St. Petersburg Rides The Bicycle For Downtown Buzz

October 4, 4:57 PMCycling ExaminerAlan Snel

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I'm proud to live in Seminole Heights, a Tampa neighborhood known for its lovely bungalows, proud oak trees and a bike club I helped form with friends.

But when I visit St. Petersburg across the Bay from Tampa, it's hard not to be envious of a city government where government leaders have succeeded in turning a once-dormant downtown into a buzzing, vibrant city center -- thanks, in part, to  St. Petersburg leaders backing and supporting bicycling and taking steps to accommodate cyclists in the city. See Mayor Rick Baker in the first two photos in this post.

This morning I went to downtown St. Petersburg to promote the Bicycle Bash by the Bay, a regional bicycle festival I organize for a group of retail bicycle stores. We hold the bike festival on St. Pete's waterfront in a place called Vinoy Park to promote and grow bicycling. This year is it's set for Oct. 19.

Check out the famous Bicycle Bash by the Bay rolling billboard, which was featured in a local FOX-TV news report two years ago. That's my friend Ellen, who helped me promote the Bicycle Bash this morning. 

One visit to downtown St. Pete shows the gulf between Tampa and St. Pete.

In St. Petersburg, the streets were alive with hundreds of runners for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Then I visited a St. Petersburg city ceremony to celebrate the opening of a 2.1-mile trail extension of the Pinellas Trail into downtown St. Pete. Mayor Baker led a caravan of cyclists from the ceremony staging area into downtown.

And this morning was the fall debut of the downtown farmer's market, held in the parking lot of the Al Lopez ballfield parking lot. Dozens of bicyclists biked to the outdoor market and I chatted with many of them about the Bicycle Bash by the Bay. Downtown St. Pete was vibrant. Downtown Tampa on the weekends is crickets The difference is simple -- Tampa is a city of the 70s, with a waterfront that's ill-suited for weekend festivals and bordered by a busy road that's in bad condition and also poorly suited for bicyclists. Meanwhile, St. Petersburg has adopted policies and hired city workers to focus on making its city friendly to bicyclists and pedestrians and has created a chain of waterfront parks that are inviting to all types of festivals -- such as the 2008 Bicycle Bash by the Bay. Check out some of the bicyclists who visited this morning's farmer's market in St. Petersburg.