Residents Want Salem's Gyros & Subs to Adjust Hours

In November, the son of a Tampa police officer fatally shot a man in the drive-through lane of Salem's Gyro's & Subs on Nebraska Avenue, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Four months later, plans were announced for another location of the sub shop chain to open - also on Nebraksa Avenue - in Old Seminole Heights.

But residents of Old Seminole Heights say crime statistics pulled from the sub shop's Hillsborough Avenue location coupled with last year's killing have been cause for concern after news broke about the business opening its doors in their neighborhood. They worry that if the sub shop remains open late, as some Salem's locations do, violence and loud noise will become the norm at the new location, too.

Their plan? Attending a Tampa City Council meeting this week where the sub shop's owner plans to ask city officials to rezone the new location in order to add a drive-through.

Lori Kay, an Old Seminole Heights resident whose home is 100 feet from the newest location, said she owner of the sub shop has agreed to two of three conditions residents desire: Building a six-foot wall to muffle noise, and creating curb cuts to direct traffic onto Nebraska Avenue and away from the neighborhood.

That leaves one major concern: Operating hours.

"What we're asking Tampa City Council for is for Sunday through Wednesday to have him close at 11 p.m., and close at 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday," Kay said. "It's the after bar crowd they're attracting. The bars close at 3 a.m., and people want to get a bite and party, so that's where they hang out."

Kay said reports she pulled from the Tampa Police Department regarding one of the sub shop's locations on Hillsborough Avenue and 40th Street list 268 police callouts over a five-year span, from 2007-12.

"They've had crime issues since they opened," she said. "Violence, shots fired, battery with a deadly weapon, and general disturbances like fighting."

After hours, Kay said, "they look like a demilitarized zone. People everywhere, sitting on their cars, with loud booming music."

A man identified as the manager of the sub shop's Hillsborough Avenue location directed a reporter call the Salem's corporate office.

Clemente Diiorio, a spokesman for Salem's, said he's aware that residents are "strongly against" the new location opening in their neighborhood. He said a projected opening date has not been announced.

"We talked to residents about a wall at the Nebraska location, and we will comply to what's required by zoning," he said. "We are going to put a barrier, bushes and landscaping on the south side of the property."

While Diiorio said the "negative element" near the Hillsborough location is "inherited to that area," he hopes residents understand their position, too.

"We don't want do to anything in the neighborhood that's going to cause friction," he said. "That's not what we want to do."

Kay said she isn't opposed to the sub shop opening, but wants the residents concerns to be met.

"We are not opposed to this restaurant," she said. "We welcome him, we really do. But, we want him to think about us."

What do you think about the sub shop opening in Old Seminole Heights? Tell us in the comments.