Every one of our 4,000 city and town councils in Canada make dozens of decisions at their meetings. Many are routine, minor approvals. Some approve bylaws. A few are quite important. A couple may be controversial with great public interest. And once in a rare while, the council faces a decision that has enormous consequences for the future of that municipality.

Typically, such a decision involves a large development project or an infrastructure investment: redevelopment of a block in the downtown core perhaps, or a significant new public amenity such as an arena or performing arts centre, or a badly needed but expensive infrastructure project such as a sewage treatment facility that will serve the needs of future generations but not the current one

There will be people in favor, and there will be people against, because there are always people against. Against anything. The beauty of democracy.

As mayors and councillors learn during their first week in office, their decisions have consequences—some impactful, some unexpected.

Come with me to Tropicana Field, St Petersburg, Florida. The Trop. This is where the Blue Jays for many years have come to lose games in new and exciting ways.

The ballpark is awful. The grey-white ceiling makes fly balls an adventure where outfielders stagger around in bewilderment, looking up and then waving their arms. The dressing rooms are antiquated, the seating is uncomfortable and prices at the concession stands are breath-taking.

No one likes the place and fan support is suspect: at every game, thousands of fans are cleverly camouflaged as empty seats.

For several years, and a few mayors, there has been a push to replace the ballpark. Finally, a deal came together. The plan was for a new $1.3B stadium, plus development of a new residential, retail, and commercial complex on the 65-acre site of the old stadium once it was demolished. (The Rays own the site.) Total investment: $6.5B.

Exciting. The City of St Petersburg and the County of Pinellas would each throw in $300M+ for the new ballpark. The Rays would fund the remainder. Development corporations would build the housing and retail spaces.

Then hurricanes Helene and Milton struck. The roof of the Trop was destroyed. Rain poured into the ballpark. Much damage. Repairing it would be $25-30+M and take a year. Whether it was wise to repair the Trop, only to tear it down three years later, floated into the discussion.

The Rays decided to play the 2025 season at the Steinbrenner Field (winter home of the hated New York Yankees) in Tampa, about 30 minutes north of St Petersburg. Tampa is in Hillsborough County. This is important.

The Pinellas County Council (where St Petersburg is located) became piqued. They wanted the Rays to play in the winter home of the Phillies in Clearwater. The Rays said no, thanks—it is a smaller park that would cost money to upgrade to MLB standards.

Pinellas County Council then decided to defer a vote approving the $310M bond issue for their share of the cost. The deferral moved the discussion from mid-October to November—and of course in the interim, there was this little thing called the US election. Two new members of the Pinellas County Council were elected. They were against the expenditure. That switched the dynamic. Suddenly the County was not going to play ball.

The St Petersburg Council watched that and also got cold feet. The Tampa Bay Rays got upset and declared if the repair to the Trop was delayed another year it would cost them another $100M for the new stadium, which they did not want to pay.

So suddenly what everyone thought was a done deal to temporarily repair the damaged ballpark, build a new park, and develop a billion-dollar mixed-use district that would have delivered oodles of tax revenue plus many tourists, fell apart.

Fingers are being pointed in all directions. There is now serious doubt if, like Humpty Dumpty, the deal can ever be put back together.

The Rays may move: Nashville is salivating; Montreal seems a remote possibility.

A new park might be built in Tampa instead of in Pinellas County.

A deal in St Petersburg could be resurrected.

Or, everybody walks away upset and the opportunity is lost, likely forever.

Yes, decisions have consequences.