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Candidates discuss water, police
By BRYAN GILMER © St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001
The people of Meadowlawn listened politely to some talk of helping those places and were even intrigued by candidate Omali Yeshitela's suggestion that raising property values in southern St. Petersburg could help lower the tax rate citywide. But questions from the campaign forum audience focused on how the next mayor will solve the current water shortage and make sure the Police Department runs smoothly. "The cheapest source of water is going to be the expansion of reclaimed water," candidate Karl Nurse told the group of 80 people at Bethel Lutheran Church on 62nd Avenue N. "We should be able to double the number of people to have reclaimed, and we need a moderate amount of courage to say (to current reclaimed water customers), "You can only water three times as often as everyone else.' " Nurse referred to a proposal that the City Council will consider next week to assign customers who use recycled waste water three watering days per week, instead of the unlimited use they now enjoy. Those who use drinkable water are limited to one day. Candidate Kathleen Ford opposes limiting reclaimed water customers' use, but on Thursday, she advocated reducing the amount of grass that needs watering. "We have ordinances that encourage people to put St. Augustine grass on half their yard, and we can't do that any more," she said. Yeshitela called for xeriscaping, or the use of drought-tolerant native plants, and candidates Ronnie Beck and Patrick Bailey think building a desalination plant to supplement the water supply is smart. Candidates Rick Baker, Larry Williams, Maria Scruggs-Weston, Nurse, Yeshitela and Bailey all oppose a moratorium on construction as a means to save water. Nurse called it a "horrible idea," pointing out that renovation can reduce a home's water use. "The long-term goal is increasing the water supply on a regional basis," Baker said. "It would hurt us significantly." As a City Council member, Ford has advocated a building moratorium, and on Thursday, she said she still thinks that at least a limited, temporary one is needed. On another issue, one questioner suggested Police Chief Goliath Davis III is "soft on drugs." Ford seized on the question, saying, "We've got some real problems in the Police Department; we need to restore (the) Vice and Narcotics (division). It was decimated." But Baker praised Davis' commitment to bringing a drug treatment center to the city to attack the root cause of drug crime -- the demand for drugs. Williams agreed, saying it costs one-seventh as much to rehabilitate an addict as to imprison one. Yeshitela noted that crime is down, and he said raising people's standards of living will reduce crime better than an "occupying army" of police. Scruggs-Weston said she considers Davis a mentor. What discussion there was about revitalizing the southern St. Petersburg neighborhoods where violence and arson erupted in 1996 prompted one of the sharpest exchanges of the evening. Yeshitela called for an "African-Caribbean market" development there to spark more tourism. Nurse said tourism is not the answer, because jobs in the industry "are the worst-paying jobs in town. You want to pitch good jobs," like those at high-tech firms that could be encouraged to locate in southern St. Petersburg, Nurse said. Yeshitela later said he pictures a multimillion-dollar, city-subsidized development on the order of BayWalk, "not hotel maids." The Feb. 27 primary will narrow the field to two candidates, from whom voters will choose the new mayor in the March 27 general election.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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