Next was St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, a third generation St. Petersburg resident and the city’s first African American mayor. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and an MBA from Florida A&M University. Welch served as a Pinellas County Commissioner for 20 years, and his father was a city council member. The mayor grew up in the Gas Plant area of St. Petersburg, where Tropicana Field now stands.
As he sat across a conference room table from the students, Welch leaned back and smiled. “It’s a great job,” he said. “But it’s a big responsibility.” He said he and his staff were excited to host the first Eckerd College Day, and he asked each student their name and their major. “Thank you for being here,” he told each one. “I know when the hurricanes hit in 2024, Eckerd was ground zero.”
Among the issues that concern him, he said, were some state mandates that don’t fit with St. Petersburg’s goals—issues involving DEI, climate change, gerrymandering, property taxes and unlimited campaign contributions. His priorities, he said, are affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, infrastructure and the environment. “The great equalizer,” he added, “is elections.”