Blogger: I Donated to Buckhorn So He Will Take the Rays Off St. Pete's Hands

Local blogger/political operative/troublemaker Peter Schorsch writes on Saint Petersblog that he donated $250 to Mayor Bob Buckhorn's (somewhat uncontested) re-election campaign so he can essentially take the Rays "off of St. Pete's hands":

Buckhorn gets re-elected in a landslide. Mandate in hand, Buckhorn and Hillsborough County Commissioner persuade pols on that side of the bay that they must build a stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. By this time, St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman will have given in and let the baseball club pursue building a new stadium in locations outside of Pinellas County. By all accounts, Kriseman’s ready to give that up like a slutty prom date.

The Rays announce they are moving to Hillsborough. Suddenly eighty acres of prime real estate just west of the boomingest downtown in Florida is on the market. Developers and land use lawyers crawl all over each other for the rights to this land, which, by the time the Rays actually leave, will have light rail running along side it.

Another five or ten thousand residents would be added to St. Petersburg’s bustling downtown corridor, which would stretch from the waterfront to the interstate. A nine-square mile section of real estate home to hundreds of restaurants, art galleries, condominiums, health care offices (All Children’s, Johns Hopkins, and Bayfront being some of the most interested parties in the land currently occupied by the stadium), and so many other small businesses.

Meanwhile, Pinellas County, no longer burdened by paying to finance the bonds for Tropicana Field, is able to plow even more money into arts programs, beach renourishment, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, and dozens of other projects.

Addition by subtraction in St. Pete?  Might be just the kind of thing Rays fans in Hillsborough County are hoping for.