You have got to read Kelly Benjamin's comments about the City Council race. Thanks to Blurbex for pointing them out.
Here is a sample:
"In district 1 this much is certain: Gwen Miller is a completely worthless City Council member. If Obama is clean and articulate, Gwen's a disheveled mumbler. I was on the debate circuit with her in 2003 and had no idea what she was saying half the time. I don't think she did either. She just strings some positive-sounding words together in a loop and smiles and hopes people won't notice she has NO grasp on ANY issue. The Tampa Tribune was gentle when they wrote "She is vague on most questions and displays little passion or curiosity." The woman has no business in politics, nothing to contribute to government and should have probably stayed at home washing Les's socks. The late great Ali Akbar was right when he said "She's done nothing for District 5 and she's done nothing city-wide." Go Home Gwen. Or go back to being a teacher, maybe you were good at that, but as a public representative, you're freakin horrible."
Everyone has tried to be gentle with Gwen. She is a nice lady, but totally ineffective as a city council woman. The other five candidates consist of Chavez, Barcena and Jenkins. Chavez and Jenkins are from So. Tampa and Barcena thinks he is. I was told by several people who live in South Tampa that South Tampa will decide allo the elections as they always do. That is enoughto make me vote for Randy. It's time the rest of us had a say! Besides he's good. He's the only one who seems to know that cutting taxes means some expense has to go.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you comparing Obama to Gwen? Also didn't you work for one of the candidates at one time?
ReplyDeleteSH needs to coordinate a "Rock the Vote" campgaign. We are the largest neighborhood in the City of Tampa (all three groups) our voice can definately make a differnce.
ReplyDeleteWhile I know Mayor Iorio will win, I plan on campaigning against her to send a message. I am tired of her ignoring the city and focusing too much resources and dollars on Downtown and Park building. Meanwhile, I can't take my daughter to my own park that has been under construction for 6 years.
Seminole Heights has a large number of Latino and Black residents. I think this is one area where our vaunted diversity works against us. A "rock the vote" thing is great, but in order to make it work (this late in the game I doubt you can) you'll need to target your message differently at each major sub-culture in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI know it's not terribly PC to say such things but that doesn't make it any less true.
Can someone answer one queston? (2 if you count the prior one) What has Mayor Iorio done to better Tampa in 4 years?
ReplyDelete1) Flood control. Grecco diverted money meant for flood control to the zoo. Meanwhile various parts of the city, including Seminole Heights, needed flood control improvements (gutters, drains, etc.) She managed to pull that together even after Grecco's shenanigans.
ReplyDelete2) Restored the feeling (or illusion of the feeling, depending on how half-full your glass is) that the residents and neighborhoods actually matter. Under the prior administration, with people like Steve Labrake, it was abvious the monnied developers were the only constintuency that mattered.
There's two, I'll let others fill in more.