Quoting friends and supporters, the Tampa Tribune’s Christian Wade reported Saturday morning that former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco will do it again – that is, for the 3rd time in what will be 6 decades – he’ll run for mayor of Tampa, with an announcement to be scheduled on Monday night officially declaring his candidacy. Patrick Manteiga in La Gaceta wrote a similar story on Friday.
Although Greco comes into the race with momentum (the first major poll taken of the campaign a week and and a half ago showed him clear leader, 4% ahead of Rose Ferlita),there are six other contenders in the race, and a couple of them who spoke with CL on Saturday say they welcome the challenge, but wonder if his style will work in 2011.
Former Tampa City Councilman Bob Buckhorn said Greco has served the community well in the past, but that’s not a reason to reward with him with the reins of power in the second decade of the 21st Century.
“This presents a clear contrast about listening to stories of the past vs. a vision for the future,” Buckhorn said. He said Greco’s candidacy marks a line for Tampa residents to decide whether “we’re going forward or we’re going backward.”
The 76-year-old Greco first ran for the job successfully in 1967 and was re-elected in 1971 before stepping down to make more money in the private sector before his term expired. Some twenty years later, he got the itch to do it again, and beat Jan Platt for mayor in 1995. He ran un-opposed for a second term in 1999.
Such is the love affair between the Ybor City native and some in the city that some businessmen were hoping he’d run against the equally popular Pam Iorio in 2007. He didn’t, and Iorio won re-election that year easily over token opposition.
Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Ed Turanchik said “you need fresh ideas and vigor and knowledge about how you deal with a city in the 21st century,” adding, “D.C. is not going to bail us out, nor is Tallahassee, and Microsoft isn’t going to relocate here. We’re going to have to work our way through this.”
Both Turanchik and Buckhorn insist that creating the opportunity for jobs to be created is the number one issue going forward in this election. And both men, in an unsubtle way, responded to Jim Davis comment two weeks ago that the reason he didn’t want to run to be the next mayor was because he couldn’t give the “150%” that he thinks is required to lead Tampa.
“This is a very serious time and a very serious job, and the next mayor has to have the stamina, the endurance, to stay on task, to not just recant stories of past glory but to really have a plan to get us to the next level,” Buckhorn said.
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2010.
