ST. PETERSBURG -- Bill Foster celebrated his third week in office by spending his first paid holiday at  the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast at the St. Petersburg Coliseum.

He shared his waking thoughts with the packed room: "My first thought was how excited I am to be employed by the city of St. Petersburg. My second thought was how excited I am to have a day off after two weeks. Not bad."

The joke apparently didn’t go over well with the Rev. Louis Murphy of Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, who at one point during the breakfast told the crowd: "You’re the mayor on paper, but you will not become the mayor until you become the mayor in all of our hearts."

A gaggle of local politicians attended the breakfast, including Pinellas County Commissioners Neil Brickfield, Ken Welch and Nancy Bostock and state Reps. Rick Kriseman, Bill Heller and Darryl Rouson.

Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

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