St. Petersburg is one of two cities in the nation teaming with local start-ups to encourage voter participation. The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce's local business partnership with the city, the Greenhouse, is working with more than 25 local companies to get workers to the polls ahead of this year's election.

Companies participating in the StartUp and Vote event Nov. 3 have agreed to let employees take paid time off of work to go and vote. The time off includes not just the time it takes to cast a ballot, but also a networking session around lunchtime with local food trucks.

The crowd of politicos buzzed on the deck of the Cross-Bay Ferry as it made its first journey Tuesday from the Vinoy Basin in downtown St. Petersburg across the bay to downtown Tampa.

The wind whipped around them. Women searched for hair ties as groups huddled close, shouting over the din of the engine.

"I can't believe how fast it's going," said Pat Kemp, transportation advocate and Hillsborough County Commission candidate.

"The future right here, baby," said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, looking across the water toward Tampa's skyline. "This is it."

 

St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman has been waiting for this day. "This is really a monumental day for the Tampa Bay region."

 

The boat holds almost 150 people. You can ride outside in the sun, under a shelter, or even inside in the air conditioning.

The Cross Bay Ferry connecting the urban cores of Tampa and St. Petersburg made its maiden voyage across Tampa Bay on Tuesday morning, departing from the Vinoy Yacht Basin in downtown St. Pete.

Passenger service for the general public begins Friday.

The service is a six-month pilot project that will shuttle passengers between the two cities twice daily on weekdays and Sundays and three times on Saturdays.

         

There hasn't been a lot of good weather-related news in St. Petersburg these days, not after storms deluged and overwhelmed its sewage system.

But the city is preparing to celebrate one bit of storm-related news: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to lower the city's flood insurance costs.

"It's great news," said City Council member Darden Rice, who noted that: "51 percent of our residents live in a flood zone."

 

The city was forced to dump millions of gallons of sewage into the bay - because the system couldn't handle all the storm water during major rain events.

"If the Cubs can win the World Series, then fixing our infrastructure is totally doable," Kriseman joked to City Council Thursday afternoon. 

The mayor is laying out both short term and long term plans  and neighborhoods with overflows are ready for action.

Thursday, Mayor Kriseman shared his plans to fix the city's sewer system. In the short term, he's spend $45 million by April 2019. Long-term, spend another $259 million by 2021. The money would go toward lining, sealing and reliability improvements. He also plans to increase capacity at existing plants and repair manhole leakage. 

In a brief presentation, the mayor discussed short and long-term goals, as well as how much and how long it would take to fix St. Pete sewer system.

Officials said, right now, their focus is on a short-term plan, which is to get repairs underway and hope to complete by 2019.

The six-month pilot program will start with two trips Sunday through Friday and three trips on Saturday.