CL Contributor Arielle Stevenson sat down for an in-depth interview with St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster on Friday February 17. She wrote up the interview for a story published Mar. 1 in CL. Here’s the complete transcript of their conversation.
Arielle Stevenson: Can you walk me through a typical day for you?
Bill Foster: Wow, yeah I can. Let me use a visual aid [pulls out iPhone]. Today for example, Friday, is a kind of a light day. I did a radio interview on WQYK this morning at 6:30 a.m., did another one at 8:30 on the MJ Morning Show. It’s his last day,
So what time did you wake up this morning?
I got up at about 5:30.
Is that usual for you?
Between 5:30-6. I had a 9 o’clock appointment, a 10 o’clock staff meeting, 11 appointment, 12 working lunch, 2 budget meeting, that just let out, and now 3:30 with you. After this, I’ll meet with my assistant and go over next week’s calendar. At 5 p.m. going to Wood Fired Pizza to honor their opening and then I am off, this is a Friday. Then I’ll leave there and spend a little time with my family, then it’s back out because I am a celebrity DJ for a fundraising dance party. It’s me, Ernest Hooper, Dick Griffin and somebody from the Bucs.
Where is that?
Gulfport Casino.
So what are you going to play?
I’m doing the ’50s. I wasn’t even alive in the ’50s. Hooper got the ’80s. I would have prefered disco because I can do that. I know the disco songs. I was kind of a geek in the ’70s, I probably could have handled the ’70s pretty well. ’80s, I grew up, and got into Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Journey, Foreigner.
So what are you going to play for the ’50s?
I don’t know. Pat Boone? I have no idea.
You can play Elvis.
Yeah, Elvis. But I’m hoping they have a list. Is Marvin Gaye in the ’50s?
Yeah, I think so. You can play Chuck Berry and Etta James.
I don’t know who that is.
Etta James? You know Etta James. The song “At Last,” they play it at every wedding.
[He starts singing “At Last”] Oh, yeah, I know her.
So I’ll do that until 11 p.m., then I’ll ride through downtown just to make sure things are still there without me and then I’ll go home. So that is Friday night excitement… Yesterday, I had to speak at a funeral for a former mayor. I got there at 8:30, then I had committee meetings, staff meetings and the Pier workshop, council meeting until 8 p.m. A typical day is at least 12 hours. If I’m not working for 12 hours, then I’ve had a short day. Saturday I have a mayor’s summit which will run from 9 to about 1. So yeah, I work Saturdays. Last Saturday I spoke at the Black History Festival in the morning. The Saturday before I spoke at the CONA goals retreat, so it’s six days a week, at least five of them are 12 hours.
How do you do that?
I never stop drinking coffee, as you can see. I self-medicate with caffeine.
How do you take your coffee?
Black.
Me, too.
While I was in college, it was the first time I was out and alone in Birmingham, AL. I was poor and I decided I could live without sugar and cream. So it was an acquired taste.
What do you think is something people in the community might assume about you?
That they assume?
Yeah.
Assume…assume about me.
Or what would surprise people about you?
I think people assume that I’m kind of a square. And it’s kind of three things. I get three compliments, or at least people think they’re giving me a compliment and I guess they are. People will say, you’re better-looking in person than on TV. You’re not as fat as you appear on TV. You’re a lot more fun than I expected.
Maybe you should include a workshop on how to give compliments?
Yeah. “You’re much better-looking than your picture.” Thank you. Or “You’re not nearly as fat as I thought you were.” The better way to put that would be, “You’re much thinner than you appear on TV.” And then I’d say, “Yes, the camera adds 10 pounds.” And then, people think that I’m not funny. I’m very funny.
Why do you think people think you aren’t funny?
I think a lot of times, because the job as mayor is often not funny. The subject matter that you deal with is very serious. It’s people’s money, it’s their property, it’s their assets, it’s crime, it’s tragedy, it’s public relations. So we deal on a day-to-day basis with such a heavy subject matter that I think a lot of people don’t get to see that side of me.
Is that something you’ve been trying to show more of? I know when I saw you at Tiger Bay…
I had fun there.
You seemed very at ease with the crowd.
And that is something I want people to see when they see me outside of City Hall. There’s a lot more to Bill Foster than you see in a meeting setting or doing the business of the city.
Now, your family is from here. Three generations back?
I’m four. Four generations.
I know you served on City Council for a while before you were mayor. But has being mayor changed your relationship with the city? Or how you feel towards the city? How you navigate the city given your lineage? Most people move to St. Petersburg; some are from here but mostly people move here.
Yeah, they do. I remember looking at my yearbook from Northeast High School. Because they put your city of birth with your portrait. I was one of the few people that was from St. Petersburg, FL. Both my parents went to St. Pete High, both my grandparents went to St. Pete High. And my great-grandparents had a little store on Central Avenue, a little general store. My grandparents were very prominent figures in St. Petersburg. My grandfather was one of five men that started the group called the Suncoasters which then did the Festival of States. So they were very civic-minded and I grew up going to a lot of civic events. I grew up going to Webb City, which very few people know.
The world’s most unusual drug store.
I went to cotillions, and I still love this city. What still amazes me about St. Petersburg is that we are still the fourth largest city in the state of Florida. I was at a convenience store the other day and a lady came up to me and said, “Billy Foster.” When they call me Billy, I know that it’s pre-college. She said, “You don’t remember me.” I said, “Okay, help me out.” Then she told me her name. I never in a million years would have recognized her, but as soon as she told me her name I had floods of memories. She lived down the street from me, we went to high school together, we were in Latin together. I had a crush on her in ninth grade. So we got to reminisce. You can’t get that in other cities. There was another time I ran into a girl who said, “You don’t remember me,” and I said, “Refresh my memory,” and she called me Billy. She told me her name. I remember we had dated a couple of times. I said, “Please tell me I was always a gentlemen because I don’t remember.” She reminded me that I was.
Well, that’s good.
You’re not going to get that anywhere else. So being mayor hasn’t changed the way I feel about this city. I adore this city. And I want other people to adore it. Which is why I am pushing this [holds up Peter Kageyama’s book For the Love of Cities]. I want to get more people in the 10 percent that actually love this city. Coming from the mayor, it sounds hokey when you’re running for office. There are 10 candidates, why are you running for mayor? Because I love this city and I want to make it better. Well, we all say that. But for me, it was 100 percent true. And I want others to feel about this city the way I do.
So I asked you at Tiger Bay about Kageyama’s book. I’m curious to know more about that book and you. When you read it, was it like a light bulb turned on?
Yeah, it really was. I had read Richard Florida’s book [The Rise of the Creative Class]. Which is why I’ve really adopted this drive for the creative classes. Art and culture. Why I love being number one. Why I still quote Ricky Bobby, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” That’s how I feel about the arts. I want to stay relevant when it comes to art and culture. So I bought into that as an economic driver, as a sense of pride for the city, as a job creator, and Peter takes it a step further. You have to know about me, I was geeky-disco-’70s, rock-n-roll ’80s, but ever since the ’90s I’ve been kind of a country guy. I listen to country, love country music and that’s my genre now. Ive always been into sports. If anyone had said, “Prioritize what cities do for you, what your interests are,” I was anything with sports, football, baseball, hockey, Nascar, Indycar, creative class, going to the orchestra over a football game would have been a no-brainer. Now it’s kind of the opposite.
So that has changed recently?
It’s changed in the last couple years. It’s remarkable because, and I tell people when I talk to arts organizations, I’m Joe the plumber. I’m the untapped market, if you can get me you can double your audience in a minute. And I wasn’t that hard to get. So now, Bob Devin Jones at Studio@620, some of the cool things he does. freeFall Theatre, and Palladium and I love the orchestra. I’m amazed at this other side. Maybe it’s maturity…maybe I’m like a fine wine that’s matured. I don’t know.
I spoke with Olga Bof about you, and she said you guys had a meeting like two years ago and you told her, “I’m not an arts guy, I’m a Florida guy.” Is what you told her? Now you can be seen at studio@620 at any number of occasions. You wrote a 60-second play.
I did, it was hilarious.
Obviously something changed, and this book, you’re saying, is partly responsible?
That just was a double-down on Richard Florida’s book.
The Rise of the Creative Class.
But this one took it a little further because it wasn’t so much money you spent, doing something cool for your city, it was the fact you were doing something cool for your city. I mean, Olga is a prime example. Free Hug Day. I still have my cardboard sign. That was genius, and for the price of a sharpie, you’re doing something that someone will remember. And say, “This city is really cool.” The Saturday Morning Market, I think is ingenious and the folks who put their blood, sweat and tears into that, I think we owe a huge debt of gratitude. Urban farming initiatives, we’re going to really do more of. It’s mulch and a water meter. Let people reap benefits from the soil. So, I mean, I’ve surprised even myself.
What are your love letters to the city [a concept introduced in Kageyama’s book]?
It’s the Florida Orchestra in the park. When the Sunshine City Band is playing the day after Thanksgiving, and thousands of people are just waiting for the lights to come on. It’s the Fourth of July. It’s the lights at Straub Park or the tree lighting at Williams Park. It’s the waterfront. It’s the green grass of Vinoy Park. I remember saying to my staff, it’s not green enough, get out there. I told them the other day, I was looking out there and it’s so green. They said, not for long, I don’t know what that meant. Something is going to happen at the park. Those are all the simple love letters. It’s someone like Olga, Free Hug Day, street closure for the 600 block.
I was thinking about the 600 block the other day. Wasn’t it originally, the owner wanted to develop it into condos? And from what I understand it seems like the recession was a blessing in disguise because otherwise [the redevelopment] never would have happened. Tell me if I’m wrong, but that kickstarted a lot of things in the city in it trying to find its identity.
It’s true. Another huge love letter was Duncan McClellan moving to St. Petersburg. He was a catalyst of a famous artist going into an industrial warehouse area and being hugely successful. These love letters, it’s not the sports and rock and roll anymore. It’s the things that make you think about where you live and why you live there.
We talked about the 60-second play you wrote [for a Tampa Bay Plays event at The Studio@620] Had you ever done anything like that before?
No.
What was that like?
It was fun because I was trying to poke fun at this whole Tampa Bay thing. How if you didn’t know any better you’d swear that Tampa Bay was a land mass. In my 60-second play, I’d hoped someone could dress up as a fish wrapped in a paper. The only speaking role of a person from Tampa Bay was actually a fish. It’s just retaining your identity at a time where the world doesn’t necessarily know you exist. And I am a regional guy, I love Tampa, Buckhorn, Iorio, Tampa Bay sports and all that. But it’s interesting to be out of the region and people still don’t know where St. Petersburg is. And then you say we’re the fourth largest city right after Tampa. Oh, so you live in Tampa Bay? No, the fish live in Tampa Bay. We live in St. Petersburg.
Do you say that to people?
Yeah, I do. Tampa Bay is water. And then you say, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Dallas-Fort Worth. Those cities, they haven’t combined them. It’s almost like Manatee-Sarasota, they call Manitoba or Manisota.
But they do it with Tampa Bay.
But they do it with Tampa Bay because you can’t do that with Minneapolis-St. Paul or Dallas-Fort Worth, so each one got to keep their identity, but with Tampa Bay that’s just how they refer to the whole region. And I dig it. I’m okay with it. I’m not knocking it. I’m just saying it’s nice to know who you are and where you come from and share that information with others.
So we are going to have a new landmark soon with the Pier. And that’s going to be part of our growing identity. I was talking to [Councilman Steve] Kornell about it this morning, there was a public meeting on Saturday at the Pier about how they’re trying to start this petition for referendum. Tom Lambdon from voteonthepier.com keeps quoting you as saying you made a campaign promise to give a public vote?
I can’t find it either. It never happened. And the first person who said it during a public meeting in there, I said come on back here. Because it was a guy I recognized from Occupy.
Chuck Terzian?
Yeah, went to USF. Cool guy, I like him. I trust him. He’s an outstanding young man and he’s honest. I said, “Dude, you keep on saying it, you said it first and now everyone is coming up after you, saying I made a campaign promise. Where did you get that? Because I can’t find it. I googled every semblance. That never happened and I’d tell you if it did.” He said, “Well I heard it from so and so.” I said, “You’re killing me because that never happened.”
So at the meeting, he had his quote about you as the quote.
It never happened. I never said that. The only commitment to a referendum that I’ve made as mayor is that I would recommend to City Council is before we built a new stadium I would recommend a referendum. So I challenged Chuck Terzian and I said, “You know you were the one here to let the horse out the barn. Why don’t you do me a favor and try and get it back and tell people that never happened?” So that’s the last I heard.
Do you think if the public really wanted a referendum, it would have happened already? Because with Albert Whitted it happened so quickly.
Yeah, it did. Do you know the background of the guy that’s doing the voteonthepier?
He’s from Safety Harbor and he started a PAC for it. I don’t know his history. They said a couple things. They said there was a secret engineering report that said the Pier doesn’t need as much refurbishment, that it’s just the bridge. The second thing they said was that the language was changed in the paperwork from refurbishing to Pier project. That was what [Councilman] Wengay Newton said.
That’s true. Now I was trying to find it on a website. Perhaps you’ll be able to find it. This guy in Safety Harbor, first came to me ’cause he wanted me to back, he wanted me to sell the city a roller coaster that went out over the water. That he called the Suncoaster. Have you heard this?
Yeah.
If you ever wonder why somebody living in Safety Harbor is so interested in keeping the inverted pyramid, it’s because he wants somebody to pay for him to start his roller coaster and it goes over the water. It’s pretty cool. There is no secret report that says it can be refurbished. Quite the contrary. I read this in the St. Pete Times. Even his engineer says the Pier has to go.
It seemed like they were saying the Pier didn’t need as much work as the city was saying.
Underneath, it’s bad.
So my next question… I went on the Freedom Rides with Dr. [Raymond] Arsenault.
Cool, I watched the entire special on PBS. Amazing.
It was an incredible trip. I know that this area has a ton of civil rights history. Sanitation workers’ strike, even the Freedom Rides came through.
We have a very dark history before that, too. St. Pete was pretty dark.
I spoke with Terri Lipsey Scott at the Carter Woodson Museum. She said to me, “We are the most under-funded museum in a city known for its museums.” I heard there was a program in the works to put up historical markers.
It’s going to be an African American Heritage trail. That’s what we are doing now.
Can you tell me about that?
Actually we are going through the process of how places are selected, and it’s either a place that has a significant historical event or was touched by a person, an African American person with significant history. So we are waiting on the selection process from the community as to what should be on this trail. What made me think about that was it’s been a year since at the Woodson, I was invited to greet a group of snowbirds from Sarasota who came up on a bus, to take a walking tour with John Wilson, retired from the Times, to take a walking tour of the deuces [22nd Street South]. Started at Carter Woodson, the Royal Theatre, Mercy Hospital, all of these places of significance along the deuces. They loved it. I thought, there needs to be a self-guided walking tour of these places of significance from the churches to Atwater’s.
What about City Hall? With the mural? And Joe Waller?
I was on the Council when we did that — when we talked about leaving the wall devoid of any writing, marker, art — and it kind of speaks for itself. Commemorating that event, I’m not interested in going back to that dialogue. As far as places that will be chosen by the community, to be part of the heritage trail, I’m excited about that.
What about Midtown? What’s happening in Midtown that you are doing, or the city is doing, that most people don’t know about?
There’s a lot. This is my board [pointing to a whiteboard on an easel in his office]. This is my whiteboard for the upcoming year. This is what I want to do and accomplish. Here specifically is Midtown; economic development, business assistance procurement. I know that Council is talking about some preferential treatment, it would be minority mentoring, Jamestown, Manhattan, and the deuces, Paris Projects, urban farming, that is my dig program, dirt is gold. Biz development south of Central Ave., that is key, looking at business on 34th St. S. development plan. I’m looking at trends in Midtown and Childs Park because it’s got to be safe. I can’t get businesses and economic development without public safety. You’re the only reporter ever, that’s seen my whiteboard. At least you know we have a plan and it’s not a secret plan. I don’t do secret plans.
My editor David Warner…
Yeah, I like him. His 60-second play was good, but it was rough. It cussed a lot. It was very good but it was R-rated.
Okay. well, he asked me to ask this question.
I do like him.
Last year you went to the gay pride parade as attendee. He asked me to ask you, what would it take to get you to grand marshal the parade? If you would ever do that.
Uhhh…make it family-friendly. But that’s truly not what the organizers want for the pride parade. I talked to the organizers about that and we just… It is, to me, there’s a lot of… I’ve been more than once and it’s a celebration of, not sexual orientation, well yes, but it’s a celebration of sexuality which makes it not suitable for a younger audience. They have a lot of displays. They have a lot of scantily clad people on floats. And you know what, I think it’s great.
It’s not your thing?
It’s not my thing, nope. I don’t care who you have scantily clad, there’s a place for it.
Gasparilla?
I don’t go to Gasparilla either, that’s not my thing either. Drunken pirates is not my thing.
I’ve never been. The next question is about baseball, and I’m not a sports girl so this is purely dealing with attendance. The Rays were 29th out of 30 teams in attendance. What are you going to do to get more butts in the seats at the Trop?
Certainly work with the Rays and their marketing staff, and we’ve already begun dialogue. Im meeting with Mayor Buckhorn next week to enlist his support and the support of the Tampa Chamber and the St. Pete Chamber, the Tampa Bay Partnership and see what we can do to treat this as a regional asset. And I don’t know that I’m ever going to get this produced, but I’ll share this with you.
[He begins digging around his desk. And pulls out a half-folded paper with something scribbled on it.]
This is just how funny the mayor of St. Pete really is. I was speaking to the Tampa Bay Partnership. It’s CEOs and important people from Pinellas and Hillsborough and Manatee. They had a big board meeting at the Dalì museum, and I spoke. I remember saying to them, “And for those of you driving from Hillsborough County, thank God you made it.” They kind of chuckled. Somehow I want to start a marketing campaign that highlights the humps. There’s two humps between here and Tampa. One is on Gandy and one is on Howard Frankland. No one even knows I’m thinking this. Tackle the hump. Defeat the hump. It’s hump day, come to St. Petersburg. Something to let people know there’s something on the other side of the hump.
[He unfolds the paper.]
This is the Tampa Bay Partnership agenda. Head of Progress Energy, Florida Trend, Verizon, important people who are all speaking. And all I can do is write a commercial.
About humps?
About the hump. I’m doing this while all these important people are talking. I’m going and writing a 60-second play again. It’s about exploring the New World. I have a mom and dad, boy and girl, scene begins in Tampa, dad says, “Kids, come out, we’re going to explore the New World.” The kids are making paper hats, paper swords. “Are you ready to begin our exploration over the mountain?” The little girl says, “I’m scared, I hear people have disappeared over the mountain.” So they get in the car, there are obvious Tampa landmarks, UT, Downtown Tampa, everyone knows visually they are in Tampa. Before they put kids in the back seat, the dad puts on these bulky red Coast Guard life preservers for the kids. Singing in the car, the theme to Gilligan’s Island. As they approach the bridge, the sky turns dark, rain pelting the car, kid screaming in the back seat. Mom says, “Hang on, kids, here we go,” they go up the hump, over the hump, the sun comes out, birds chirping, bright and sunny, right in front of them is Tropicana. And the little girl says, “No wonder people disappear over here.” Rays logo. I just need someone to shoot it. So this is the creative side of me.
So that 60-second play started something?
The creative juices are flowing. And I’ve got to get people over the hump. so that’s how we’re going to put fannies in the seats. Yes, to get people from Pinellas County to continue to support. But to make sure people froom Hillsborough County know, egress and ingress is easy, parking is not an issue, and oh, yes, the bridge does go all the way through — “explore the hump.” We could get people over the hump for the Grand Prix, for Pridefest, come over the hump for arts on the deuces, explore over the hump for your nightlife.
So the city has a budget deficit right now. We need a new police station. Part of that is already funded, but some of it isn’t.
Part of it is funded, but I’m not going to borrow, secured by any other funding source, other than Penny for Pinellas. So it has to be a Penny project. I will borrow money and use the Penny monies as the source of funding to secure with bond. I can’t do it with any other money. We don’t have any other money. So it’s got to be a Penny project.
Aside from essentially paying the regular bills the city needs to pay, are there any programs at risk of not being funded?
It is more serious this year than in years past because we already made the cuts of staff. The usual suspects have been cut, I cut the staff…we are looking into an onsite medical clinic to look at ways to get our insurance costs down, crime stats for January, I cut staff.
The staff cuts happened last year and the year before?
Yeah, I cut staff by 150 overall. Half of that was professional management or supervisors, the rest of my cuts have been rank and file. I reduced staff by 140, reduced general fund by $10 million. Loss of ad valorem revenues since I took office was $13 million.
Is that from caps implemented at the state level?
That and decline in property values. Both.
And the financial situation since there are now caps, there’s not going to be more money anytime soon?
It’ll never get better. Now it’s, can we stop it from getting worse. My message to my staff, we have to reinvent government and we are setting the new-new. It’s the new-new. The ways of doing things in 2006, 2007, no more. We are actually setting the pace for the new-new.
Is that why you didn’t implement the security camera project?
That was one of them. It’s twofold. You can see I have it on my board.
But it has a question mark next to it.
Well that’s because anything I’ve added is in a different color, so that was up there. So to make it effective they need to be monitored. To make it effective you have more than just the few installed that we have. I had anticipated using forfeiture dollars in 2011 to pick up some cameras and work on a platform for monitoring and transmitting to officers.
What are forfeiture dollars?
When we take money from a bad guy, confiscate drugs and money, we get to split the money with whoever helped us get it. So it’s monies forfeited. They won’t let us resell the drugs that we confiscated ’cause that would really help our budget deficit. They will let you keep the money. January 24, 2011. I lost two officers in the line of duty. So we ended up using a lot of forfeiture dollars for other things. Like body armor, ballistics shields, armored vehicle. Things like that. So 2011 caused me to reassess need versus want. Do I want security cameras? Absolutely. Did I need security cameras in 2011? Everything changed after January 24. Now does that mean 2012 isn’t the time to look back at it? Absolutely. We should look at the use of security cameras. We tested using the laptops in the cars, it required a great deal of broadband which I don’t really understand. Could we use an Apple product to allow an officer to check out a security camera although I don’t have money to buy everybody an Apple? Can they be monitored somewhere in the city, without me having to hire three shifts, 4-5 people with constant monitoring? I’m cutting staff, I’m not adding staff. Are there other departments where we do have someone monitoring security cameras and they can monitor these cameras too? Yeah, probably, it’s a work in progress. I never stopped looking at it. It’s just some disgruntled former employee decided to write a piece about it. And it was posted on a blog and in the newspaper, so it was much ado about nothing.
So there must have been some misunderstandings?
Oh yeah.
’Cause it seems like some on City Council thought it was being implemented?
I know that’s what they say they thought. No.
There are security cameras now or no?
There are. They are working in the parks. I’ve got parks, like Lake Vista, there is only one way in and out, but there is a whole lot of park that they can’t see well — now they can. So that is working. I’ve got them in Williams Park.
How many are there?
At least 10. Fossil Park, Lake Vista, Williams…
But if you can get the staff to monitor them?
If I can buy more cameras, and have a platform to monitor and make it effective. And if I can have a software platform to where officers can get an extension of their eyes? Yeah, I’m going to do it. I’m hoping that after the [Republican] convention that the City of Tampa will let me borrow a couple of theirs. They are spending $2 million on theirs. Surely they aren’t going to keep all of them.
At that same meeting on the security cameras, the topic of high speed chases came up. I know the policy changed on pursuits.
What I did when I took office, I adopted the state statute as it pertains to pursuits. I also adopted the same policy as used by Pinellas Sheriff’s Department, Hillsborough County Department and City of Tampa. Anyone that thinks we are doing something that is more reckless than any other agency is incorrect.
The Times published an article about this yesterday. Why do you think people are upset?
I think there is a lot of misinformation out there. I think, why aren’t they questioning Tampa’s pursuit policy? Because mine is no different. Or Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department. I think the way the story has been told so far, and I can’t seem to get out in front of it, is that somehow ours are more reckless, that we’ve had considerably more pursuits than weve had in previous years. State law allows you to authorize a pursuit if there is a commission of a violent felony. Weve only had four additional pursuits in 2011. We had a total of 25 pursuits, of that 21 of those would have been authorized under the previous mayor’s policy, only four of those pursuits were any different than in any previous year. And it’s not like we are doing them all the time. We had 25 in a whole year. And these aren’t all high speed.
But somebody died. Don’t you think that’s got something to do with why people are upset?
I think that’s why people are talking about it now, because the bad guy was killed. Somebody died. It was a horrific crash. It’s not the policy that is to be questioned at this point. Because that was a pursuit of a violent felony. It would have been authorized under the previous administration. I think the questions on that pursuit are on how it was implemented. I talk about policy all day. The questions aren’t about soundness of policy, it was about how it was implemented and whether it should have been authorized and those are the questions we are going to have to defend. Because in any pursuit policy you have to assess risk, benefit vs. risk, benefit of catching bad guy now or catching him another day, identity of bad guy, what is he suspected of doing, time of day, weather conditions, day or night. This one is being questioned because it was 5 p.m. in the afternoon on 49th Street. You’ve got a busy time of day and a lot of traffic, and I’m not subjecting the city to any more liability than already exists. Those are the questions we have to ask. Was it worth it? I’m not going to answer that. But that is what is being investigated.
You mentioned the RNC. What is St. Petersburg’s presence for RNC? What preparations are we making, if any?
I don’t know how much I’m at liberty to say because it’s a national special security event. Designated by US government as NSSE [National Special Security Event], which means Tampa got $50 million but the dates of the event don’t cover anything in St. Pete. So technically we aren’t hosting anything and we aren’t going to get reimbursed for anything. Now, I know that’s going to change, because I’m pretty sure there will be a big event in St. Petersburg and it will be a NSSE event and that we will be reimbursed. The ink’s not dry on the contract.
Bigger than the CNN YouTube debates?
Bigger, bigger, bigger.
Is the city making preparations?
Yeah, we are. A lot. And it’s all about ensuring our guests have a good time and safe time. It’s ensuring that our guests can get from St. Pete to the Ice Palace without interruption. I can’t get into specifics because we are going to have 15,000 media wanting to get into the event. For every one person wanting to have a good time, there is going to be somebody else whose sole function is to make sure that person has a bad time. And that’s what we are preparing for. And since they all read your newspaper, I won’t get too specific.
Can you talk about the budget cuts facing USF?
It’s devastating. I wrote a lengthy letter to Senator Haridopolos and sent to every senator because it just seems so short-sighted. I am a registered Republican and yet it’s my party affiliation that seems to be doing the most damage to the local governments and education. I won’t speak about my legislative delegation, but sometimes I think that with the exception of the Pinellas delegation, legislators must hate local government. Every break they want to give is on the backs of local government. And in the name of small business or spurring businesses, if I can’t provide safe streets and pedestrian corridors and sidewalks and amenities and police and fire, business ain’t going to come here anyway. We create jobs by creating the environments. They’re taking away local governments’ ability to create environments. And that’s tough. So the cuts to education, it’s devastating, at a time when they need to invest more in the education of our next generation. They’re just trying to kill them. If I were a smart kid, I’d go to a state that appreciated my talent.
I know it’s still 21 months away but in running for re-election, is there something that you wish you’d known a couple years ago? Or something you learned, something you would have told your two-year-less self?
It’s a marathon. I remind myself of that even today. You’re going to sow a lot of seed, not all of it’s going to produce fruit. You have to be patient. That not every employee loves each other. Not every citizen agrees with you. You’re not going to finish everything you want to do in four years. That’s why I am running to get re-elected bcause Year 1, you’re trying to figure out the awesomeness of the job. Year 2 you’re sowing a lot of seed. Year 3 is when you harvest (points to whiteboard), that is Year 3. Oh, and I want to do that and still cut $10 million from the budget. And I’ve done that every year I’ve been here. It’s getting tough.
Who is the most important partner in your administration?
They’re all important. I rely upon every single person. Of the team I have now, I can’t imagine things happening without them. That’s a lean mean fighting machine right there. Or as I like to put it, we’re a lean mean service machine. I rely upon the unique talents of each one. I’ve got a city engineer in charge of public works. I’ve got a police chief I respect immensely as a crimefighter. I’ve got a fire chief that heads up an internationally accredited agency. I’ve got a city development guy that oversaw this renaissance of this city and helped build Tropicana. I’ve got the leisure services guy that started 20 years ago and knows every nook and cranny, I’ve got Tish Elston, who I couldn’t live without. That’s like asking me to pick my favorite child. I can’t do it.
How does the geography of this city stretch you? I know there are a lot of areas that aren’t in the public consciousness. How do you make sure you are covering all of St. Petersburg?
You focus on areas of greatest need. You make sure those neighborhoods that have resources that are less needy, you make sure they certainly are taken care of, focus on the small stuff, but you have to focus on areas of greatest need. Every nook and cranny of this city is a great neighborhood. I can’t look at Northeast Park, Childs Park, Campbell park, Fossil Park, every neighborhood is great in its identity and character. But every neighborhood has a cancer cell. Something that is bringing it down. I don’t care what neighborhood it is, there’s something, little cancers that are we are trying to focus on and eradicate before it spreads. Some neighborhoods have more cells than others. Those are the ones I want to focus on. There are some that just have one or two little bad cells that we need to focus on, some where it’s spread. I look at it as a cancer. If it spreads, you die. So you’ve got to stop it, shrink it and cut it out. That’s what we are doing throughout the city.
Do you have a vision for the city?
[Points to whiteboard.] I read the blogs, there was early criticism that, “Jeez, Foster has no vision.” Well, in this economy survival isn’t a vision, but it’s certainly what we have to face in these economic times. It’s redefinining government, the new-new, and it’s focusing the sevens [what Foster calls his Seven 7’s for Success: Seamlessness, Safety, Small Business, Schools, Sports, Arts and Culture, and Service], everything you see that’s the vision. Ultimately it really centers around seamlessness. Rick Baker started that and wrote a book called The Seamless City. We did great but we aren’t there yet, it’s still a quest, a vision, a goal, it’s going to take the safety of small business, the sustainability, service, schools, sports, arts and culture. The ultimate vision: We are a seamless city. I explain it this way. A year ago, I was speaking to a fourth grade class at Holy Family Catholic School, it was a big class. I was trying to explain the seven s, my vision. And they didn’t really grasp what seamlessness is. How many of you believe there is a neighborhood or part of the city of St. Pete where you don’t want to go, you think it’s unsafe and under no circumstances do you want to go there? Every one of those little darlings raised their hands. I said I’m going to come back and speak to you in 6th grade. When I come back I’m going to ask you the same question and get a different result. That’s the goal. Now these are 4th graders, they don’t read the newspaper, they don’t watch the news. Every bit of their little minds’ perception was a parent, a teacher, a coach, a Sunday school teacher, a rabbi. They got it from somebody else.
That there are places you don’t go because it isn’t safe?
And we aren’t a seamless city until I can ask the children, whose whole perception is based upon the adult perception that we’ve made a difference.
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2012.
