While serving in the state Legislature, Rick Kriseman was so repelled by a 2011 bill that prohibited pediatricians from asking any questions about gun use or ownership unless it was relevant to their patients’ care or safety that he filed a bill to repeal it.
Saying that some issues are too important to be politicized and some crisis are too great to be ignored, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman fired back Thursday at Rick Baker, after the former mayor touted his environmental credentials in a new television ad. “I’ve been watching the ad that Rick Baker has been airing and, quite frankly, it smells worse than actual sewage,” Kriseman said at the beginning of a press conference staged at the Suncoast Sierra Club’s headquarters in…
A one-time head of the city of St. Petersburg Business Assistance Center is suing former Mayor Bill Foster and staff members for her ouster, despite promises of “job safety.” Shrimatee Ojah-Maharaj is a 60-year-old St. Petersburg resident who has worked for the City of St. Petersburg since 1990, with a current title of Grants Officer. She began her career with the city under former two-term Mayor Rick Baker. From 2003 to mid-2013, Ojah-Maharaj managed the city’s Business Assistance Center, which…
Wednesday was a big day for Rick Kriseman. Joined by Assistant Mayor Kanika Tomalin, City Councilmembers Darden Rice, Lisa Wheeler-Bowman, Ed Montanari, and Karl Nurse, as well as other officials, the mayor took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new St. Petersburg Pier, a major symbolic event for a project that has become a huge political issue. “It was really important that we fulfill the desires of the community from the standpoint of functionality, but do it within budget,…
Former Mayor Rick Baker and incumbent Rick Kriseman took plenty of verbal shots at each other during the first debate of the 2017 St. Pete mayoral race. Although seven mayoral candidates are on the ballot, only Baker and Kriseman could participate at the forum hosted by Midtown’s Mt. Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church. Kriseman began the evening by reciting the main theme of his campaign: A choice between whether St. Petersburg residents want to go forward, or look backward in a bid…
The new St. Pete Pier – stop laughing – was originally supposed to cost around $45 million, give or take a couple of grouper. We know how that goes though. It’s kind of like when your cable company promises to provide a million channels for 99 cents, or something like that. Then you get handed the bill. Anyway, as the back-and-forth went on and cost estimates increased, former Mayor Bill Foster famously said, “For $50 million, the people will get…
Although the Suncoast Police Benevolent Association endorsed Rick Kriseman re-election two months ago, a formal press conference touting its backing didn’t take place until Friday – three days after former mayor Rick Baker announced he was challenging the incumbent. “Senior leadership under the previous administration was one of the main causes of the low morale and tension in the community that we had between some of the police officers and the people that we serve,” said George Lofton, the president of the Suncoast PBA…