Tampa’s District 7 is often referred to as the “Alaska of the Tampa Bay area.” It starts north of Busch Boulevard, covering Forest Hills, Terrace Park, University Square, up to the New Tampa area. There are 109,000 residents there, and three of them—Dr. Patricia Alonzo, Alan Cohn and Morris Lopez III—have already filed to be D7’s next city councilmember.
Those three also told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that they intend to apply to be appointed to the seat when city council picks a replacement for outgoing councilman Luis Viera, who is resigning as he runs for state house.
Last week, La Gaceta editor Gene Siudut told CL that he, too, will seek the appointment, although he isn’t yet ready to commit to filing his candidacy.
Alonzo has already laid out some of her plans in a conversation with CL, but Lopez and Cohn have thoughts on the seat, the Tampa Bay Rays, and Florida’s property tax-cutting Amendment 3, too.
Cohn, who ran for U.S. Congress in 2020, is cautiously optimistic that voters won’t approve Amendment 3, which would raise the property tax exemption from $150,000 beginning 2027 to $250,000 in 2028, and an adjustment for inflation in 2029.
If the proposition passes, the City of Tampa is estimated to lose between $35 million and $40 million in fiscal year 2028, as reported by WTSP.
“This was such a poorly conceived and almost slapped together last-minute idea that, from what I see, both Democrats and Republicans are soundly rejecting this idea because they know that the devastating impact it’s going to be having on municipal budgets,” Cohn told CL. “The property taxes as they stand do not completely cover the cost of police and fire, and so this will have just a terrible impact on the city’s budgeting process, and I think they’re collectively holding their breath.”
Tampa City Council also recently approved plans to help the Tampa Bay Rays with plans to build a stadium in Tampa, at the site of Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus, across the street from Raymond James Stadium where the Bucs play.
The deal involves the city taking out a loan for $80 million that would incrementally be given to the team to pay for infrastructure around the stadium. City officials hope to recoup the investment, plus interest, over the next few decades.
Cohn gives credit to the sitting council members for getting the Rays deal done but says that he hopes the baseball team coming to Tampa will be a good thing.
“What’s interesting is what was voted on was far different than what was originally proposed and voted on, and I give the city council, Councilman Carlson, Councilman Clendenin and Viera and the others a great deal of credit that the city’s contribution will be this $80 million loan, which you know we expect to be repaid in full,” Cohn told CL. “I think if we’re going to do this, that was a great way to go about this.”
Cohn recently served as Vice-Chairman of the Tampa Charter Review Advisory Commission. Cohn said what separates him from the other candidates in the District 7 race, is the three decades he also spent as an investigative reporter.
“For 30 years, I’ve asked tough questions to very powerful people, and it doesn’t matter if they threaten me in terms of threatening to make my news organization the parking lot or anything else and that has been my role is to ask tough questions and get answers,” Cohn said. “I think people want someone going on to the city council and asking those tough questions and getting those answers. I’ve covered city councils, county commissions, school boards and the United States Congress.”
Lopez works as a Division Chief with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.After learning about the appointment, he grew interested in the seat. Although not a politics guy himself, as he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Lopez has been attending council meetings with a priority to learn as much as he can about the position.
“I think the immediate priority right now is to be prepared in case I am that person that the council decides to choose,” he added. “I make command decisions with limited information right now, so I am used to gathering information and making the proper decisions. I wanted to be prepared for this position in case it happens. I’m learning everything I can about the city right now to be prepared to go on day one, whether it’s November or March, when I get the votes.”
As the November midterm election looms over Florida with ballot measures like Amendment 3, the 39-year fire serviceman shared his concerns because property tax revenue pays for public services.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to put us behind, and it’s going to put public safety behind because we’re going to have to try and figure out how we’re going to get consistent funding for public safety,” Lopez said.
Lopez couldn’t say how he would have voted on the Rays stadium and likened his thinking to a transaction with a car dealer.
“I put myself in that position, and I looked at all the documents and the information that I had, and I’ll put it into the same perspective,” Lopez said. “It’s kind of like buying a car, right? You get all these things that are thrown at you in deals, but really, when it comes down to it, it’s you and that finance manager at the end. So I understand the last-minute decisions, and I can do that. Which way would I have gone? I never got to that point. But I hope that the decision benefits Tampa, and I think it will, because I think the economic development, if it happens as I said, will be a great thing.”
The 2027 City of Tampa Municipal Election ends on March 2. Early voting days are to be determined, and the voter registration deadline is Feb. 1, 2027.
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This article appears in Oct. 29 – Nov. 04, 2026.
