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By AMY WIMMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001
ST. PETE BEACH -- The city has a new home on the World Wide Web, and the new Web site is a boon not only for St. Pete Beach government, but also for local businesses.
The address is stpetebeach.org, the same address as the city's previous Web site.
"We're just trying to give as much information and knowledge to whomever wants to know what's going on in our city," said Tim Myers, at the Internet Outpost Cafe, which was hired to design and build the site.
The site features what you would expect from a city Web site: information about ongoing city projects, links to various departments and city services, and information on events going on in St. Pete Beach.
But the site also offers something unusual for local businesses. For $40, any business in St. Pete Beach can have one Web page created, posted on the Web and linked to the city's business listings.
Users can search the businesses alphabetically or by subject. So far, about 50 businesses in St. Pete Beach have joined the program.
The city hopes more will join now that the site is up and running. Each business can submit up to three photos, as well as a description of the business, contact information and other details about the business.
"We know that a lot of business people were kind of curious to see how this site would work -- a "show me' type thing," said Capt. Todd Kirchgraber of the St. Pete Beach Police Department, who also has helped manage the city's Web site.
Users also will find detailed maps listing city parks, how to find them, and what amenities are offered at each park.
The city paid Internet Outpost Cafe $5,425 to develop the site.