Municipal marina residents still lack power – and certainty

The roughly 200 people who call St. Petersburg’s Municipal Marina home have lacked electricity for eight days, leaving many to feel abandoned by the city.

What officials have called the city’s “front yard” has a noticeable stench. Trash-mixed seaweed and other debris remained a week after Hurricane Helene brought an over six-foot storm surge to the downtown waterfront.

Like many municipal marina residents, Samantha Kahn thought the facility provided an affordable place to live in a city known for soaring housing costs. She is now “done” with a lack of maintenance and enduring the effects of annual storms.

“Everybody’s a little frustrated and tired,” Kahn said. “What I’m hearing and what I’m seeing is that – we don’t think the power is ever going to come back on.”

Kahn added that she simply wants definitive answers from her municipal landlord. Officials cut power to the 640-slip facility Sept. 25, a day before the storm.

Residents, or liveaboards, have received city updates every couple of days. A Sept. 28 memo posted on laundry and shower facility doors notes that most of the marina’s main breaker panels submerged under two to three feet of water for an “extended period of time.”

Kahn said staff, many of whom live at the marina, have tried to help and provide information. However, she said the bulletins are not “telling me what I’m going to be doing with the rest of my life.”

“There’s no place to go,” Kahn added. “So, people are buying portable generators and trying to live like that. It’s all overwhelming.”

Kahn is a local educator. Many residents live on a fixed income. An elderly man in a wheelchair with a floatation device around his neck braved a heat index topping 100 degrees to check on his vessel.

There is no shade from the sun at the marina, and Kahn said her boat is 95 degrees with the window open. “It’s too hot to put everything back together … everybody else is dealing with the same thing.”

Restrooms, once offline, are now functional. However, Kahn said residents cannot pump their sewage tanks.

Air-conditioned lounges, which offer washers, dryers and vending machines, remain without electricity. “We need a cooling station,” Kahn said.

St. Petersburg recorded an 82 mph wind gust during the storm.

Tony Ashley is known around the marina for looking after people and their boats. He chose to ride out the area’s worst storm in a century on the water.

Ashley said his night “didn’t get wild until right at the end” when the storm surge washed away pilings. “That was a little hair-raising for a while.”

Kahn called Ashley the “salt of the earth.” He is part of a dedicated group that refuses to evacuate and ensures lines remain tied and boats don’t drift away.

“It gives me a reason to say I’m staying here more than just … my own stubbornness,” Ashley said with a laugh. “One guy even swam out off the edge of a dock and carried a line around the pier to tie off a boat and keep it safe.

“I thought that was a little much.”

Ashley routinely carries a few gallons of gas to power a generator on his boat. He noted the situation was more difficult for some, “like Bill down there, who’s got to be in his late 70s.”

Kahn wondered why city officials did not park an air-conditioned mobile restroom or laundry trailer along the downtown waterfront. While those would have been visible to tourists and wealthy residents in adjacent luxury condominium towers, Kahn said the marina is already an embarrassment.

“I would just be embarrassed at how they’ve let it crumble,” she added. “If I were visiting the city, I would be like, ‘Oh, this doesn’t look too nice.'”

A 2017 Master Plan called for repairs and modernization to docks “reaching the end of their service lives.” After several years of debate, Mayor Ken Welch selected Safe Harbor Marinas to redevelop and operate the municipal marina in January.

Kahn noted relatively minor repairs have stopped. Ashley agreed that the city has “really let the marina fall into disrepair.”

The area had a noticeable stench, and local officials have reported red tide offshore.

Every time the wind blows, there’s two or three pilings that come out,” he said. “So, they’re not getting inspected. They’re not getting replaced like they should be to have a safe harbor.”

However, Ashley and his group of modern-day urban swashbucklers remain unphased. He pays $3,000 every six months for a 28-foot slip and another $270 monthly as a liveaboard.

Ashley said monthly rent at other local marinas would cost him an additional $300 to $400. “If you want to live downtown, it’s as cheap as it gets.”

The city did not respond to requests for comment. Ashley believes officials will eventually restore power, even if it requires rebuilding electrical infrastructure.

Until then, he, half-jokingly, said those without power could live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Residents can also grill on their boats but not on docks.

“It’s really hard to bring anything down on the city because this is a marina,” Ashley added. “You chose to live on a marina – and I’ve explained that to a few people.

“This isn’t a housing community.”

Part One of Two on the hurricane’s effects on the marina and redevelopment plans.