Chunky Sunday Concerns Come to Council

One by one residents and community leaders from North Greenwood spent their three minutes of public comment speaking out against injustice.

Chunky Sunday is a social gathering, not an event, that happens in African American communities throughout the Tampa Bay area during the summer months, and has for years, Chantala Simmons said to city leaders Thursday.

She and a cavalcade of other speakers said the city is restricting their rights because of a lack of parking near Cherry Harris and other North Greenwood parks since “no parking” signs were recently installed in grassy areas and along the curbs there.

The charges led Mayor George N. Cretekos to request Bill Horne, city manager, to look into issues of parking and Chunky Sunday gatherings and report the findings at the city council work session meeting June 18.

“I would like to have some of these community leaders, who have some responsibility to Chunky Sunday as a 'social gathering' as it was referred to, to sit down with us and let us appropriately plan how to use that limited space,” Horne said. “There is no park in the city of Clearwater that has adequate parking for everybody who wants to use it. So we know going into this there will never be enough parking to accommodate large groups in parks of limited size.”

Some "no parking" signs were recently added for resident safety, city officials said.

Hundreds of people have crammed the streets of North Greenwood on Sundays since the parties started around April. An estimated 1,500 people came to a recent Chunky Sunday gathering Memorial Day weekend near Pier 60.

The community parties swelled to some 6,000 people at their height in 1998 in Bartlett and Campbell parks in St. Petersburg. And they are not new to Clearwater.

When Chunky Sunday first came to Clearwater several years ago, community leaders and residents worked with police to manage the event that overwhelmed the streets and featured inappropriate behavior, Horne said. However, now the person or people who organize Chunky Sunday have never stepped forward to discuss parking and other problems, he said.

“I have to take exception to some of the comments made regarding Chunky Sunday as not being an event. We have been looking for the individual or individuals who are responsible for the gatherings that occurs on Sundays and we have been unable to locate who they are. Any gathering that occurs in a park that overwhelms the park’s capacity and ability to handle the event requires a special events permit," Horne said. “We have worked on many occasions with community groups that want to use our parks but there is a way that you have to do that. Now some several years later we find ourselves back facing an issue dealing with Chunky Sunday in Cherry Harris Park."

Harry Presser does not attend Chunky Sunday parties but spoke as a concerned citizen worried resident's civil liberties are being violated by not being able to park near some of the North Greenwood community parks.

“I think the police department is using that to control our community and stop us from gathering,” Presser said.

At least 10 “no parking” signs were recently added near Russell Street near Phillip Jones Park to combat illegal parking and over parking, said Rob Shaw, Clearwater Police spokesman.

“People were parking all over the place and leaving their cars anywhere and everywhere they could fit,” Shaw said in an email. “It was a hazard for ingress and egress.”

Deputy Chief Sandra Wilson and members of the community met May 16 to discuss the social gathering.

“It has largely been a quality-of-life issue for residents there. The Police Department is responsible for making sure that those who live in the area can get in and out of their homes when they need to, and also not be bothered by loud music and disruptive behavior,” Shaw said.

Some of the gathering’s more raunchy behavior was captured in a video and shared on YouTube on April 16. Arrests have also resulted from the Chunky Sunday parties.

William Anthony Melvin, 23, was arrested and charged with discharging a firearm in public, possession of marijuana and being a felon in possession of a firearm April 28. As part of the investigation, Monor Mortume, 22, of Tampa, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana.

The next week, Dreon J. Baker, 20, of Clearwater, was seen trying to fight someone near Engman Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue around 10:30 p.m. March 5. Baker was arrested and charged with disorderly intoxication in a public place.

“The illegal activities that occurred in April are gone — the presence of strippers, vendors, drinking and drug use," Shaw said. "The Clearwater Police Department will not tolerate that kind of behavior, there or in any part of the city.”

Related coverage:

• Are Chunky Sunday Parties Beach Bound?
  
• Parties Get Chunky, Sundays in North Greenwood

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