comprehensive annual financial report - City of St. Petersburg

operating and labor costs. Preventive healthcare was made a priority and is being integrated with the
City‘s self-funding of health insurance effective April 1, 2011.
The city worked with the School System and Juvenile Welfare Board to implement a ―kids‘ zone‖
concept in the elementary school located in the highest youth population area of the city.
A new ―Read for Rec‖ program is designed to recognize children and teens for reading ten books from the
City Library system with an award certificate that can be redeemed for a free Advantage membership card
at the City‘s Parks and Recreation facilities. The Mayor has continued to promote the Top Apple
Program, which recognizes public schools in the city and their leaders for performance gains. He has
increased the emphasis on student interns and placed a city staff member on each of the School Advisory
Committees within the City.
Mayor Foster has reached out to the citizenry by initiating a Breakfast with the Mayor at a local restaurant
each month and by holding an evening ―Mayor‘s Night Out‖ in each of eight Council districts during the
year, complete with staff from all key departments to enable citizens to do their business with the city at a
convenient time and location.
Finally, the Mayor has attracted baseball teams from Korea, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia to
begin play at the City‘s former spring training facility in February 2011, ensuring full utilization of city
facilities and enhancing the city‘s tourism. Additionally, the North American Soccer League‘s FC
Tampa Bay Soccer is being relocated from Tampa to St. Petersburg for at least the next two playing
seasons.
2010 Awards, Accomplishments and Acknowledgments
• In 2010, St. Petersburg was voted number one in AmericanStyle magazine‘s Top 25 Arts
Destinations for mid-size U.S. cities in the magazine‘s annual reader‘s poll. This great distinction
was punctuated with the opening of the new Salvador Dali museum in January 2011, capping a
year of exceptional growth in the St. Petersburg arts community. The Chihuly Collection on
Beach Drive, the only facility of its kind in the world, has already welcomed its 50,000 th guest. In
2010, a Bank of America/USF study found arts and cultural organizations in St. Petersburg
contributed more than $23 million to the local economy, attracted 1.3 million visitors annually to
the city and created an additional 519 jobs.
• Sports took the spotlight in St. Petersburg in 2010. St. Pete‘s home team, Major League
Baseball‘s Tampa Bay Rays, finished the season with the best record in the American League and
won the American League East division championship. Just weeks later, the baseball diamond at
Tropicana Field was transformed into a college gridiron for the 2010 Beef O‘Brady‘s Bowl St.
Petersburg. For this third year in a row, the bowl game has brought St. Petersburg into the homes
of America each December with live television coverage on ESPN as it matched two NCAA
teams from the Big East and Conference USA. Worldwide television audiences also watched St.
Petersburg as it hosted for the sixth year in a row the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. As part
of the IndyCar Racing Series, the world‘s best drivers raced through the streets of St. Petersburg
in March, 2010, and will return again in March, 2011. As 2011 begins, St. Petersburg introduces a
new sporting endeavor with the first season of St. Petersburg International Baseball, bringing
spring baseball back to the city‘s historic Al Lang Stadium with a 13-game season of pro baseball
with teams from South Korea, Canada and The Netherlands.
• Bringing City Hall to the neighborhoods, Mayor Bill Foster initiated two new programs,
―Mayor‘s Night Out‖ and ―Breakfast with the Mayor.‖ The popular ‗Mayor‘s Night Out‘
program brings City Hall into the community, setting up a remote mayor‘s office along with key
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