New faces on St. Pete City Council ready get to work on storm recovery efforts
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - There will be two new faces on St. Pete City Council after Tuesday's election.
Corey Givens, Jr., and Mike Harting will be sworn in as council members in January.
They will have to shepherd the city through the recovery from two of the most devastating storms the city has ever seen.
Both are lifelong St. Pete residents who could never have anticipated they'd be joining council at such a critical time.
"You know, for most of us, we have never lived through a natural disaster such as this. This is a learning curve for a lot of us. It's going to take us rolling up our sleeves and literally getting our hands dirty and putting in some work we might have to figure out. We need to realign some priorities and shift some dollars in our budget to really take care of our needs and not necessarily address our wants," said Givens, a financial planner and minister.
FOX 13 spoke with him at the children's park recreation center where he grew up going for after-school care.
"For a long time, a community that I represent has felt overlooked," he said.
Harting, who owns Three Daughters Brewing, ran on a platform about addressing infrastructure, which is arguably even more critical after Helene and Milton .
"After this type of a devastating traumatic episode, I think you'll clearly start to see the city shift into a mode back to our core competencies," he said.
He is focused on the budget, post-storm.
"How do we look different at this pile of money that we call the budget and refocus priorities on making sure that if this storm happens next year or in five years, that we're much better prepared for it," he said.
We also asked both whether they think the city should pay to repair Tropicana Field.
Harting said he will need to see more information.
"Can they revive the Trop? And if they can, what's that cost associated? And once that once you figure out that cost, how much of that is going to come from insurance? And how much needs to come from the citizenry? So I don't have an answer. I look forward to learning about it more. But both complex and emotional," he said.
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On Wednesday, council voted for a study at the Trop, meaning the ultimate decision could come to the new council.
"Well, I don't need a study to tell me what I can clearly see. We're not blind, common sense will tell you it does not make sense to continue to put money down this endless money pit like Tropicana Field. It's going to be bulldozed and built over in a matter of two years. So let's find them another temporary home and let's put that money someplace else," said Givens.
