When it comes to the new pier we are beyond talking about the condition of the old inverted pyramid or the necessity of a new one. Like a married couple, the citizens of St. Pete are arguing about how it will look and how much it will cost.
At the heart of of the issue is the $50 million dollars collected to pay for the new pier. That money was collected from businesses in the downtown area and can only be spent in that area. So what would you have them build instead? Something along Beach Drive that blocks the view of Tampa Bay?
Even if the city wanted to use that money for something else it would have to be OK’d by the Pinellas County Commission and that could prove more difficult than all this pier nonsense.
The project is estimated to cost $37 million dollars and the firm building it, Skanska, has accepted the liability for finishing the Lens on time and on budget.
Whether or not it is OK that all this money was collected for such a specific area of the city is not the issue. It is there and it needs to be used. The Lens is simply the best way to do that.
When The Lens is up and all this noise about it has quieted down, no one is going to care as much as they do now. Millions of people will enjoy it. It will stand as a unique structure that will identify the city.
St. Pete is the cultural center of Florida. It is it’s hippest city and the Lens reflects that. Leave the touristy t-shirt shops where they belong on Clearwater Beach. Build this pier and have something visitors and residents will flock to, pose for pictures in front of and enjoy for generations.
One of the great things about St. Pete is the pier. While some cities have waterfront districts, St. Pete boasts an area that sits above the water. To imagine St. Pete without a pier is to imagine Boston without Faneuil Hall or New York without Time’s Square.
