By Danny Valentine and Justin George, Times Staff Writers.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
TAMPA — Drivers who stopped at intersections Tuesday to get the latest edition of a newspaper Tampa businessman Bill Sharpe started to help the homeless all had a question.
What are you going to do now?
Wendy Chastain, a vendor selling the Tampa Epoch, didn't know the answer, either.
"I don't know what to say," she said.
With the suicide Monday of Sharpe, 59, the newspaper's founder, publisher and public face, many of those selling the paper and depending on the money were left unsettled about its future.
"I'm really actually more scared now than I was before," said Debbie Henry, 19, who said she makes about $100 a day over seven hours.
Steven Sapp, who handles many duties for the Epoch, said vendors depending on money from the sales needn't be scared.
"Not one single vendor needs to worry about the future of Tampa Epoch," he said. "Our staff and supporters don't want to see it die. … I strongly believe in this."
Sharpe founded the street monthly late last year as the city was enacting restrictions on panhandling. Tampa banned panhandling six days a week, allowing it at most intersections on Sundays. However, the city carved out an exemption for street newspaper sales — and the Epoch took advantage of it.
Under Sharpe's business model, the now-restricted panhandlers could buy the paper for 25 cents a copy but sell it for $1.
Sapp said the staff is working to ensure that vendors, supporters and advertisers know the Epoch will try to continue publishing.
Its next issue would be in May.
Printing the Epoch is not only important for those who sell it, he said, but also for the city. People with little income typically spend their money quickly, he said.
"If we print $12,000 a month, that's $12,000 that's immediately boosted into the community right away," he said.
Employees of Tampa Marketing Co., of which Sharpe was president, oversaw the Epoch's advertising, distribution and content. "We still have the talent and support to continue this going," Sapp said.
Advertisers hope so.
"I'd love to see it carry on," said Coldwell Banker real estate agent Linda Aiken, a friend of Sharpe's and a Hyde Park United Methodist Church homeless outreach volunteer who said she will continue placing ads in the Epoch.
"I wanted to give them all an opportunity to be their own small-business people and to help support them," she said. "And for me it was kind of a way for giving back. Of course, advertising in a newspaper about homeless people isn't a smart way for a real estate agent to make money because homeless people don't typically buy houses. But that wasn't my intent."
Chastain, the vendor, said she was heartbroken when she learned Sharpe had died.
"All I can say is that he's is a wonderful man," she said.
Sharpe was found dead Monday morning by an employee at his North Hyde Park newspaper office. His cause of death was strangulation, according to the Hillsborough County medical examiner.
Chastain said she needs the newspaper to keep operating.
"I've really been able to keep a roof over my head because of this," she said.
Atiya Brown, 21, said she makes about $35 for about two hours of selling the paper.
"There's a lot of homeless people out there that need to be heard," she said. "This is the only way that we can survive."
Without the Epoch, she said, people would be forced to find illegal methods to make money.
"A lot of other homeless people would panhandle — and that would lead to jail," she said.
Times staff writer Jodie Tillman contributed to this report.