ST. PETERSBURGH, Fla. — Though activist and educator Richie Floyd received nearly double the number of votes over Jeff Danner in the St. Petersburg City Council District 8 primary election in August, Danner says it’s a whole new ballgame as the two men get ready to square off in November.
“You need 30,000-40,000 votes instead of 2,800,” Danner said, noting how much wider and diverse the electorate will be as the race expands citywide next month — District 8 encompasses neighborhoods like Disston Heights, Historic Kenwood and a slice of 34th Street N.
What You Need To Know
- Richie Floyd is a community activist and science teacher making his first bid for office
- Jeff Danner served on the council for eight years previously (2005-2013)
- Amy Foster has held the seat the past eight years but is term-limited out of office at the end of this year
Floyd, a teacher at Azalea Middle School who’s currently on leave, declared his candidacy for the seat more than 10 months ago and has raised more than $88,000 in the race to date.
Danner, who was born in Cleveland but has lived in the city for more than three decades, only entered the race in late May, and has raised around $26,000 as of Oct. 1.
Both candidates agree that affordable housing in the top issue in this year’s election.
“We need to take a more social approach to affordable housing. Meaning taking pieces of housing out of the market and keeping them stable at a price for a long time,” said Floyd. “We can do that through things like community land trusts and increasing and expanding our public housing in the city.”
Danner has worked in the construction industry “in some form or another” since his late teens and currently works in the building department for the city.
He says St. Pete has been able to do a good job of pulling down funding from the county, state and federal governments when it comes to housing, but believes the time is now for the city to create its own housing trust.
“If we had done it 30 years ago it’d be great, but we need to start doing it now,” he said. “It gives us that opportunity to match our needs with that revenue that we can generate.”
Both candidates talk about the fact that development has made it more difficult for working class people to be able to afford to live in the city, with Danner giving a very personal example.
He said that his daughter — a single mom working in the hospitality industry — just recently moved to North Carolina because she could not find an affordable place to live in St. Pete.
Floyd said the it’s crucial to find a way to raise pay wages in St. Pete, particularly for those who live in the city.
“We need to make sure that we’re training workers to be able to get jobs that already exist in the city, and that we’re investing in our workforce, because you can’t afford housing if you don’t have a good job and good wages,” he said.
When asked their opinion about the Tampa Bay Rays plan to get two new stadiums built for them so they can play half the baseball season in the Tampa Bay region and the other half in Montreal, Danner said he was originally skeptical, but now has bought into the idea.
“When I first heard it, I just thought it makes the situation more difficult to draw fans,” he said, noting that he’d also like to see the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team in a new stadium. “But I do like the idea if they’re about to come up with something with a multi-use stadium.”
Floyd says he hasn’t heard from the Rays staff or players if they’re comfortable about the idea of living in two different countries.
“There’s going to have to be negotiations with the Players Association as well, because you know if that was my family, I would find it difficult to live in Florida and Canada,” he says.
Much has been made about the fact that Floyd is a self-described Democratic socialist. He said any resistance he receives from some voters is smoothed over when he talks about his platform. But he does say he’s received some interesting feedback on the campaign trail.
“The biggest problem that we’ve had lately is people associating me with Joe Biden and calling Joe Biden a socialist,” he said. “We focus on what’s best for the city and what we’re going to do going forward and how we’re going to bring this positive vision to the city.”
Danner said he believes his previous tenure on the Council will be looked at favorably by the voters.
“I just come with the experience of having worked on these city issues over the last 30 years,” he said. “Everything that’s going on, I’ve played some role in it as a community person, as an activist, as a council member. And (I’m) just really look forward to bringing that experience back to the city and helping us move forward.”
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 2 election is Monday.