Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Day After Winning Mayoral Election, Kriseman Opens Up About Rays

St. Petersburg Mayor-Elect Rick Kriseman said Wednesday at a press conference that he doesn't want to step on the toes of Mayor Bill Foster, so all he plans on doing with the Rays in the next two months (he'll assume office Jan. 2, 2014) is to reach out and "get familiar" with the team's top brass.

In a 1-on-1 interview with my WTSP colleague Preston Rudie, Kriseman added, "my no. 1 goal is protecting our taxpayers....(the) second thing is, let's see what's happened thus far to get us to where we're at, and what can we do - if anything - to try and make this team successful here?"

"How long will that take?  I don't know," Kriseman continued.  "But this team has made it very clear they don't feel (St. Petersburg) can work and they want to stay in the Tampa Bay area, (so) we need to talk with them in that respect."

Kriseman also told Rudie:
  • He was open to letting the team look in Tampa if they are adamant St. Petersburg won't work.
  • He plans to talk to Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn about a number of issues, including the Rays.
  • He he hopes to have a resolution - of some sort - to the Stadium Saga within the next four years.
Watch Preston's story - including Kriseman's plans on other hot-button issues - tonight at 5 p.m. on WTSP 10 News.

2 comments:

  1. ". . . let's see what's happened thus far to get us to where we're at"

    Well, one thing that's happened is that for the past few years, the Rays have been denigrating the Trop at every opportunity, saying it's a bad place for baseball and people would be crazy to want to go there to watch games. So in lots of ways, attendance at the Trop has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, something the Rays wanted to happen so that they could get a new stadium and thus increase the value of their franchise.

    It is, in fact, what the previous Red Sox ownership did with Fenway Park, claiming there were parts of it that could not be fixed, and enlisting the support of Commissioner Bud Selig, who famously said the Red Sox needed a new stadium to be competitive in the American League.

    Funny how new ownership is sometimes all it takes to turn a stadium from a "dump" in a bad neighborhood to a jewel in the city.

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  2. "denigrating the Trop at every opportunity, saying it's a bad place for baseball", if your disagreeing then you obviously aren't as familiar w/ what your commenting about then you want to think. Besides, the Rays have done a great job w/ their balancing act, and rightfully so, it's a "old tent" in a bad location, but it's the best dome in MLB history. And please don't compare Fenway Pahk, they're two totally different situations, though I know w/ you & Noah being from the Bahstun area, that you two believe you know it all when it comes to baseball! lol

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