Mayor Rick Kriseman said Sunday that the successive failures of Sweetbay and Walmart in Midtown suggested the city should rethink economic development in the neighborhood.

"We, as a community, may need to rethink Tangerine (Plaza)," Kriseman said. "We can't keep doing things the same way over and over again and expecting different results."

 

The Sunshine City's predominantly African-American south side faces some tough challenges, including poverty, unemployment and five failing schools, Even as other parts of the city experienced a booms has struggled to make gains-and city officials have had a hard time figuring out how to make things better.

During the second annual Urban Affairs update at Fairmount Park Elementary School in Childs Park, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin, Police Chief Anthony Holloway and Urban Affairs Director Nikki Gaskin-Capehart fielded questions from a packed room looking for answers.

 

 

Regional transportation and  Major League Baseball were two top issues for three Tampa Bay area mayors during a  Suncoast Tiger Bay Club event Tuesday discussing the state of the region. Mayors from Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater each agreed their cities work best when issues are tackled together.

Though St. Petersburg Mayor  Rick Kriseman and Tampa Mayor  Bob Buckhorn are both jockeying to land baseball in their respective cities, both care first that the team stay within the region.

 

The Tampa Bay Institute of Engineers has named the Cross Bay Ferry its Project of the Year.

Institute President, Danni Jorgenson, says the award recognizes projects with applied innovative techniques and successful implementation.

"Past recipients of this awards include The Courtney Campbell Trail, Manatee County ATMS project, and the City of St. Petersburg Citywide Crash Analysis and Traffic Safety Cameras."

The Cross Bay Ferry is a pilot project, operating between downtown St. Petersburg and downtown Tampa on a limited schedule.  

 

More than 100 people this morning (Feb. 1) attended a ceremony outside City Hall to recognize February as Black History Month, and Mayor Rick Kriseman noted in his speech that in this era of divisive rhetoric, it is also a time to embrace Muslims in the community. Several of those attending were of the Islamic faith.

Woodson Museum board president Terri Lipsey Scott also spoke, naming a number of St. Petersburg's African American leaders who have passed on but are remembered for their work in the community and as civil rights advocates. Earlier in her speech, Scott pointed out that President Donald Trump had not issued a proclamation in honor of the month. something that his predecessors have done going back to Gerald Ford.

 

Cooperation and collaboration are the way to solve issues facing the Tampa Bay are in the future, say the mayors of the three largest cities.

"When St. Petersburg and Clearwater succeed, my city succeeds as well," Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said. "Those bridges [across Tampa Bay] will never be barriers to us. They will be conduits to cooperation."

 

The mayor, deputy mayor and other officials with the City of St. Petersburg, raised a flag outside city hall to mark the beginning of Black History Month Wednesday morning.

Black History Month is a celebration of African-American history and culture, celebrated throughout the country.