Community Corner
New Homeless Newspaper Hits the Streets
Tampa Epoch is a new monthly newspaper that will be sold on street corners by homeless people.
Every night, Vincent Dettore sleeps “wherever” in Hyde Park.
After losing his house four years ago, the unemployed 50-year-old man made an average of $30 to $60 a day soliciting on the streets of South Tampa, until a went into effect on Nov. 1.
While the ban targets panhandling, it exempts newspaper vendors.
Find out what's happening in Tampawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Today, Dettore was among two handfuls of needy folks waiting to pick up the premiere copies of the Tampa Epoch at Public Storage on West Kennedy Boulevard.
The Tampa Epoch is a newly launched street newspaper that focuses on homelessness and poverty. Starting Tuesday, Nov. 15, the monthly paper will be sold on Tampa street corners by indigent people for $1.
Find out what's happening in Tampawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Publisher Bill Sharpe gives his Epoch vendors the first 25 newspapers for free. After that, paper hawkers keep 75 cents from each sale.
As he waited to pick up his stack of newspapers and hit the streets, Dettore said that he expected more vendors to show up at the inaugural day.
Sharpe, who is also the publisher of the South Tampa Community News, recruited Dettore to be a Tampa Epoch seller at a couple of weeks ago.
Dettore said that out of the 50 homeless folks Sharpe approached as they ate breakfast at the church, only 15 of them signed up to be Tampa Epoch vendors.
“If I get six people off the street, we are successful," said Sharpe, who hopes his newspaper will give indigent people a source of income.
Keith, 43, who did not want to disclose his last name, is one of the new Tampa Epoch hawkers to hit the streets today.
He plans to sell the newspaper five days a week in order to avoid eviction from his home in Seminole Heights.
“The only chance to make money was one day a week, but now we will be able to go back out there and make a living for ourselves,” he said.
The 43-year-old looks forward to selling newspapers instead of panhandling.
Motorists will be able to identify newspaper vendors on street corners by their Epoch T-shirt and badge.
“Buy Tampa Epoch, support the vendors, help make a difference,” said Sharpe.
