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Tropicana suite still a hot topic with councilBy LEONORA LaPETER
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- Earlier this summer, City Council members abandoned plans to set aside taxpayer dollars for food and drinks while entertaining at the city's Tropicana Field suite. One council member, Richard Kriseman, even suggested it was time the council stopped using the box altogether and gave up his tickets. Since that time, several things have happened: Council chairwoman Rene Flowers asked Kriseman whether she could use his tickets for several new businesses that opened up in her district. Council member James Bennett asked Mayor Rick Baker whether he could tap his food and ice budget for two games in August. The mayor's food and ice budget is now over budget. "I guess we'll have to pass the hat," joked City Council member Bill Foster. Then more seriously, he said, "I'm just adamant that we shouldn't be using taxpayer money for entertaining at the Trop." As the Rays have started their final homestand of the season, just three months after some council members were found to be treating campaign supporters to games at Tropicana Field, the city's luxury suite is still a sensitive topic at City Hall. Who should get tickets when a council member doesn't want them anymore? Should the mayor's food and ice budget cover council members and their guests at Tropicana Field? Just how much money is in the mayor's food and ice budget? Memos -- among council members and the mayor's office -- speak to the controversy. A week after Kriseman said he would no longer need his tickets, Flowers sent Kriseman a memo: "I have two new businesses that have opened just recently in my district (Athlete's Foot and Myers School of Beauty)," she wrote. "Both businesses are owned and operated by minorities and have hired individuals from the community ... please provide me with the dates of those games and your intent to use or discard your previously assigned tickets." Two weeks after that, Kriseman sent a memo to Baker, telling him he had relinquished his tickets and turned some of them over to Flowers for the Sept. 15 game, which was later postponed because of the attacks. Flowers received a copy of the memo and dashed off another to Kriseman: "I was very confused as to the purpose of your memo regarding the use of suite tickets on Sept. 15, 2001. It would appear that the reporting of the requested change would be to the City Clerk's office. ... Please forward to me that which needs clarity, or the need to report to Mayor Baker rather than the Clerk." Later, Flowers said she didn't understand why Kriseman was running his decision by the mayor. "The mayor can't tell me I can't do that," she said. "I didn't understand why he was telling that to the mayor." Meanwhile, Bennett had plans to take the Lakewood Estates Neighborhood Association and the Maximo Civic Association to a game Aug. 11. With no money in the council's budget for food, he had asked the mayor's office if he could have refreshments for the suite. Bennett said he asked the mayor's office to supply the food and it was provided, no problem. But an Aug. 7 memo from Flowers says Bennett asked for money and was told the mayor's Tropicana Field food and ice budget had been spent. Flowers wanted to know how the $4,000 had been spent. Flowers said she was later told by the city's budget people that only $1,900 had been spent. Soon Bennett had a $75 Big Dog order and Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and 7-Up for the Aug. 11 game he was hosting. He ordered chicken wings and soft drinks for his Aug. 24 game. Combined, it cost the city $237. But there was something Bennett didn't know. The mayor's food and ice budget really was gone. Baker gets a combined $8,000 for food and ice, half of it for the suite and half for office gatherings, coffee service, soft drinks and bottled water for the office. He had spent $2,400 alone on the June retirement party of Don McRae, the longtime chief of staff. Another $928 had gone to the Hilton to supply food for a management training session at Boyd Hill Nature Trail in July. The mayor's office had used $8,138, not including Bennett's games. City auditor Steven Smith said his department didn't notice that the food and ice money was gone because they typically look at a department's entire budget rather than individual line items. The mayor's $803,000 budget had $132,000 left at the end of August. Bennett and several other council members say they see nothing wrong with providing a few hot dogs to those who give their time to the city. He said the suite allows council members and the mayor an opportunity to promote economic development and reward neighborhood groups and other volunteers for their hard work. "I just feel like we've already been through this issue," Bennett said. "It's really a good thing. I would hate to see because of this that the use of the box by citizens and by staff and by people who work for the city would go away." There are a few dates left in this season, and council members John Bryan, Ernest Williams, Jay Lasita and Kriseman have booked the suite for four of those nights. Kriseman, however, said he will not be in the suite. He said he turned his tickets over to local firefighters and community police officers.
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