St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman spoke of change and progress at the State of the City address at The Palladium Jan. 23.
“The state of St. Petersburg is strong and sunny,” Kriseman said reading a list of words posted to the city’s Facebook and Twitter accounts by people describing the city, even managing to get another dig at presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
“It’s creative, sparkling, limitless, progressive, dynamic … and Trump-free,” the mayor said with a smile.
The joke comes after last month’s tweet where Krisman barred Trump from St. Petersburg. Kriseman’s tweet was a response to Trump calling for a ban on Muslim travel into the United States.
Kriseman told the packed theater that 2015 was “a year marked by tangible progress; a year moving forward on issues that were stalled too long.”
Kriseman made reference to the legalizing of same-sex marriage in Florida as part of the progress of 2015. He also spoke of the advancements in the construction of the new St. Pete Pier, calling it “the people’s pier.”
While he highlighted the accomplishments of the past year, Kriseman spent most of his prepared speech speaking about the safety of the children of St. Petersburg, more specifically to the seven young men killed by gunfire in south St. Pete during the final months of 2015.
“It’s unacceptable in a place we’ve named the Sunshine City. We can write a new story for these young men,” Kriseman said.
Kriseman will be joined by St. Pete Chamber CEO Chris Steinocher at Shorecrest Preparatory School Feb. 4 speaking with parents and alumni for The State of St. Pete event.
