ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — His childhood dwelling, lengthy gone, stood the place third base is now. He swam in Booker Creek. He climbed the namesake gasoline tanks.
Rev. Watson Haynes — the President and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League — has fond recollections of St. Petersburg’s historic Gas Plant District, which is now the house of the Tampa Bay Rays and Tropicana Field.
“That area — the gas plant area — was not what people like to refer to as a group of poor people — poor African Americans who got moved out,” he remembered. “It was people who saw an opportunity, people who were leaders, and they had an opportunity to live there and create the village that it was.”
That private connection to the Tropicana Field site is why Haynes mentioned it’s critically necessary for town to achieve success when leaders brainstorm and in the end choose a plan to redevelop the district.
Up till two weeks in the past, town was contemplating two plans, however Mayor Ken Welch determined to hit the reset button.
“Our environment has changed in many ways since the initial [Request for Proposal (RFP)] was issued in July of 2020,” he said in a news conference exterior the ballpark.
Going ahead, Welch mentioned he needs extra “certainty” and collaboration from the Rays, whose lease of Tropicana Field expires in 2027.
Additionally, in a post-pandemic world, he needs a plan that balances the diminished want for workplace house versus the elevated want for extra inexpensive housing, racial fairness, and advantages like jobs.
He additionally needs extra enter from community members that will not have had an opportunity to be as engaged in the course of the earlier RFP course of, which occurred in an early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city will host three community suggestions periods beginning Tuesday evening. All conferences can be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the next dates:
- Tuesday, July 12 on the Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete, situated within the Lakeview Shopping Center at 2333 thirty fourth St. South
- Tuesday, July 19 on the St. Petersburg College-Gibbs campus at 6605 fifth Ave. North
- Thursday, July 28 at USF St. Pete at 140 seventh Ave. South
You can RSVP here. The metropolis can be accepting on-line feedback at this link.
Haynes, in the meantime, hopes community members will supply their visions for the Tropicana Field site.
“We’ve got to figure out how to make all those pieces fit together like a puzzle,” Haynes mentioned. “We’re looking for the people to have an opportunity to say, ‘This is where I used to live or my grandma used to live and all, and I’m really proud of what I see — what I feel.’ Because it was a community, and so, that’s what we want.”
Previously, Haynes and the Urban League gave their stamp of approval and partnership to the Midtown Development plan, which was one to one of the 2 proposals on the desk till Welch scrapped them. Now, because the mayor prepares to launch a brand new RFP in August, Haynes is holding an open thoughts.
“We’re fairly reserved and are going to be looking hard at what other new things — what can be derived from this stopped process,” he mentioned.
Ultimately, he hopes the brand new course of yields a improvement that honors town’s previous and creates a greater future.
Mayor Welch mentioned he plans to decide a developer for the site by the top of the 12 months.