One Saint Petersburg
Small town economy, big city crime.
St Petersburg mayoral candidate Jamie Bennett chose the theme “One Saint Petersburg” for his campaign in 2009. Unfortunately for him, this failed to resonate with the voters and he didn’t get past the primary vote.
The reason he and his slogan was not successful was because if anything, it reminded the people of the City of St Petersburg that there are indeed, TWO St Petes. One, the more affluent parts of the city in the North and the West, and the other, the poorer section of the city, including the majority of the core southern part of the city. Areas close to the water on the Southside of St Pete tend to be more affluent as well, e.g. the Pink Streets, and part of Coquina Key, and Old Southeast.
Some true believers in unity think that the web site and facebook page that they have set up will be the last thing going through some gang banger’s mind before he pulls the trigger on a cop or shop keeper.
See the One St Pete web site. An article on the launch of the One St Pete group.
The One St Pete Facebook page hardly seems to have caught fire, with only 307 “likes” after a two week period. The other quarter of a million people in St Petersburg just don’t seem to be showing any interest. After 3 years, they only have 507 “likes”. Here is another kumbaya type site : http://stpetetogether.org/
What a joke. The largely terrorist community south of Central has no interest in self rehabilitation. We should take all those dollars being stupidly spent on walls to keep out illegal immigrants and build it around South St Pete. Illegal immigrants are preferable to some who are already here.
In 2013, vote for change. If you want business as usual here, with certain people calling the shots in Downtown and certain others calling the shots in Midtown, then you know who to vote for. If you want to make a difference, then vote for the other candidate. 
The people who can’t tolerate crime and are believers in justice have already left. Those who are left tolerate crime. A friend of ours didn’t even mention to her husband the tragedy that befell us. It may have been because she was notoriously and loveably self centered, or maybe because it was nothing out of the ordinary.
To see what is happening in South St Petersburg, see St Petersburg Police Crime Reports