The St. Pete Pier. By Seán Kinane/WMNF News
Listen:
St. Pete City Council has delayed a decision on a new contract with the St. Pete Pier event promoter behind events, including the “We Belong Here Festival”.
The decision came at the council meeting Thursday.
City council members had reservations about the professionalism of Pier Events LLC.
Last year, an EDM festival called “We Belong Here” received 62 noise complaints and a written warning from police, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
At the meeting, Beth Herendeen, managing director for city development, admitted that the noise was unacceptable.
“We will not let that happen again, we will not have a 360 stage, we will not have speakers pointing in that direction, we will not do any of those things, we have learned our lesson,” Herendeen told WMNF.
Another concern was the cost – the contract would go from 90 thousand dollars to 250 thousand dollars yearly.
Council member Gina Driscoll represents the area covering the pier.
She voiced concern about the new contract costs as local governments may face major losses if a property tax relief is approved by voters this November.
“At a time when we are looking at cutting back on just about everything, it is a really tough thing to look at an increase of this size, almost triple,” Driscoll said.
The council voted unanimously to defer the vote.