Bid to privatize BayWalk sidewalk ends with tie vote

It's only a sidewalk, but the one-block stretch of concrete that fronts BayWalk served as a battleground today.

Numerous groups have been fighting for months over a proposal to privatize the sidewalk in front of BayWalk, the city's downtown retail and entertainment complex. The American Civil Liberties group, a black activist group and others oppose the privatization plan, saying it smacks of racism and would curb free speech.

On the other side are city leaders, businesses and the downtown association, which says not only BayWalk but the whole downtown revitalization process is in danger.

The battle was fought to a draw, but the tie City Council vote this afternoon essentially doomed the privatization plan.

The sidewalk historically has been used by protesters, particularly the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, a black activist group. An official with the Uhurus was among those who spoke at today's hearing.

Backers of the privatization plan noted BayWalk has a dismal occupancy rate of only 30 percent and said many moviegoers do not feel safe at BayWalk because of panhandlers and protesters and opt to go to a multiplex in Pinellas Park.

To that observation, the first group cried racism, as many of BayWalk patrons Friday and Saturday nights are black teenagers.

Mayor Rick Baker and his administration have long supported the privatization of the sidewalk.

After the public hearing today, at which dozens spoke, the city council split down the middle - with four voting for privatization and four against. A tie vote fails, so the proposal is dead.

"What happens if we say 'No?'' city council member Karl Nurse said before he voted for privatization. "This is a spiral down and this place will be empty shortly."

Asking demonstrators to protest on the sidewalk across the street from BayWalk is a better option than contributing to BayWalk's demise by not working with the complex's new owners, Nurse said.

City council member Jamie Bennett, who also voted for the proposal, said First Amendment rights would still be respected in the city, as they are at other locations, such as city hall, where groups such as the Ku Klux Klan have demonstrated.

"If you can't find another place to protest in this town you are not looking far enough,'' Bennett said, looking at some of the activists sitting in the audience who protested the privatization.

City council chairman Jeff Danner said that while protesters were not to blame for BayWalk's economic downward spiral, their presence has played a role by making it difficult for patrons to get on the property. Still, he was among the four voting against privatization, as was Wengay Newton, the only black city council member.

The other city council members voting against privatization were Leslie Curran and Herb Polson. The city council members who joined Bennett and Nurse in voting for the privatization plan were Bill Dudley and Jim Kennedy.

One speaker, Marianne Huber of St. Pete for Peace, attacked the sidewalk privatization as "racially motivated" because many of the patrons at BayWalk are black.

"Don't discriminate against my neighbors because they are young and black," she said.

Ross D. Preville, a vice president with the St. Pete Wealth Management Group of Raymond James and Associates and a resident of St. Petersburg, had a different view. He told the city council his experiences at BayWalk have been mixed and particularly difficult when he went to the complex during protests there. He also said there were rights to consider other than the protesters.

"Business, much to some people's chagrin, is not a dirty word," Preville said. "This isn't about the right to free speech or the right to assemble. This is about the right of the owner of BayWalk and the tenants of BayWalk. They get to choose where they are going to put their business."

The new owners of BayWalk have told city officials that to succeed they need to be able to manage the flow of pedestrians.

Crucial to that management is the power to oversee a stretch of sidewalk on the north part of Second Avenue North, between First and Second streets, that serves as the entrance to BayWalk, CW Capital has told city officials.

Mike MacGregor of CW Capital has told the council that privatizing the sidewalk is a "deal breaker," meaning that without it the owners would not go through with plans to spend up to $6 million revitalizing the property.

But Thomas C. McGeachy, who works for the company managing the property for CW Capital, today backed off from that stance a bit, saying the company would still try to lure businesses to BayWalk, even though it would be a difficult, if not impossible, sell.

Before, CW Capital said it needed the sidewalk to attract the right tenants, and the tenants already at BayWalk have supported CW Capital's stance. McGeachy said some new tenants were lined up on the condition that the sidewalk be privatized, and that he would now have to see how they react to the city council vote.

When BayWalk opened in 2000, it was seen as an unqualified success, attracting 3 million to 3.5 million visitors a year, city officials say. But in recent years, it has been plagued by a range of problems: increased competition from nearby eateries and bars on Beach Drive, the newly refurbished mall in Pinellas Park, an economic recession and perceived security issues.