The Department of Public Works informed the St. Pete City Council Thursday that three departments have been working tirelessly to clean up dead fish along the bay side of the city. Resulting from a toxic Red Tide algae bloom, Parks and Recreation and the Sanitation department has joined Public Works in collecting around 6,500 dead fish – or four tons – as of Thursday. City workers retrieved the dead fish through the 4th of July holiday, and it is expected that more will wash ashore following the effects of Tropical Storm Elsa.
On Thursday, the Public Works Department updated the St. Pete City Council on supply chain issues stemming from the pandemic. Council was informed that an emergency procurement purchase was necessary for sodium hypochlorite, or bleach, as a backup disinfectant for the Odessa water treatment facility. While the city normally keeps a 14-day supply of chlorine gas, that dropped to only three days before residents would not have access to potable water. The chlorine gas supply is back to normal levels, and the city now has a backup system with bleach if the problem should arise again.
The popular Ybor City-based La Segunda Bakery & Café will expand into St. Petersburg with the opening of its third location at 2436 4th Street in the Holiday Plaza. A late fall 2021 opening is expected, according to the announcement. The new 1,820-square-foot location will focus on grab-and-go orders, delivery and catering. There will be indoor seating for 40 guests and an outdoor, pet-friendly patio that will also accommodate 40 seats. We really love this area of St. Petersburg for its walkability and mix of residential and office space,” said Copeland More, fourth-generation owner. “We often have visitors from St. Petersburg at our two Tampa locations, so we’re very excited to continue our expansion efforts across the bay and bring a little bit of Ybor to the Sunshine City.” The business is 106 years old and is known for its Cuban cuisines.
To celebrate the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row, Coors Light, the team’s official beer sponsor, will offer a special “Champions Ice” edition made with ice from Amalie Arena. During the Stanley Cup Final, Molson Coors Beverage Co. scraped ice from the rink and melted it down into water at the company’s brewery in Golden, Colo., where it was used to brew a limited run of Champions Ice Coors Light. Starting Monday, the beer will be available at participating Tampa Bay bars, some of which will offer 32-ounce collectable crowlers.
On Thursday, the St.Pete City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to add the Jordan Park Administrative Building to the city’s Register of Historic Places. The property, at 2240 9th Ave. S., was built in about 1939 and originally served as an office and community center for the adjacent Jordan Park Housing Development. The administrative building currently is the home of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum.
Ebony Vaz hosts a panel of Tampa Bay press professionals today (Thursday, July 8) at 8:30 p.m. on Clubhouse. The panel includes Nancy Dahlberg from Florida Trend, Lauren Coffey from the TBBJ, Garin Flowers from Yahoo!, Jeff Weisbein from BestTechie and Joe Hamilton from the St. Pete Catalyst. Clubhouse is an audio, adult-only social media platform.
The Tampa Bay Lightning scored a second Stanley Cup win Wednesday night, by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 at Amalie Arena. "This group, no matter what happens from here on out, this group is going to be etched in history forever, and that's pretty F'ing special," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos told ESPN.
Allen Clary, author of Quit to Start, has been supporting entrepreneurs for years with organizations including Tampa Bay Wave, Upsurge Florida, and Tiger 21. Now he's bringing his own thought leadership conference, Unlock Your Future Now, to Tampa Aug 27 through 29. In addition to Allen, speakers also include Janel Laravie, Johnny Crowder, Marcus Howard, Mariagrazia Indenbosch, Garyn Angel, Kaylan Boss, Kat Stylez, Sasha Jovicic, Holly Callaway, and Adam Anderson.
Mayday: Captain Lerro and the Skyway Bridge, the one-man play about the collapse of the Sunshine Skyway in 1980, is available for streaming beginning today via Lab Theatre Project. Written by Catalyst journalist Bill DeYoung, the 75-minute drama starring Michael Horn as harbor pilot John Lerro was filmed June 26 at thestudio@620 in St. Petersburg. All three live performances of the show sold out. The video stream will be available for two weeks.
Climate First Bank, a new community bank headquartered in St. Petersburg, has scheduled a series of grand opening celebrations starting Tuesday, July 13, with a wine and cheese event from 5 to 8 p.m. for shareholders and local business owners. On the 15th, from 4 to 7 p.m., there will be a beer-tasting event hosted by a local brewery. Then from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, the bank will host a community event for families featuring live music, food trucks and giveaways. All events take place at the bank’s office at 5301 Central Ave.
The Tampa Bay Lightning came agonizingly close to a four-game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final Monday night in Montreal but lost in overtime when Josh Anderson broke a 2-2 tie to keep the Habs’ season alive. However, the loss means the series returns to Tampa, giving the Bolts a chance to clinch their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship at home. Game 5 is set for 8 p.m. Wednesday at Amalie Arena.
The Tampa Bay Rays have postponed Tuesday’s home game against the Cleveland Indians because of the path of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is expected to bring heavy rain and storm surge to the region. The game will be rescheduled as part of a traditional, single-admission doubleheader on Wednesday, starting at 12:10 p.m. Tickets for Tuesday’s game will be valid for both games of the doubleheader. Fans who are unable to attend Wednesday’s doubleheader will receive a credit that can be used for any regular-season home game at Tropicana Field, as long as they bought their tickets via RaysBaseball.com, the MLB Ballpark app or over the phone.
