Residents once uprooted upset about Trop talk
“As the City of St. Petersburg and the owners of the Tampa Bay Rays argue over who will get to keep more millions when the team eventually leaves there is, perhaps understandably, resentment among those forced to give up their homes and businesses 30 years ago to make room the stadium in the first place.
Now, some of those whose lives were uprooted wonder – with talk of the team moving on – was it all worth it?
Lois Grayson remembers fondly the days when her mother-in-law Willie Mae Grayson owned Bill’s RonRico Club. A thriving bar and hotel located along Second Avenue in St. Petersburg.
“They told her they were going to build up around there, and she was very jubilant — very happy for that,” said Grayson. “She had her whole building remodeled thinking they were going to upgrade the community and she would be there.”
But in 1985, Willie Mae was forced to sell her property to the City, to make room for what was then being called the “Florida Suncoast Dome.””
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Glasser, Eric. 10 News 12 March 2015.