Candidates court chamber crowd

ST. PETERSBURG -- The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce won't endorse a mayoral candidate before the September primary.

That didn't stop the candidates for mayor from giving chamber members a detailed pitch.

Eight of the 10 candidates for mayor filled out the chamber's questionnaire last month. To read their responses about issues like baseball, Midtown development and economic development, go here.

The chamber also asked the candidates to list St. Petersburg's top three issues. Below are their responses.

City Council member Jamie Bennett: public safety, budget and job creation.

Student Richard Eldridge: crime, economy and education.

Lawyer Kathleen Ford: fiscal responsibility, crime and the changing economy.

Lawyer Bill Foster: budget, crime and neighborhood and business development.

Corporate executive Deveron Gibbons: budget, growing existing businesses, and attracting and retaining successful businesses from outside the city.

Business owner Larry Williams: crime, schools and homeless/panhandlers.

Real estate investor Scott Wagman: crime, budget and business development, and job creation.

Restaurateur John Warren: a more comprehensive approach to planning, improving relationships between city and others, and retaining existing jobs and job creation.

In a recent St. Petersburg Times poll, voters listed crime, schools and homelessness as their top concerns. Taxes came in fourth. City spending and job development, the issues cited by most candidates, ranked poorly among voters. Only 4 percent of voters cited city spending as a top concern. Only 1 percent said job development.

Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

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Comments

[Zen Master]

Strange that only Gibbons and Warren didn't mention crime. It is the big issue these days.

[southside voter]

A vote for Gibbons is a vote for the continuation of crime in this city. He is supported by the very group in the PD which has strangled morale and prevented good police work so that their friends can continue with a perverse type of "economic development".

[Mike]

Isn't crime DOWN over the last few years? Of course it should be a concern - but IT IS GOING DOWN (perhaps the economy has caused a recent spike of petty crime tho)

[Batman]

Crime Statistics are down. That doesn't mean crime is down, only that fewer people are reporting it.

I've heard there is a growing presence of gangs. The Rico Act can be used against them, perhaps.

Meanwhile, the steady increase in more officers per capita, and some inspired leadership, would make a world of difference.

[WFB]

GET RID OF THE BUMS BEGGING

[Alex Haak]

Only Larry Williams gave the right answers, from the hart and with compassion, and with great feeling for his fellow men !!!
"tell it like it is Alex Haak"