District 6 Candidates on South St. Pete Quality of Life

Since the Mayor, whoever that may be, cannot move to solve problems in this critical area without City Council support, it is important that you as a voter know how the City Council candidates line up on recognizing the south side problems and their approach to dealing with them.

It is important to note that Council members are selected first at the district level in the August 27, 2013 primary and then voted on City wide in the November 5, 2013 general election.

I posed this question to the candidates: What specifically will you do to begin to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in South St. Pete?

Karl Nurse

Crime & quality of life in South St. Pete - This is the area where I put much of my energy. I believe in pro-active and assertively addressing the hot spots and have worked on a number of those such as Citrus Grove with some success. We need to embrace both new tactics and technology. The mobile police unit and cameras are both good examples of pushing crime out.

The quality of life issues require us to simultaneously address: jobs, education and housing. These are significant and long term challenges. I have recently passed three housing related programs: a foreclosure registry, a lien release process and a "Rebates for Rehabs" program. I am working to bring additional jobs to St. Pete and particularly to South St. Pete. My involvement with Melrose Elementary has led me to push for more pre-K education rather than day care programs. Collectively, this work can make a significant, long term difference.

Sharon Ross: No response

My Thoughts

Only Karl Nurse responded. I would invite Ms. Ross to respond either by commenting below or by e-mail to me at the address below and I will post the response unedited.

I know Karl Nurse very well. I have seen him moved almost to tears as he related to me his struggles with the administration and the Police department to help fight crime, add jobs and improve the quality of life for those he represents. Karl gets it. He identifies with the people and he knows the issues. But he also knows he cannot do it by himself. He needs the help of the administration and his fellow council members.

Anyone seriously interested in serving on City Council needs to have a firm grip on South St. Pete issues and they need to let the voters know where they stand. Karl has not been afraid to stand up and make his positions known. If his opponent wants your vote then she should be willing to let you know where she stands on critical issues and how she would represent the District she would serve.

e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook Friend request.

Campaign Disclosures: Contributor to Darden Rice Campaign