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Council members and Mayoral candidate talk about the Baywalk sidewalk issue
September 28, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG -- City Council
Chairman Jeff Danner said today that he wasn't sure whether
there would be enough votes to approve giving the public sidewalk in front of
BayWalk to the ailing complex's owners Thursday.
Speaking to the St. Petersburg
Times editorial board, Danner said he thought it was arrogant to blame
protesters for the downtown entertainment complex's failure. He said he
wondered whether BayWalk's mall-like orientation was to blame and whether
putting the storefronts facing the street would help.
The City Council will vote Thursday
on whether to surrender the sidewalk and spend $700,000 on security and
cosmetic improvements around the complex.
Danner said the decision on the
sidewalk will be "difficult. My concern is the precedent."
If they approve the sidewalk
giveaway, he said he could see Parkshore Grill or Bella Brava come to the city
for help with panhandlers or protesters in front of their businesses, saying,
"We want what you gave BayWalk."
Heather Urquides, Times Staff
Writer
September 29, 2009
Kathleen Ford opposes BayWalk sidewalk vacation
ST. PETERSBURG -- Mayoral candidate Kathleen Ford said she does not support privatizing the sidewalk fronting BayWalk.
Instead, the downtown entertainment complex needs better security, she said.
Ford will speak about her views at
7 p.m. Wednesday at Cafe Bohemia on Central Avenue prior to the start
of a weekly movie screening by St. Pete for Peace, a group that has led
demonstrations outside of BayWalk.
The City Council will take a final vote on BayWalk Thursday morning at City Hall.
Cristina Silva, Times staff writer
Posted by tampabaycom at 05:57:44 PM on September 29, 2009
September 29, 2009
Jim Kennedy: Public process not so public
ST. PETERSBURG -- City Council
member Jim Kennedy said Mayor Rick Baker or his staff regularly conduct
private meetings with City Council members to discuss upcoming business
items before public meetings.
Baker is "smart enough" to ensure
his ideas will likely receive a majority of the City Council's votes
before they come up for vote, Kennedy said. If council members have
concerns about policy proposals, compromises are usually hammered out
during these private matters.
"I feel as if you've had impact all
along on the finished product," said Kennedy during a meeting with the
St. Petersburg Times editorial board Tuesday.
However, this process does not
undermine the City Council's duty to check and balance the
administration's authority, Kennedy said.
"I don't think there is any abrogation whatsoever," he said.
Are council agenda items done deals by the time they come up for vote, then?
"It may be a done deal because it's been analyzed and it's been massaged," he said.
Kennedy said he supports televising
the council's committee meetings, during which many policy decisions
are created, but he has concerns that the cameras could, "discourage
brainstorming."
A tentative policy suggestion, "could be misinterpreted as someone trying to run with something," he said.
Kennedy also said he has concerns about Baker's plan to privatize the sidewalk fronting BayWalk.
"I don't know if I really buy the
concept that protesters and free speech demonstrators are responsible
for the demise of BayWalk," he said.
A Times Editorial
A step worth taking to save BayWalk
Published Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The St. Petersburg City Council
faces a difficult vote Thursday on a key part of Mayor Rick Baker's
plan to help save BayWalk, the downtown entertainment complex
struggling to survive.
Spending roughly $700,000 for
better lighting in the city-owned parking garage and other improvements
was the easy part. The tougher issue is vacating the public sidewalk in
front of BayWalk on Second Avenue N so its new owner can control what
goes on there. This narrowly drawn proposal is more about redevelopment
and protecting a substantial public investment than about
constitutional rights, and the council should approve it.
The council already has approved a
comprehensive plan that features enhanced security and well-marked
pedestrian connections between BayWalk, Beach Drive and other downtown
areas. Police officers are patrolling on horseback, and the city will
offer free parking in the garage on nights and weekends for six months
starting in January. The changes will benefit the entire area as well
as BayWalk, and the cost is reasonable.
The more difficult question is
whether to vacate the sidewalk in front of BayWalk, which was a popular
spot for protesters when the complex drew crowds on the weekends and
its storefronts were full. The area became congested, and there were
concerns about security and the ability of customers to enter the
complex. This plan is not as objectionable as other proposals this
editorial page has criticized, such as closing Second Avenue N entirely
or creating "no-protest zones" on the public sidewalk. There also is
precedent for vacating parts of streets and sidewalks for other
developments, and protesters still would have access to BayWalk patrons
from the public sidewalks on the south side of Second Avenue N. The
refined proposal makes clear that BayWalk would gain no new development
rights, and the public and private portions of the space would be
clearly marked.
Some council members worry that
vacating the sidewalk for BayWalk will lead to a rash of similar
demands from other downtown business owners. But the council has the
authority to decide under what narrow circumstances to grant such
requests. BayWalk is a particularly unusual case.
First, the public has a substantial
investment in the complex. St. Petersburg taxpayers have spent at least
$20 million over the years to build and support BayWalk, and that
investment is at risk now. Second, BayWalk triggered a downtown
renaissance when it opened in 2000, and it would be foolish to let it
become a blight in the midst of a recession. Third, the complex
includes the only movie theaters in the city. How can St. Petersburg
claim it can support Major League Baseball but not a single movie
theater?
BayWalk's new owners have pledged
in writing to spend more than $6 million to renovate the complex.
Muvico, which operates the separately controlled theaters, also has
stepped up and pledged to spend about $750,000 to update its complex in
return for an additional break on parking. But BayWalk's owners and
Muvico have made it clear that all of that investment will disappear
unless the council approves the vacation of the sidewalk.
Groups that have previously
protested in front of BayWalk are objecting — although the crowds
they sought to reach with their message will not return unless the
complex is revived. The sidewalk vacation has broad support from the
business community and from the Downtown Residents Civic Association.
BayWalk is at a turning point, and the City Council can head it in the
right direction by voting to vacate the sidewalk.
Creative Loafing
September 29, 2009 at 5:48 pm by Mitch Perry
On
Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council will vote on whether to give
the public sidewalk in front of the BayWalk shopping complex to its
owners. The city also intends to spend $700,000 of federal stimulus
money to help revitalize the facility.
For the past two months, City Hall in St. Pete has been home to
public hearings and protests because of the controversial nature of the
proposal — which would be to rid the street of protestors who have used
the sidewalk to host a number of demonstrations, particularly against
the Iraq war earlier this decade.
The ACLU has threatened legal
action if the Council follows through on its promise to give the right
of way to Baywalk owners.
Eric Rubin is with Serve the People
House of Worship in St. Pete. He calls the idea of privatizing BayWalk
“fundamentally wrong.” And he’s unhappy that at the one public hearing
he attended on the issue, only Councilman Wengay Newton made any
objections to the proposal.
And Rubin feels there’s another component at play here: race.
“If they can privatize the street, that would be a prelude to
preventing black youth from wandering through BayWalk. They [city
officials] also talk about this being a safety argument, not a free
speech argument.”
Marianne Huber is with St. Pete for Peace, the leading activist
group that has held countless protests at BayWalk over the past few
years. She considers the argument that protests have led to BayWalk’s
financial difficulties bogus.
In an email, Huber says, “In the six years we’ve protested at
BayWalk, we have never hurt anyone. Half of the sidewalk is already
private and off limits to protestors, so we’ve never prevented anyone
from going there. And saying we’re bad for business is nonsense.
We’ve been at BayWalk less than 1% it’s been open, while the
unemployment rate in Tampa Bay has tripled in the past six years, and
BayWalk offers high-end products that no wants and that don’t sell well
during very difficult economic times.”
Huber and others contend that the city was told by BayWalk’s owners,
C.W. Capital , that they would not consider a potential $6 million
investment in the shopping center without having the ability to control
the sidewalk.
Homeless advocate Bruce Wright sees growing momentum for the Council not to give the sidewalk up.
Citing unscientific polls produced by local media outlets (as well
as recent comments made by Councilman Jeff Danner that he worries about the precedent being set), Wright says BayWalk has problems, but they have to do with the economy, not street protests.
The City Council meeting on Thursday begins at 8:30 a.m. Activists
say they’ll hold a news conference in front of City Hall before the
meeting at 8 a.m. (read).
Also from the Creative Loafing: "A more sustainable alternative to the BayWalk bailout" (read).
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E-mail: info@stpeteforpeace.org
