Ariel Amirah Danley outside the Black English Bookstore in Tampa, Florida. Credit: Photo via Ariel Amirah Danley/Facebook

Candidates who want to represent Tampa’s District 5 better be ready to connect in a serious way when Candy Lowe and Jarvis El-Amin host another installment of Tea & Conversation in Ybor City this month.

“We want to know what their cell phone numbers are so we can call them,” Lowe, organizer of Tampa’s Black Business Bus Tour, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

For more than two decades, she’s brought together candidates and electeds to talk to her community, and she wants to know that whoever wins in the upcoming special election will come back to the forum.
“We have a number of candidates that have been coming for years, and they do return back, but we have a lot of them that never return back, and I keep my eye on them,” Lowe added.

It’ll be a packed house for Lowe’s next candidate roll call happening later this month at Al’s Finger Licking Good Soul Food in Ybor City. So far, 13 candidates have applied to run for the seat, and anyone who shows up will get a chance to introduce themselves and their platforms, talk about their history in East Tampa and answer questions from voters.

Only 12 remain after the recent withdrawal of former Tampa City Councilman Orlando Gudes, including lifelong community advocate Fran Tate, Ariel Amirah Danley (the daughter of the late Councilwoman Gwen Henderson, whose death triggered this special election), Ybor City business owner Tom DeGeorge, Naya Almaz Yong, the former Executive Director of the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association, and more.

There’s no cover for Tea & Conversation: Tampa City Council District 5 roll call happening Saturday, July 26 at Al’s Finger Licking Good Soul Food in Ybor City.

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