Commission Candidates Voice Opinions on Key Issues

With Election Day fast approaching on Tuesday, November 6^th, issues that affect the country as well as the community are on the minds of voters in Safety Harbor.

The three candidates for the open City Commission Seat 1, Ray R. Irvin, Bobby Saltzman and Richard Blake, all participated in a public forum on October 24^th and answered questions from residents on topics ranging from downtown development to library cards.

In order to help voters know where the candidates stand on these key issues, Safety Harbor Patch broke down their responses to a few of questions raised at the forum.

The Firmenich Citrus Center Property Proposal 

Saltzman - I am totally against that project. I look at it like a tenement type project. That project is going to put a lot of pressure on (SR) 590. As far as traffic goes, I can not see it working for us. We’ll have 296 people (moving here) and basically I don’t see them coming downtown to shop. It seemed the community as a whole was against that project continuing as it is…and it’s going to be very challenging.

Blake – I am on the planning and Zoning Board so certainly I am familiar with the topic. We did advise for the zoning to be changed from industrial use to a more higher residential use and I still firmly believe that is the best use for that property. We were making the decision…because currently a Wal-Mart distribution center can go in there and build 35 feet high and 10 feet from the property line of the singe family homes that are there. Nobody wants that. In my opinion, it’s better suited as a residential area.

Irvin – I go back to appropriate development. I’m not against development, but it’s got to be appropriate and we’ve got to look at it in the context of what do we want to be. A developer is more than willing to come in and say, ‘we’ll put up this fabulous facility for you and we’re going to sell to all of our residents that small town quality that you folks have here and that everybody wants a piece of. And…it’s not very long before everything gets developed, and all those things are gone.

Ideas for Business and Economic Development

Irvin – One of the things I’d like to see us do is continue to help small businesses. In the next 30 years, literally millions of people are going to be retiring and looking for a place to come live. Safety Harbor has those qualities. Those are people that when they come here to retire they bring money and they bring opportunities to invest in the small businesses. So those are things I think we should be looking at.

Saltzman – Spurring economic growth in Safety Harbor can be challenging. I see it as a challenge because of the small downtown, we’re limited on space and now going up and down the avenues. We need to advertise our attributes and emphasize that good things come in small packages, and we are a small package. We need to attract small businesses here…but we also need to get the customers to support them. It’s very difficult to keep a business going if you don’t have any customers.

Blake – If I could get everybody in the room to frequent the downtown businesses as much as I do that would be a step in the right direction. I think we need to work on bringing some of the outskirt community of Safety Harbor to the downtown area. There’s a huge population of residents…that aren’t aware of the businesses that we have downtown. So we could reach out to those people…to help increase the profitability of our current businesses. 

Recreational Facilities - Does the demand outweigh the supply?

Blake – I do think we need more recreational facilities, more parks in the area. There’s currently property on the end Elm Street that the City could purchase from the Pinellas County Schools. I think that would be a great area to put in a soccer field. Two things the city is lacking as far as our population versus the amenities we are carrying: One of those things is a public swimming pool, soccer fields and an additional boat ramp. 

Irvin – We need a parks department that encourages our kids to get out and gives us a place to go and get the exercise that we all know we need and don’t seem to get enough of.  The other thing that we need to look at is connecting our parks to our communities, making sure if we don’t have trails that we have appropriate sidewalks where we can get to those parks. I would question a pool…because you don’t know the problems that can be created with a swimming pool and children.

Saltzman – Sadly when budgets are tight and lean, parks and recreation and libraries are the first to be cut. These things…are good for us. The parks here are wonderful. We just need to work smart, get these parks going and keep them going. As far as a poll…they’re money pits. That may be a cost we don’t want to bear. 

Next we’ll see what the candidates have to say about crime, the library and their plans for the future of the city.

For the complete transcript of the forum, visit the City of Safety Harbor website.