4 takeaways from St. Petersburg mayoral forum
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St. Petersburg City Hall. Photo: Kathryn Varn/Axios
Property taxes, Dump Duke and the future of Tropicana Field were among the issues that set St. Petersburg's mayoral hopefuls apart at a candidate forum last week.
Why it matters: It's one of just a few opportunities to hear from the slate of candidates before the Aug. 18 primary.
- You can watch a recording of the forum here.
The candidates: Incumbent Mayor Ken Welch is running for reelection and has drawn five challengers in the nonpartisan race:
- Charlie Crist, a former governor and congressman.
- Brandi Gabbard, a City Council member representing District 2.
- Maria Scruggs, a past NAACP St. Petersburg president.
- Jim Large, the city's former fire chief.
- Kevin Batdorf, a past Shore Acres Civic Association president.
💸 Property tax dilemma
Kicking off the forum was arguably the biggest question facing the city's next leader: What will be on the chopping block if voters approve a property tax overhaul headed to ballots in November?
- Crist didn't give specifics but appeared confident he could find the money somewhere, saying he already has a plan to cut the city tax rate.
- Scruggs and Batdorf said they'd look at the top for cuts, while Large said he'd keep the focus on funding unspecified "core services."
Yes, but: Incumbents Welch and Gabbard sent a more urgent message:
- City leaders already exercise fiscal stewardship each budget season, they said. Cuts won't come easy.
⚡️ Dumping Duke
Stances ranged from Gabbard's continued embrace of the campaign to Large's and Batdorf's criticism of a recent City Council vote to spend $590,000 to study the possibility.
- Crist pointed to his experience suing power companies as attorney general but didn't take a stand on whether to ditch Duke.
🏟️ Gas Plant tensions
State of play: Welch, who has made the project a cornerstone of his mayoral legacy, has four proposals from developers in hand and is slated to pick one as early as this month.
- He defended that path at Thursday's forum.
The other side: Gabbard led calls to slow the process down and engage in a big-picture planning process that would include an Urban Land Institute study of how best to use the land.
🏗️ Development vs. charm
A question about how to balance the city's explosive high-rise development with its artsy, eclectic identity became mostly about infrastructure and how to ensure it can handle the growth.
- Gabbard and Scruggs said more work should be done to strengthen neighborhoods outside the downtown core.
What they're saying: "The focus has been downtown, downtown, downtown and how can the buildings be higher, higher, higher," Scruggs said.
- "Missing from that conversation is ... how does that impact the people that live in the adjoining neighborhoods?"