Stadiums Over Sewers? St. Pete’s Priorities Are Broken

$1.6 Billion for Baseball While Toilets Back Up

While sewage bubbles up in our streets and king tides creep into neighborhoods, five St. Pete city leaders had something else on their minds.  I hope they have learned a lesson.  

Brandi Gabbard, Copley Gerdes, Deborah Figgs-Sanders, Gina Driscoll, and Ed Montanari voted for a $1.6 billion stadium deal using city resources.

They did this knowing the city faces over $5 billion in sewer and stormwater needs . This wasn’t news. Did they know about the flooding chances – of course.  What about the aging pipes – it was in the reports. And they still chose to chase a stadium for billionaires.

FEMA Cut $33 Million.  And that’s our excuse?

As reported by the St. Pete. Catalyst, FEMA pulled $33 million in funding that St. Pete planned to use toward the $5 billion needs -to harden sewage lift stations and reduce tidal flooding.

It would’ve protected homes, kept toilets working, and made neighborhoods more livable.

Now it’s gone.

Councilmember Gabbard says she wants her constituents to understand “the city’s limitations” now that the funding has been pulled.

But let’s be honest: those limitations are of your own making.
You chose the stadium. You didn’t choose us.

If I were in Washington and saw a city pushing a $1.6 billion stadium while begging for infrastructure bailouts, I’d ask what every taxpayer is thinking:
Are you kidding me?

Priorities

You can’t prioritize a ballpark and then expect sympathy when your real needs go unfunded. That’s not leadership. That’s mismanagement.

While Council Member Gerdes voted for a stadium costing $1.6 billion to the city, as reported by the Catalyst, he said city officials need to ensure we “don’t just fund programs, but we fund the right programs..”  So how did the stadium deal come first?

Only Three City  Council Members Got It Right

Credit where credit is due. Only Richie Floyd, John Muhammad, and Lisset Hanewicz voted no on the stadium deal.

They were right. They saw through the hype. They focused on what matters—keeping the city running, not chasing shiny distractions.

The others? They lost focus.

The Stadium Deal Is Dead. The Lesson Better Stick.

Now that the stadium deal is finally off the table, here’s the big question:

Have you learned your lesson?

St. Pete doesn’t need vanity projects. It needs storm drains that work and sewage systems that don’t collapse. It needs streets that don’t flood every time it rains.  And that’s not all.  We need affordable housing and better schools.  

You can love baseball. That’s fine. But your job isn’t to be a fan. It’s to represent the people who elected you.  And a stadium is not what they wanted. 

The next time billionaires come knocking, remember this:

• • Flush before fastballs

• • Sewers before stadiums

• • Flood control before field dreams

Focus on the fundamentals.
That’s your job. Do it.