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Please see below for Comments submitted by the Candidates to the Chamber:
Question 1:
Business development, growth and retention are vital to a community’s stability and its ability to provide a solid quality of life. Please comment on the city’s current business climate by addressing what you think is the biggest advantage and disadvantage our business community faces and why?
District 3 Candidates—
Bill Dudley: We have seen a renaissance in the growth of new business in our city. This is evident in the downtown area and in particular, the area that stretches to the west along Central Avenue toward the Dome and Central Business districts. The revitalization is due in part to the entrepreneurs and visionaries who are willing to invest in our city. It is these small businesses that are driving the economic base and we, as a community, should not only embrace but also continue to do everything we can to aid in that effort. These entrepreneurs are providing jobs for our residents, and in doing so are adding to the economic growth and stabilization of the city. They are the ones who will be here for the long term; they live here and have established “roots” in the community. This also gives the city a unique character in that we don’t have to rely solely on large corporations to make our city thrive. The city has made this possible by establishing an infrastructure conducive to business growth, adjusting impact fees, expediting permits and providing counseling through organizations like the Chamber of Commerce. This atmosphere of cooperation encourages businesses to settle here.
Some disadvantages include the burden of taxation and insurance, which may inhibit many entrepreneurs from taking the risk to invest in our community. Additionally, the lack of adequate security in some areas of our city create development and investment concerns. While the state legislature is attempting to resolve the insurance issue, the city can do its part by adjusting the millage rate and giving tax incentives. Security concerns can be addressed with increased police presence, through patrol, enforcement and community relations. If these major areas of concern are addressed, I believe the city of St. Petersburg will continue to move forward as a model city of the twenty-first century.
Cliff Gephart: As a local Business Owner, I believe St. Petersburg’s business climate is good overall. As an entrepreneur I feel that St. Petersburg offers me an adequate environment to prosper.
Advantages:
Quality of Life: St. Petersburg offers a wonderful quality of life that attracts and maintains a stable economy.
Talented Work Force: There are plenty of skilled workers to draw from to perform all tasks in St. Petersburg.
Reasonable Wages: Florida is a right to work state with few unions whereby creating a market place for considerably lower wages that other areas of the country.
Disadvantages:
Housing Cost to Wages: The increase cost of housing has far exceeded wages in the Tampa Bay area. It is becoming difficult to retain entry level workers along with some of the most important jobs (Police, Fire fighters, Teachers & Nurses). Certain vital professions are finding it difficult to work and live in the area. As this is a plus to employers looking to save money it is also a barrier to hiring and retaining quality people.
Geographic/Demographic: Due to the build out of St. Petersburg there is a limited amount of real estate available for large manufacturing operations.
Cathy Harrelson:
The business climate of St. Petersburg remains strong in spite of recent slow—downs in real estate sales. I believe our biggest advantage is our relatively low tax rates (compared with income-tax states), presence of skilled workers due to the presence of a number of higher learning institutions and trade schools, and business-friendly mayor and council.
Some disadvantages include a continued decline in affordable workforce housing, poor mass transportation planning concurrent with development resulting in increased congestion and drive times to work, and serious threats to the natural environment which has always drawn companies and people to Florida and to St. Petersburg.
Ed Montanari:
Business development, growth, and retention are vital to a community’s stability and ability to provide a solid quality of life. Please comment on the city’s current business climate by addressing what you think is the biggest advantage and disadvantage our business community faces and why?
I believe our current business climate is good, but has room for improvement. By far, the biggest advantage that our city has to foster a healthy business climate is our quality of life. Our 240 miles of coastline, our waterfront park system, and our tree lined neighborhoods, and our vibrant arts and culture, fuel a desire to live here that attract people and business to our city. Over the past five years, over 1 billion dollars have been invested in both private and public development downtown. The building boom that is ongoing is speaks to the advantages that we have to attract and keep a healthy business climate.
The disadvantages are multiple. A combination of historically high property values, unforeseen effects of the Save our Homes Amendment, and high insurance premiums, are making our city unaffordable to many families. A further consequence is that many rental units have been removed from the market, helping to fuel the growing problem in available affordable housing. The ongoing homeless problem does not reflect positively on our city and needs to be addressed.
As we plan for the future, our local government needs to work with business to fix these social problems, and aggressively use our Economic Development Department, along with the Chamber of Commerce to attract new businesses to the area. Another source of good paying, stable jobs are through the military and federal government. We need to work with our congressional delegation to expand the military presence in the area. MacDill AFB is vastly underutilized. When the F-16 Wing was transferred in 1993, our area lost seven thousand of good paying jobs. The loss of those positions, along with the ancillary economic benefits that they provided, was a huge loss for St Petersburg, and the region.
District 5 Candidates—
James Bennett: The vitality and stability of our overall business climate is primarily based on education, life quality and opportunity. We must strive to create an improved educational system in a state that ranks very low overall. It is wonderful to have three universities in our city, but students coming up through our public education system must be better prepared. St. Pete is blessed with the amenities of great weather, an active city center and bustling corridor areas. People love their city for being full of arts and culture and proximity to the beaches. We have some downsides that are getting criticized. Stagnate wages and the lack of high skilled jobs hold us back. The homeless population grows with no assessment center in sight. We must provide the opportunities for businesses and their employees to keep our city moving forward.
Chris Kelly:
Business development, growth and retention is vital to a community's stability and ability to provide a solid quality of life. Please comment on the city's current business climate by addressing what you think is the biggest advantage and disadvantage our business community faces and why?
Despite a winning climate, natural beauty and excellent transportation options, St Petersburg area businesses will encounter increased difficulty in attracting and retaining prospects until cost of living and education issues are settled. An inequitable tax structure, insurance costs and housing expenses all conspire to make St Petersburg a less inviting community to relocate a family or business to. In addition, uncertainties connected with the Pinellas County Schools Choice program, and schooling issues generally, make other similar markets a more compelling relocation option.
Debra Johnson Woodard: I am running for City Council because I believe that the council must strategically reposition itself to meet the current needs of this community. To effectively proceed in these areas, I will bring leadership based on strength, moral principles, and family-focused values as we work together toward a better tomorrow for this great city.
Question 2:
PLEASE COMMENT ON YOUR VISION FOR THE CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG, AND, IF ELECTED, WHAT YOUR ROLE CAN BE TO FACILITATE THAT VISION.
Bill Dudley: I want to be a part of making the city of St. Petersburg a place where families want to live, businesses want to flourish, and the quality of life is second to non. I have lived in St. Petersburg for fifty-one years, and I have a sincere affinity with this town. It is th place where I matured, was educated, raised a family and had a satisfying professional career. In all that time, I have been proud of the way that our city has transformed itself from a sleepy retirement community to a vibrant city with a diversified population. It is my fear, however, that too many people, who don’t really appreciate the greatness of St. Petersburg, are trying to steer it in a different direction. One of the qualities I most appreciate about St. Petersburg is that it has a small-town feel with all the amenities of a big city. This is a community, not simply a place where divergent lifestyles converge. People want to raise families here and businesses want to settle here. I believe this is because from the time our inception to the present, the city leaders have wanted to maintain a balance of remarkable downtown waterfront that coexists with a booming business district; we have an historic airport that was recently renovated to make it more accessible; we have parks throughout the city, reinforcing the importance of green space in a thriving, inviting community. This has not been by accident. This ahs been the result of leaders who listen to what the citizens of the city want, not to special interest groups who may be satisfying their own agenda. I am a leader who will be a watchdog and a voice for the citizens. I want to insure that my grandchild will have the same sense of connect to this city as I do, even fifty years from now.
Cliff Gephart: My vision for St. Petersburg is that we become the “Major League” city we aspire to and portray our ourselves as. Our local economy must thrive in order for our city to continue to provide the wonderful amenities and life style we have grown accustom to. We need to build that on a tax base not based on an unsustainable housing market but on one of high paying jobs. We need to do everything possible to attract lucrative companies to our city and share with them the wonders St. Petersburg has to offer.
Our future focus should be on high paying service related jobs and less on the creation of more condos that are inhabited by seasonal and temporary residents. Although I understand this type of growth is important, we need to strive to have a year round sustainable economy not just a seasonal one like we had many years ago.
Cathy Harrelson: I see St. Petersburg as a city with a strong economic base, inclusive workforce, strong neighborhoods and core business/living zones which are connected through rapid transit corridors. It goes without saying that any discussion of affordability, not to mention environmental health, must include reduced dependence on the automobile. Therefore development hubs must have a concurrent transportation plan. I believe strongly in this process and will be a strong supporter and participate in carrying out this vision.
I see St. Petersburg as a city which can take the lead in creation of an enterprise zone promoting research and development of alternative energy and will be a leaders in the new green economy. Already, educational programs for a “green degree” are being developed at St. Pete College. The obvious first choice for “The Sunshine City” is solar energy, as that is a resource we have in abundance. The governor has appointed our mayor to head up his new energy initiative program and this should translate to high end job and business creation.
My leadership in business, environmental issues, transportation, water quality and energy options sets me apart from my opponents as the candidate who can bring this future vision to reality for our wonderful city.
Ed Montanari: Building on the successes that our city has achieved is a key component of my campaign. I will bring a fresh vision, creative energy, and clear record of achievement to the challenges that our city faces. The budget, public safety, improving economic opportunities, the concept of a “seamless city”, are all issues that I emphasize.
Look no further than our airport to see clearly what I have worked on. I brought together a divisive group in order to produce a report with recommendations that have been broadly supported and implemented.
I would use the same strategies on City Council. I am committed to raising the bar to make St Petersburg better; I want to improve the aesthetics of the gateways into our city that run through district 3. I want economic development to identify businesses that want to relocate to our city, improve our tax base, and I want to make our city services even more customer friendly. Finally, progress and development is good, and I am a big supporter of the new LDR’s, but I will fight hard to preserve the unique character and charm of St Petersburg.
District 5—
James Bennett: As an incumbent and a small business owner for 25 years, I feel I have been supportive of new businesses coming in and the retention of those we have. The support of business is not a cut and dried process, because we have to have faith that owners will carry through on their end. We have tools such as enterprise zones and QTIs that help get them started. City Council needs to support them as they mature and expand. To sustain our city, we need good quality jobs for our citizens. We need to work together for that end.
Chris Kelly: Please comment on your vision for the City of St. Petersburg, and if elected, what your role can be to facilitate this vision.
I believe St Petersburg can overcome the current adversities - to be a vibrant business, arts and cultural hub and be a small town of cohesive neighborhoods and communities. That citizens and visitors should be able to find meaningful opportunities for employment, education, recreation and civic engagement at every point in the spectrum of their lives.
My role on Council will be to help shape the conversation to move our community towards a consensus vision, to support the administration in its efforts, and to insure the trust of the voters in the process of governance.
Debra Johnson Woodard: If elected, I will bring the following issues to the table—
o A strategic budget review—(back to basics), secure and enhance public safety, services and property tax relief.
o Propose adaptations to the Mayor’s Education Program to include all interested schools in the city (Public and Private) by exploring intergenerational practices (Youth and Seniors) along with cooperative sponsorship where considered necessary.
o Initiate an action plan to improve the economic and housing opportunities (living wages and income) of our young adults, working families, elderly and homeless individuals and families.
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