Clean Up Kennedy

Volunteers from Clean Up Kennedy made their presence known at U.S. Representative Kathy Castor's immigration town hall at Alonso High School. Since many of the victims of trafficking are brought into US legally or illegally it is important to include the very real issue of human trafficking in any discussion of immigration policy.  Representative Castor shook hands with Joe Manson, who was holding a "End Sex Trafficking in Tampa" sign outside the meeting and expressed her interest in meeting and discussing the issue more with him. Here Representative Castor answers a question about what is being done to combat human trafficking in our district. We look forward to hearing more from Representative Kathy Castor about how we can work together, citizens and government, to end the terrible industry of sexual exploitation in Tampa Bay.

Pick Up Your Picket Signs: Why “Clean Up Kennedy” is Important By: Carrie Pinkard             If you’re a Tampa resident who regularly drives down Kennedy Boulevard you may have noticed a group of very sweaty people waving “Clean Up Kennedy” picket signs. You likely wondered: Who are these people? What does it mean exactly to “Clean Up Kennedy”? Or Why are these protesters so unbelievably good looking? Read on and your Clean Up Kennedy questions will be answered.             The people holding the picket signs are Tampa citizens from a group called “Clean Up Kennedy: Fighting Human Trafficking in Tampa Bay.” This group seeks to close down the massage businesses on Kennedy Boulevard that offer illicit services at the expense of exploiting women. Many Tampa citizens drive by these massage parlors everyday and don’t realize they are essentially “ storefronts for se...

We had a great week this week, thanks so much to everyone who came out and supported Clean Up Kennedy! On Thursday we set up a booth at the 'Rock The Park' which is an event on the 1st Thursday of the month at Curtis Hixon Park. We talked to a lot of people who were very supportive of our cause. Many people still had no idea what was going on behind the blacked out windows of the many "massage" places on Kennedy. More and more people are telling us that they learned about the illicit massage business problem from recent local news broadcasts. Being visible and continuing to keep this issue in the news cycle is important to change the culture of apathy and permissiveness towards the exploitation of women in the Tampa Bay area. We went into Friday with an updated description of Seven Star Spa on Google Maps, the hours now display "Permanently Closed"  We had quite a number of citizens come to the demonstration to help celeb...