After January 2nd, Rick Kriseman’s ascendancy to mayor will be complete. At one time a dark horse candidate, he was challenger to the established and longtime incumbent Mayor Bill Foster, but won on a campaign that promised a progressive agenda and new, fresh ideas. We invited our new mayor for a chat in our newly redecorated office just before his meeting with the Minister of Panama.

“Who knows, we might just generate some business over here,” Rick quips about his meeting with the Panamanian diplomat as we all get comfortable in our meeting room. Although clearly channeling his inner hummingbird to make all his appointments, he is very genuine with us and speaks with an energy that is infectious. He has ideas and the people’s mandate to give them a shake.

“There is a new economic development paradigm happening,” he says and elaborates. Successful communities across America are shying away from the trickle-down, attract-big-corporations model and towards growing small, locally owned businesses that contribute more to both the community’s innovative and creative industries. “The ideal economy is a mix (of big and small business),” Rick says. A tangible step in Rick’s devotion to St. Pete’s small businesses is his newly announced and soon-to-be appointed position of Small Business Liaison, a high-ranking position that reports directly to him.

“I love St. Pete and we are on the cusp of true excellence,” Rick continues. St. Pete’s budding innovation industries, including local solar companies, biotechnology and marine science, give Rick good reasons to be optimistic. We also pack a punch when it comes to brainpower with local colleges like University South Florida St. Petersburg, Eckerd College and St. Pete College. Rick is eager to nurture all of them to top tier institutions. Perhaps the most daunting challenge that Rick faces is the consolidation between the different entities and neighborhoods of St. Pete, something that the Urban Land Institue also noted while in town.

“Tourists shouldn’t just get maps of downtown and the waterfront,” Rick says. South St. Pete, with its roughly 20% unemployment rate and where one in four people live below the poverty line, needs a champion. Rick thinks his bottom-up, homegrown economic policy is a big piece of the solution. He has already brought back former Deputy Mayor Mike Dove into the newly created and high-profile position of Director of Neighborhoods.

Mayor-elect Kriseman with iLovetheBurg's Brian Bailey and mascot Hannah.

“The Dome Industrial District is essentially vacant,” Rick laments. The district has accrued plenty of land and has warehouses, but is still waiting for businesses to move in. If the progressive policies of the Kriseman administration can fill them, he will leave behind a legacy for the ages. But perhaps it is too early to talk of legacies, for now our new mayor is an optimistic ball of energy and we at iLovetheBurg.com wish him the best.

Article by Norris Comer, Writer/Editor for iLovetheBurg.com

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