The city’s vote on the bonds got pushed up to tomorrow
December 4, 2024
The city’s vote on the bonds got pushed up to tomorrow
5 comments
Sounds like they realized that delaying the vote only created a mess. Approve the bonds and let’s all get back to business.
I thought the city already approved this and it’s been the county that hasn’t?
While this seems to be good news from the city we still need the County to approve the bonds on their vote on Dec 19th. I urge everyone to write their members in support of issuing the bonds. Or, if you can go in person look into attending and speaking.
Here’s where they currently stand on the stadium deal based on recent meetings:
Yes votes: Flowers, Peters, and Scott.
Probably no: Vince Nowicki and Scherer. Both were newly elected and campaigned against the stadium deal. Nowicki has been the loudest about his opposition and at the last meeting I went to even complained about having to read all his constituents’ emails, so reaching out to him may not be worth it.
Latvala and Eggers. They voted against the deal in July. Eggers, in particular, seems more open to changing his vote as his no vote was because he felt the county could have gotten a better deal rather than opposed to a stadium deal in general. Eggers was also a former little league umpire so maybe he can be reached with the romanticism of baseball?
I personally tried reaching out expressing the importance of Pinellas keeping their promises and approached it from the perspective of “why would any future investors trust Pinellas county in the future if we back out of our commitments.” But who knows what the best approach is.
The city only voted to delay once the county did and the Rays said the deal was off. I think they were surprised and wanted more time to figure out what is going on. At this point I think the city will approve the bonds and then it lands in the hands of the county which is scheduled to vote on the 17th. That’s the big question…right now it looks as though that vote by the county wouldn’t pass and that would kill the deal. We shall see.
I don’t see this as anything to get excited about. Latvala and Nowicki are still pushing for all 3 parties to get into a room and renegotiate the deal. Until they back off i agree with the Rays…the deal is dead.
5 comments
Sounds like they realized that delaying the vote only created a mess. Approve the bonds and let’s all get back to business.
I thought the city already approved this and it’s been the county that hasn’t?
While this seems to be good news from the city we still need the County to approve the bonds on their vote on Dec 19th. I urge everyone to write their members in support of issuing the bonds. Or, if you can go in person look into attending and speaking.
Here’s where they currently stand on the stadium deal based on recent meetings:
Yes votes: Flowers, Peters, and Scott.
Probably no: Vince Nowicki and Scherer. Both were newly elected and campaigned against the stadium deal. Nowicki has been the loudest about his opposition and at the last meeting I went to even complained about having to read all his constituents’ emails, so reaching out to him may not be worth it.
Latvala and Eggers. They voted against the deal in July. Eggers, in particular, seems more open to changing his vote as his no vote was because he felt the county could have gotten a better deal rather than opposed to a stadium deal in general. Eggers was also a former little league umpire so maybe he can be reached with the romanticism of baseball?
I personally tried reaching out expressing the importance of Pinellas keeping their promises and approached it from the perspective of “why would any future investors trust Pinellas county in the future if we back out of our commitments.” But who knows what the best approach is.
Here’s their contact information:
1. Chris Scherer: cscherer@pinellas.gov
2. Brian Scott: brscott@pinellas.gov
3. Vince Nowicki: vnowicki@pinellas.gov
4. Dave Eggers: deggers@pinellas.gov
5. Charlie Latvala: clatvala@pinellas.gov
6. Kathleen Peters: kpeters@pinellas.gov
7. Rene Flowers: rflowers@pinellas.gov
The city only voted to delay once the county did and the Rays said the deal was off. I think they were surprised and wanted more time to figure out what is going on. At this point I think the city will approve the bonds and then it lands in the hands of the county which is scheduled to vote on the 17th. That’s the big question…right now it looks as though that vote by the county wouldn’t pass and that would kill the deal. We shall see.
I don’t see this as anything to get excited about. Latvala and Nowicki are still pushing for all 3 parties to get into a room and renegotiate the deal. Until they back off i agree with the Rays…the deal is dead.