Thursday, May 16, 2013
The $869K in approved funding, however, is only a partial approval of the $1.5 million the proposal was originally seeking.
The St. Petersburg City Council voted 5-3 Thursday to approve the next phase of funding for the "Lens" pier design for $869,000. That funding, however, was only a partial approval of an original funding request of $1.5 million for the proposal. The partial funding approved will cover things such as wind tunnel tests, caisson tests for the existing structure and costs related to permitting for demolition of the St. Petersburg Pier. Council members Steve Kornell, Leslie Curran, Jeff Danner, Bill Dudley and Jim Kennedy voted for the funding. "It's better for our community that we are supportive of the 'Lens', while also attempting to be fiscally responsible and spending the minimum amount of money to get the answers we need to educate our …
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
More than 20,000 petitions were turned into the city clerk's office Wednesday morning at City Hall.
With more than 20,000 petitions in hand, Concerned Citizens of St. Petersburg, also known as Stop the Lens, turned in the petitions to the city clerk's office Wednesday morning. 20,559 petitions to be exact. "The signers of those petitions are asking the city of St. Petersburg to cancel the contract for the design of the 'Lens' or give the citizens the right to vote. The city can do better," said Fred Whaley with Stop the Lens. A day before city council votes on the next phase of funding for the "Lens" pier project, Stop the Lens said the city should adopt its petition and refuse to approve any new funding for the "Lens" project. "The citizens want the city to pause the funding of the “Lens” and not waste their money," Whaley added. "…
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…
Opened in 1973, the St. Petersburg Pier will close May 31 and be demolished by the end of the year.
Walking up to the St. Petersburg Pier this week and you'll find men and women casting reels off the pier approach and the pelicans staked outside the Pier Bait House waiting for the next person to feed them. Outside of the pier, not much seems out of place ahead of the May 31 closure. Inside, however, signs of the pending closure are very real and are starting to sink for pier tenants. Multiple shops inside the pier now have "closing," "moving", or "going out of business sale," signs in the windows ... along with their Stop the Lens signs. For pier tenants, the end of the fight to save the pier is not a relief; just a sad ending to a process that they say failed them. "At this point, I think I just have to take a break because I’ve …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The local group opposing the new St. Pete Pier design "Lens" has hired a California based firm to help accelerate the petition drive.
The Concerned Citizens of St. Petersburg, Inc, the sponsor of the Stop the Lens campaign, announced an effort they say will help reach their petition goal within two months. "It's our waterfront and all of us should have an opportunity to vote on what we want to have on our waterfront," Group spokesperson Bud Risser said. Bud Risser announced the hiring of Los Angeles based PCI Consultants, Inc on Thursday. Risser says the firm is the largest and most successful petition gathering organization in the United States. "By engaging them, we are certain, we are not only going to complete our petition drive, but we're gonna do it in a very expeditious manner," Risser said. Risser says the group has reached the halfway point of their drive. They …
The Stop the Lens campaign is holding a press conference at Vinoy Park on Thursday.
The Concerned Citizens of St. Petersburg, Inc, the sponsor of the Stop the Lens campaign, will be making a major announcement about the future of the campaign Thursday afternoon at Vinoy Park. Spokesperson Bud Risser will be addressing the media at 2 p.m. Organizers also plan to announce that the campaign has reached the halfway point in gathering the required number of petitions for a citywide vote. The "Lens" is the pier design slated to replace the existing St. Petersburg Pier. The pier is still on track to close May 31 with demolition beginning in August. Related Coverage: Sign up for the St. Pete Patch email newsletter to get our top headlines delivered straight to your inbox so you won't miss a thing!
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Vinoy Park
7th Ave NE & Bayshore Dr NE, Saint Petersburg, FL
/articles/stop-the-lens-to-reveal-major-announcement
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Friday, October 5, 2012
With a petition focused on a city ordinance, rather than a capital expense, the group thinks its petition drive will legally force the city to hold a pier referendum.
Earlier this year, city council voted 6-2 to not put anything on the November ballot regarding in the future of the St. Petersburg Pier despite VoteOnThePier.comcollecting more than 16,000 verified petitions. The city's legal team and multiple council members argued that the petition drive was not legally valid because the city's charter only allows for petitions to force a vote if the petition deals with a city ordinance. Vote on the Pier's petition did not and council voted it down. On Thursday, the day council voted to approve a contract for the construction manager for the "Lens", a new petition drive launched in hopes to force the city's hand into a public vote on the future of the pier. "Stop the Lens" made the announcement on the…
Sam
6:54 am on Sunday, May 19, 2013
The City of St. Petersburg has created a terrible mess. Why in the world would we destroy an existing structure before having the full approval of a budget, based on the best engineering drawings available. The cart is now before the horse. This is the most ridiculous and costly type of mentallity being put forth. It's like demolishing your home, and the engineering drawings are still being … more ›