ST. PETERSBURG -- More than 90 officials attended Wednesday's workshop at Sunken Gardens that discussed ways to deal with a growing homeless population.

It had been organized by St. Petersburg Council Chairwoman Leslie Curran and member Jeff Danner and had the full support of Mayor Bill Foster.

But afterward, Foster said he was disappointed by who didn't attend. He said city officials had rescheduled the workshop from Tuesday to Wednesday so that Pinellas County Administrator Bob LaSala and commissioners could attend.

No dice.

"I'm real disappointed they didn't show," Foster said. "I'm disappointed because it's going to take us pooling our money together to solve this. We can't do this without them."

But Assistant County Administrator Elithia Stanfield did attend, as did other county officials.  

Commissioner Ken Welch said he informed the city several days earlier he would not be able to attend. The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority -- which has four county commissoners as members -- had a meeting to set the 2011 property tax rate for the bus system. He felt it was important to attend.

"Why he didn't know that, I don't know," Welch said of Foster.

"That's just not helpful," Welch said of Foster's complaining.

David DeCamp and Michael Van Sickler, Times staff writers

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