As a No Home Run team member, I assure you there are very smart people writing our blog posts, op-eds and letters in the Tampa Bay Times and other local media. Way smarter than me; some with deep expertise in various parts of the public/private partnership world.
Their command of the overwhelming (by design) bits of data needed to properly understand the true badness of the Gas Plant Redevelopment proposal is awe inspiring and I have learned A LOT. However, often the number of words required for detailed explanation can be snooze worthy. In fact, I think most St. Pete and Pinellas County residents are dreaming of emerald stadiums, like Dorothy and the boys after inhaling the Wicked Witch’s sleepy spell. Meanwhile the Wizard plots and Oz’s people sing the day away along with billions of our tax dollars.
After Idalia, as a St. Pete resident living in a water neighborhood, I got busy learning the depth of our danger from storms. It was a sobering few months, culminating in a neighborhood meeting where St. Pete’s Director of Public Works told us his 2024 storm sewer budget is $17M and he needs $1B today just to correct existing infrastructure issues. Ironically, as I wrote this Beryl was gaining strength as she aims for Texas and I am sighing with relief that sadly, but realistically, we sold our home 100’ from Tampa Bay last month.
Even as we headed for higher ground, I followed the money – or lack thereof for storm hardening - and it led me to directly to the Tropicana’s front gate, where I discovered No Home Run, a group of deeply concerned citizens working to wake up the residents to the dangerous waters ahead if the current deal is approved.
After six months immersion in the “tsunami drama” that is ALL local politics, I share these observations:
It is possible to make a big difference with a small group of caring, knowledgeable, motivated people. NHR was started by a banker – but we are also an engineer, physician, realtor, dentist, Pilates teacher, public officials and just retired. We share in the expenses (including the poll) and each accomplish tasks that suit our skills and available time. Perhaps surprisingly, we don’t have a traditional leader wielding the final word. We decide as a group but are united by the same goal: “Strike a better deal” for the ‘Burg and County residents.
Fear is a cheap and easy weapon. The speedy timeline and hyped-up marketing of the Rays organization has only one goal – convincing us that unless we give them everything they want, they’re going to take their balls and move. Don’t buy it. It’s a standard MLB ploy to generate fan fervor, anxiety in politicians and more tax-payer money. Sleepy sparkles. It's shameful how often it works and there are solid, scientific studies galore proving how truly terrible these deals are for the tax paying public.
Building bridges is key. We may be few in number, but our community partnerships have broadened and deepened our impact. Faith in Florida rallied their community and lead the conversation on the social injustice issues of this deal, including the broken promises of the past. The Southern Poverty Law Center sent a letter declaring their investigation and potential lawsuit regarding those same broken promises. Our local Sierra Club Suncoast chapter illuminates the many environmental issues, organizing numerous events and writing op-eds to help educate all the constituencies. One of our NHR team members, a community activist living in an underserved neighborhood near the Trop, attends hundreds of meetings with neighborhood associations, community leaders, council people, county commissioners, media and others, dispelling the lies and misleading marketing that come with the sleepy sparkles. Together, all of us working toward the common goal of an educated public demanding a better deal for the city taxpayers.
Facts matter…but not too many. The paradox of this corporate socialism is the deal is SO one-sided it doesn’t seem possible or real to most of us. We often talk about this in team meetings - how could it be that bad? But it is. How can people not see it? They are finally starting to, but the sparkly vapors are potent, and the number of details complicated. Out of at least 25 reasons the city should stop the impending vote, and renegotiate this deal, here’s my Top 3:
The people deserve and want a vote. They said so loudly in any poll that asked them and they know this is the biggest public expenditure in St. Pete history! They are also waking up to how their vote was eliminated by a tax trickery called the CRA district, allowing only the City Council – 8 people – to decide on a 30-year, $1.4 billion relationship with a businessman who has been previously sued by his partners.
This deal is not about baseball staying. It’s about 1-2 people, for 30 years, utterly controlling 60+ acres of developable prime downtown St. Pete real estate – some say the best currently available in the US. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want to, with whomever, and team ownership is not required for that control. If (when) the team is sold, we are in an arranged marriage with the new owner – and the 60ish acres are still controlled by team whatever/whenever/whomever. The city has no say, and the taxpayer foots the bills, with infrastructure and remediation topping the list.
The public deserves a new land appraisal, stat! It’s shocking that it wasn’t item one on the “due diligence to-do list” and council has yet to say why, though they have been asked plenty. The land was last appraised in Jan 2023 – 60.91 acres at $279,360,000 – yet we are selling it for $105,000,000…over 30 years! (And land in the area is selling more much more today.) The math says we are giving them the land for almost nothing, since they pay only $4 million a year for a total of $50 million in the first 12 years. And that discounted price of $105M? Guess where the much acclaimed $50M community benefits came from? Among other things. So many other things.
In Oz, Glinda the Good Witch, woke the companions to their danger with a gentle snowfall. In reality, No Home Run has needed a blizzard of solid facts and provable analysis to dispel the dreamy professional pictures, fancy words and money being used to promote the illusion of the renderings versus the harsh reality of the facts.
To Our Readers
This is a bad, bad deal for us all. The vote is July 18. We have just a few days until the vote and every voice matters. Please use yours to protest this corporate socialism, social injustice and potential environmental disaster.
Write TODAY to the St. Petersburg City Council to Slow Down the Process - Vote NO on July 18th.
