Advertisement
Colleen Wright - St. Petersburg Reporter
Colleen Wright

St. Petersburg Reporter

My 91-year-old Abuela says my career in journalism is what the American Dream is all about. My Abuelo fled Cuba and arrived in Miami in 1962. He washed dishes in the old Miami Herald cafeteria to support his family, including a baby girl on the way — my mother. Almost half a century later, the Herald gave me my first journalism job as a 17-year-old high school intern. I interned at newspapers all over the country, including at the Tampa Bay Times in 2014. It was the Times that gave me my first job after I graduated from the University of Florida, covering education in Pinellas County from 2015 to 2018. Then I returned to Miami to cover education and the nation’s fourth-largest school district for my hometown paper for three years. Now I’m back at the Times, covering St. Petersburg’s government and people. Miami may be my hometown, but the Sunshine City is my home. I live and breathe local journalism, and I’m proud I’ve spent my career working at Florida’s best newspapers.

  1. Lawmakers threaten to defund St. Petersburg over plan to pay for abortion travel
    Mar. 24• St. Petersburg
    Jazmyn Williams, 22, of St. Petersburg raises a fist and marches during an abortion protest on Saturday, July 2, 2022 in Tampa. "I'm a woman," Williams said. "I was born with rights that will never be taken away."
  2. St. Petersburg approves allowing some single-family homes to become multifamily
    Mar. 24• St. Petersburg
    Signs against the new zoning that would allow single-family homes to be converted to duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes to increase density are visible at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and 22nd Avenue North on Monday in St. Petersburg.
  3. Old neighborhoods, new density? Where do St. Petersburg Council members stand?
    Mar. 21• St. Petersburg
    Signs rejecting new zoning that would allow single-family homes to be converted to duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes to increase density are visible on the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and 22nd Ave N on Monday.
  5. Here’s how St. Petersburg’s new residential zoning rules would work
    Mar. 16• St. Petersburg
    A two-family townhome in the Historic Kenwood neighborhood. The home was previously a multifamily apartment, but it was renovated and restored to be a larger two-family townhouse.
  6. St. Petersburg’s structural racism study authors are eager to see action
    Mar. 15• St. Petersburg
    Gwendolyn Reese, African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg president, says she's eager to see Mayor Ken Welch move forward with efforts to ensure equal treatment for the city's Black residents.
  7. St. Petersburg’s education, youth liaison fired
    Mar. 10• St. Petersburg
    St.Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch speaks during the 2023 Evening of Excellence event by the Pinellas Education Foundation at the Mahaffey Theater on Feb. 8, 2023, in St.Petersburg.
  8. Housing? A park? St. Petersburg to explore other uses of downtown airport’s land
    Mar. 9• St. Petersburg
    Planes are seen at Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg in 2022.
  9. Bucking DeSantis, St. Pete mayor calls idea of open carry ‘chilling’
    Mar. 8• St. Petersburg
    Mayor Ken Welch puts on a Firestone Racing hat after the National Anthem during the opening ceremonies of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.
  10. Tropicana Field took over a Black St. Pete community. Could it affect another?
    Mar. 4• St. Petersburg
    Shirley Jennings with Tropicana Field in the background as she returns home from her daily walk through her Campbell Park neighborhood on Feb. 13 in St. Petersburg. “I just want to see what we got pushed away for,” Jennings said, referring to the redevelopment of Tropicana Field and the Gas Plant district. Jennings grew up in the Gas Plant and was 10 years old when her family had to move. “I just hope it is successful,” Jennings said. “I hope when they build it that people come to check it out. The way the plan looks, its going to be beautiful.”
  11. St. Petersburg wants more homes in old neighborhoods. Residents have opinions
    Mar. 2• St. Petersburg
    A two-family townhome in the Historic Kenwood neighborhood. The home was previously a multi-family apartment, but it was renovated and restored to be a larger two-family townhome.
  12. Tampa has a business improvement district. Is downtown St. Petersburg next?
    Feb. 28• St. Petersburg
    One place that could use some money, says Jason Mathis, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, is Williams Park.
  13. St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Rays to discuss these 9 topics about Tropicana Field
    Feb. 24• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch greets the audience during a Suncoast Tiger Bay Club meeting at Tropicana Field on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 in St. Petersburg. In background on left is Tampa Bay Rays president Brian Auld.
  14. St. Petersburg committee advances $50,000 for residents’ abortion travel costs
    Feb. 23• St. Petersburg
    Marchers hold signs supporting abortion rights during the St. Pete Pride Parade on June 25 in St. Petersburg.
  15. St. Petersburg hires legal team, drafts term agreements for new Rays ballpark
    Feb. 20• St. Petersburg
    An artist rendering of the Tampa Bay Rays proposed stadium design for the Tropicana Field site on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023 in St. Petersburg. Courtesy of Gensler
  16. St. Petersburg hired a specialist to help curb evictions. These are the results.
    Feb. 16• St. Petersburg
    Karla Correa, an organizer with the St. Petersburg Tenants Union, advocates for rent control outside St. Petersburg City Hall on Aug. 10. The city helped divert 117 evictions filed between August 2022 and last month.
  17. St. Petersburg’s civil rights history to be told through new sanitation building
    Feb. 15• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, left, talks with Abdul Karim Ali, the son of Joseph E. Savage, before a ground breaking event and ceremony for the new, state-of-the-art Sanitation Department complex on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023 in St. Petersburg. The new Sanitation complex will be at the same location as the existing Joseph E. Savage complex which is located at 2001 28th St. N. The new complex will be a 18,600-square-foot, two-story building, replacing two 50-year-old buildings. This $14 million project will accommodate both administrative and operational functions of the department and will serve as an emergency operations sub-center. Sustainability is a major focus of this project. The new solar-powered building will have the goal of achieving net-zero energy consumption and meeting the criteria for LEED Gold Certification, which is a designation for projects reaching a high level of sustainability. This project will help the City achieve net zero energy for the first time. The namesake for the Sanitation complex, Joseph E. Savage, was a leader in the strike of hundreds of St. Pete sanitation workers advocating for better working conditions and wages in 1968. The strike lasted 116 days and garnered the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s brother, A.D. King, who visited St. Pete in support of the workers. The strike is seen as a milestone in St. Pete civil rights history, resulting in the City Council passing a law allowing the workers to form a union that was established in 1970.
  18. St. Petersburg City Council committee advances stronger protections for renters
    Feb. 9• St. Petersburg
    New City Council member John Muhammad, in center, takes his seat next to Richie Floyd, on left after being sworn in as the new St. Petersburg District 7 Council Member in the City Hall Council Chambers at City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 in St. Petersburg. Muhammad and Floyd are working on more protections for renters.
  19. If the Tampa Bay Rays stay in St. Petersburg, who will pay for a new ballpark?
    Feb. 4• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, left, talks with Hines senior managing director Michael Harrison and Tampa Bay Rays President Brian Auld after Mayor Welch gave his 2023 State of the City on the steps of City Hall on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023 in St. Petersburg. Mayor Welch gave his highlights of what he accomplished in his first year as mayor and announced his decision to go with the Hines/Rays plan for the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment project.
  20. St. Petersburg’s redevelopment process begins with Rays pick. What happens now?
    Jan. 31• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, left, talks with Hines senior managing director Michael Harrison and Tampa Bay Rays co-President Brian Auld after the mayor gave his 2023 State of the City address on the steps of City Hall on Monday.
  21. At triumphant State of the City, Welch makes up for lost inauguration
    Jan. 30• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch walks from City Hall to give his 2023 State of the City address Monday.
  22. St. Petersburg mayor picks Tampa Bay Rays, Hines to redevelop Tropicana Field
    Jan. 30• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch gives his 2023 State of the City on the steps of City Hall on Monday.
  23. St. Petersburg’s mayor names a developer for Tropicana Field today. Then what?
    Jan. 30• St. Petersburg
    Former St. Petersburg City Council Chair, Ed Montanari, delivers remarks in support of continuing to work with the Rays to keep major league baseball in the city, during a press conference at Tropicana Field, Tuesday, June 1, 2021 in St. Petersburg.
  24. New St. Petersburg City Council committee focuses on jobs and economy
    Jan. 26• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg City Council member Ed Montanari will serve as the chairperson of a new economic development-focused committee.