Inverted Pyramid supporters are taking to social media to express outrage over the looming demolition of the 1973 structure.
The overtly anti-Pier Park Facebook page – a holdover from the Lens opposition – called Wow the Lens Sucks posted a link to media coverage announcing the city had acquired all the necessary permits to begin demolition any day now.
“Say goodbye to the St. Pete Pier. Not just the Inverted Pyramid, but the entire concept of a Municipal “Pier,” as Potty Park will never be permitted,” the posted Tuesday read. “By tearing down what we have, our “grandfathered” status goes buh-bye with it. Remember this on election day!”
And the group Vote on the Pier headed by Safety Harbor resident Tom Lambdon wrote, “Mark our words, there will be HELL TO PAY!”
Lambdon is behind a petition effort that would ask voters whether or not the city should have to get approval at the ballot box for any construction or demolition on downtown waterfront.
If the Pier gets demolished that effort would not apply to saving it, obviously, but it is theoretically possible that if the petition drive is successful soon enough there could be a chance the city would have to go to voters before proceeding.
An inquiry to the city about the feasibility of that scenario was not immediately answered.
Based on information on Vote on the Pier’s website, it does not appear the group is backing down in light of the latest demolition developments.
And until the inverted pyramid comes down, there is still a modicum of hope that the demolition could be stymied.
Case and point, there have been promises of inevitable demolition before. Most recently city staff said last month that demolition would begin within days of a City Council vote approving the demolition contract.
Fences went up immediately after that vote in preparation, but the process was stalled when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a permit was needed before the demolition of the inverted pyramid, in addition to the approach and Pier head.
When the Lens was approved in 2013 fences also went up in anticipation of demolition.
“Hmm, this sounds familiar,” noted Tampa Bay Times writer Jeff Harrington. “St. Pete says Pier demolition to begin any day now.”
Other social media references to the impending demolition are less optimistic.
“We saved the Vinoy, Sunken Gardens and The Don Cesar. Why not the Pier. Totally bummed out,” wrote Pier activist Sherry Suttrich on Facebook.
“I’m just sick to my stomach thinking about it. Damn bastards won,” wrote Stephany Lee Kress, who also called St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman an a**hole and lamented via a sad-faced emoticon that the Pier couldn’t be saved.
Kriseman wasn’t just called names in Facebook comments reacting to the news. He was also threatened.
“He better not show his face around St. Petersburg. A lot of pissed off people right now that would love to beat his a** down,” wrote Carolyn Boudreau.
Chris Lovett commented that he was “heartbroken.”
Still others are continuing to berate the Kriseman administration’s process for choosing a new design.
“Ode to iconic St. Pete Pier begins with a City and Mayor’s agenda to tear it down. They ignored residents and the survey the mayor asked them to take,” wrote Pier activist Robert Neff.
Another inverted pyramid supporter, Linda Newcomb, wrote that the Pier Park design will “look nothing like the proposals and pictures in the end and it’s going to cost more than they have left to do.”
She called Pier Park a “monstrosity.”
But not all reaction is bad.
“A new era in St. Pete begins this week. Bring on Pier Park,” Brian Zucker tweeted.
Looking toward to the future, Vote on the Pier, likely Lambdon, took to Facebook to say, “stay tuned.”
