St. Petersburg’s civil rights history to be told through new sanitation building

ST. PETERSBURG — The city’s sanitation headquarters will look different next year when two buildings, separated by a parking lot, get torn down to become one solar-fueled, two-story building.

But the names of the complex and building will remain to honor two of the city’s Black trailblazers.

The complex is named after Joseph E. Savage. In 1968, Savage led a 116-day strike for better working conditions and pay for sanitation workers. It attracted the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s brother, A. D. King, who traveled to St. Petersburg for the movement. The strike was a milestone in the city’s civil rights history, paving the way sanitation workers to form a union two years later.

Soon after the strike, C. Bette Wimbish was elected as City Council’s first Black member. The lead attorney for the strike, James B. Sanderlin, became Pinellas County’s first Black judge. Decades later, Ken Welch would become the city’s first Black mayor.

“My father came here in 1950,” said Savage’s son, Abdul Karim Ali, said. “He had no idea that he would one day be asked to lead a movement that would change our city.”

The city dedicated the complex to Savage five years after he died in 2006. On that day, Benjamin F. Shirley Sr. was appointed as the city’s first Black sanitation director. The administration building was named after Shirley last year.

Ali, 75, gave the oral history of his father’s legacy at the city’s sanitation headquarters’ parking lot Wednesday. He joined Shirley’s daughter, Katrina Shirley Harris, and wife, Carrie Shirley, along with Welch and City Council members to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new building.

“History does matter,” said Welch. “I think it’s providential that we’re making this announcement [during] Black History Month.”

The $14 million, two-story sanitation complex on the current North Kenwood site is expected to be built in 14 month and house administration and operations employees. The 18,000-square-foot building will be completely solar powered, with panels on the roof and parking canopy.

The project will have net zero energy consumption, meaning it will produce as much energy as it consumes — a first for a city facility, said City Council chairperson Brandi Gabbard.

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City council member Richie Floyd kicked off Wednesday’s event, as the sanitation complex is within his district. Floyd also made history last year as the first Black council member elected north of Central Avenue.

“They’re a big reason why our city has thoughtfulness and inclusivity,” Floyd said of Savage and Shirley, “because of their struggles over the years, because of their participation in things like the civil rights movement to the workers rights movement.”

Savage and Shirley had a lot in common. They were co-workers and good friends. Both were members of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church.

“My dad loved his family, his church, his job and his community,” said Harris. “He would always stay stuff like, ‘Garbage has been good to me.’”

The modern new complex will honor both men.