St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman has served St. Pete for two terms, and in that time has presided over rapid change in the Sunshine City. Rick Kriseman was sworn in as the 53rd mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida on January 2, 2014. He was re-elected in November 2017.

I Love the ‘Burg sent over a few questions to the mayor to learn about the businesses, people and places that make him love this city.

What was your favorite aspect of being mayor of St. Pete?

Two things. One is the people, both in the community and those I had the privilege of working alongside every day.  The people in our community make St. Pete special, and they always kept me energized. The second was simply having the ability to get things done. I joke a lot that I felt like Santa Claus because being mayor really gives you the opportunity to make people happy.

And getting things accomplished was such a departure from my time as a member of the minority party in the Florida Legislature , so I made sure to never take this for granted. Mayors just get things done. 

What advice would you like to give Ken Welch as he prepares to be the next mayor of St. Pete?

You can’t do the job alone. St. Pete is a pretty big city, and you need a competent team that you can trust – and also trust to tell you the truth. Being a CEO means delegating and empowering your people. I would also advise him to maintain a sense of humor. There will be difficult days ahead and you can’t get too down.

What are the main issues facing St. Pete today, and how can council members, and local residents help face them together?

We’ve addressed or solved so many of the big issues facing the City of St. Petersburg, and I’m really proud of that – but I know there are serious challenges like ensuring housing affordability remains front and center. The downtown marina needs immediate attention, and we’re fortunate to have a private operator – Safe Harbor Development – ready to do the work at much less expense to the taxpayers than if we did it ourselves, so I’m hoping that gets addressed quickly.

I am hopeful that Ken Welch will continue our progress on the Trop site. There is no good reason to wait to begin the long process of redeveloping the site. My Administration has done considerable work related to addressing racism and systemic inequities and inequalities and the next mayor will have to ensure that we confront those issues head-on. I encourage everyone to stay engaged. St. Pete is truly a people-powered city and it will take everyone to keep soaring higher.

We are in the holiday season, and I was curious if there are any small businesses you particularly love to visit this time of year.

Too many to name! I really do try to buy local, as my friends at the Rock Shop will tell you. We are committed to supporting our small and independent businesses and especially our restaurants since we love to eat. We are really blessed to live here. We all need to do what we can, especially in the wake of the pandemic, to frequent these businesses.

This city is for food lovers. Do you have any local favorites you find yourself dining at again and again?

In no particular order, we love Bavaro’s, Doc Ford’s, Beau & Mo’s, Nitally’s, Lolita’s, Casita Taqueria….and I could keep going. And my lunches with my team at City Hall covered all the bases over the years.

I’m a bookworm, and this city is replete with bookstores (Tombolo, Book + Bottle, Wilson’s). Is there any reading you highly recommend for locals? (Yes, Accidental First Lady is on my shelf right now)

Thank you for reading Kerry’s book! We call ourselves a City of the Arts and we have to remember that that includes literature and celebrating our authors. There are many good books about St. Pete from local historians like Jon Wilson or Will Michaels, and I encourage folks to pick those up. Just read! 

Are there any local superstars that you truly admire, who maybe more people in St. Pete should know about? Both the person and the work that they’re doing.

St. Pete is teeming with talented people, from actors to artists to athletes to entrepreneurs to the everyday people just working hard and taking care of their lives and their families.  I am especially impressed by people like Peter Kageyama, who is just so smart on urban planning issues and someone I’ve leaned on. He could live and work anywhere and he calls St. Pete home. I think we’re fortunate to have Dr. Gary Mitchum of the USF College of Marine Science in our community. His work on climate change and sea level rise, right here in our backyard, is invaluable. I am hopeful that Mayor-elect Welch will continue to lean on Gary.

In a few words, can you tell us why you love the ‘Burg?

The people, the sunshine, the diversity, the small businesses, and the spirit of the City. There’s just really no place like St. Pete. Sometimes I hear people talk about us being the next Austin, or another cool city – and I’ve done this myself at times – but our trajectory is that we’ll just be an even better version of St. Pete. We’re on the right track.