Running for the St. Petersburg City Council seat Karl Nurse is vacating due to term limits: so hot right now.
Many of the nine people vying for the open District 6 seat are on the young side, including the latest to get in, USF St. Pete graduate student and, according to his Facebook profile, manager at Pro-Shield Roof Restoration, Ziya Kardas.
A self-proclaimed environmentalist and former USFSP student body president who abruptly resigned earlier this year, Kardas told FloridaPolitics.com that he's uniquely equipped to represent the district.
Since his campaign is still nascent, there's little in the way of fundraising numbers and he does not appear to have a campaign website yet.
Other candidates on the Aug. 29 ballot for the seat are small businessman Justin Bean, Uhuru activist Akile Cainion, downtown neighborhood association president Gina Driscoll, civic activist Corey Givens, Jim Jackson (also an activist), Sharon Russ, grad student James Scott and Maria Scruggs, who heads the St. Pete branch of the NAACP.
The district's diverse makeup might be part of its apparent appeal for prospective council members, each of whom has his or her niche within the area.
The district comprises parts of downtown as well as south St. Pete, and whoever wins the seat, in theory, would reflect the wishes of the wide swath of constituents — from the young professionals and creatives that pack downtown and the Edge District to residents of Midtown, a predominantly African-American area that has struggled with economic inequality for decades.
With all of those candidates in the running, the August 29 election will likely result in a November runoff, given that the top vote-getter in all likelihood will not get more than 50 percent of the required votes.
