Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Brooks Morgan, chief marketing consultant for Tampa Marketing Company that publishes the Tampa Epoch, said that the company will seek out financial alternatives in order to carry on Bill Sharpe’s legacy.
The news that South Tampa publisher Bill Sharpe allegedly took his own life came as a shock to those who knew him. Sharpe was found dead by an employee at his office in North Hyde Park on Monday, April 2. He was 59. Sharpe was the publisher of South Tampa Community News. Last November, he started the Tampa Epoch, a street newspaper for the homeless, in order to give indigent people a source of income after the city passed an ordinance banning panhandling six days a week. “If I get six people off the street, we are successful," Sharpe had said during the launching of the street newspaper that focuses on homelessness and poverty. The Epoch sells for $1 per copy, and vendors keep 75 cents from each sale. On Tuesday, April 3, paper hawker …
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Here's a weekly look at life in South Tampa.
Tampa Epoch vendors Robert Harless and Holly Hoppe said their self-esteem is much higher since they started selling the new homeless newspaper on the streets of South Tampa this week. “This is a job, it's not panhandling,” the enthusiastic couple said. “Very happy,” “organized job,” and “higher self-esteem” were all expressions the couple used more than once to describe their life on the street as vendors, instead of panhandlers. Harless and Hoppe explained that Tampa Epoch contractors have to check-in at 7 a.m. at one of the Epoch providers scattered around town. Then, stack of newspapers in hand, vendors hit the streets making sure to keep away from the city's most dangerous intersections, which are off-limits to newspaper hawkers and …
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
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 new city ordinance banning panhandling six days a week went into effect on Nov. 1. While the ban targets panhandling, it exempts newspaper vendors. 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. Publisher Bill Sharpe …
tony weeks sr
1:18 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
I think this is a great program to help homeless folks get a sense of self-worth and pride. If we don't help people who want to work to better themselves, they will be commiting crime to support themselves and families. more ›