On Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council will vote on whether to give the public sidewalk in front of the BayWalk shopping complex to its owners. The city also intends to spend $700,000 of federal stimulus money to help revitalize the facility.
For the past two months, City Hall in St. Pete has been home to public hearings and protests because of the controversial nature of the proposal — which would be to rid the street of protestors who have used the sidewalk to host a number of demonstrations, particularly against the Iraq war earlier this decade.
The ACLU has threatened legal action if the Council follows through on its promise to give the right of way to Baywalk owners.
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2009.