The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area Social Justice Team is proud to host Dr. Ruthmae Sears and her study committee members as they present the findings of the St. Petersburg Structural Racism Study for participants. Register now!
Even though it’s a primary, this election could decide the Mayor of our city. What’s more? This is the first election since the passage of SB90, which changed the rules for voting-by-mail. Read on to make sure you have all the info you need.
The Mayor of St. Petersburg serves a 4-year term and is limited to two terms in office. Our current Mayor Rick Kriseman is finishing up his second term and will not be on the ballot this year. So, we need to choose a new Mayor and there are eight candidates on the ballot (plus one candidate running as a “write-in”). Check out PinellasVoterGuide.com to see how candidates responded to community questions on key issues!
The two candidates who receive the most votes in the August primary will be on the general election ballot in November UNLESS one of them receives more than 50% of the votes in the primary. If that happens, then that candidate is elected Mayor in August and the Mayor race will not appear on the November ballot.
That’s right: it just takes a candidate getting 50% + 1 vote to be elected Mayor on August 24th. So, make sure you get out and vote in August so that you have a say in our city’s next executive leader!
All eligible voters in St Petersburg get to vote for Mayor and the election is nonpartisan. That means you can vote in the primary even if you have no party affiliation. It also means the political party will not be listed next to candidates’ names on the ballot or on other election materials. If political party affiliation is an important factor for you when making your choice, this information can often be found on Wikipedia or other public sources.
The St. Petersburg City Council has eight members, one elected from each of the city’s eight districts. Council Members serve 4-year terms. Every two years we have an election for half of the Council Member seats. In 2021, Districts 2, 4, 6, and 8 are up for election. We are also voting for District 1 this year because the Council Member for District 1 resigned in order to run for Mayor.
In the City Council Primary, the two candidates in each District who receive the most votes in the primary will be on the general election ballot in November. Only eligible voters living in the District can vote for their District’s candidates in the August primary. But, in November, all eligible voters in the city get to vote for the City Council candidates in all of the Districts on the ballot.
Did you catch that? In August, you only vote for the candidates running in the District where you live, and in November all voters in the city get to vote for the final top two candidates in Districts 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8.
Heads up for voters in Districts 2 and 6: Because there are only 2 candidates running in your Districts this year, there is no need for a primary election. So, you won’t see your District candidates on your August primary ballot. The District 2 and 6 candidates will proceed directly to the general election ballot in November.
What about Districts 3, 5, and 7? Even though you won’t have any Council Members to vote for on your primary ballot, it’s still important that you vote for Mayor in the primary!
Not sure what District you live in? Click HERE and find your address on the map (click “map layers” then “city boundaries” then “council districts” to see the color-coded Districts).
The City of St Petersburg has chosen not to have Early Voting for the 2021 St Pete Primary Election. So, if you want to vote in person, you will need to go to your polling place on Election Day August 24th. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Its important that you vote in the correct polling place for your current residence. Otherwise, your vote might not count. You can find your polling place and your voter registration information HERE.
And remember, you need to bring a photo and signature ID to vote in person. There are lots of different acceptable IDs. You can find a list of them HERE.
You can also vote by mail!
Mail ballots are already being sent out. You can track yours at VotePinellas.com to see if it’s been sent. Then when you send it back, you can also track it to make sure it was received OK. Remember, mail ballots must be received by the Supervisor of Elections by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day August 24th.
Your vote is your voice. Make sure it is heard in the 2021 St Pete Primary! If you have more questions, check our our Frequently Asked Voting Questions page or call the Supervisor of Elections office 727-464-8683.
Like many communities across the country, St. Petersburg has a food problem.
While many parts of town are literally teeming with grocery stores, St. Petersburg actually has 4 food deserts, defined by the USDA as “areas where people have limited access to a variety of healthy and affordable food”. [1] According to the USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas, which tracks food deserts across the country, food deserts are often characterized by low-income levels, greater distances to healthy, affordable food, and limited vehicle availability. [2] For people living in food deserts, that can mean making some unusual choices, relying at times on food sold at convenience stores and gas stations.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. St. Petersburg also has a problem with food insecurity, another problem predating the Covid pandemic. Food insecurity refers to families who “had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members.” [3] According to Feeding America, in 2018 (the last year for which data is available) 123, 860 people in Pinellas County were food insecure. [4]
The problem is that food insecurity is all too often met with junk calories. Loading a community with processed calories from dollar stores and USDA food boxes only treats hunger. These junk calories are highly processed foods that can be warehoused for years but do not make a community healthier. In fact, they create and exacerbate the chronic diseases of diabetes, cardiac disease and renal failure. So while there may be some food, there isn’t a lot of nutrition, and that has big consequences for individual health and the health of the community.
Nutrition insecurity is the real challenge we must face. The kinds of foods brought into a community matter greatly. It is not just about filling the belly. It’s about healthy food that meets nutritional needs, nourishes the body, and fosters well-being. That means easy, affordable, convenient access to fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes and whole grains that form the basis of a healthy diet.
Recently, our City Council unanimously passed ordinance 448-H in its first reading which allows St. Petersburg residents to sell what they grow in their home gardens. This will not only will put more nutrition into our city but provide many new economic opportunities for families in financial trouble due to COVID-19. Additionally, the ordinance reduced permit fees for hosting sales, allowed garden-related structures to be built and allowed residents to sell their produce on vacant non-residential property. All great things for gardeners and eaters, alike. While this importance legislation is an important step in improving access to local, healthy food, we know it will not solve our city’s nutrition insecurity problems. There is more work to be done.
There will be many opportunities to write to our policy makers, speak in public forums, provide education about the issue to organizations and assist in local efforts. We hope that you will join us in this endeavor.
The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area teamed up with the City of St. Petersburg, Solar United Neighbors Florida, and the Suncoast Sierra Club to bring solar co-operatives to the St. Petersburg area.
Solar co-ops make it easy and affordable for Floridians to take advantage of our most abundant energy source – the sun!
From Solar United Neighbors Florida:
“We bring homeowners together into a group, or co-op. We provide unbiased, installer-neutral support to co-op participants through each stage of the process of going solar. Our experienced team ensures you understand how solar works, how it can be financed, and how it can be installed on your home.
“Co-ops take advantage of the group’s bulk-purchasing power to get discounted pricing and a quality installation. Volunteer co-op participants choose an installer on behalf of the entire group through an open and competitive bidding process. The selected installer provides co-op participants a personalized proposal for their consideration.”
For more information about solar co-ops, including estimated costs and a detailed explanation of how solar co-ops work, and to join the co-op, click here.
You can also advocate for solar energy by signing the Solar Bill of Rights.
We’ve also teamed up with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
The League of Women Voters of Florida adopted electrification of transportation as part of our State Program for Action and has produced this 2020 EV Report Card to measure how well counties in Florida are facilitating the transition to EVs. League members will be using this report card to educate fellow citizens and public officials about the public health benefits of electrifying transportation and the urgent need for new charging infrastructure and policy, thus promoting cleaner air and water, and a more promising future for our state.
A report published in 2017 by Climate Central, an independent organization of leading scientists, determined St. Petersburg to be the 6th most vulnerable city in the nation to major coastal flooding and sea level rise.
In response to climate change and other environmental threats, St. Petersburg’s Office of Sustainability and Resiliency developed an Integrated Sustainability Action Plan. It’s a comprehensive document that serves as a blueprint for current and future sustainability initiatives. You can get more information and read the ISAP here.
American Cities Climate Challenge
In 2019 Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded St. Petersburg 2.5 million dollars to be used to combat the effects of climate change and promote a sustainable future for the residents. Our League Sustainability members played a significant role in launching, operating, and supporting many of the programs mentioned by Michael Bloomberg, as credits to the city and sustainability.
See the press release, Bloomberg Awards $2.5 Million to St. Petersburg for American Cities Climate Challenge.
Our team continues to partner with the city on these initiatives by supporting Solar United Neighbors and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in their efforts to help St. Petersburg transition to 100% clean energy.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Annual totals/average | % of category | |
| Criminal homicide | 17 | 28 | 24 | 69/23 | |
| Firearm involved | 10 | 15 | 13 | 38/13 | 55% |
| Sex offenses | 185 | 122 | 136 | 443/148 | |
| Firearm involved | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8/2.7 | 2% |
| Robbery | 573 | 556 | 499 | 1628/543 | |
| Firearm involved | 182 | 212 | 195 | 589/196 | 36% |
| Aggravated assault | 1126 | 1029 | 1187 | 3342/1114 | |
| Firearm involved | 329 | 308 | 337 | 974/325 | 29% |
| Total violent crimes | 1898 | 1727 | 1846 | 5471/1824 | |
| Firearm involved | 524 | 535 | 549 | 1608/536 | 29% |
Sources:
Facts You Should Know:
SUICIDE DATA:
Suicides in Pinellas County
5 years between 2012-2016 982 suicide deaths, an average of 196/year
2014 195 (17.3 suicides per 100,000 population)
2015 199 (18 suicides per 100,000 population)
2016 214 (19.6 suicides per 100,000 population)
2017 178 (16.9 suicides per 100,000 population)
Summary: Suicides trended upward in the county between 2012-2016 dropping significantly in 2017.
Suicides in Florida
2014 3035 (13.8 suicides per 100,000 population)
2015 3152 (14.5 suicides per 100,000 population)
2016 3122 (14.1 suicides per 100,000 population)
2017 3187 (14.1 suicides per 100,000 population)
Summary: The national age-adjusted suicide rate was 13.5 per 100,000 population
in 2016; in Florida it was 14 per 100,000; in Pinellas County it was 19.6 per 100,000.
Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in Florida, placing Florida 21st in the nation.
FIREARM DEATH DATA:
Firearm Deaths in Florida
2014 2410
2015 2559
2016 2704
Summary: The firearm death rate in Florida in 2016 was 12.6 per 100,000, higher than the nation’s 11.8 per 100,000 rate.
SUICIDE BY FIREARM DATA:
Suicides by Firearm in St. Petersburg
During the 5.5 years from Jan. 1, 2013 – June 30, 2018, there were 137 suicides by firearms.
Suicides by Firearm in Pinellas County
2015-17 total suicides (see annual data above) 591
2015-17 suicides by firearm 307
Summary: 52% of suicides during this 3-year period involved a firearm; this
equates to 8.4 per 100,000 population. (data from www.flhealthcharts.com
under profile of fatal injuries)
Suicides by Firearm in Florida (all data is per 100,000 population)
Year Rate of firearm death Rate of suicides % of suicides using firearms
2012 8.01 15.52 51.61%
2013 8.0 14.95 53.51%
2014 7.73 15.26 50.66%
2015 8.05 15.83 50.85%
2016 8.1 14.1 57%
Summary: 53% of suicides during this 5-year period involved a firearm.
Sources:
Who needs single-use plastics when we’ve got Sans Market?
Owner Eniko Olah believes that we can all live healthier happier lives without plastic, packaging and toxins.
We got a tour of the store and pep talk from Eniko. We found all natural replacements for laundry detergent, skin creams, shampoos and more, all sold “sans” packaging.
The Sustainability Committee recently visited Sans Market, which is St. Petersburg’s first zero-waste store.
We also found many easy, attractive, even trendy ways to eliminate the single-use items that are such a part of our lives that they’re hard to give up.
The selection of reusable straws alone are worth the trip to Sans. So many different colors and sizes for everything from a cocktail or soda to Boba tea and carrying cases, too.
Bring your own container, purchase one of theirs or use the assortment of freebie containers available. Many of the products will save you some money as well as helping save the planet.
Sans Market is at 1113 Central Avenue, upstairs above Baum Market. The phone number is 727-644-9505.
Released on
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The City of St. Petersburg City Council made history today becoming the first municipality post-Citizens United to abolish Super PACs and limit foreign corporate spending in local elections by passing two campaign finance reform ordinances. The first ordinance abolishes Super PACs by limiting individual and/or corporate contributions to the pre-Citizens United limit of $5,000. The second ordinance limits foreign-owned corporations from spending money in local elections. A third ordinance also passed that increases transparency and creates a disclosure reporting requirement for all contributions. The first two ordinances passed by a 6-2 vote and the transparency ordinance passed by a 7-1 vote.
The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area, American Promise, and Free Speech for People teamed up with Ordinance Sponsor St. Petersburg City Council Chair Darden Rice, to introduce the Defend Our Democracy Ordinance in St. Petersburg in July of 2016. The Ordinance was later co-sponsored by City Council Member Karl Nurse. Nearly 30 local, state and national organizations with St. Petersburg roots, representing thousands of local residents, later joined to form a coalition that worked to get the ordinances passed over the last 15 months.
Dr. Julie Kessel, President of the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area, explained the goal of the coalition formed more than two years ago. “The League believes in the beauty of our representative democracy and we are strongest when everyone participates and has a voice. She went on to say, “We believe that “big money” in politics is a root cause of a compromised democracy, every bit as corrosive as gerrymandering, governmental abuse of power and voter suppression. When money is as important to a candidate or an elected official as a citizen’s vote, the sovereign power of the people to elect officials to represent their interests has been corrupted.” Karen Lieberman of American Promise said, “What we did in St. Pete is historic. It is a great first step in taking back our democracy for our city, our state and our country”.
“Today, St. Pete took a historic and critical step forward to challenge the scourge of Super PAC money in elections. The fight begins here for common sense campaign reform to take back our democracy”, said Darden Rice, Chair of St Petersburg City Council. City Council Member, Karl Nurse, said of the vote, “The citizens of St. Pete made it clear that defending our democracy is a value that we are prepared to defend”.
According to Free Speech for People, Super PACs were the progeny of the 2010 DC Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals SpeechNow.org v. FEC holding the federal law limiting contributions to political committees to $5,000 per person each year and did not apply to a political committee that promised to make only “independent expenditures.” Free Speech for People indicated that while some appellate courts have applied the ruling to cases within their jurisdiction, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction for the state of Florida, has not ruled to date on the merits of this type of case. The Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court have not yet ruled on the issue.
John Bonafiz, Esquire, Co-Founder and President of Free Speech for People said today, after the historic St. Petersburg City Council vote, “The City of St. Petersburg is leading the way in the fight to reclaim our democracy. Today’s vote by the St. Petersburg City Council marks a huge victory for the people all across the city who have stood up to demand an end to super PACs and foreign-influenced corporations threatening the integrity of their local elections. This ordinance will be a model for communities throughout the nation on how to fight big money in politics and defend the promise of American self-government. Free Speech for People congratulates the St. Petersburg City Council on this historic vote, and we thank the many grassroots activists and citizens of St. Petersburg who have worked tirelessly to achieve this victory.”