The cigar workers built Ybor. The hospitality workers run it now. The State Senate has not protected either in three decades.
Ybor City is where Tampa's tourism economy actually happens, and the people who make it happen are the worst-protected workers in the state. Florida's tip-credit floor sits at $3.02 an hour while the rest of the wage statute has been amended six times. Service workers in ZIPs 33602 and 33605 absorb the cost of tourism with no recourse when the law of the land hasn't moved.
Fund a dedicated wage-theft unit inside the Florida Attorney General's office, with civil penalty authority and standing to subpoena payroll records. Hillsborough County's local wage-theft ordinance is the model. Make it statewide.
Owners of one or two contributing structures in a designated Florida Main Street historic district pay capped property-tax assessments tied to the working income of the building, not the speculative market value. Keep the cigar-factory blocks owned by their stewards.
State legislation mirroring the federal 2021 fix: tip pools must include back-of-house workers when management does not retain any portion, with clear enforcement at the state Department of Revenue. The owners of the cocktail bars on 7th Avenue already agree.
“I have worked Tampa hospitality since 2009. The tip law is the same now as it was the year I started. Tallahassee has had thirty chances to fix it.
“The cigar-factory blocks were preserved by working-class landlords. The current property-tax math is going to push those owners out. Maya is the first candidate to take that seriously.
Ybor City residents: request your vote-by-mail ballot now. Volunteer for the Hillsborough canvass. Pick one.
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