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To meet challenges in Tampa, elect these six to City Council

By THE TIMES RECOMMENDS
Published February 17, 2007

Tampa voters go to the polls March 6 to elect six City Council members. While taxes, downtown redevelopment and neighborhood services top the debate, this election features many new faces and could shape the city's political landscape for years to come.

District 1 (citywide)

Randy Baron

Randy Baron has qualities rarely seen in a first-time candidate: a grasp of city issues, an understanding of how government works and an energy level to put that knowledge to work. In a crowded field that includes better-known candidates, Baron is clearly the best choice.

Baron, 45, is a computer programmer and longtime president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association. His civic work and background as an attorney give him depth in the ever-technical job of guiding a vibrant city. He understands residents want the basics - safe streets, clean neighborhoods and a sense that City Hall is planning ahead. He would spend more on mass transit and focus on rebuilding commercial corridors in Seminole Heights and West Tampa.

Baron's major attraction is his ability to see how government regulation affects people's lives. He understands the city needs to be more creative in rebuilding old neighborhoods and attracting employers. Baron defends historic preservation, but he also recognizes the city can do a better job by giving property owners incentives and making the permitting process more efficient. He is a realist with an up-front style whose broad perspective suits a citywide council member. Baron does his homework. He leaves people with a sense they have had a fair shake.

The incumbent, Gwen Miller, 72, has little to show for her 12 years on the council. Restaurant owners Rick Barcena, 43, and Denise Chavez, 59, are tax cutters who have not thought through how their campaign pledges would affect city services. Club owner and businessman Joe Redner, 66, says the right things, but his personality seems unsuited for the give and take of governing. Julie Jenkins, 45, a travel consultant and neighborhood activist, would bring energy and an awareness of growth-related problems, but she seems unsteady on the major issues.

Baron has a feel for the neighborhoods, a good balance between his concern for services and the tax rate, and a proven record of getting things done for the people he represents. In the citywide race for District 1, the Times recommends Randy Baron.

District 2 (citywide)

Mary Mulhern

No race on the ballot presents a clearer choice for Tampa's future. Shawn Harrison, a lawyer term-limited out of his north Tampa council seat, believes cutting taxes is the top priority, that government spending is "out of control on all levels" and that the city needs to keep studying transportation before embarking on a major fix. Mary Mulhern, a south Tampa small business owner and civic activist, dispenses with these platitudes. She recognizes the city's problems and seems more prepared to do something about them.

Mulhern, 48, a graphic designer involved in the PTA and the arts, would bring an energy to Tampa government. She has an impressive depth across the range of issues, from transportation to redevelopment, and a better sense of the diverse neighborhoods that make up the city.

Mulhern is open to spending cuts. But she would be realistic enough to set priorities first. Her ideas for adding accountability to the budgeting process, making permitting run more smoothly, joining with other governments to plan for commuter rail and luring employers highlight her common sense and get-it-done style. Mulhern is stronger than Harrison on historic preservation and on other issues, from support for affordable housing to cultural affairs.

Harrison, 41, has his strengths. Though slow to move, he supports additional transportation spending, including for mass transit and rail. He is open to using incentives to redevelop older areas and attract new industries. He looks for common ground, and his courteous style and friendly nature make him effective both in and outside the council chambers.

But Tampa needs to move on transit and major renewal projects in the neighborhoods. Mulhern has that sense of urgency and the gift of plain talk residents need from their leaders. Her proactive approach and well-rounded understanding of Tampa's diverse neighborhoods, are vital qualities for a citywide council member. In District 2, the Times recommends Mary Mulhern.

District 4 (south Tampa)

John Dingfelder

For a politician who sells himself as the voice of common sense, John Dingfelder can leave you wondering. Hitting up a constituent for a campaign donation during an exchange over city business is only the latest mistake in his first term. But on the biggest issue facing south Tampa - unchecked growth - Dingfelder has served his district well. His concern for the neighborhoods will be even more important as new developments break ground.

Dingfelder, a 50-year-old attorney, has a good feel for the community from his broad experience as a teacher, county hospital board member and civic activist. He is engaged, asks tough questions and balances property rights and other private interests with the government's responsibility to manage a growing city. Though critics try to pigeonhole Dingfelder as anti-development, he has been a thoughtful backstop to the rash of development in south Tampa. He has prevented new traffic problems and stopped old ones from getting worse.

Former Tampa Assistant City Attorney Julie Brown has a grasp of the district's priorities and how government works. On fiscal and regulatory matters, she is more conservative than Dingfelder. It is unclear how she would reconcile her calls to cut taxes while spending more for drainage and other infrastructure. Opponents point to her heavy support from builders as a sign that Brown, 31, would be developer-friendly. But like the complaints about Dingfelder, the criticism of Brown is overblown. Candidate Joseph Citro, 48, a hair stylist and city code enforcement hearing officer, has an agenda that seems poorly considered.

Dingfelder may rub some people the wrong way, but his priorities are right and he is courageous enough to speak against the police union and other sacred cows when their narrow interests conflict with the public's. His efforts to expand public participation in policymaking also has made it easier for ordinary residents to raise their issues. In District 4, the Times recommends John Dingfelder.

District 5 (east Tampa)

Thomas Scott

The question here is pragmatic: Who is best suited to keep east Tampa, with its historically poor and black neighborhoods, on the political radar screen as the district undergoes its most ambitious redevelopment in a half-century?

Tom Scott doesn't choose his battles well. But the former Hillsborough County commissioner knows how to make the most of his bully pulpit. His willingness to light a fire under bureaucrats also would be welcome on the council, which under the city charter has virtually no staff and almost no leverage over the strong mayor.

Scott, 53, represented east Tampa for 10 years on the County C1ommission before losing a race last year for a countywide seat. He was a strong supporter of mass transit, health care and other services. In later years, he pushed the county to address the need for affordable housing. He was a rare voice of dignity on a board that often inflamed class divisions. Scott understands that government has core responsibilities, and he's not bashful about making sure they are provided.

Not much separates Scott on the issues from his main opponent, Frank Reddick, 51, or a third challenger, Lynette Judge, 42. Reddick was appointed to the council in December to fill the unexpired term of Kevin White, who won election to Scott's former commission seat. All three support commuter rail for the region, incentives to bring employers to east Tampa and greater emphasis on bringing dilapidated housing in the district up to health and safety codes.

But Scott has a better grip on how to make this vision a reality. He also has a greater sense of immediacy. He recognizes better than his opponents the potential that rebuilding east Tampa and the Central Park housing project has for minorities and the working poor. The case for Scott also is made stronger by having White as the district commissioner; White has never shown much commitment to follow through on anything beyond his own political ambition. Scott has the strongest personality to fill this void. In District 5, the Times recommends Tom Scott.

District 6 (West Tampa)

Charlie Miranda

Here's one benefit of Mary Alvarez sleeping through her eight years on City Council. Her inertia energized civic and business leaders to put a redevelopment plan on the table. What the district needs now is an experienced hand to help the community-driven process get City Hall's support. Charlie Miranda could make it happen.

Miranda served on the council in the 1970s and again from 1995-2003. While parts of West Tampa have begun to gentrify in recent years, Miranda has long been the go-to guy in this modest, Hispanic community. He is out and about and quick to help the many small employers and elderly, Spanish-speaking residents navigate what can be a frustrating city bureaucracy.

His attention to retail politics has a cultural edge in a district where respect and loyalty are two-way streets. Miranda has long been the eyes and ears of a community that still fights uphill to get attention at City Hall. Miranda, 66, has spent his career tending to the basics. He sees improving drainage and local streets as pivotal for getting West Tampa's rebirth off the ground. He has a healthy balance for what core services government should provide versus where the private sector needs to lead. Miranda also is tight with the budget. While he supports mass transit, including rail, Miranda would go slow until the city's population is dense enough to support it.

Challenger Lisa Tamargo is a 41-year-old travel and marketing consultant. Her energy and positive outlook would be assets at City Hall for a civic redevelopment that needs to gain traction. Tam- argo recognizes the district's potential. She also sees the need for the city to be creative about rebuilding old West Tampa's commercial corridor. Miranda, though, speaks to the larger and more immediate needs in the community. They are both good candidates, but Miranda's governing experience gives him the edge. In District 6, the Times recommends Charlie Miranda.

District 7 (north Tampa)

Frank J. Margarella

Anyone who stews on the parking lot known as Bruce B. Downs Boulevard realizes that transportation is the top issue for this north Tampa district. Of the three candidates running to succeed the term-limited Shawn Harrison, Realtor and civic activist Frank J. Margarella is the best hope to solve problems and raise the district's profile.

Margarella, 56, floats much of the same belt-tightening boilerplate that politicians from this conservative community have touted for years. He steps out by recognizing the role mass transit needs to play in addressing the region's broad transportation needs. He also wants to bring the district closer into the fold of city politics, a first for a candidate from this suburban area.

Margarella recognizes the practical value in strengthening the ties between north Tampa leaders and city and county officials in Hillsborough and Pasco. The communities of New Tampa have suffered for years because of the separatist streak that has defined its relations with the rest of the city. While Margarella still parrots that line, running on a "fair share" platform, he seems committed to moving beyond geographic division. His grasp of inner-city problems in Tampa could make him an effective horse-trader on the seven-member council.

Joseph P. Caetano, 73, a Tampa Palms businessman, takes the budget-cutting rhetoric further than Margarella. His message perpetuates the canard that Tampa can cut taxes and spending even as it rebuilds its major infrastructure in already developed areas. That sort of varnish has marginalized New Tampa's standing in the city's political circles for years. Margarella avoids that trap. He also recognizes the district fronts on many poorer neighborhoods with more basic health and human needs. Charles Perkins, 31, is on the ballot but running a ghost campaign. In District 7, the Times recommends Frank J. Margarella.

[Last modified February 17, 2007, 02:01:45]