Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/96141
Sarasota News Leader November 30, 2012 Page 21 The dates of these transmissions meshes per- Considering the pressure the Sarasota police fectly with then-Interim City Manager Terry were under from their masters at City Hall, Lewis ordering police captains to person- the spike in arrests and citations is underally begin patrolling standable. And to a downtown. Lewis told lesser extent, so are The Sarasota News I rocked the boats and some big the "bum hunter" comLeader in August, "We boats rocked back. ments cited from just have more vagrants one evening. It is likeRichard Martin and they appear to be ly they reflect the date Former Executive Director younger. It's a differthe night shift received Suncoast Partnership for the Homeless ent demographic." new marching orders from Lewis to begin Two weeks later, during a City Commission meeting, Mayor Suzanne Atwell said, "I'm not tightening up enforcement of vagrancy-relatcomfortable going downtown anymore" be- ed ordinances. cause of vagrancy issues. Note the word "bum" has no religious or racial Commissioners ordered Lewis to toughen en- connotations. In fact, it is a common term in forcement on the city's various anti-vagrancy politics, as in "Throw the bums out!" ordinances, and they asked for a report at evLOSING THAT 'NEW CAR SMELL' ery commission meeting. While Barfield was busy harping on three On Nov. 27, Barfield passed out copies of a tacomments from 98 pages of transcripts, the ble showing police citations and arrests for vinew city manager was undermining himself olations of municipal ordinances over the past four years. Not surprisingly, the chart shows as well in a battle of who can be less credible. a significant spike since Aug. 23, following After the press conference, City Manager Tom Atwell's complaint and the commission's "get Barwin was available for press interviews, tough" response. along with police Capt. Paul Sutton. Barwin At every subsequent commission meeting, started punching low and went lower in sevcommissioners praised the police for aggres- eral interviews. He said Barfield had twisted sive action, and they repeatedly said, "Tell us the facts to suit his case, an insanely common tactic inside City Hall but apparently not availif we can do more." able outside its confines. Another text cited by Barfield was from Sept. 4 at 3:30 a.m. Corinn Stannish wrote: "AROUND And he dredged up comments that Barfield is a 4 OR 430, CAN YOU CHECK ISLAND PARK disbarred attorney who forged and stole from FOR TRANSIENTS? CITE THEM CITY CODE his clients — which, of course, has nothing to IF FOUND. SOME BRIDGE AND PARK WALK- do with Barfield's arguments or evidence. On ERS HAVE BEEN HSSELED LATELY. LET ME one sunny morning, Tom Barwin lost his "new KNOW VIA EMAIL IF ANY ENFORCEMENT car smell" and became just another City Hall time-server. HAD TO BE TAKEN."