Hey neighbor! ☕ Hope you survived Tuesday, because it was one of those classic St. Pete days where everything happens at once. We've got luxury apartments filling up faster than you can say "what's my rent again," protesters making headlines at the Hilton, and someone decided to go full Fast & Furious on our streets (spoiler: it didn't end well). Grab your coffee and let's break it down.

VIV — yes, that's the full name, just three letters because apparently developers think we don't have time for full words anymore — just announced it hit 25% leased. The downtown luxury apartment building only started renting in late 2025, so that's actually pretty impressive. Or depressing, depending on whether you're renting or just watching from the sidelines.

Here's the thing: CEO Brandon Lacoff is calling this "a significant leasing milestone" and talking about how it shows the strength of our rental market. What he means is people are willing to pay a small fortune to live in a building with "state-of-the-art amenities" and walkable access to... well, everything we all love about living here. The building's got that modern design everyone's obsessed with, it's near jobs and the waterfront, and it's exactly the kind of place that makes you wonder if you're in the right career.

The company behind it — Belpointe OZ, a publicly traded opportunity fund (fancy!) — is betting big on downtown's "supply-constrained environment." Translation: there aren't enough places to live downtown, so people will pay whatever they're asking. And judging by this leasing rate, they're right. St. Pete's been seeing strong in-migration and job growth, which is great for the economy but not so great when you're apartment hunting and realize your budget hasn't caught up with the market.

Bottom line: Downtown luxury apartments are filling up fast as St. Pete's rental market stays red-hot. If you're looking for affordable housing downtown, well... maybe look in 2027?

Tuesday saw some serious activism when protesters showed up at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park to demonstrate against a U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruitment event. We're talking signs, chants, people using their voices — the whole deal. The protest was part of the "ICE Out for Good" movement that's been happening across the country.

Here's where it got real: at least one person was arrested for trespassing on Wednesday, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. The protest had been going on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, with demonstrators making it clear they weren't happy about CBP recruiting in our city. The event itself was your standard recruitment fair — CBP trying to hire new agents, people trying to stop them from hiring new agents.

This touches on the bigger national conversation about immigration enforcement, but locally it's about whether St. Pete wants to be a place that actively supports these recruitment efforts. The protesters clearly said "no thanks" — and they showed up to make that position known. Whether you agree with their stance or not, you've gotta respect people who show up and use their voices for what they believe in.

Bottom line: Immigration enforcement recruitment sparked major protests at a downtown hotel, resulting in at least one arrest. The debate over ICE's presence in St. Pete isn't going away anytime soon.

Our police department posted on Tuesday that they arrested Adam Rosema and charged him with racing on a highway and reckless driving resulting in serious bodily injury. So yeah, someone thought it'd be a great idea to turn our streets into a personal racetrack, and someone else got seriously hurt because of it.

The details are still coming out, but here's what we know: racing on public roads isn't just illegal, it's incredibly dangerous. And when you add "serious bodily injury" to the charges, that means someone's life got turned upside down because another person wanted to feel like Vin Diesel for five minutes. This is the kind of thing that makes you shake your head because it's so preventable.

Street racing has been a problem in various parts of Tampa Bay for years — you've probably heard the engines revving late at night or seen the social media posts about it. But when it goes from annoying to actually injuring someone, that's when it becomes a whole different level of not okay. SPPD is taking it seriously with these charges, and honestly, good.

Bottom line: Reckless street racing led to serious injuries and an arrest. Don't race on public streets, people — there are tracks for that.

📚 Florida's school voucher debate heats up — The state spends $4.3 billion on school vouchers annually, and SB 840 is proposing a different funding model. The bill passed unanimously through the Senate Community Affairs Committee. This could affect how education dollars flow in St. Pete and across Florida.

🚢 Tampa Bay Ferry is making progress — Remember when the Cross Bay Ferry shut down in April 2025? Well, good news: PSTA approved a new long-term plan to bring it back, now called the Tampa Bay Ferry. They've got Hubbard's Marina running it, a new 250-passenger vessel coming (up from 149), and both Tampa and St. Pete are each kicking in up to $350K annually. Could launch later this year.

⛵ Big boat show starts TODAY — The St. Petersburg Power & Sailboat Show kicks off today (January 15-18) at Albert Whitted Park. We're talking 300+ vendors, 200+ boats in the water, and up to 25,000 people expected. If you're into boats or just want to pretend you can afford one, check it out.

🎭 MLK Day weekend approaches — Next Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19), and there are celebrations happening all over Tampa Bay this weekend. Parades, performances, community gatherings — lots of ways to honor Dr. King's legacy.

☀️ Weather watch — After the cold snap, we're looking at highs in the mid-60s this week with some rain chances. Pretty standard January in St. Pete, which means perfect weather for anyone visiting from up north.

🚤 St. Pete Power & Sailboat Show - 10am-6pm at Albert Whitted Park. Gulf Coast's largest boat show featuring 200+ boats in the water, 40K sq ft tent of marine gear, and educational seminars. Tickets $24, vets get in free.

🎵 Coral Reefer Band - 8pm at Duke Energy Center for the Arts - Mahaffey Theater. Jimmy Buffett's legendary backing band bringing the island vibes to downtown.

🎸 Matt Pond PA & Bathtub Cig - Evening show at The Jack Kerouac House. Intimate acoustic show at the historic literary landmark on St. Pete's north side.

🍷 Wine Dinner: Napa to Napoli - 5pm at Birch and Vine (340 Beach Dr NE). Four-course dinner paired with Antinori wines from Tuscany, Bolgheri, and Napa Valley celebrating six centuries of winemaking heritage.

We couldn't dig up anything wild that happened on January 14 in St. Pete history, but here's a cool local history fact you should know:

The Birth of Commercial Aviation (January 1, 1914)

Note: This happened on January 1, not January 14, but it's too important to skip.

On New Year's Day 1914, pilot Tony Jannus made history right here in St. Pete when he flew the world's first scheduled commercial airline flight. Yeah, you read that right — the ENTIRE global airline industry as we know it started right here on our waterfront.

Picture this: 3,000 people gathered at the downtown pier at 10am to watch Jannus take off in a Benoist XIV "flying boat" — basically a wooden biplane with floats. His passenger was former St. Pete mayor Abe Pheil, who won the first ticket in an auction for a whopping $400 (about $12,500 in today's money). The flight across Tampa Bay to Tampa took just 23 minutes, flying at about 50 feet above the water and hitting speeds up to 75 mph.

The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line operated for about three months, making two daily round trips six days a week. They charged $5 per ticket — still pricey for 1914, but way better than the 2-12 hour alternatives by boat or rail. In those three months, they carried 1,205 passengers and flew over 11,000 miles without a single serious accident. Not bad for 1914 technology.

The airline shut down when the city subsidy ran out and rail service improved, but the impact was huge. Tony Jannus proved that scheduled air travel was viable, safe, and practical — concepts that literally every airline in the world is built on today. Sadly, Jannus died in 1916 when his plane crashed into the Black Sea while he was training Russian pilots during World War I. His body was never recovered.

Fun fact: You can see a full-scale replica of the Benoist XIV flying boat at the St. Petersburg Museum of History — it's sitting about 100 yards from where the original flight took off. The Tony Jannus Award is still given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in commercial aviation, with past recipients including Chuck Yeager, Eddie Rickenbacker, and other aviation legends. Not bad for a 23-minute flight, eh?