TAMPA, Florida — Businesses are back open on the stretch of 7th Avenue in Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood, though some have boards in place of bullet-stricken windows after a deadly shooting early Sunday morning.
In the area that’s made a lot of progress in recent years when it comes to safety, the latest incident is raising concerns once again and reigniting calls for change from local leaders.
“The Ybor community has got to rise up and say enough is enough, that what is occurring has to change,” said former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. “Ybor City is an amazing part of our city. It's diverse. It's authentic. It's part of our history.
"But it's got to change. And the next chapter of Ybor City can't have what we saw this weekend going on if it's going to succeed."
In an interview with 10 Tampa Bay on Monday, Buckhorn reflected on issues seen in Ybor during his time in office, which included the closing of one club that had several criminal incidents.
He says some businesses continue to welcome the problem.
“There are always going to be bad actors who are willing to try and attract this crowd in order to make money," Buckhorn said. "And at the end of the day, this element, the guns, the criminals, the underage drinking is going to be Ybor’s demise if we don't fix it.
“There will be some that will try and make this a racial issue, it's not. It's a criminal issue.”
In the wake of the shooting, his successor, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, is calling for more responsible gun ownership and stricter regulations.
In July, the Tampa Police Department said the district saw a decrease in violent crimes, but a 23% uptick in non-fatal shootings.
“I don’t know if the entertainment venues are an issue in that particular area," Castor said at a news conference Sunday. "I know that a lot of the business owners have stepped forward to do what they can to make Ybor safe.
“We have to address this from so many different avenues to ensure these types of things don’t occur in our community."
The police department, which already has a heavy presence in the area, says they will have more officers in Ybor for Halloween Tuesday night.