St. Pete mayor addresses Rays’ future, affordable housing, hurricane recovery in ‘State of the City’
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch spoke for close to an hour Tuesday morning as he gave his annual State of the City Address. He covered a lot of ground, speaking about everything from affordable housing, to the Tampa Bay Rays’ future, to hurricane recovery.
"The past year produced great achievements and extraordinary challenges," Welch told the audience.
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Hurricane recovery
"Hurricanes Helene and Milton specifically produced significant flood and wind damage and heightened awareness of the potential impacts of storms to our economy, infrastructure and our quality of life," he said.
By the numbers:
According to Welch, crews removed about two million cubic yards of debris from Helene and Milton in 90 days. That’s more than five times the amount collected from Hurricanes Idalia, Ian and Irma combined.
About 15,000 structures were damaged, Welch said. City staff members have issued about 7,000 permits, so far. They’ve brought in more resources to help and extended the hours to expedite the process. The city Council this week is looking at bringing even more resources in to help too.

"I think our team is doing everything they can," Welch said. "It really parallels the debris issue. We need to ramp up. Everybody's trying to get these examiners, inspectors across the state. So, we're in competition for that. But, we have secured additional staffing."
"The demand for post-storm permits is like nothing we've ever faced. The sheer volume of permits means that the process will take longer," he said.
According to Welch, the two storms cost the city about a quarter of a billion dollars.
"Our recovery will be a costly endeavor. However, St. Petersburg remains in a strong financial position," he said.
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The city is hoping to get about $200 million in FEMA reimbursements and money from the state and from insurance. That includes an advance payment from insurance companies of $7.6 million for Tropicana Field repairs. Under the current contract with the Rays, the city is obligated to fix the stadium.
The city said the Trop can be fixed by the 2026 season if there aren’t any delays in construction. The Trop’s lease would extend for each year it can’t be used, possibly pushing it past the 2027 expiration date.
The future of the Rays
Welch also addressed the elephant in the room: Where the Rays will call home.
What He's Saying:
"The only thing we need to move forward to enter a new era for a great city that is emerging as one of the nation's greatest, honoring the promises made both to our city and to the Gas Plant community is for the Rays to honor the agreement that we signed just six months ago. I remain hopeful that that will happen," Welch said.
Welch said he’s still in talks with the team about the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment project that he categorized as positive, frank and productive.
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"I just wanted to make sure that our community knew exactly where we were, you know, be fully transparent," Welch said. "I still have tremendous faith in the strength of the deal that was signed barely six months ago after a three-year process. But the Rays do have the option not to complete their obligations, and I want our community to be aware that we've contemplated, you know, thought about that from the start. There are options for us and I wanted to make sure the community knew that."
"We will not pursue a deal at any cost," he said. " The greatness and future of St. Pete does not depend solely on this deal, and I am confident that we have given this endeavor our very best effort, and it's an effort in a process we can all be proud of. So stay tuned. We'll keep working until the final out."
"I think your word means a lot. These agreements, it was a painstaking process to get to these agreements. A lot of back and forth, a lot of negotiations. You know, we set priorities early. You know, here's what the city was focused on, here's what the Rays and Hines were focused on. And so, it's not like we both haven't spent a lot of time talking about what the right deal would be, and so now to say that doesn't make sense, I think it would undermine any efforts moving forward," Welch said.
Dig deeper:
If the Rays do walk away from the deal, the land will go back to the city. When asked about what the future of the Historic Gas Plant District would look like if that happens, Welch said it still looks positive.
"The land, due to the work that our team did crafting those deals, comes back to the city, which is my priority. The land value will increase," Welch said. "We'll have different options, but it would be a big disappointment if the Rays walked away from this deal that we spent so much time putting together, had community engagement, community benefits approval, descendants [of the Historic Gas Plant District], a large number of descendants, supporting it."
"You really hate to go back to square one, but if that's the case, to me, the most important thing is retaining that land and not the previous development rights that the Rays would have had through 2027," he said.
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The Rays said they have no comment right now regarding the mayor’s comments on Tuesday. City and county officials gave the Rays a March 31 deadline to come up with their portion of funding for the new stadium. If they don’t, the public financing from the city and the county will become void.
St. Pete's growth
Welch also spoke about the growth of St. Pete in his address on Tuesday. He said St. Pete had a new construction value of nearly $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2024. That is a four percent increase compared to the previous year.
"The growth is happening in places that have been planned for that density for decades," Welch said.
"Having that density helps us have more effective transit, housing and jobs. That triad is very important. So, we're not the same sleepy town we used to be when I was growing up, but we're also not losing the culture that makes St. Pete what it is," he said.
When it comes to affordable housing, Welch said one of he and his staff’s main focuses is maintaining and creating affordable housing options for people and working families with average and lower incomes. In 2024, 281 affordable units were brought online, he said.
DEI in St. Pete
Big picture view:
Welch also addressed President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding DEI and equity, without directly naming him.
"If you don't know, now you know what equity means in our city. It is equal opportunity informed by facts, data and history, building a path for us to move forward together. As long as I'm your mayor, we will not abandon or retreat from that principle," he said.
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"History doesn't demonize us today, or separate us or harm us or cause airplane crashes. Let's be real about this," Welch said. "To the contrary, having that knowledge of our history educates us. It empowers us. It helps us understand our current circumstances and understand the root causes of the disparities so that together, not divided, but together we can overcome those challenges and disparities more effectively, more permanently, and build a better future for."
Neighborhood health
What's next:
Touching on neighborhood health and safety, one of his five Pillars for Progress, Welch highlighted investments in public safety. Those investments include $1 million to the Forward Together program, dedicated to youth crime prevention.
The city is also investing in fire and EMS infrastructure, including acquiring equipment like another high-water rescue vehicle, and investing $800,000 per unit to replace fire engines with clean cab vehicles to reduce firefighter exposure to carcinogens. They’ve also started the design phase for upgrades and the expansion of the St. Pete Fire Rescue training facility.
By the numbers:
Welch said St. Petersburg Police Department’s Community Assistance and Life Liaison program, a partnership with Gulf Coast JFCS, had 4,220 contacts in 2024. The program dispatches a team of clinical staff and community navigators to non-violent, non-criminal calls to help provide a therapeutic, wrap-around response.
In fiscal year 2024, the city increased its investment in CALL by $400,000 per year for more staffing and coverage on evenings and weekends.
"As we look forward to 2025, one thing is clear: St. Petersburg is a city on the rise, unified and focused on inclusive progress. Our progress is built on the dedication of our city team, the resilience of our residents, and the strength of our partnerships. From addressing housing challenges, to driving economic opportunity, from enhancing public safety, to advancing environmental resilience, we are taking bold, strategic steps towards a more inclusive, prosperous and sustainable future for everyone," Welch concluded.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered during St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch's State of the City address.
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