Yesterday, I sent the email below to business and community leaders in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.
I’m sharing that email here because we all need to be leaders – directly calling and emailing the St. Petersburg City Council Members and the Pinellas County Commissioners. We need to let them know why it’s important to all of us that they vote No to approving the sale of bonds – No to borrowing money to pay for a stadium when our homes and our furniture are rotting before our eyes as a result of catastrophic hurricanes that we can’t count on not happening again. That we need this money to fix the sewer plants so our toilets flush, fix the seawalls and our other infrastructure needs so our homes don’t flood – $6 billion of needs identified by the city to protect our homes, our businesses and our community. And we need the funds to repair our beaches and have the funds to continue to repair them.
These storms are a gut check. When our elected officials look themselves in the mirror and reflect on the question – what are our priorities, our homes or a stadium – are they going to do what matters to make life better for all of us?
What is ironic that since I wrote the email, the Rays have chosen Tampa for their stadium for at least next year. As I pointed out below, their choice is exactly the right place for a baseball stadium – not just for a year or two – but for the long-term.
And finally, the Tampa Bay Times now writes that it’s a “bad look that the city or the county is even considering backing out.” The Rays are a group of very successful businessmen. When they entered into the contract with the city, they knew it was subject to the approval by the St. Petersburg City Council and the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners for the sale of bonds. Per the Tampa Bay Times, “Kneecapping the agreement at this stage would send all the wrong signals to any business that might want to move” here. The Tampa Bay Times, the Rays, and any company contemplating moving here knows that a deal subject to financing is still not a deal. How is this any different from selling your house subject to the buyer obtaining a mortgage. You know that the deal is not yet final. Again, per the Tampa Bay Times, “Pinellas can’t be trusted.” When you sell your house it’s a two step process – first sign the contract, subject to the buyer obtaining a mortgage, and second close the deal once the mortgage is obtained. And if the buyer cannot obtain the mortgage the deal does not close. Does that mean you can’t trust the prospective buyer? You knew going in it was subject to the buyer getting financing. Tampa Bay Times – you know better.
11/14/24
To our business and community leaders:
I am writing to you as a leader of an important sector of our economy along with other leaders in finance, tech, health care, and our universities – the economic engines of growth for our area. We need your help – now – today.
One year ago, as the City of St. Petersburg considered funding a new baseball stadium, and I analyzed the costs versus the benefits, I decided to get involved. More about me and my involvement is HERE.
Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg need to make the right decisions for the future of our community. They need your help to confirm what the leaders of our community think – and I hope that would be to harden our infrastructure and protect our beaches and homes from the next hurricane. We cannot afford to waste our resources on something else.
Next week on Tuesday, November 19, the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners, and on Thursday, November 21, the St. Petersburg City Council Members are each scheduled to vote on whether to approve borrowing funds through bond sales to finance a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. The proposed cost, including interest, is approximately $672 million for St. Petersburg and about $600 million for Pinellas County. Additionally, by leasing the stadium rent-free (with no revenue sharing), the city and county will forego significant property tax revenues over the next 30 years – estimate over $600 million. Furthermore, the city plans to sell the remaining Gas Plant site property—valued at well over $10 million per acre—for a fraction of that price – a total of an estimated $500 million under value.
A total cost of $2.4 billion of community resources.
As leading figures in our community’s economy, I am reaching out to urge you to consider the limited impact this stadium funding will have on our community – but the tremendous diversion of assets so vitally needed for what matters..
I hope you will lend your voice to urge the Commissioners and City Council Members to vote “No” by contacting them this week.
Critical Infrastructure Needs
We need to be able to flush our toilets and drink the water. And we need our tourists to have beaches. Most important we need to protect our homes.
In April 2024, the city of St. Petersburg issued: “Discussion of Known Capital Improvement Need 30-Year Forecast” report outlined an anticipated $3.3 billion required for water, sewer, and reclaimed water repairs and $1.6 billion for stormwater system upgrades. According to Brejesh Prayman, Director of Engineering and Capital Improvements for St. Petersburg, replacing just one section of seawall costs over $3 million. Given our city’s 244 miles of shoreline, the full cost of necessary seawall repairs could approach $1 billion.
Adding to this burden are Pinellas County’s beaches, spanning 30 miles and requiring continual re-nourishment to withstand erosion, especially after hurricanes.
These essential projects alone demand nearly $6 billion in funding by St. Petersburg and even more by Pinellas County.
Impact of Recent Hurricanes
Our region has seen a dramatic increase in hurricane impacts, with two significant storms in just two weeks. Ten of thousand of people have lost their homes and in many cases most of their belongings. And people are now worried. (My house came close to flooding – I am worried.)
St. Peterburg’s sewer plants were almost overwhelmed as they were vulnerable to the storms never seen here before.
The increased risk from future storms is undeniable, and we can no longer assume a “100-year storm” won’t strike again soon. The recent storms underscored vulnerabilities in our infrastructure, with disruptions in wastewater and sewer services, property damage, and environmental impacts. Repeatedly neglecting infrastructure in favor of less critical investments places our community’s future in jeopardy.
Why Stadium Funding is a Risky Investment
Major league baseball and a stadium, while nice (I go to games, my family has season tickets and I like watching my grandson play baseball), don’t drive the economic growth needed to justify its funding. Everyone has to know this. And it does not drive tourism. Baseball is played in our hot summers – not when most tourists are here. Attendance for the team has been among the lowest in Major League Baseball, and while the stadium may provide a few tourists, it pales in comparison to the impact of well-maintained beaches, museums, the pier, and our renowned culinary scene. Tourism in St. Petersburg thrives because of our arts, culture, and environment, and our economic growth is due to your organizations – not baseball. When I was in China and said I was from St. Petersburg, the response – the Dali Museum.
A New Comprehensive Analysis is Needed
Before approving any stadium-related bonds, I have urged our city and county leaders to conduct a thorough analysis of infrastructure needs and funding priorities. This should include a realistic projection of seawall, sewer, and stormwater system costs, as well as funds necessary for beach re-nourishment and protecting critical assets like hospitals from future storm surges. But this analysis has not been done and the vote is next week.
Spending $55 million to repair existing stadium
Now Mayor Ken Welch is proposing to spend $55 million to repair the existing stadium. The total cost is not fully known and the repairs will take one year. What if there is another hurricane that rips off that roof?
In Summary
People are worried about the future of our area and future storms. I am worried.
We cannot afford to spend $2.4 billion of our community’s limited resources on a private sector business, that while nice, is not a driver of our economy. We need to focus our resources on what matters to our citizens, our businesses, our community organizations and our economy.
Baseball should be in Tampa, if it has a chance of growing attendance. Let Tampa be the sports center of Tampa Bay, let St. Petersburg be the cultural center, and our beaches continue to be a major driver of tourism.
These two hurricanes need to be a wake-up call to what is the right thing to do.
Call to Action
If you share these concerns, please contact the City Council Members and County Commissioners this week to advocate for a “No” vote on stadium funding. If possible, please also send me a copy of any public statements or emails for publication on homerunsmatter.com to keep our community informed and engaged.
Below, I have provided a list of current city council and county commissioner contacts.
Pinellas County Commissioners
Brian Scott – brscott@pinellas.gov 727 464 3360
Dave Eggers – deggers@pinellas.gov 727 464 3276
Chris Latvala – clatvala@pinellas.gov 727 464 3278
Kathleen Peters kpeters@pinellasl.gov 727 464 3568
Rene flowers rflowers@pinellas.gov 727 464 4614
Also new commissioners
Chris Scherer – chris@schererforpinellas.com
Vince Nowicki – vince@vincenmowicki.com
St. Petersburg City Council Members
Copley Gerdes. Copley.gerdes@stpete.org. 727 551 3528
Brandi Gabbard Brandi.gabbard@stpete.org 727 893 4096
Lisset Hanewicz lisset.hanewicz@stpeteorg 727 893 7232
Deborah Figgs-Sanders Deborah.figgs-sanders@stpete.org 727 893 7148
Gina Driscoll Gina.driscoll@stpete.org 727 551 3306
John Muhammad john.muhammad@stpete.org 727 551 3304
Richie Floyd Richie.floyd@stpete.org 727 551 3437
Thank you for your leadership and commitment to the future of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. By joining together, we can ensure that our city and county leaders prioritize what matters most.
Here is a summary of why what we do matters.
HERE is nohomerun and homerunsmatter’s complete analysis of why we need to say no to these bond sales.
Sincerely,
Ron Diner
727 510 8750
