Safety Harbor needs experience, objectivity
By The Times recommends
Published January 20, 2008
It's tough to find people who want to run for office. In Safety Harbor, it's also tough to find people who want to stay in office. The past two years have been tumultuous for Safety Harbor, not only because of the challenges and controversies presented by new growth in the city, but because of musical chairs on the City Commission. There has been much turnover because of unexpected resignations, and several of those now serving on the City Commission did not even have to stand for election to the seats they hold.
There were supposed to be four races on the Jan. 29 city election ballot. However, Mayor Andy Steingold automatically won a three-year term when no one filed to run against him. Newcomer Mary Lynda Williams automatically won a one-year term in Seat 2 when no one else was interested.
So the Jan. 29 ballot will contain four candidates competing for two seats on the City Commission. The St. Petersburg Times has studied the issues and the backgrounds of the candidates and makes its recommendations here. We urge all Safety Harbor registered voters to cast a ballot on Jan. 29.
Seat 3
This seat on the City Commission currently is held by Keith Zayac, a volunteer who filled in when James McCormick resigned with one year remaining in his term. Zayac isn't interested in finishing out that term, but two people are: first-time candidate Mark Taylor, and Nadine Nickeson, a familiar figure in city politics.
Nickeson served as a city commissioner from 1997 to 2006, when she was defeated for re-election by McCormick. But she was soon back on the commission filling a different seat vacated unexpectedly.
Nickeson isn't interested, she says, in serving on the commission for another three years, but she is running to fill out the one year remaining in McCormick's term. Nickeson said she didn't initially plan to run for anything, but with so many inexperienced people on the City Commission she decided her experience could be useful for one more year.
Nickeson, 57, sometimes has been a controversial figure because of her support for projects such as Harbour Pointe, the retail/office complex built at the intersection of Main Street and Bayshore. She makes no apologies for those decisions, saying she did what she thought was best for the entire city based on information she had at the time.
Mark Taylor, a 41-year-old pharmacist, intended to run against Nickeson last year, but a paperwork problem prevented him from qualifying. This year, he successfully qualified.
We recommend Nickeson.
Though we have not always agreed with her decisions, Nickeson has been a hard-working elected official and active community volunteer for more years than Taylor has lived in the city.
Taylor's Safety Harbor-based involvement consists primarily of coaching youth baseball and football. Though he had a full year to prepare himself to run this time for City Commission, his candidate interview with the Times revealed that he had not kept up.
Nickeson, on the other hand, has been involved in many important roles both inside and outside Safety Harbor. Before losing the 2006 election, Nickeson served on the Pinellas Planning Council, Pinellas Assembly, Pinellas County Redevelopment Task Force and participated in many other activities as an elected official or private individual. She currently serves on the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, the Juvenile Welfare Board North County Community Council, Leadership Pinellas board and the Safety Harbor Elementary School Advisory Council.
With so little depth on the City Commission, we don't think Safety Harbor can afford to reject Nickeson's experience. Her service for one more year would give other members of the commission time to get a little more seasoning.
The Times recommends a vote for Nadine Nickeson for Seat 3.
Seat 4
Two smart, experienced individuals are vying for a three-year term in Seat 4. Either could do the job, but our preference is Nina Bandoni, whose objectivity, analytical skills and job experience make her a particularly appealing candidate for this tumultuous time in Safety Harbor.
Bandoni, 48, is a Michigan native who has lived in Safety Harbor 16 years. She holds a degree in business management from Eckerd College and has spent most of her career working to see that low- and moderate-income people have decent places to live.
She worked for the City of St. Petersburg in its department of housing and economic development, for Neighborhood Lending Partners as a community development specialist, and later ran the City of Clearwater's housing department, where she was involved in several programs that brought much-improved living conditions to people in Clearwater's North Greenwood community. Since 2001, she has operated Turnstone Properties, a home-based business that helps clients create a vision for their community and then design and build projects that carry out their vision.
It was Safety Harbor's recent community visioning process that piqued Bandoni's interest in running for the City Commission. "I would be a good fit to carry that forward," she said.
Bandoni is a good listener, she does her homework, and her responses to questions are thoughtful, professional and balanced - an appealing combination in Safety Harbor, where city politics can be fiery. It is no surprise that Bandoni took a thorough approach to preparing herself to serve, wading through the city budget, the community development plans and meeting with the city staff to ask questions.
Bandoni has been around government enough to understand that the job of commissioner is complex and there are few simple solutions to community problems. She says she is committed to listening to all sides and making decisions that best serve the entire community.
She loves that Safety Harbor is so quaint and beautiful and says she wants to enhance that by improving the walkability of the city, attracting new and appealing businesses to downtown such as a small grocery with a fresh-vegetable stand, she says and preserving green space throughout the city. She knows that revenue is a big issue for local governments throughout Florida, but she wants to make sure the city is utilizing all possible sources of alternative funding before cutting city services.
When asked whether she likes the controversial Harbour Pointe building at Main Street and Bayshore, she says it didn't ruin downtown as some have contended, but she believes the design that was chosen does not blend well with other buildings at that intersection.
Regarding the recent controversy over the City Commission's decision to explore selling a small piece of land alongside the Safety Harbor Museum, she said the city needs a written policy on how to handle sale and leasing of city-owned land. In her jobs with St. Petersburg and Clearwater, she helped create such policies.
Bandoni's opponent, Robin Fornino, 49, is a New York native who has lived in Safety Harbor 15 years and regularly attends City Commission meetings. Fornino works as a financial adviser, and formerly worked in the area of environmental regulation.
Fornino's campaign centers on her belief that Safety Harbor commissioners do not listen to the public, and she is highly critical of many city decisions or the way those decisions were made. She contends that some people in the city get favored treatment or "a bigger piece of the pie."
"What I see happening is not consensus, it's like, okay, this is what you want so we'll justify it," she said. "The city is not truly protecting the quality of life in Safety Harbor."
We prefer Bandoni's less edgy, more collaborative approach and believe it ultimately will serve the city best over the next three years.
The Times recommends a vote for Nina Bandoni for Seat 4.
For candidates:
Right to reply
Candidates not recommended by the Times may submit a written response for publication. Responses should be no more than 350 words and may not attack opponents. They must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22. They should be mailed to Diane Steinle at 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756, or e-mailed to steinle@sptimes.com or faxed to her attention at (727) 445-4119.