Rick Kriseman will not be sworn in as St. Petersburg mayor until January, but he already faces some immediate decisions — hiring a new police chief and dealing with the shuttered city Pier.
The morning after Kriseman decisively beat incumbent Bill Foster, the mayor-elect got down to business, organizing a City Hall press conference to talk about the pressing issues of the new administration.
Topping the list is hiring a new police chief to replace retiring Chief Chuck Harmon, who leaves on Jan. 6. Kriseman campaigned that he will hire a national consultant to lead the search.
• Kriseman also will need to chart a course for redeveloping the St. Petersburg Pier, after a $50 million design proposal for the "Lens" was defeated at the polls. Kriseman pledged to involve the public and rely on previous task force studies for waterfront planning.
• With unemployment as high as 20 percent in Midton, Kriseman said he will focus on business development in the area.
But Kriseman’s first task is building relations with his opponent, after a hard-fought race. That work already seemed to have started Tuesday, Election Day, before polls had closed.
When Foster and Kriseman crossed paths at Sunken Gardens in a last-minute push for voters, Kriseman said: “The hardest part of this election is that I like the guy I’m running against.”
Winter swims to victory: Is a run for mayor next for the perennially popular Winter the Dolphin?
The marquee marine mammal will be moved to a new $160 million aquarium complex, after voters agreed to grant Clearwater Marine Aquarium a 60-year lease on City Hall property along the waterfront.
Residents voted 55 percent to 45 percent to support the move, which is seen as an economic engine for Clearwater.
Tens of thousands of movie fans make the pilgrimage to the small aquarium each year, since the 2011 movie, Dolphin Tale, fictionalized the real-life story of the injured dolphin that lost its tale after becoming entangled in a fishing trap.
Business expansion: USAA, a financial services company, has announced a major expansion in Hillsborough County that will create about 1,200 new jobs in the next five years. The company now employs close to 2,000 workers in New Tampa.
Gov. Rick Scott’s office made the announcement this week, noting that the company will lease an additional 50,000 square feet of office space at the Lakeview Center in Tampa.
In 2015, USAA plans to move operations into a brand new complex at the Crosstown Center in Brandon. That facility will be close to a half-million square feet.
USAA provides financial services, including insurance, banking and retirement products, to the military community.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2013.