St. Petersburg City Hall knew about Rays' stadium plans
City leaders heard in March, but state law lets economic development deals stay under wraps.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published November 16, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG -- The president of the city's Downtown Neighborhood Association stood before city officials in August and implored them to preserve Al Lang Field as parkland.
The city said no. Officials didn't say exactly why.
For association president Timothy J. Baker, 59, the explanation finally came last Friday.
The city, it turns out, was courting a $450-million professional baseball stadium.
City administrators and the Tampa Bay Rays secretly have been discussing the possibility since last March. Baker, who with a group of other neighborhood activists was crusading toward a different fate, obviously was not included in the talks.
He hardly was alone.
City Council members, Pinellas County commissioners, state legislators all said they were left in the dark.
While most government records are accessible to anyone, state law allows cities to shield economic development deals from the public view. But that doesn't mean people like Baker particularly like it.
"We specifically met with every City Council member at least once to talk about Al Lang," said Baker, who wanted to protect the waterfront from development once the Rays vacated their spring training facility next year.
"I had a little slide show I put together about the waterfront," Baker said. "I met with the mayor and his staff. I met with the Rays."
The city never lied to him about its intentions, Baker said. Officials were just selective in what they said.
Mayor Rick Baker, who is not related to Timothy Baker, "likes to get these deals all put together and then make an announcement," the community leader said.
Although many of the details of the stadium plan were made public last Friday on the St. Petersburg Times' Web site, tampabay.com, city officials continue to refuse to talk publicly about the negotiations.
Chief Assistant City Attorney Mark Winn said the city will release some documents related to the Rays stadium proposal today, but little new information likely will be included.
The juiciest materials are covered by a confidentiality agreement between the city and the team. That pact was signed last March.
"We're honoring it," said Rick Mussett, the city's senior administrator who oversees economic development projects.
When it came to Al Lang, the word most often associated with the city's vision earlier this year was flexibility.
For what? No one would say.
"It left a lot of things open to speculation," said Marilyn Olsen, a member of the board of directors of the downtown neighborhood group. "There have been rumors, lots of rumors."
The residents' view was simple: If the city had no intention to turn the site into anything other than a park, why not cement that in writing?
On Thursday, Mussett said the city's position would have not changed no matter the situation.
"Until the community decides how it should be used and the City Council ends up blessing that use, why would we change anything?" Mussett asked. "You're putting the cart before the horse."
Baker, the downtown neighborhood president, has all kinds of questions he wants to ask the Rays about their proposal. This week, he got a call from the Rays asking him to stop by.
Now they want to talk to him, too.
Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2273.
The trial balloon?
The Rays and the city have been talking since March about a new 35,000-seat stadium at Al Lang Field. In May, team principal owner Stuart Sternberg raised some eyebrows by telling the New York Times Tropicana Field will be obsolete by 2012. "Baseball does not feel right indoors," Sternberg said. He later clarified his comments, saying that there is no deadline for a new ballpark. "I know we have to be here at least five years, and I know we can't be here for 20," Sternberg said. "Now that we've been in here a little bit longer and done all the improvements, we can really see the issues structurally within the building." Last Friday, the St. Petersburg Times reported Sternberg wants a new stadium. The prospective opening date? 2012.