Calls for police assistance in downtown St. Petersburg have soared alongside the area’s growth and popularity. Some city and business leaders believe a new initiative can mitigate those and other issues.
The Clean & Safe Program would include sidewalk scrubbing, graffiti abatement, beautification projects and ambassadors who provide safety services, walking residents or visitors to their cars or homes, and social outreach efforts to address homelessness. The entire city council attended an exploratory committee discussion on the initiative Thursday morning.
Equitably funding the program and helping, rather than just moving, the downtown homeless population was among the chief concerns. Many stakeholders bemoaned the number of unhoused individuals in the area at a June 5 council meeting.
“I know we’re saying it’s not a focus on homelessness, but I’ve heard ‘homeless’ 100 times,” Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders said Thursday. “The speakers who spoke at an open forum made it very clear that their support was because of the homeless. They didn’t use graffiti, they didn’t use any of that … it was the homeless.”
Over 1,000 municipalities nationwide have adopted some form of a Clean & Safe program, often operated by nonprofits that manage local government contracts. Business improvement districts typically fund the initiatives through a special assessment on local property owners.
The Tampa Downtown Partnership manages the longest operating improvement district in Florida. It currently has a $6.6 million budget generated through an annual assessment levied on residents and businesses.
The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership has long advocated for a similar program. CEO Jason Mathis said he would not apply to oversee the initiative, and $1 million could launch its first phase.
He began the discussion by emphasizing that the program is “absolutely not” an “anti-homeless initiative.” Mathis said it would help everyone enjoy a clean and safe downtown that has added over 20,000 new residents in a decade.
“You and I can walk into our house, lock the door with all our belongings, and be totally safe,” he said. “If you’re carrying around everything you have in a backpack, security is really important.”
Mathis highlighted statistics that show the St. Petersburg Police Department is on pace to handle 20,635 downtown calls in 2025. That far surpasses the 5,598 recorded in 2023 and 12,011 in 2024.
However, Mathis noted the program would primarily focus on maintenance. The first phase would offer enhanced cleaning services, including more frequent garbage collection, weed removal and power washing.
The second phase would provide safety ambassadors to identify code violations, support small businesses and assist the homeless. “We’re not trying to be security officers,” Mathis said. “Sort of a level between a regular citizen trying to manage a situation and a social worker managing the situation, before going all the way to a police officer managing the situation.”
The downtown partnership proposed a pilot program encompassing high-traffic areas around Central Avenue, Williams Park and Beach Drive. Mathis said it could later expand to other neighborhoods.
He said the area has most of the city’s parking meters, which could fund the program. Many residents have balked at paying additional taxes to clean up the mess left by visitors.
The city, with Pinellas County’s approval, could also use the Intown Community Redevelopment Area’s (CRA) tax revenues to pay for services. Officials would eventually solicit proposals from organizations to operate the program.
“Anything we do will be hand-in-glove with the police department and social service providers to make sure we’re adding to the effort – being a part of the solution and not creating a negative experience for anybody, regardless of their housing circumstances,” Mathis said.
City Administrator Rob Gerdes said Mayor Ken Welch believes the program can provide a benefit but prefers downtown residents to fund it internally. He said officials could potentially expand parking meters to the EDGE District to help fund the pilot temporarily.
Council Chair Copley Gerdes and Councilmember Mike Harting appreciated the cleanliness aspects but expressed concern about establishing the second phase. All agreed that the program, particularly its funding mechanism, warranted additional discussion.
Councilmember Brandi Gabbard noted the meeting left more questions than answers regarding the “actual creation and enforcement” of a business improvement district (BID). She wondered if dedicating a percentage of the area’s sales taxes to the program is feasible.
“From all the research I have done about BIDs, the number one criticism is that they don’t sufficiently address the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness,” Gabbard said. “And so, to have this in phase two, I think, misses the mark.
“Homeless services have to be at the forefront of this, or cleaning up your garbage and your graffiti and your weed abatement downtown – who cares? If we’re not actually helping individuals … then I don’t even want to continue the conversation.”
Councilmember Gina Driscoll, who represents downtown and introduced the initiative, credited her colleagues for their feedback. She wants to explore using CRA funding already generated by area residents and businesses.
The council agreed to continue discussing the program at a Committee of the Whole meeting. However, the first open date is not until October, after the budgetary process, and Driscoll said there is “a real need right now.”
Gerdes will attempt to find an earlier date. “But right now, I don’t want to make that promise,” he said.
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
