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USF dedicates a marine science complex to him. He then breaks ground at a geological survey expansion for which he also helped get funds.
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Take a look around the Bayboro section of St. Petersburg, and it doesn't take long to notice a theme:
The Florida Marine Research Institute. The Florida Institute of Oceanography. The U.S. Geological Survey.
"St. Petersburg is rapidly becoming a marine science research center," Mayor Rick Baker said Friday in a speech to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which met in St. Petersburg.
The city took another step in that direction Saturday when the University of South Florida dedicated its marine science complex to U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, the Largo Republican who helped deliver millions to the University of South Florida's efforts to develop a mecca for marine scientists at the St. Petersburg campus.
Minutes later in a ceremony at the U.S. Geological Survey, Young, accompanied by representatives from the USGS, USF and the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, broke ground on the expansion of USGS facilities in St. Petersburg.
The USGS arrived in St. Petersburg in 1988, choosing the USF campus over more established research universities.
"We saw a vision where the world would look to St. Petersburg, would look to this area, for answers they couldn't find anywhere else," Young said.
The 60,000-square-foot USGS addition could more than double the number of employees at the St. Petersburg USGS office, from 106 to as many as 250. The addition was made possible through $6.25-million Young helped secure.
Bonnie McGregor, the eastern regional director for the USGS, led the team that helped select USF St. Petersburg as the new home for the USGS marine geology branch. She said St. Petersburg set itself apart because the business community was so eager to attract the group.
That partnership remains in place today. "The uniqueness was not only the university, but the community," McGregor said. "That was stunning."
-- Times staff writer Craig Pittman contributed to this story.