Last night a capacity crowd gathered in Creative Loafing's events venue, CL Space, to hear a Tampa mayoral debate moderated by CL News & Politics Editor Mitch Perry. A diverse crowd listened (and in some cases tweeted) intently as the five candidates discussed a range of topics, from homelessness to transit, from the airport to the arts, from toilet-to-tap to former Mayor Dick Greco's now-infamous quote about panty raids.
It's become a truism by now, but it's worth repeating: This is an impressive roster of candidates — experienced, intelligent, informed, personable. One audience member said to me afterwards that any one of them could do a good job, and I think that's pretty accurate. But that also makes it tough to choose between them. CL will be announcing its endorsement in the race next week, but meanwhile we offer you this scorecard on last night's debate. Scroll down for photos.
Most newsworthy apology: Dick Greco. Responding to Mitch Perry's question about Greco's comparison of ’60s race riots to panty raids (a remark he made during Tuesday's Bay News 9/St. Pete Times debate), the former mayor called it "one of the dumbest things I've ever [said]," and acknowledged that people had been right to take offense. Channel 10 featured his apology prominently in their 11 p.m. newscast, and the St. Pete Times elaborated on it today.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2011.