Roundtable: Future of the Bay

®oundtable:

Future of the Bay

Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Partnership leaders discuss the challenges and changes taking place across the region.

Kelly Flannery

CEO South Tampa Chamber of Commerce

What challenges and opportunities did businesses encounter when switching to e-commerce? There is no business sector that was not impacted by the pandemic. More than 75% of businesses in Hillsborough County are small businesses, with less than 50 employees. Mom and pop restaurants, for instance, that had never offered takeout or delivery before made a quick shift, whether internally or by working with a new platform such as Uber Eats. We also saw retail stores that had not previously offered online shopping and were now competing with Amazon. For business owners to make these kinds of changes is a huge opportunity.

As some businesses begin to transition back to a more traditional business model, we suggest they also continue to offer these new services, and to always be looking for ways to use new technologies.

How will the chamber go about its business in the near term, considering the pandemic-induced changes? 2021 is the South Tampa Chamber’s 95th anniversary. It’s definitely a reason to celebrate even if we have to do it in a different way.

From an events perspective, what we have learned in 2020 is that chambers in general tend to be eventheavy. While we are still moving forward, we plan to focus on the mission of the organization when it comes to organizing events. If it does not fit within our mission, vision and values, then we should not be focused on it. We can use that time instead to focus on our members, our community and advocating on behalf of local businesses.

Jason Mathis

CEO St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership

What steps are you taking to tackle infrastructure and transportation issues in a post-COVID landscape? We’ve had important developments over the last year. One was the announcement on the complete funding for SunRunner, a rapid transit bus plan from Downtown St. Petersburg to the beaches on the Gulf Coast. This project is a game changer because it will help people appreciate the benefits of mass transit, perhaps more than we have in the past. We’re hopeful that the success of SunRunner will encourage people to understand the value of transit. Smart transit and transportation options are critical for a growing urban center. Our residential population continues to boom, and that calls for a bolstered transportation infrastructure.

How is your organization pushing initiatives for St. Pete to become more of a smart city? We have delegated a significant portion of those efforts to the Innovation District. If there is any place in our city where we should have smart city technology and innovation in terms of the actual physical design, it should be an innovation district. It’s a great way for us to pilot data collection from streetlights, smart traffic signals and the like. We know that is what the future holds.

We are supporting the work of many of our partners to bridge the digital divide in our community with access to computers and the internet. The pandemic reinforced the need for people to have access to technology. There are lots of families in our community who lack internet access. That only exacerbates challenges that they may be facing in other aspects of their life.

Lynda Remund

President & CEO Tampa Downtown Partnership

How are gathering spaces changing as a result of the pandemic? We don’t know what the future will hold. I hope at some point we’ll be back to some normalcy where we will see 5,000 people back in the park again. But from our cities and the internal chatter between staff, we’re hearing that the virtual component may stay. Just through Rock the Park, we’re bringing in 4,000 people or more and obtaining national recognition. The virtual component allows us to garner much wider reach.

What are the main infrastructure challenges to transportation within Tampa Bay? We don’t have a robust transportation system. Thankfully, we’ve been able to recruit some really big events such as the Super Bowl but transportation is our sore point. We have to implement some kind of multimodal transportation system in the near future. Smart cities are also very important because having all those components in place allows us to be on the cutting edge. The technology and infrastructure have a direct positive effect on the well-being of a city’s inhabitants.

What are the primary industries you would like to attract to Tampa? I think our Economic Development Corporation is doing a great job in attracting some of the higher-paying tech companies. We’re all anxiously awaiting the progress announcement coming from Water Street Tampa, which will bring in some of the larger-scale retailers the city lacks in comparison to similar cities. Big box retailers are the next logical step for a lifestyle district like ours. How has the ability of the city to grow small companies changed in the last year? I think it has improved. There’s such an influx of talent, especially since people can work wherever they want now. There’s a call for innovation in areas where our community is very strong, particularly in hospitality. We’ve been strong at starting businesses even without this need to innovate, and demand has skyrocketed. The number of companies pitching at our most recent Pitch Night compared to six months ago shows that our community sees a lot of opportunity for new projects.

How does the infrastructure in the city help promote quality of life? We’re excited about our SunRunner bus rapid transit. Soon, we’ll be able to serve people working in the hotels and restaurants and beaches, meaning they will see a steep reduction in costs because they’ll be able to take a reliable bus to work instead of having to drive and park. Some jobs may pay at a rate that does not allow them to buy a car, meaning the transit infrastructure is extremely important to a city. We also have the cross-town bridge expansion, which greatly helps mobility.

What is your outlook for the Chamber and St. Pete’s economy? We can’t see any obstacles in our way except ensuring we are really tuned into where society needs to go next. The chamber calls itself the Purple Pelican because we’re neither red nor blue. This has been very helpful because this aligns with our community and its ethos. We don’t advocate for a political party but, rather, for the city itself.

Chris Steinocher

President & CEO St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce