Mayoralty of missteps: Discontent with Ken Welch reaches a boiling point

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has nearly four years in office under his belt at City Hall, and his time has been marred by negative headlines after negative headlines. 

Early in his administration, he suffered top-level losses, including the resignation of his first Communications Director, who credibly accused his Deputy Mayor of creating a culture of bullying and hostility, causing her to resign shortly after. While Welch denied knowledge of such culture, a letter surfaced from his campaign echoing the claims. 

Even before that, his decision to restart the RFP process for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal had some scratching their heads (though certainly not all). And while it looked for a time like Welch would have success with a new deal, with the Rays serving as development partners with the firm Hines, we all know how that saga eventually turned out. Welch can’t control the weather (much as Marjorie Taylor Greene might try to convince us), and the crumbling of the stadium deal was mainly out of his hands, but it nevertheless puts Welch in the same column as several mayors who came before him, unsuccessful in securing the Rays’ future in the Sunshine City. 

The stumbles have been plenty. 

There were reports of Welch’s absenteeism at City Hall. There was that time when, even though his top staff was hunkered down at the Emergency Operations Center at the new St. Pete Police headquarters overnight, Welch went home to be with his family. It was a bad look. 

Speaking of the Rays, remember that time in celebrating victory when Welch signed off on five-figure bonuses for top staff who helped nail down a stadium deal? Remember how he had to rescind them after a bunch of blowback?

And how about those Welch piles? Neighborhoods sat with debris in their yards for weeks on end, waiting for collection, leading some to hire private haulers at their own expense instead. The piles were growing mold, attracting critters and creating hazards for those walking by, including children. In some neighborhoods, like hard-hit Shore Acres, Welch wasn’t very popular at the time, and I doubt much has changed since Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year. 

More recently, Welch put cowardice on display, declining even the slightest pushback against the state over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order demanding the removal of street art. Washed away now are five murals, including one near the Woodson African American History Museum declaring “Black History Matters” and another boasting the colors of the progressive Pride flag.

It was a decision rooted in pragmatism, to be sure, but Welch’s city wasn’t the only target. Yet he had the weakest response. Where Welch told residents to avoid breaking the law, a caution aimed at stopping people from blocking intersections to re-paint or otherwise restore art to the intersections, other Mayors celebrated such acts of civil disobedience. Elected officials in several cities targeted by the state with letters demanding the removal of street art, including Miami Beach, Key West, Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale, missed the deadline to remove art and are appealing. 

Welch said the decision not to appeal came after careful consultation with his legal staff, who told him it would be a losing fight. So I get the rationale, but the optics are less than ideal. 

None of this even touches on the quiet part that no one is speaking out loud. Behind closed doors, political insiders and top-level stakeholders are quietly expressing discontent with Welch. There is too little action coming out of City Hall, people lament. Progress is too slow, they argue. The culture at City Hall is well past diminished, others claim. 

Yet with all this, just one person has stepped up to challenge Welch — former St. Pete NAACP President Maria Scruggs. But Scruggs, much as she has contributed to the city over her lifetime of community activism, is likely not a viable candidate. She’s run for several offices before, never even coming close to securing victory. Her interview with Florida Politics last week displayed some good ideas for a platform, but it also showed that she lacks the necessary political infrastructure to compete with an entrenched incumbent. 

So why no one else? Former state Rep. Ben Diamond contemplated a run, but he ultimately bowed out. He said it was because he didn’t have the bandwidth to dedicate the time needed for a mayoral bid — kids are growing up fast, and all that. But you’d be naive to think there wasn’t something else in the back of his mind, something political strategists would no doubt be reminding him — he’s a White guy, and he’d be challenging the city’s first Black Mayor. Who wants to be THAT guy?

Sure, optics are important. And if there’s a capable, credible potential candidate out there who is also a person of color, please stand up. You will be embraced as a worthy alternative. 

But at this point, anyone should stand up. Inaction from a largely failed administration should face opposition, in whatever race, gender, age or political affiliation it comes from. Voters may well decide to give Welch another term. But they should also have the option NOT to. 

The race isn’t until next year, but there’s still time. Welch himself hasn’t even filed yet. 

So who has the guts to not only say the quiet part out loud, but to do something about it? The residents of St. Pete are waiting.