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Activist not afraid of challenge, defeat
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
© St. Petersburg Times,
As a dad, he was involved with soccer, Little League and his children's schools. As a neighborhood leader and eventual council member, he tried to revive a flagging shopping center that lost its anchor, campaigned for creation of a charter school and pushed for a new library. He was behind the 31st Street Sports Complex as well as the Lakewood Baseball Complex. He led the effort when constituents fought a Wal-Mart supercenter proposed for their neighborhood. Further afield, he sat on the Bi-Racial Advisory Committee for Pinellas County schools and served on the Community Alliance. He was a member of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce's baseball committee. And most recently, Williams, 56, made an unsuccessful bid for mayor. For now, he says, he has no further political plans. During a recent interview, the former City Council chairman took stock of his achievements, both personal and political. "I think in my family I've raised five very stable, good kids," said Williams, who has been married for 35 years. "My wife and I started going together when I was in the 10th grade and she was in the 8th, so we've done more than grow up together." He also is proud of his ability to persevere and to bring people together. "I think, from a political and civic standpoint, those are the things that the good Lord has blessed me with," he said. Williams, who owns Diagnostic Outpatient Centers, a diagnostic imaging company with offices in St. Petersburg and Eustis, counts as another of his accomplishments the Radiologic Technology Licensing Act passed by the state Legislature in 1978. The "grueling, ugly battle" to get it signed taught him a lot about life and politics. "It made me understand that just because you're right doesn't mean you're always going to win," he said. "What it really means is that you're just not going to win at that time. So if you do think it's right and you continue to persist, you probably will." He ran unsuccessfully for the council in 1991 and was again unsuccessful when he applied to finish the term of Bob Stewart, who left to run for the Pinellas County Commission. Williams eventually won the seat, which represents the area that includes Pinellas Point and Bahama Shores, in 1995. He was in his second term when he decided to run for mayor. "The night that I lost, I was shocked that I didn't make the runoff," he said. He has had his share of disappointments through the years, he said, but he has learned to take it all in stride. "It never kept me from not believing in myself, not having the confidence in what I knew."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
