St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman delivered his annual State of the City Address today. 

  • St. Petersburg mayor holds State of the City Address
  • Mayor discussed sewage crisis, initiatives to curb crime
  • He also mentioned accomplishments he's made so far

The event kicked off with the national anthem, comments from Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin, Vice Chair Darden Rice, and even some of the youngest of St. Pete's residents.

The mayor first started off by saying, "January 2nd, 2014 is the day I became your mayor and the day we began this journey toward our collective vision."

He addressed some of the previous issues of the city that he has worked on during his time as mayor, such as police funding, city poverty, creating a healthier St. Pete, and the city's financial issues. 

""We woke up in a city that had given up on building a new police station, unable to secure funding or negotiate with our county partners. We woke up in a city with too much poverty and no plan in place to address it," said Kriseman. 

He praised city leaders and residents for all that has been accomplished in the short three years. 

Once a city with financial strain, has been ranked as Florida's financially strongest city by the Fiscal Times. 

Kriseman said each one of these strides moves us closer to being the city we envision - "an innovative, creative, and competitive city of opportunity."

He continued to talk about the new challenges the city faces, including plans to deal with the sewage crisis.

"I'm not sure if this ever made the news," said Kriseman jokingly. "We've had some big problems with our sewer system. We've had problems with the management and we've had problems communicating the problem. This can't and won't continue." 

Millions of gallons of partially treated waste water were dumped in the bay and other local waterways. Kriseman said the city is working towards making improvements so something like this doesn't happen again. 

"Until our planned upgrades are complete, wastewater discharges may continue, and no one is more displeased by that possibility than me," said Kriseman. "And as such, no one is more dedicated to fixing it than me.

During his address Kriseman touched on a variety of other issues, including new initiatives to curb crime in the city, specifically with young minorities. 

"I began my remarks last year by calling attention to gun violence in 2015. I pledged to address the risk factors that affect our children and young adults to do our very best given the limitations put on us to end gun violence.

To work with our officials to intervene before a fatal decision is made. And so we launched the 'Not My Son' campaign, a grassroots community effort specifically designed to protect and encourage our African American boys. Since that kickoff, not a single teenager has killed or been killed in the city of St. Petersburg." 

Kriseman also talked about his past criticism of Donald Trump, using today's platform to try and patch things. 

While they disagree on a great many things, "now is a time for reconciliation and a peaceful transfer of power," he said.