Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryOctober 11, 2017

As the St. Petersburg mayoral race enters its final month, the Rick Baker campaign is making a case that Rick Kriseman is bad at managing the city’s budget. In a series of emails and tweets, Baker campaign manager Nick Hansen blasted Kriseman for dipping into reserves while the city takes in record levels of revenue. And […]

Mitch PerryOctober 10, 2017

The poverty rate for blacks has never been lower in St. Petersburg, with the decline four times greater than the black poverty rate across Florida. That’s according to advocates working on that vexing issue, citing the latest U.S. Census data. Officials with the Agenda 2020 plan say that the black poverty rate has dropped 17.3 […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 20, 2017

I always suspected Joe Maddon, a smart man, wanted the chance to say out loud that the Tampa Bay Rays new stadium should be built in Tampa. Well, he got his chance Tuesday when he came to St. Pete as manager of the Chicago Cubs. He didn’t hold back. The Tampa Bay Times reported Maddon […]

Mitch PerryMarch 30, 2017

This week, St. Petersburg residents start receiving ballots for the May 2 referendum asking to give the Tampa Bay Rowdies a 25-year lease for Al Lang Field. St. Pete Entrepreneur Bill Edwards is advocating — and paying for — the measure. However, considering the questions fielded in public forums by Edwards’ spokesperson Rick Baker, the referendum […]

Mitch PerryMarch 28, 2017

John Johnson, a research administrator at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, is the latest candidate to file in the crowded St. Petersburg City Council District 6 contest. The 46-year-old native Ohio resident calls himself a policy wonk, not a politician. “My background is education, so I’m a strong believer in education, and what it can do at […]

Joe HendersonMarch 16, 2017

It is not unusual when a Major League Baseball team signs a Cuban defector. There is a lengthy list of players who fled that island nation so they could barter their skills for the considerable cash that comes with playing in the United States. Usually, those stories have been treated as valiant escapes from a […]

Joe HendersonMarch 1, 2017

If all issues before the St. Petersburg City Council were as easy as the once members will consider Thursday morning, anyone could do the job. The Council has a vote scheduled to set a referendum on a plan to privately renovate Al Lang Stadium. That’s so a bid by Tampa Bay Rowdies’ owner Bill Edwards […]

Joe HendersonJanuary 5, 2017

Mitch Perry’s story Tuesday on FloridaPolitics.com about the bill filed by state Sen. Tom Lee to dismantle state’s Sports Development Program triggered an instant thought: Well, forget about a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. I followed up with a call to Lee, a Republican from Brandon, and asked if my thought about the […]

Joe HendersonJanuary 2, 2017

St. Petersburg is a lovely, vibrant city that is getting better by the day. I love its waterfront and its eclectic, revitalized downtown. So I hope my friends there don’t this personally when I ask: Have your city leaders lost their minds? I refer to the “Baseball Forever’ push to a build a stadium that […]

Mitch PerryDecember 15, 2016

St. Pete City Council members are scheduled to receive a report on the progress of the St. Petersburg Pier at City Hall this morning. Architects from ASD Architects, Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers, representing the Pier and W Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Wannemacher Jensen Architects, representing the Pier Approach will present updated renderings of the new Pier. […]

Tag: Tampa Bay Rays

The two Ricks argue about city spending during latest St. Pete mayoral forum

Advocates cite statistics to say poverty is being reduced in South St. Pete

Joe Henderson: Maddon is right; build Rays stadium in Tampa

Rowdies, Al Lang referendum an easy sale for Rick Baker

‘Policy wonk’ John Johnson plans listening tour for St. Pete City Council bid

Joe Henderson: Miami trial shines light on smuggling Cuban baseball players to U.S.

Easy call: St. Pete Cty Council to set Al Lang referendum

Pro sports franchises: Build your own stadium, ballpark, or arena

Building a new ballpark in St. Petersburg: Throwing good money after bad

Mitch Perry Report for 12.15.16 — Pier politics, part VIII