Mitch PerryThere have been just a handful of forums in this year’s Tampa City Council campaign to date, but one theme has risen above the rest: Downtown Tampa is doing very well, perhaps even thriving. That’s a great thing, but the city needs to spread the wealth out to the rest of its many neighborhoods in east, west and northern areas.
Tuesday night at a council forum in Forest Hills, District 2 candidate Joe Citro said, “Yes, the mayor has put an emphasis on the downtown area. We as citizens get that. Downtown is our front porch, it’s what attracts people to this area. What about our backyard? What about our hole in the roof? What about public services that the other parts of Tampa don’t get as frequently as downtown? ”
District 3 candidate Paul Erni said, “Something I’ve noticed in the couple of thousand doors I’ve knocked on in South Tampa, West Tampa, Central Tampa, Forest Hills. Always the same thing. Why are we the stepchild? ”
But perhaps no one distilled the essence of this narrative like Susan Long, running against incumbent Mike Suarez in District 1.
“I perceive the issue to be more perception than anything else,” she said, somehow distancing herself from what she says she’s heard in her interactions with voters. “When I started on my campaign I went from neighborhood to neighborhood and I talked to people. What’s your problem? ‘Well, the mayor doesn’t know we exist.’… It doesn’t matter where I am in the city, the people who say, ‘Oh, I don’t have any problems right now’ — all live in downtown. The other people perceive they’re being ignored. True or false. I’m not going to argue that. They feel like the mayor doesn’t feel anything outside that central core. Are they unhappy with what’s happened downtown? No. Everybody, and myself included, I love the fact that they put in the Riverwalk. I love Ulele. I love Water Works Park. … I think it’s great. But I don’t want to feel like I’ve been forgotten. And that’s what I hear when I go around. Probably inaccurate, but that’s the sentiment.”
Bob Buckhorn is running against write-in candidate Jose Vazquez (who put in a workmanlike performance Tuesday night), so he’ll win and win big on March 3. But as Long says, the perception outside of downtown is that the economic prosperity that is making the downtown core such a vibrant hub of activity is considered a nice thing by those who live outside it, but doesn’t make them feel better about the city overall.
In other news …
In other news, the Hillsborough County School Board got down to business Tuesday, and concerns about community involvement were pronounced, perhaps excessively, as they go forward after heavy criticism for dumping popular superintendent MaryEllen Elia this past month.
Jeff Brandes medical pot bill in the Florida Senate got a companion of sorts from the House yesterday, but a much weaker version at that.
