Should Ybor’s parking lots be required to have private security?

TAMPA — Living in Ybor City for more than three decades, Joe Howden’s had a firsthand look at each of its iterations during that timeframe — from arts district t party district, shopping district to what is becoming more of a mixed-used residential district.

Through it all, Howden said, the pay-for-parking lots “have been the bane of our existence.” He and other residents claim some bring crime and blight to the neighborhoods.

The city is looking for ways to answer those concerns.

In June, Tampa City Council is scheduled to weigh in on whether to adopt changes to Ybor’s parking ordinance. The most impactful suggestion is that all parking lot owners be required to employ a state-licensed uniformed private security officer on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Currently, pay-for-parking lots must have an attendant. They would be replaced by security.

The city hopes this will cut back on the number of criminal offenses at privately-owned lots — of which there were 167 spanning 2022 and 2023 according to Tampa Police Department statistics. Most offenses were auto thefts, but two were classified as rape, four as aggravated batteries and 13 as simple batteries.

The city also wants to cut back on the partying that occurs in the lots after the bars close.

“Ybor is a mixed-use area where people are living in close proximity to many of these lots,” said Abbye Feeley, the city’s deputy administrator of development & growth management.

Jason Accardi, co-owner of 717 Parking is in favor of increased security at their 12 parking lots, but believes the cost, expertise and liability should fall to the city and police.

“We entrust the police department to serve and protect our community,” he said. “I don’t think it’s our job to be law enforcement ... We want a safe environment, but we should allow the experts to do that.”

The residents’ complaints were specific to lots that charge for parking.

Currently, free lots do not need an attendant. But all lot owners would be required to have security if the ordinance changes are approved, said Jennifer Holton, the city’s communications coordinator for development and economic opportunity.

That includes Richard Gonzmart, who has four free lots for patrons of his Columbia Restaurant and Casa Santo Stefano.

“Where are we going to find the licensed security?” Gonzmart said through a spokesperson. “What would the cost be with all the lots we own?”

Stephen Michelini, a consultant for 717, said that security companies have told him they’d charge $40 an hour per guard. The company then pays the guard a portion of that fee. That’s more than double what attendants are paid, according to current online job postings for 717 and other Tampa parking companies.

Tampa has used armed private security guards Thursday through Saturday nights at their five Ybor lots and two parking garages since 2015, said Fed Revolte, manager of Tampa’s Parking Division. They pay $26.88 per guard.

But Michelini said the city has the luxury of a government bidding process that brings down rates. Those in the private sector, he said, don’t have that luxury.

And then there is the liability of having private security, Michelini said. He worries about lawsuits if there is a physical altercation

Added Gonzmart, “That’s why we pay huge property taxes, so the police protect us.”

Following an Oct. 29 shooting in Ybor that killed two people and injured 16, the police department began compiling a report on how to improve public safety in the district. The preliminary report released earlier this month states that parking lot security guards “would be much more beneficial” than attendants but does not elaborate more on that matter. The department is scheduled to present its detailed plan to City Council on May 16.

The proposed changes to the Ybor parking lot ordinance began well before the shooting, dating back two years to when 717 and residents battled over whether two adjoining Fifth Avenue properties should be zoned for a lot. The city ruled it should not and 717 then sued the city. The case is ongoing.

During the debate over those properties, residents also complained to the city that some Ybor parking lots were not complying with all aspects of the current ordinance, such as required fencing, landscaping and attendants.

The pay-for-parking lots, resident David Bailey said, “have been the missing teeth of the smile of Ybor ... to the detriment of the entire district.”

In late 2023, to enforce rules, city code enforcement visited every Ybor parking lot. All pay-for-parking lots now have weekend night attendants, Feeley said, and those with other infractions like damaged fences are being told to come into compliance.

The city took the matter a step further by suggesting changes to the ordinance, such as doing away with excessive signage that could be considered blight and no longer requiring property buffers to include landscaping.

“It just dies,” Feeley said. “There aren’t many where you go out there and it looks nice.”

While researching how similar districts handle parking lot crime, the city learned that Orlando’s Church Street Station requires private security guards, Feeley said.

But even with armed security in place, the city’s Ybor lots account for 97 criminal offenses, according to the police department, including two for rape and nine for simple battery, spanning 2022 and 2023.

Resident Chris Currie said those numbers prove security works since the city’s spaces greatly outnumber those owned by private lot operators.

In all, the city has around 2,600 parking spaces in Ybor, Revolte said.

In that 2022 to 2023 span, 717′s lots were home to 106 criminal offenses, according to the police department. The specific offenses are not detailed.

Accardi worries that each parking company employing its own security force will lead to a disjointed law enforcement effort.

Instead, he said, the police department should decide on one security company that answers to them. The security should then be funded through Ybor’s Community Redevelopment Area money because the lots are not the businesses bringing crime to Ybor.

“It is an area-wide issue,” Accardi said. “It’s not specific to one property and you can’t address it by focusing on a few lots.”

The Ybor residents battling the pay-for-parking lots laughed at the notion that the community should foot the bill.

“They profit from the party that occurs here,” Howden said.

But Accardi warned this is a slippery economic slope. If 717 and other lot operators are eventually priced out of Ybor, where will everyone park?

Howden has an idea — parking garages on the outskirts of Ybor.

“You don’t drive up to Disney World,” he said. “You park in a remote lot, not in someone’s neighborhood.”