Ed Montanari will be the ‘consensus builder’ in re-election bid

Ed Montanari is officially launching his re-election campaign for St. Petersburg City Council Tuesday night. 

It’s all about consensus: Montanari is the lone Republican on a board dominated by Democrats.

Even though City Council is technically nonpartisan, Montanari often finds himself the lone voice for the city’s conservative residents. From that position, Montanari recognizes people will never unanimously agree on all issues and seeks to add balance to discussions about issues facing St. Pete residents.

Most recently, Montanari unsuccessfully pitched an idea that would require City Council approval for future city road projects that would result in losing travel lanes. It came up as part of the city’s Complete Streets plan.

The city administration last year successfully completed a project on Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Street north of downtown that added colored bike lanes to the corridor, but removed a travel lane.

Many residents supported the project, but some, including businesses along the corridor, opposed it. Montanari’s proposal fell in line with a group created to fight future lane loss projects called Citizens Against Lane and Parking Loss.

“Everybody wants safe streets. Everybody wants less traffic, less pedestrian and bicycle accidents,” Montanari said. “The question is, in a growing city, how do we try to solve multiple complex problems all at once?”

That’s where Montanari thinks his roll is important. He wants to seek creative solutions that address everyone’s concerns even though he knows he’ll never please everyone.

“I’ve always been a consensus builder,” he said. “Sometimes you start with the things most people can agree on and work from there.”

Montanari didn’t dive into specifics, but he said he wants to have a robust dialogue about multiple transportation solutions.

For example, he’s asked the city administration about potentially expanding sidewalks on First Avenues North and South so they can accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists instead of removing on-street parking to expand bike lanes. He also wants to talk about incorporating autonomous vehicles into future road plans, which is currently not addressed in the Complete Streets Plan.

Montanari will get the chance to start that conversation Thursday when City Council takes up the Complete Streets Implementation Plan.

“I’m all for prioritizing what we want to do and making it very clear what we need,” he said.

Montanari also wants to work harder on building a positive relationship with lawmakers in Tallahassee to draw down state funding for local projects. The city missed out of a couple of funding proposals for two of its museums this session.

“It’s been disappointing that we don’t have the pull that we should have in Tallahassee,” he said. “I remember when Congressman [Bill] Young was alive. He used to speak a lot about what his role was. Your role as a resident is, you work hard and you pay your taxes and your taxes go to Washington. My job is to try to get that tax money back into the district.”

He sees that as his role as a City Council member, too.

Montanari’s first term as a City Council member has been marked by his calm demeanor and conciliatory tone. While he often serves as a check on the Rick Kriseman administration, frequently questioning its priorities and pushing back on issues on behalf of his constituents, he never criticizes. He’s soft-spoken. He questions, but never argues.

“They’re all big, big issues that need to be dealt with and handled in a very thoughtful and constructive way,” Montanari said.

So far no one has challenged Montanari on his reelection bid and there’s a decent chance it will stay that way.

When he ran four years ago he raised nearly $50,000 and ended up returning nearly $40,000 of that to supporters after he was elected without opposition. It’s not clear yet how much Montanari has raised for his reelection bid. Initial campaign finance reports have yet to be filed, but his host committee for his campaign kickoff Tuesday is impressive.

It includes former Mayors Rick Baker, Bill Foster and Bob Ulrich as well as other prominent figures in the St. Pete political scene including current City Council members Amy Foster and Brandi Gabbard, several former City Council members, Pinellas County Commissioners Kathleen Peters and Dave Eggers and Pinellas County Property Appraiser Mike Twitty, among others.