Two Tampa Bay giants had fielded questions last week at the Suncoast Tiger Bay luncheon. St. Pete and Tampa Mayors Rick Kriseman and Bob Buckhorn delivered a “state of Tampa Bay” speech before members of the nonpartisan club take their gloves off to do what Tigers do best — “carve a politician up for lunch.”
So while this group of politically savvy insiders came armed with an array of excellent questions for the oft-dueling mayors on opposite sides of the Bay, here are five questions that still need further examination:
#1: What does your new deal with the Tampa Bay Rays look like, how is it different and why should City Council approve it?
Kriseman and his administration have been mum on the touchy issue of the Rays and Tropicana Field, but we all know he’s cooked up a new deal. And the general consensus is it’s going to pass now that Kriseman has a new council to take it up.
Charlie Gerdes, who has long supported reaching a deal to let the team look for new stadium sites outside the city, suggested the plan is not all that different from previous versions. But Kriseman has previously said deals don’t get better with time, they get worse. Which is it?
Kriseman will likely kick this question under a rug or two, but it doesn’t hurt to put him on the spot. After all, at Tiger Bay he won’t have his spokesperson, Ben Kirby, to deflect the question or casually mutter, “no comment.”
#2: While we’re on the topic of the Rays — where would the Rays play if they moved to Tampa?
Channelside seems to make the most sense here, but Jeff Vinick has taken that off the table because nowhere in his redevelopment plans for the waterfront portion of downtown Tampa are there any hints of a baseball stadium. A long ago study revealed Westshore could work, but Buckhorn has appeared lukewarm on that location and that same study showed plopping a stadium near Raymond James where the Bucs play may not be sustainable. So, where?
And while you’re at it — you may want to ask Buckhorn how he intends to fund a $600 million stadium in words more descript than some version of “The Rays will have to come to the table with a significant amount of money.” Seriously — define significant …
#3: We could see a water ferry service shuttling people between downtown Tampa and downtown St. Pete as early as October, but will we?
Kriseman and City Council have already done their part to make the ferry pilot project happen from their end. St. Pete’s chunk of the funding pie is set aside from BP oil spill settlement funds. But it’s contingent on funding from Tampa, Pinellas and Hillsborough — maybe even the state. Buckhorn and Hillsborough seem poised to give it a go, but that’s not set in stone. So, yea or nay guys?
#4: Hey Buckhorn, when are you going to announce running for governor?
This doesn’t really need much of an explanation. The rumor mill had been churning since before Buckhorn even took office for a second term that he had his eye on the Governor’s mansion. And more recently Buckhorn has been dropping hints that it hasn’t left his radar.
In a flashy re-election speech, Buckhorn said we could reshape the state — not the city. His Super Pac continues to raise money, though not very much, and he even popped by Tallahassee to make another Tiger Bay appearance and shoot a TV spot.
Like Kriseman’s hush-hush Rays deal, Buckhorn’s not likely to give a straight answer, but it’s a great chance to put the heat on.
#5: Hey Kriseman, when is St. Pete going to stop buzzing about wastewater?
Seriously. It’s been since August and chatter about St. Pete’s infamous dump of 31 million gallons of raw and partially treated wastewater into Clam Bayou, Eckerd College’s campus and Tampa Bay is still deafening.
City council approved about $67 million for the city’s long-planned Biosolids and Waste to Energy program. That should mean a net $1.5 million savings a year for the city’s plagued wastewater system, but city staff was unwilling to commit to whether or not those savings would be used to avert utility hikes to pay for needed improvements. So, whatcha going to do about that?
