On the last day for qualifying for Tampa's City Council elections on March 1, two more candidates are getting into the races.
In District 2, which so far has looked to be one of the few races that may not end up in a run-off, between incumbent Mary Mulhern and her challenger Scott Strepina, neighborhood activist Susan Long filed on Friday to run in the race. When asked why now, she said it was primarily the council's reluctance so far to act on the volatile issue of panhandling on city streets.
Long said that she has thought for years about possibly running for office, but the Council's refusal so far to put the issue on the March ballot, "took me over the edge," adding, "I think there's a disconnect going on, and I'd like to resolve that."
District 2 is a city-wide district. Long lives in Seminole Heights in District 6, but she says, "there's no way you're going to beat Charlie Miranda,"apparently giving little thought to Kelly Benjamin's opportunities this winter. Long says she believes that her background in Finance (she has a Doctorate in that field from the University of South Carolina) will help her work with budgets. "Reading financials is something that comes easy to me, " she says.
This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.