On June 3rd, nearly 300 community members gathered at the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg’s Center for Health Equity for “Beyond Baseball: New Perspectives and Possibilities for St. Pete’s 86 Most Contemplated Acres.”
This free panel discussion and community conversation was the first in a Spotlight Tampa Bay Healthy Community Series of three public forums hosted by the Tampa Bay Times in partnership with the foundation, focusing on what it means to be a healthy, thriving community.
The discussion was moderated by the Times’ St. Petersburg reporter Colleen Wright and the panel included longtime St. Petersburg educator Mozell Davis; Peter Kageyama, author of For the Love of Cities; Erica Hall, a member of the Sierra Club’s board of directors; Jillian Bandes, an executive board member at ULI Tampa Bay, a district council of the Urban Land Institute; and Dr. Elizabeth Strom, associate professor at the University of South Florida.
The conversation highlighted a range of topics, including green space, affordable housing, the acknowledgment of history, the importance of inclusion and infrastructure.
“Convening the community to examine possibilities for St. Pete’s highest-profile parcels of promise is a first step in the land’s next chapter,” Foundation President and CEO Dr. Kanika Tomalin said. “Our community must pool its intellectual and social capital to become a living laboratory of imagination for how this land might catapult our whole city along the margin of excellence from a great to iconic place that sets the standard for quality of life in America.”
The next community conversation in the series will be held on Wednesday, September 24th, at the Palladium and the third will occur later in the fall. Some potential topics for those conversations include the role of AI in public and community health and finding connection and community during polarizing times.
“We’re proud to partner with the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg to bring forward the Spotlight Tampa Bay Healthy Community Series, an ongoing community conversation that explores what it truly means to belong and what it takes to build a healthier, stronger community for all,” said Conan Gallaty, chairman and CEO of Times Publishing Co.
Visit healthystpete.foundation to learn more.
