Beneath the glow of fluorescent lights in the Gibbs High School cafeteria, Police Chief Anthony Holloway tells his mostly black audience about the importance of communication and trust between officers and the city's minority residents. Since taking over as chief in August, Holloway has focused on a return to community-oriented policing and improving a long-sour relationship between the department and many residents who live in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods in south St. Petersburg. At a forum last week aimed at fostering conversation, Holloway said the two groups need to help each other.

On one side of the fence there are tree houses. A sand box in the middle of the yard. Children laughing and running while friendly dogs bark and give chase. On the other side of the fence is a makeshift gun range. A wooden pallet backed by a small mound of sand and some other pallets. In between it all? Outrage. 

Even in Florida, a gun range in the back yard of a house in a St. Petersburg neighborhood seems a bit much. Yet thanks to the Legislature and the National Rifle Association, it appears to be perfectly legal for Joey Carannante to arrange a few wooden pallets around a mound of sand and declare himself ready to begin target practice in Lakewood Estates. Pay no attention to the tree houses and the sandbox and the kids playing next door. Carannante stands poised to take advantage of a 2011 state law that penalizes local governments if they enact tougher gun regulations than the state. Yet the state says private gun ranges are fine as long as there is no shooting across paved roads or occupied dwellings. What neighborhood back yard would not be complete without a gas grill, a swimming pool and a gun range?

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More public murals and street festivals, along with a summer-long campaign of visual and performing arts, are among the projects the city's new cultural affairs director plans to support with $200,000 the city has allocated for the arts. Wayne Atherholt, who joined the city Dec. 1, will present a plan to the City Council on Thursday that includes the new "99 Days of Art in St. Petersburg," which will tie in existing art events with some new ones from June 1 to Labor Day. 

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If you are of (ahem) a certain age, do you get the odd feeling that the back and forth, the hemming and hawing, the fits and starts swirling around the future of the Tampa Bay Rays recalls the gamesmanship surrounding the size of the conference table that delayed the start of the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War?
 

By now, the Rays brain trust ought to have been roaming the byways of Tampa Bay, kicking the tires of potential sites to relocate the team from Tropicana Field. All that was needed was a vote from the St. Petersburg City Council approving a memorandum of understanding giving the team permission to look at sites in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties to determine if a more suitable and profitable stadium deal might be worked out.

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Mayor Rick Kriseman, after meeting with Tampa Bay Rays President Brian Auld on Wednesday, was optimistic an agreement can be reached with the city council by opening day of the baseball season to allow the team to explore other stadium locations. Kriseman resumed negotiations with the team after the council rejected a deal in December that would have let the team leave Tropicana Field before its lease expires in 2027. That proposal derailed over concerns about the team's share of development rights at the Tropicana site if it leaves.

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Mayor Rick Kriseman emerged from a meeting with the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday saying he hoped to have an agreement to let the team look for new stadium sites in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties by Opening Day.

The meeting between Kriseman and team president Brian Auld at the Rays offices at Tropicana Field lasted about an hour. Afterward, both sides struck positive, but vague, postures. Kriseman acknowledged that the discussion centered on the Rays' right under the current contract with the city to a 50-50 split of development rights for the Tropicana site. That issue contributed to the 3-5 city council vote in December that scuttled an earlier agreement Kriseman and Auld had worked out.

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Hoping it is ending more than half a decade of searching for money, the City Council on Thursday signed off on a deal with Pinellas County to finally raise a total of $70 million for a new police headquarters. But several council members said they still weren't convinced that the city will need to spend the entire sum. The council voted 7-1 on the agreement Mayor Rick Kriseman negotiated with Pinellas to redirect $20.2 million more in Penny for Pinellas funds to the project to supplement $50 million the city had already identified. The County Commission must approve the plan and is expected to vote Tuesday.

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Seeing a chance to expedite construction of a new police headquarters, the City Council voted Thursday to free-up $20 million in sales tax money in a plan proposed by Mayor Rick Kriseman. 

The money from the city's share of the Penny for Pinellas tax gives it a $70 million pot to replace the cramped and deteriorating police station, and to build it in one phase of construction.

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As they discussed possible details of a new St. Pete Police headquarters, city council members repeatedly cautioned that their decision wasn't to approve a plan for a new police station - it was only to agree on allowing a portion of the funding to come from Penny for Pinellas dollars. 

Currently, the St. Petersburg Police Department headquarters at 1300 First Ave. N. looks like one you would see in a 1970s TV cop series. It's not up to code, it's falling apart in places, and the department's auxiliary buildings are similarly in disrepair, city officials say.

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If the stature of the forthcoming One St. Petersburg condo tower is a measure of the demand for luxury living downtown, the biggest phase in this city's residential boom is still yet to come. 

The 41-story high-rise planned in the heart of the city will become St. Petersburg's tallest building and stand among the loftiest buildings in the Tampa Bay area.

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St. Petersburg Police are spending more than $200,000 to transform the department's uniforms from green to blue during the next six months.

The color switch was one of Chief Anthony Holloway's priorities when he took office in August, coming from the Clearwater Police Department where dark blue uniforms are worn. He said the darker color makes officers look more professional, and helps them blend in better at night.

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Williams Park this Saturday hardly will have room for the bounty craft brewers, gourmet confectioners, handicraft makers, upcycling artists, and a legion of kind-hearted non-profits that will set up their tents for a celebration of "all things local." 

The second year of Localtopia promises to showcase an even broader smorgasbord of St. Petersburg's independent business culture than the event's inaugural run, says Keep Saint Petersburg Local's Olga Bof, who is organizing the event. 

The free festivities run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the city's downtown park at 330 Second Ave. N.

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St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman Wednesday formally asked the Federal Aviation Administration to change flight rules at Albert Whitted Airport to allow 450 feet tall buildings downtown. Right now, the limit is 400 feet. 

"It may make more projects economically feasible if they can go a little bit higher," the city's David Goodwin explained to FOX 13 News. "If we can do something that doesn't impact the airport operations, increases safety, and allows a little bit more development rights then that's good for everybody."

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Editor's Note: GeekWire has partnered with UP Global and Chase to cover four Startup Week events around the country, starting with the Tampa Bay Startup Week from Feb. 2-6. GeekWire will be filing daily reports from this emerging startup hub this week.

ST. PETERSBURG- Bays, channels and other waterways can define a city - serving as playgrounds for tourists and important economic engines. 

But waterways, especially when as pervasive as they are in the Tampa Bay area, also can serve as geographic and psychological divides.

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