Northpinellas: In St. Pete Beach, name game still not quite settled

In St. Pete Beach, name game still not quite settled

St. Pete Beach's clunky old name rears its head quite often. The city manager wants to snuff it out for good.

By AMY WIMMER

ST. PETE BEACH -- Earlier this fall the city wanted to thank TradeWinds Beach Resort for feeding and lodging city employees who worked through Hurricane Gordon. But when a TradeWinds employee stepped forward to accept the plaque recognizing her hotel, she committed the ultimate faux pas.

She thanked the people of St. Petersburg Beach.

From the audience came several moans that sounded like boos. One person covered her mouth in mock shock.

The city's real name, St. Pete Beach, used to be a cute nickname that was less of a mouthful and fit more easily on souvenir T-shirts. And, yes, perhaps it was a way of distinguishing the island from St. Petersburg, its big stuffy sister on the mainland.

But 61/2 years ago, residents voted by a 3-1 ratio to officially change the name to what they had unofficially called the city for years. They figured the change would be easy: The shorter name already appeared on the city seal that hangs in commission chambers and on the sides of the police cars.

Still, old habits die hard.

Commissioner Jim Myers suggested this month that City Manager Carl Schwing should make a more direct effort to eradicate any references to St. Petersburg Beach. The old name habitually appears on maps, in addresses, on business cards and in other printed materials.

"We want to methodically knock these things off, one by one, as we see them," said Schwing, who said the city doesn't plan to pursue businesses that still use the old name in promotional brochures and other materials.

Schwing said he plans to send letters to the offending parties, especially map companies that need to update their records.

Today, remnants of the old name dot the city. At the Gulf Beaches Chamber of Commerce Building, a big gap exists between the words St. Pete and Beach, a scar from when the chamber removed six letters from the end of Pete. At the Harp & Thistle pub, the coasters say St. Petersburg Beach, while the matchbooks say St. Pete Beach.

But Schwing doesn't even have to look outside City Hall. A couple of city-owned fire vehicles still bear the old name. Last week a piece of mail was directed to the mayor of St. Pete Beach in the city of St. Petersburg Beach. The address said City Hall was in St. Petersburg.

The city has updated the name on firetrucks each time a new one was purchased, Schwing said.

"I have a hard time justifying the money to change the name on the truck," he said.

The 1994 vote to change the name came after 30 years of discussion on the topic, city officials said at the time.

Reasons for change varied from the serious notion that St. Pete Beach might have once missed out on grants because a state committee thought the city was part of St. Petersburg, to the more colloquial notion that squeezing 17 letters into the little blanks for "city" on mail order forms proved difficult.

"I think everyone resents that when you tell them you're from St. Petersburg Beach, no one ever hears the "Beach,' " Jeff Stone, the city manager when commissioners voted to put the issue on the ballot, said at the time.

Persuading mail-order companies, banks and airlines that St. Pete Beach is a city has proved difficult, and it's a task that residents take on each time they establish a new account or place a catalog order. Schwing said that until recently, his driver's license said he lived in St. Petersburg.

"I just got mine modified, and so I did correct that at the time," Schwing said. "The (Department of Motor Vehicles) will change that manually, but you have to tell them." Residents are still pleased with their decision -- even if they don't know it is official.

"Oh, is that the real name? I thought it was short for something," said resident Kay Baker, who has lived in St. Pete Beach just three years. "Good. I like that better."

Kenneth Herman, a Pass-a-Grille property owner, points out that some longtime Pass-a-Grillians still aren't over the neighborhood's 1957 decision to join St. Petersburg Beach.

"There's some people out here who don't live in St. Pete Beach," Herman said. "They live in Pass-a-Grille."

- Information from Times files was used in this report.