Baker for mayor

St. Petersburg has made considerable progress recently. Rick Baker is the candidate best able to keep the city on its positive track and guide it into the future.

Even the most stubborn naysayer would have a hard time denying the progress St. Petersburg has been making. After so many false starts, downtown is more vibrant and attractive than it has been in decades. Neighborhoods have been beautified and given a stronger voice in city government. Crime is down. Property values are up. Political and racial tensions have been eased. Things are far from perfect, and some segments of the city have not yet fully shared in the improved economic and social climate. But most residents would agree that St. Petersburg has gotten on the right track.

The election of a new mayor will be a crucial factor in determining whether St. Petersburg continues to build on that progress or reverts to the divisions and disappointments of the past. Voters in the Feb. 27 primary are fortunate to be able to choose from a large and diverse field of mayoral candidates, most of whom offer constructive platforms for the city's future. Still, some of the campaign rhetoric has painted a distorted picture of St. Petersburg. Voters should look past the rhetoric and keep in mind the progress of the recent past as they choose a leader to guide the city into the future.

Much of the credit for that progress rests with Mayor David Fischer, who chose not to seek re-election. Fischer is no one's prototype of a strong mayor, but his calm, decent and determined leadership helped the city through a difficult period. The next mayor should build on Fischer's legacy rather than trying to reverse it.

Two candidates bring especially strong credentials and creative thinking to the race. Rick Baker and Karl Nurse both offer intelligent, progressive and collegial visions of local government that can help St. Petersburg build on the foundation of its recent success. Baker, a lawyer and former president of the Chamber of Commerce, has a political stature that extends all the way to the Capitol and a sense of history that spurred him to write a book about St. Petersburg. Nurse, a business owner and neighborhood activist, is a student of city government, having served as chairman of the city Planning Commission and helping to rebuild his Old Southeast neighborhood.

These two men rise above the rest, but the field is not to be taken lightly. Omali Yeshitela, best known as chairman of the African People's Socialist Party and a civil rights activist, has demonstrated he belongs in this broader political arena. He brings charisma and a passionate message about economic justice, and he has helped shape the debate to include economic development for all parts of the city. Larry Williams, a City Council member for the past six years, has a working knowledge of city government but not the broader political skills of Baker and Nurse. Kathleen Ford, a council member known for petulant outbursts and quirky paranoia (she once wrote the FBI for protection from Yeshitela and "any others who would seek to harm me"), offers little more than a chip on her shoulder.

What voters should seek in a strong mayor is someone with political maturity and a record of having helped to make the city better. Baker and Nurse both fit that description. Their accomplishments are worthy of note. Baker: Chamber president, Suncoast Children's Dream Fund president, YMCA Neighbor to Neighbor Christmas program founder, CONA Neighborhood Leadership program founder. Nurse: Old Southeast Neighborhood Association president, Historic Preservation Commission chairman, City Planning Commission chairman, Housing Roundtable, Community Alliance.

Both have shone in their professional lives and in their community endeavors and have conducted campaigns that have reached out to all residents of the city. What makes Baker the stronger candidate, we believe, is his higher political profile. His opponents have tried to attack Baker as the "establishment" candidate, but his ties to prominent business and government figures, including Gov. Jeb Bush and three past city mayors, are in fact an asset. A strong mayor, especially the mayor of Florida's fourth most populous city, needs those kinds of relationships to get the job done. The test for voters is whether those connections insulate him from the less prominent members of his community, and Baker easily passes. He has shown he can walk in any neighborhood and hear any voice. That's what good mayors need to be successful.

In his campaign, Baker has noted that Mayor Fischer reached out with programs, such as Operation Commitment and the Neighborhood Team, that helped keep neighborhoods healthy and brought together people from all walks of life. Baker says he wants to continue, and to possibly expand, that approach. He also wants to build a stronger economic base for the entire city, to use the bully pulpit to advocate for better schools, and to support the police department's balanced approach to crime prevention that has helped to keep the city safe.

In this mayoral election primary, held in a time of relative civic prosperity, voters should want to keep their city moving forward. That's why we recommend Rick Baker.

Opportunity to reply

The Times offers candidates not recommended by its editorial board an opportunity to reply. Candidates should send in their replies no later than noon Wednesday to: Philip Gailey, editor of editorials, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. (Fax: 893-8675). Replies are limited to 250 words.

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