Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The group said Mayor Bill Foster has assured them the vote on the "Lens" pier design will happen on the Aug. 27 primary ballot.
Less than nine months into its campaign to collect 15,652 signatures needed to halt the construction process of the "Lens" pier design, Stop the Lens will be turning in its petitions Wednesday at St. Petersburg City Hall. The petition, which sought to create an ordinance to cancel the "Lens" contract with Michael Maltzan Architecture, was signed by more than 20,000 people, according to Stop the Lens. That's well more than the 15,625 required to force the city to choose one of options: adopt the petition as written and cancel the contract with Maltzan or hold a public referendum on the issue. The city has chosen the latter, which will take place on the Aug. 27 primary election. According to a report by the Tampa Bay Times, Mayor Bill …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The St. Petersburg City Council is scheduled to vote on $1.5 million in funding for the next phase of the pier in two weeks.
A decision to approve $1.5 million in funding for the next phase of the "Lens" pier project has been deferred for two weeks after a 5-3 vote by the St. Petersburg City Council. Last Friday, April 26, a 400-plus page schematic report was released from city staff and the Michael Maltzan Architecture team. In it were updates and more specifics to the design not previously released. Council members Jim Kennedy, Bill Dudley, Karl Nurse, Charlie Gerdes and Steven Kornell voted to defer the time. Jeff Danner, Leslie Curran and Wengay Newton voted no. Kennedy, who made the motion to defer, said getting the report a week ago was not enough time to ask staff questions about the financial costs of regular maintenance for the new pier. He said the…
StPetePolls released the results of its latest poll late Wednesday night ahead of Thursday's city council vote on the next phase of funding for the "Lens".
Results from a new survey from StPetePolls show overwhelming opposition to the city moving forward with the "Lens" pier design and to closing the St. Petersburg Pier before a public vote. The release of the poll comes just hours before the St. Petersburg City Council votes on $1.54 million for funding the next phase of the "Lens" project Thursday morning. According to results released Wednesday at 11 p.m., 67.2 percent of respondents said they would vote 'yes' to terminate the "Lens" pier project contract if a public referendum were held today. Only 27.8 percent said they supported the "Lens", with 5 percent undecided. Around 68 percent of respondents said the city should keep the existing inverted pyramid open until a vote on the …
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Unlike last year's budget summits, no residents made calls for a millage increase. Mayor Bill Foster announced city employees would be getting raises for the first time in four years.
Mayor Bill Foster asked St. Petersburg residents Wednesday night at the first of three budget summits what they wanted, or did not want, to see in the fiscal year 2014 budget. "This is your money. This is your budget," Foster said Wednesday night. "Last year the people took that to heart. It is the people’s budget." Foster said he was not ready to release any budget specifics until he heard from the public. Summit attendees, many representing the People's Budget Review, last night agreed. "Before we start talking (numbers), we must determine the vision of what St. Petersburg is," said Louis Brown III with the People's Budget. A People's Budget survey completed by more than 500 residents showed residents are ready for community unity and…
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The survey of registered voters in the city conducted by St. Pete Polls, taken yesterday after Ford officially entered the race, pegs Foster with 28 percent support, Ford at 27 percent and Kriseman at 23 percent.
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Wednesday, April 17
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The program creates an incentive for private investment in the target area by providing a 20 percent rebate of the cost of specific building improvements.
Wednesday, April 17, St. Petersburg city leaders will officially launch a housing program designed to rehabilitate homes in St. Pete. According to the city, Mayor Bill Foster, Council Chair Karl Nurse and other members of city staff will unveil a new initiative targeting residential structures needing rehabilitation. The announcement will take place at 9:30 a.m. at 1830 22nd Ave. S. The program, conceived by Nurse, creates an incentive for private investment in the target area by providing a 20 percent rebate of the cost of specific building improvements to the owner of the residential property, a news release said. Recently, St. Petersburg's City Council approved $400,000 of funding for a housing rehabilitation incentive program. Sign …
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The St. Petersburg Police Department collected double the amount of weapons during the six-week program it would usually collect during the same timeframe.
Sawed off shotguns, 100-round magazines, a 50-calliber handgun and a 20-round shotgun magazine represent just a sliver of the 80 guns taken from criminals in St. Petersburg during a six-week gun bounty program. Monday, St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon held a press conference at the police headquarters to share the success of the initiative. “Every gun here was taken from a criminal. This was in the community of St. Petersburg,” Harmon said pointing to a table of assault weapons and fully automatic weapons. “It’s out there and unfortunately too prevalent in our community.” In total, since Feb. 28 the department collected 120 firearms, 24 pellet/bb guns, 4,123 rounds of ammunition and the seizure of nearly $74,000. The initiative …
Friday, March 1, 2013
St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster is imposing a moratorium on red light camera citations immediately in response to Pinellas County Clerk of Court Ken Burke's concerns about flaws in the system.
In response to Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court Ken Burke's concerns regarding flaws with red light camera systems in St. Petersburg and five other Pinellas cities, Mayor Bill Foster has imposed a moratorium. Beginning immediately, the mayor has suspended issuing uniform traffic citations to persons identified in sworn affidavits submitted to the city within 30 days after the date of notification as having care, custody and control of the motor vehicle involved in the red light running citation, according to a press release. Last week, Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court Ken Burke wrote a letter asking St. Petersburg and five other cities to stop writing tickets for red light violations, arguing there are flaws in the …
Friday, February 8, 2013
A vote to further explore the possibility of allowing the Tampa Bay Rays to look for a stadium outside St. Petersburg failed Thursday.
A proposal that could have allowed the Tampa Bay Rays organization to look for stadium options outside St. Petersburg if they paid the city an annual exploration fee failed Thursday in a city council meeting. St. Pete council member Charlie Gerdes put forward the proposal to amend the use-agreement in hopes that it could end the stalemate and jumpstart communications between Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and the city. "How do we break the stalemate," Gerdes asked. "In order to have a relationship, we got to be talking. We need a vibrant, engaged relationship where we are thinking about the future. "Not just to have the Rays here until 2027. Not to merely have them live up to the contractual agreement," Gerdes said. "To have the Rays be here…
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Major League Baseball team says it needs a new stadium to be successful in the Bay area. Some St. Petersburg leaders insist they must stay in the city. We want to hear what you think should happen.
It’s no secret that the Tampa Bay Rays have been talking with government officials outside of St. Petersburg about the need for a new stadium. They’ve gone on a road show of sorts, talking with officials on both the Hillsborough and Pinellas county commissions. Team management has made it clear that attendance numbers need to rise for the Rays to remain viable in the Tampa Bay area. They’ve also made it abundantly clear that Major League Baseball has lost its faith in Tampa Bay. While Hillsborough and Pinellas county officials want to lend a hand to restore that faith – and possibly a location for a shiny new stadium in their own backyards – St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster is adamantly opposed to letting the team out of its contract to play at …
Bill H.
9:40 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
I truely hope that every politician you ever voted for does everything just like you want. However, when they obviously stop listening to and/or representing the voters that voted them in and they are suppossed to be representing, then this is the course the people must take. more ›