Government

See also: List of mayors of St. Petersburg, Florida

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2016)

St. Petersburg's city hall

The city of St. Petersburg has been governed under a strong mayor form of government since 1993. The Mayor of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg City Council members are elected for a four-year term and are limited to two consecutive terms. Currently the mayor of St. Petersburg is mayor Rick Kriseman who took office on January 2, 2014 with the legislative body consisting of the eight City Council members representing each of their designated city districts.^[190][191]

Education

Primary and secondary education

Public primary and secondary schools in St. Petersburg are administered by Pinellas County Schools. Public high schools within the city limits include:

• Dixie M. Hollins High School
• Gibbs High School
• Lakewood High School
• Northeast High School
• St. Petersburg High School

Private high schools include:

• Canterbury School of Florida
• St. Petersburg Catholic High School
• Shorecrest Preparatory School
• St. Petersburg Collegiate High School
• Keswick Christian School
• Admiral Farragut Academy
• Northside Christian School

The non-profit Science Center of Pinellas County educates more than 22,000 school children annually through field trip classes and offers winter, spring and summer workshops for 2,000 more.^[192]

The St. Petersburg College Downtown Center

Higher education

St. Petersburg is home to several institutions of higher education. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is an autonomous campus in the University of South Florida system.^[193] The University of South Florida St. Petersburg serves 6,500 students. Eckerd College, founded in 1958, is a private four-year liberal arts college.^[194] St. Petersburg College is a state college in the Florida College System.^[194] Also in St. Petersburg is the Poynter Institute, a journalism institute which owns the Tampa Bay Times in a unique arrangement.^[195] Also, Stetson Law School is located in Gulfport, which is adjacent to St. Pete between the south beaches.
Other colleges and universities in the wider Tampa Bay Area include the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa located in Tampa and Hillsborough Community College, with campuses across Hillsborough County.^[194]

Media

The city's main daily morning newspapers are the Tampa Bay Times as well as its free daily sister publication tbt*.^[196] Other newspapers available in the area are the daily St. Petersburg Tribune and the free weekly alternative newspaper Creative Loafing.^[197] iLovetheBurg.com is an award-winning and popular online source of information for downtown St. Petersburg.^[198]
St. Petersburg is in the Tampa-St. Petersburg television and radio markets. WTSP channel 10 (CBS) and WTOG channel 44 (The CW) are licensed to St. Petersburg, with studios in unincorporated Pinellas County in the Gandy Boulevard area just north of the St. Petersburg limits. Bay News 9, the local cable TV news service, is based in northeast St. Petersburg. Independent station WTTA is licensed to St. Petersburg, with studios in Tampa.^[199] Official city government programming, known as StPeteTV, can be found on Bright House Networks Cable on Channel 641, WOW! Cable on Channel 15 or Verizon FiOS Channel 20 as well as online.^[200] In 2013 the city of St. Petersburg wants to sell its broadcast licence WSPF-CA channel 35.^[201]
Cable television service is provided by Charter Communications (previously Bright House Networks) and Wide Open West (previously Knology), as well as fiber optic service provider Frontier Communications (previously Verizon FiOS).^{[202][203][204][205][206]}