Outside St. Petersburg’s overdue, still-under-renovation President Barack Obama Main Library, activists gathered last Saturday to decry Mayor Ken Welch’s proposed $17 million dollar increase to police budget, which the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) calls “unprecedented in St. Pete” and the “largest increase in city history.”
Activists have come out against a 16 million dollar increase in the City of St. Petersburg budget for police and public safety while other community needs have not been prioritized. Over a dozen affordable housing advocates rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
St. Petersburgâs main library now âPresident Barack Obamaâ library
The new sign arrived at the facility Friday to coincide with Black History Month, which begins next week.
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St. Petersburg s main library is getting a new name: the President Barack Obama Main Library. A sign donning the moniker arrived at the the facility Friday. [ TONY MARRERO | Times ]
Updated Jan. 29
ST. PETERSBURG â Almost three years ago, during February â Black History Month â 2018, Mayor Rick Kriseman stood in front of St. Petersburgâs main library on 9th Avenue N and declared it would get a new name.
The library, which also needed renovations, would honor Americaâs first African American president, Barack Obama.