St. Petersburg Pier in Pinellas County, Florida is in danger of becoming extinct! The St. Petersburg Pier serves not only as a fishing pier but a place for waterfront dining, shopping and even an aquarium! However, the gulf breezes have begun to deteriorate the infrastructure of the pier leaving the city a choice between spending $50 million in repairs or saving $1 million a year by shutting it down!
To date, the pier has cost taxpayers nearly $12 million in the past 8 years and with a declining economy the pier has lost nearly half of it's visitors in the last year. Locals keep their distance, as the pier has a reputation of "touristy" retail stores and fast-food, while the store owners are hesitating on upgrading their shops in fear of the unsure future of the pier and national chains are reluctant to set up shop with the limited space that the retail shops have to offer.
City Council member Herb Polson stated, "You could spend $50 million and not see a thing defferently, That's hard for the common man to understand."
