City Commission candidates weigh in on gun violence, Doak Campbell during forum
The three candidates competing for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 5 squared off in a forum hosted by the NAACP, Tallahassee A.L.E.R.T. (African American Local Election Review Team) and several other organizations and neighborhood associations.
Participating in the Tuesday event at Watson Temple were City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox, who’s running for a second term; Shelby Green, a data and software engineer; and Adner Marcelin, an executive for a financial institution.
The candidates weighed in on issues from gun violence and pandemic relief to a contentious vote by the Blueprint 2020 board to spend $27 million in sales-tax dollars on improvements to Doak Campbell Stadium.
Here are excerpts from the forum:
Why are you running for office?
Williams-Cox: “I am your commissioner. I’ve served for almost four years. I told you when you elected me that I would be your voice, and that’s what I’ve done. I’m seeking re-election because we still have more work to do. We’re moving our city forward, and we need to continue to move our city forward. I am a 30-plus resident here in the city of Tallahassee, born and raised in Gadsden County and Quincy and came here and raised our family. And I’m very proud of what we’re doing here in Tallahassee and looking forward to doing it even the more.”
Green: “As we saw during the pandemic, the City Commission wasn’t there for us when we needed them to be there. Instead of adopting other policies that other city commissions did, they did not forgive … utility debt. So I’m running because we are at a time when the climate is changing and intensifying and the same communities — our communities that were left behind in the pandemic — are going to continue to be left behind as the climate changes. So I’m running to bring forward new ideas and to push Tallahassee in the affordable, sustainable and equitable direction.”
More: Shelby Green, data engineer and neighborhood advocate, files to run for City Commission
Marcelin: “I am here to basically fight for the interests of those who need it the most and to stand up against the special interests, which has for decades taken over our city. And it doesn’t matter how long you serve or whether you hold a position or not. What matters the most is that when the people that you serve need the help, that you are responsive to everybody’s needs and not just the needs of special interests. I’ve gotten this comment and this feedback that says, ‘You’re hard to work with.’ That’s because I can’t be bought ... and everyone knows that. I want to serve the people.”
For the challengers, what policy from the incumbent negatively impacted African Americans?
Marcelin: “The first one that comes to mind is ... the vote for Doak Campbell. When we look at $27 million and not just for African Americans but for every citizen in this community, I think that that particular vote not only matters about what we could have done with that money but it’s equally as important what will never be for that money. For those individuals who have small businesses who were looking to expand their businesses, that will never be because that money is now gone. For those businesses that we could have attracted here in town that could have provided for more than just 45 jobs, that will no longer be because that money is not on the table anymore for us to negotiate. It doesn’t matter how you try to frame it, how you try to flip it, how good you try to make it ... that was just an inordinate waste of money considering what we had going on.”
More: Adner Marcelin, former Tallahassee NAACP president, running for City Commission seat
Green: “I think the biggest policy that I have a grievance with Commissioner Williams-Cox was voting to end the utility moratorium. Last year during the pandemic, the city thankfully had a utility moratorium .... Fast forward, the city ended unanimously the utility moratorium without communication to the press, without communication with a press release and without telling the people who had expected help from the government that they now were going to have to pay back tens of thousands of dollars of debt. When I requested data form the city to show who are the people who are struggling and behind on their utility debt, an overwhelming majority were people in our community and Black and low-income communities who are struggling to regain financial security and struggling to move upwards in society during a time of a global pandemic.”
Williams-Cox, who was given a chance to respond: “For those of you who watched what actually happened, the city of Tallahassee was the first to stop the disconnection of utilities for our citizens during the pandemic. We were the first. And we did it for over a year. We were the last to begin disconnects again. And we did not leave people hanging. We had a concierge service available through our customer service to make sure that residents who needed assistance with their utilities got that assistance. We did not cut people off without notice. And even today we are still working with individuals who need assistance with their utilities.”
“As far as Doak Campbell is concerned, I’m a die hard Rattler. And when I learned that Florida A&M needed assistance or the stadium was going to be condemned and those dollars were going to be going to other communities ... I got with FAMU, and we got it done. When TCC came and asked for assistance, we provided a $1 million assistance to TCC as well. Now I went hard for FAMU and I supported TCC. How then could I turn my back on Florida State? And what we’re getting for that is community benefit.”
Would you fire City Manager Reese Goad? Is it time for a new manager?
Marcelin: “I think that decision is very premature. I was disappointed in my opponent giving a five out of five (on Goad’s evaluation). I think there are a lot of things that have called his job into question and that is giving high raise salaries to executives within City Hall while our … lower working class individuals are struggling day to day to make it at $15 an hour. I think that it’s just unconscionable how we can justify $30,000 to $60,000 raises and we simply cannot take care of the basic individuals that keep the city running every single day. I would not say that I would fire anybody without properly having their information and their review in front of me. But let me just answer the question this way: I have been a supervisor in many jobs. Am I capable of firing somebody? Absolutely, without a heartbeat.”
Green: “I think managing a city is tough, but I also think that our city manager Reese Goad has way too much power. As we saw in City Commission meetings, we have yielded policy by allowing the city manager to make decisions without the public’s opinion and without the City Commission’s input. If I was elected city commissioner, I wouldn’t immediately vote to fire him, but I would vote for an audit, I would vote for a performance review of the city manager and would vote to … restore balance back to the City Commission and removing some of the power that the city manager has.”
Williams-Cox: “I evaluate the city manager and the other appointed officials based on their performance aligned to our strategic plan. And I am very comfortable with my evaluation because when I look at our strategic plan and are we hitting our points, we’re hitting them. Our city is moving forward. My evaluation of the current city manager is that he is hitting the mark on the strategic plan that we the commission put in place for him to perform from. Now if at such time that is no longer the case, then we’ll deal with that then. But right now, I see our city moving forward, I see us growing and I see no need to make changes in any of our appointed officials. And I gave all of our appointed officials a high grade because they’re meeting the mark that we set for them.”
How should the City Commission respond to the Sheriff’s Office’s Anatomy of a Homicide report?
Green: “The City Commission needs to understand what are the ailments in our community and what are the interim actions we can take so that by the time the strategic plan is done for the Commission on the Status of Men and Boys, we can have proactive measures in place. What’s causing crime in our community is people can’t afford to live. People are struggling to regain financial stability and have no option when it comes to upward social mobility. Forty-six percent of the crimes that occurred were for basic bills for basic survival including utility bills and grocery bills. So when the city commission has a chance to provide relief to people who are struggling especially those in crime ridden areas and zipZIP code 30324 they should take advantage of that opportunity.”
Marcelin: “My take on Anatomy of a Homicide is I’m not surprised. This is not rocket science or new information that we all have not been accustomed to. We knew there were gun issues in the community, we knew that there was violence. It first starts with schools and expulsion because a majority of those individuals who … committed violent acts in our community, they were expelled from school and given no other option. And so when you have individuals that are expelled from school and they are not given an option ... they have to find some way to live, they have to find some way to make money and that just turns into a bigger issue. We have to find a very serious way of addressing economics and poverty because that is the bottom line issue of why there is crime in the community.”
Williams-Cox: “What we’re doing at the city of Tallahassee, we provide funding from the Tallahassee Police Department as well as the city budget to help with the sheriff’s initiative on the Commission on the Status of Men and Boys. We also have the TEMPO program. We are looking at using that to continue to provide opportunities for people to get their GED, to go to college, to get training and open up their own businesses and we are having graduations where this is life-changing. We also have the Tallahassee Future Leaders Academy that ... pays children, students during the summertime so that we can help them understand that it is a good thing to earn money legitimately and be able to spend it legitimately. That’s what we’re doing at the city of Tallahassee and I’d like to do even more of that.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: City Commission candidates weigh in on gun violence, Doak Campbell during forum
