St. Petersburg leaders want in on high speed rail

For years, Hillsborough County leaders have been talking about a high speed rail connecting Tampa to Orlando.

Now that the area is receiving federal stimulus money to start the project, city leaders in St. Petersburg are asking for a piece of the pie as well.

"If we're going to get high speed rail in St. Petersburg, it's going to happen in the next few years or it's not going to happen at all," said St. Petersburg city councilman Karl Nurse. "It's a critical time for us."

Nurse is introducing a resolution to get the full council on board.

It's the first step in trying to extend the high speed rail project across the Howard Frankland and adding a stop somewhere in St. Petersburg.

Nurse said downtown St. Petersburg and the Gateway would both be spots for the rail to stop. But not everyone is on board.

"I think there are more pressing issues than connecting Tampa, Orlando and St. Pete," said John D'Alessandro. "He owns a hot dog stand in St. Petersburg.''

Other restaurant owners like Dennis Crowley believe it could boost downtown business.

"We're going to get clientele that probably won't come over the bridge if they had a cocktail," said Crowley.

Nurse believes high speed rail could help bring more Tampa and Orlando baseball fans to Tropicana Field. Currently, the city is fighting to keep the Rays baseball team from leaving St. Petersburg.

Still, if city leaders really wanted high speed rail to stop here, why wouldn't the city get in on the discussion earlier? Nurse admits they should have been talking about this earlier.

"It's obviously more expensive to cross the Bay and I don't think it was on our radar screen enough," said Nurse. "I don't think anyone actually believe we would actually get a yes."

Now that Tampa has gotten that yes from the federal government and the initial work has begun, city leaders in St. Pete could soon be on their way to Washington DC to ask for more money to get a stop here too.