David Hudder works on a tattoo for a retired Hillsborough County Fire Rescue firefighter, sketching it with skill under the blue-white LED light of his lamp. Tattoos are what he loves to do. But he’s being stopped from opening a new shop off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
A city ordinance bans tattoo shops from opening in the downtown and midtown districts.
But Hudder’s not letting that get in his way. He’s suing the city.
“We’re waiting for a court date,” Hudder said.
Hudder contends the ordinance is infringing upon freedom of expression. His supporters, like gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie, agree.
“It’s a case of government going too far, as far as I’m concerned,” Wyllie said. “They say it’s for the public good, but the public good would be serve by having a vibrant downtown with a viable business.”
Hudder’s current shop, Dixie Station Tattoo, is located off East Baker Street. He renovated the building and fixed up the front yard.
Although it’s mere blocks from Historic Downtown, he wants his business to be at his new building near the Midtown redevelopment area. Hudder renovated the brick building and plans to live upstairs.
“This is where I want to be,” Hudder told the Plant City Times & Observer in February. “I live here. I love this city. I have my business and want to put down my roots.”
Plant City historically has had a ban on tattoo shops within city limits. But in 2012, the City Commission voted to change the ordinance, allowing tattoo shops within limits but not in the developing downtown and Midtown areas.
The change came because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2010 held that the business of tattooing is protected by the First Amendment.
The Plant City Planning Board recommended that tattoo establishments be permitted in downtown and Midtown, but the staff did not agree with the position. Instead, it recommended that tattoo parlors be banned from the two areas, because “both these areas are being planned for future mixed-use environments encompassing both residential and non-residential development. In many incidences, residential and non-residential uses may be located in close proximity, possibly in the same building, which would offer little opportunity to buffer or screen the impacts of tattoo and body-piercing salons from adjacent residential uses, thereby creating potential compatibility issues,” according to a March 2012 agenda report.
Still, supporters stand by Hudder, declaring him a true artist. His client list is filled with people from around the Tampa Bay area including Randy White, pastor of a 15,000-member church in Tampa, Without Walls International.
“He does fantastic work, first off,” White said. “Second, he has an impeccable character.”
White has had work done by Hudder for eight years. All his tattoos have special meanings to him. A portrait of his daughter is on his back. She died from brain cancer but was able to see if before she died.
“It is something that makes you an individual,” White said. “People should be happy he renovated the building and is bringing business to the area. Don’t stereotype the guy. I look at it as an art shop — an art gallery.”
YOUR TURN
The Plant City Times & Observer invites our readers to contribute to this discussion. Should tattoo parlors be banned from Historic Downtown and Midtown?
Send your thoughts to Associate Editor Amber Jurgensen, ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.