“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked Mike in Ernest Hemingway’s famous 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.” “Two ways,” Mike responded. “Gradually and then suddenly.” The “suddenly” part of St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch’s…
After not receiving a form required by the city with the Hines/Rays proposal, the City of St. Petersburg could have easily waived the requirement. Yet the city didn’t do so, a public records request to…
The Rays’ latest communication with public agencies who they wish to fund their new stadium contained some easily defeated sleight of hand, yet also served as an important indicator of the franchise’s intention. That intention…
“As we have made clear at every step of this process, a 2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone,” the Tampa Bay Rays wrote in…
The current in-force agreement for the Tampa Bay Rays’ use, management and operation (UMOA) of Tropicana Field has a so-called force majeure clause which governs what happens in the event of hurricane damage. With Major…
“If it is true the city didn’t push for an inflation adjustment, then that’s poor policymaking and I’d be upset with lawmakers as a resident.” That’s what Geoffrey Propheter, Professor at the School of Public…
“The way you know that Welch has the votes is because all the agreement documents have now been made public,” a former high level elected official told the Guardian on condition of anonymity. “That’s how…
In its request for proposal (RFP) for the redevelopment of the 86-acre Tropicana Field property, the City of St. Petersburg required that a city-produced proposal form be filled out, signed and submitted with any proposal.…
Through a public records request, the Guardian today obtained the final draft version of the proposed “Team Non-Relocation Agreement” between the Rays on the one hand, and the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County…
This 20-year cash flow analysis of a losing bidder for the site development of the proposed new Rays stadium, obtained exclusively by the Tampa Bay Guardian through a public records lawsuit, is illuminating. It shows…
“The document is not a public record,” the Tampa Bay Times claimed in its article about the cash flow projections that a firm working for the Rays provided to the City of St. Pete in…
On August 19, the Rays held a “Baseball Forever Night”, a promotion where tickets prices were cut in half. Rays caps were handed out to those who bought the lower-level seats, which were reasonably priced…
After repeatedly claiming that “promises” were made decades ago to “the black community, and businesses displaced” by the then redevelopment of the Gas Plan District, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch now claims he needs three…
Today’s PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority) board meeting was a resplendent exercise in flattery, hypocrisy, corruption, blood and gore (meeting video). Yes, all five. The first task that the PSTA board took on, within the…
“No serious studies show that municipal spending on pro sport stadiums pays off,” Roger Blair told our sister publication DR in 2016. Blair was then, and remains today, the chair of the Department of Economics…
A draft version of an email PSTA CEO Brad Miller was preparing to send to the PSTA board contained a damning admission which didn’t appear in the email that was ultimately sent to the board.…
After a string of traffic citations and car crashes during a two year period, immediate past PSTA chair and former Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard found herself without a driver’s license in 2019. A public…
PSTA’s response to an extensive public records request shows it has no underlying data to base its ridership claims on. PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority) said that they had “no records” when asked for data…
