. All this bitching and moaning directed at Iorio and these two weasles got the thumbs up in the recent primary.
Don't expect things to get better if you cannot even bother to vote and vote for quality people that will actually represent you.
GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!
You forgot option #3. One of the offenders, kidnaps, rapes and kills an innocent child walking down the street.
I am sick and tired reading about the criminals rights. What happened to the innocent tax payers rights? This beeeeach of a home owner, Helen Pridgen, will sue regardless. If the city would have done their job, upheld the law to begin with, there would not have been a grey area.
Pam Iorio will go down as one of the worst mayors Tampa has seen. She has wasted millions of dollars on additional, frivolous park, spent millions on continual consultants that never help, and more. In the meantime, we have parks that are unfit to use, we have city streets that are too rough to drive down, we have been named the dirtiest city in America, we have residents living in unsafe, uninhabitable dwellings and the list goes on. GET HER THE F OUT NOW!!!!!! AND THE WORSE PART IS, I AM PAYING RIDICULOUS TAXES FOR CITY SERVICES. EVEN WORSE, MY CHILDREN CAN'T PLAY OUTSIDE WITH THEIR FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE OVERRUN WITH SEX OFFENDORS THAT YOU ARE TELLING ME HAVE MORE RIGHTS THAN ME!
DONT hold back,tell us how you feel.
LOl jk..really
I hear you loud and clear
What can we do to change this whole mess?
I feel something awful is going to happen if this situation does not become resolved some how.'
I sure hope they can do something about the place.Shut it down permanantly is my happiness.
More than anything .I am angry that this is even a situation in my neighborhood.
Perv's arent curable .They should be sent somewhere for volunteer lobotomies or some place like a huge institution setting where they sign up for medical experiments
save the courts and states alot of change.Ching CHing.
Does anyone know what the code is for how many people may live in a one bedroom apartment.
Yes, I did hear that Tampa made the Readers Digest Poll for Dirtiest Cities. The Mayor even mentioned it in her speech that it was her goal to clean it up. She has a funny way of showing it. I agree. I don't think her legacy will be that of the stellar mayor. I don't understand why they are not doing anything about it. It is almost as if the code department managers are wrking agaist Cristin and trying to set her up to fail. When they interviewed her boss on TV it was like he could not imagine why they had a case open agaist the owner. It is their ignorance that will get the city sued. If it is true that they have purchased another home in North Tampa, you can bet this lady Helen is hoping north tampa will not be as tough as us. What she does not realize is now that she has put this neighborhood through this, we will not let up until she is totally out of business. She is a slum lord taking advantage of these convicted offenders because she knows they will pay.
Wow. I'm blown away.
What's next?
A hanging?
If this is really that bad, and it does sound pretty damning, bundle up your evidence and take it to the media. Simple as that.
Hysterics do no one any good. Especially wimpy anonymous hysterics.
As usual, Shawn, the arrogant voice of reason.
The fact that we are even on it is an embarassment to the city of Tampa.
I think we should take the cleaning of Tampa into our own hands starting with Pam Iorio and Curtis Lane.
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