Clean Up Kennedy

'Lights in the Night': Candlelight Vigil for Trafficking Awareness November 4th 9:00pm to 11:00pm Barnes & Noble Parking Lot 213 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33609 Hosted By: Clean Up Kennedy - Fighting Human Trafficking in Tampa Bay Come join us Saturday evening, November 4th for a candlelight vigil to help raise awareness of what happens behind closed doors in the spas along Kennedy Boulevard. We will be lining up along Kennedy with candles as a sign of unity against human trafficking in Tampa Bay.  We want to stand together as a community to show we support the women impacted by these terrible crimes.  Whether you want to participate in prayer, a moment of silence, or just stand with us, we’d love to see you out there. We will be meeting in the Barnes & Noble parking lot, then splitting into smaller groups and heading out from there. If you have any questions or are interested in becoming a 'Team Captain' contact Joe Mans...

Mark Douglas  investigative journalist for  Channel 8 WFLA has been doing diligent and thorough reporting on the illicit massage businesses on Kennedy Blvd for 6 months now. Below are links to all 11 stories so far in his series.    http://wfla.com/2017/04/27/8-investigates-are-storefronts-for-sex-thriving-along-tampas-kennedy-blvd/ http://wfla.com/2017/05/01/8-investigates-what-is-tampa-doing-to-stop-modern-day-slavery/ http://wfla.com/2017/05/03/tampa-prostitution-message-board-lighting-up-over-8-on-your-side-health-spa-sex-investigation/ http://wfla.com/2017/05/23/you-paid-for-it-6-5-million-massage-therapy-regulation-fails-to-weed-out-prostitutes/ http://wfla.com/2017/06/01/storefronts-for-sex-tampa-devising-massage-parlor-crackdown-after-8-on-your-side-investigation/ http://wfla.com/2017/06/19/8-on-your-side-storefronts-for-sex-investigation-prompts-protest-of-kennedy-blvd-spas/ http://wfla.com/2017/07/27...

It’s been just over five months since the Channel 8 news report:  "Are ‘Storefronts for Sex’ thriving along Tampa’s Kennedy Blvd?"  blasted the issue of illicit massage business into the public spotlight in Tampa and inspired citizens to launch the Clean Up Kennedy movement.  The September 28th meeting was the third time that the Tampa City Council has had this issue on the agenda. Thursday there was an hour of presentations from the Assistant City Attorney and the Florida Department of Health followed by public comments by other organizations that were present. Representatives from  Polaris ,  USIAHT ,  Created ,  Florida State Massage Therapy Association , and the  Florida Department of Health  were present at the meeting and testified and commented on the situation. The Assistant City Attorney seems confident that retooling the bath house regulations that are already on the books will work to make it harder for these business...

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...

Many members of Clean Up Kennedy came to support the City Council in their efforts to address illicit activity and human trafficking on Kennedy Blvd and across Tampa. Even though the agenda item was second to last in the 2 and a half hour meeting, the Council members responded to the report given by the city attorney with enthusiasm. This positive energy and the thoughtful questions and comments show that they are seriously committed to moving forward with a strategy to end the illicit massage parlor blight on Kennedy Blvd, and throughout the city. What was scheduled to be a 5 minute report turned into a lively 20+ minute discussion. The City Council has called for a Workshop on September 28th at 9am to hear from experts and the public, to form a plan to combat illicit businesses and human trafficking in the city. Here is the full video of Agenda Item 51 Here is the video of Joe Manson , founder of Clean Up Kennedy, addressing the City Council during the publi...