ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Students in Pinellas County have been hard at work this summer learning about local government and the inner workings of the City of St. Petersburg.
Today, some of those students got the chance to present their ideas surrounding the development of Tropicana Field to the City Council.
- Students met with city development team, elected officials
- Students chose to propose redevelopment plan without new baseball stadium
- Plan includes affordable housing, convention center, green space, more
- More Pinellas County stories
The team of students, who are rising juniors and seniors, met with the City Development team, multiple departments, and elected officials to develop their plan.
The students had two scenarios to choose from — a proposal with or without a baseball stadium.
They chose a proposal without.
"The Trop site is this, like, high demand area. We want to be in the middle of that," said student Pooja Manjakandy. "We want to be in the center of that action. We want to be that change the moves St. Pete forward."
"Everything's going to change, and I feel like if we play by their rules, it might not be as successful as if we do it together," said student Reneta Happle.
Their plan is a work, live, play environment with affordable housing, a convention center, green space, art, and Tower Forest, which is a high rise with trees on each level.
"It's equivalent to 20,000 meters of forest," said Happle.
The students took all their ideas before the St. Pete City Council today, winning praise for their ingenuity and interest in being a part of the city's evolution.
"If they get two percent of my 100 percent idea, that would be the world to me, to think that I started something," Happle said.