Lisa Montelione, a member of the Hillsborough Democratic party and an occasional contributor to CL’s Green site, filed papers on Monday to enter the race for the Tampa City Council’s District 7 race, where incumbent Joseph Caetano and 3 other candidates (Dean Hale, Charles Perkins and Robert E. Armstrong) have already announced their intentions for the seat.
When asked by CL why she wants to run, Montelione says she’s been thinking about doing so ever since Caetano was elected in March of 2007. “I’ve been watching, and waiting, but I haven’t seen anybody I could vote for or support.” Hence her decision to get into the race herself.
Although some people consider District 7 to be strictly all about New Tampa, Montelione says the district is large and diverse. She herself lives in Terrace Park, but Forest Hills, Sulphur Springs, Temple Crest and Tampa Palms are all part of the area as well.
Transportation is always an issue in the New Tampa area, but Montelione says she’s sensitive to the traffic congestion that happens throughout Tampa. Regarding the failed transit tax, she supported the measure, but says there was mass confusion amongst the electorate that was never a good sign. “When you read the threads on Facebook,” she says, “some people thought the tax was just for light rail, but it was for roads, it was for buses, HART would have benefited. People were confused about whether it was light rail or high speed rail.”
This article appears in Jan 6-12, 2011.
