St. Petersburg City Council members Thursday in an attempt to keep the Rays in town "kicked around ideas for financing a new stadium -- but just in St. Petersburg," according to Frago & Nohlgren of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. A City Council workshop was "rambling and repetitive at times," but it did let council members "exchange ideas for a possible St. Petersburg-only solution." Several had "expressed dismay" that St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman's December initiative had "forced them into an up-or-down vote with little input." Among other things, the council Thursday "agreed to study the Rays' economic impact on the city." At its March 5 meeting, the council "will ask Kriseman to propose the scope and cost of commissioning such a study." Though the council "expressed hope that Pinellas County's bed tax could help pay off bonds for a new stadium, council member Jim Kennedy said county commissioners have told him they will not reserve any dollars until the Rays or city present them with a concrete plan." Several council members "indicated they might support" extending the city's current Tropicana Field debt payments -- roughly $6M a year -- to build a new ballpark. Surrounding a new facility with "mixed-use development on the Trop's 85 acres was viewed as another possible source of stadium financing, because it would increase property tax receipts." Council members said that they "wanted more communication with Kriseman before he brings any more stadium proposals before the council" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 2/20). A TAMPA BAY TIMES editorial states the "lack of enthusiasm among council members for continuing the same level of spending on baseball, much less increasing it, was obvious." If Tampa Bay is to keep an MLB franchise, council members "have to let the Rays look in both counties for a new home." And if they want St. Pete to be a "viable option, they will have to invest more public money in a new stadium than they are willing to at the moment" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 2/20).
