"I mean what’s next? Sunglasses? Bathing suits? What else do you think you can outlaw?"
Pedro Redero thought it would be a normal day at the beach.
One sweltering afternoon in June, the 71-year-old Belleair Beach resident and his wife, Yoli, found a spot in neighboring Belleair Shore to set up Redero’s favorite umbrella — blue with an American flag patch he had sewn to the top.
Redero has come to this beach for 11 years. After multiple bouts of skin cancer, he tries to stay in the shade. He was relaxing when a Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy and sergeant approached.
“You guys know why we’re here, right?” the deputy asked.
The culprit: Redero’s umbrella. A Belleair Shore ordinance bans “temporary shade structures” on the beach — no tents, canopies or umbrellas — so the deputy gave Redero a $116 citation.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times