St. Pete City Council pushes back on outside consultant on Trop selection

A heated debate between the St. Petersburg City Council and Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration involving the Tropicana Field redevelopment process could be a preview of what’s ahead in the effort to revamp a major part of the city.

City Council members on Thursday pushed back against an administration plan to hire an outside consultant to review the redevelopment proposals. After about an hour of discussion, Kriseman withdrew the plan for an outside consultant and said city staff would review the redevelopment proposals on their own.

“The mayor strongly believes such [outside] expertise would be in the best interest of the community, especially as it relates to equity, but given council’s unwillingness to move forward with that item, we were fine with yielding and continuing to move this process forward,” Ben Kirby, communications director, told the St. Pete Catalyst.

Read more on the St. Pete Catalyst.

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