St Pete police destroy tents of the homeless...to be "compassionate."

We the residents of the St. Petersburg Tent City ask for your support and love. You may have read about the tent city in the papers or saw us on the TV. You have seen our tents, maybe even our faces; now we want to share with you our hearts.

Who are we? More than 60 percent of our tent city people work full time. We build your condominiums, clean your houses, and serve and cook your food in the restaurants. We have slept on the streets, in your alleys, on your beaches and in your parks, trying for nothing more than to get a good night's sleep without being arrested, beaten or rained on.

For many of us, the tent city has allowed us our first good night's sleep in months or years. We can leave our possessions, our books, our family pictures and our lives in the safety of a tent as we rise after a good night's sleep to either go to work or find work. Instead of working to pay $125 a week for a cockroach-ridden motel, we now live among new friends and can save our money and not be ripped off by these motels.

We have all signed a contract that we have written. For instance, No. 2 of the rules is "I WILL pledge a minimum of FOUR hours a week to maintaining the integrity of the SPTC beyond my own tent." And what do we do? We pick up the trash, maintain the portabole toilets, work in the tent city's office, and work as part of the tent city press group. We are barbers who cut hair. We have two men who fix bicycles donated to us so that members of our community can have transportation to work. We have people who are mediators in disputes, guard our community, cut our grass, and trim our trees. We contribute to both our community and your city. Many of us pay taxes just like you.

Now we are under attack by the mayor of St. Petersburg. St. Vincent de Paul gave us a vacant weed- and garbage-ridden lot that in just over a week has been turned into a functioning and caring community. We are told that the tent city must be closed because it is unsanitary. Where was this concern when we were living in alleys and sleeping on the streets? Now we have portable toilets, water and a trash bin! The social service agencies are now scrambling for more money to serve the homeless, with the promise of giving us mats for a few days or a few weeks. Why would they want this when for many of us the tent city provides not only protection, but also a nurturing community?

"Baker defended Sunday the city's response to the homeless issue and addressed the protest.

"This is America, and people have a right to protest," Baker said. "But protesting at a church is not something I'd recommend. Fortunately, I have a loving church, and the pastor invited the protesters to worship with us today, which a number of them did."

City Council Chairman Bill Foster, who last week criticized the city's eviction ultimatum, said a lot of positive things have spun out of last week's controversy. He called the demonstration "unfortunate."

"We have momentum for the homeless cause," he said "Demonstrating in front of a house of worship, in my opinion, that sets it back some. You're not going to make friends with the top guy in the city doing that."

At the same time, he said, the city wanted to send a message that it will not be a welcome center for people who choose to live on the streets.