Politics & Government
Pier Mediation Continued
The City of St. Petersburg and Kathleen Ford met in a daylong mediation on Friday.
A daylong mediation Friday between the City of St. Petersburg and local attorney Kathleen Ford did not provide a conclusion to the lawsuit regarding the VoteOnThePier petition.
"None of the attendees are permitted to discuss any progress or details until mediation is completed one way or the other," Tom Lambdon, Chairman of VoteOnThePier, told Patch of Friday's mediation.
The mediation between the city and Ford, who is representing a handful of VoteOnThePier petitioners, will be continued at 9 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 28.
Find out what's happening in St. Petewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Ford is suing the city because of city council's decision not to hold a referendum on the future of the St. Petersburg Pier despite VoteOnThePier collecting the required 15,652 verified petitions to force a public vote.
Friday's mediation went on as planned because Ford and the city agreed to a . The agreement had Ford remove more than 15,000 petitioners from the lawsuit who were listed as plaintiffs.
Find out what's happening in St. Petewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Joe Patner, representing the city in the suit, said he was happy to get thousands of petitioners out of the lawsuit.
"We were able to get those innocent citizens who were just petition signers who were dragged into this lawsuit without their knowledge, they’re all out," Patner said outside the courthouse on Jan. 14. "And we can now proceed along."
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