Tuesday morning I queried some of the twenty or so Tampa homeless people gathered at Gaslight Park in downtown Tampa for the usual Tuesday morning coffee and bagel breakfast provided by Food Not Bombs -they also serve on Sunday Afternoons, they're Vegan but what the heck, it's good chow -And many of them shrugged off that morning paper's story about the loss of the 800K to three of Tampa's transitional housing outlets which provide, well transitional housing to homeless and about to be homeless folk.
Most of the people at the park are old-timers - and that does not mean necessarily in years - what it does mean is people who have been at this for awhile, and have learned the ways and ins and outs and twists and turns one must learn to navigate the whole business of living on the street.
And most of them have never been involved in 'transitional housing' and don't care to be, thank you very much.
And many of them have a particular dislike for the Salvation Army. To a man -or woman - they say it is a hellhole and run by abusive people who could care less about the salvation of anybody. (Their words not mine as they used words I cannot print here,, but you get the gist)
But one thing they do worry about is the recent rise in the Spice incidents involving overdoses and deaths and way too much heat being brought down on them by the great deal of attention which must be involved by the authorities both in trying to curb the use of the synthetic drug, and the strain all those EMS calls and transport to TGH are putting on local police and fire department services.
And they also worry about running into these walking zombies who use the drug, especially when the walking zombie turns violent, or spends the nights trolling homeless people sleeping spots looking for money to buy their Spice.
The story in last Sunday Times about the Spice epidemic was excellent, and needed to be done by a high profile newspaper, and they did a great job.
However, one thing which should have been said in the story is that most of the homeless 'old-timers' won't touch the stuff, or want to be near anybody who does.
One of the people at gaslight told us, " I took one hit of that stuff one time and woke up three days later in the hospital." 'Nuff said?
For right now, most of the Spice activity is centered around the Marion Transit Center known as Spice Alley, and it is hell down there, don't bother unless you absolutely have to have something to eat from the two snack cafes there....especially Jimmy's biscuits and gravy.
We'll keep an eye on this situation, and hope the authorities can get this stuff off the street, and soon and that the stuck on stupid knuckleheads who are using it just go away,
Maybe over to Clearwater or something, the Scientologist guys over there could probably find a way to solve it all, AND make 'em pay for it.
