St. Petersburg's "Power of Change" stations change hands

St. Petersburg police will no longer be in charge of the "Power of Change" donation stations after the department failed to use more than $9,000 given to help homeless people.

Flashback: In July, Creative Loafing reported that the St. Petersburg Police Department was not using money collected from the yellow meters, advertised as an alternative to "giving money to panhandlers."

• Since 2019, just $1,716 out of $11,497 in revenue raised through the stations have been spent on the homeless community.
• Last year, $515 was spent on the homeless community, while the donation stations gained nearly $3,000 in revenue. None of the donations were used so far this year.

What's next: St. Pete Police Chief Anthony Holloway told Creative Loafing that the city's Community Affairs Department will be in charge of the money from now on.

• The roughly $9,000 that hasn't been disbursed yet will go toward St. Petersburg's Veterans Social Services Division, Holloway said.