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Part 1
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Yvonne Yolie Capin, 61
South Westshore (D) |
Michael Ciftci, 27
Carver City-Lincoln Gardens (R)
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Chris Hart, 66
Bayshore Beautiful (R)
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Experience
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Capin was appointed to the District 4 City Council seat representing South Tampa last year. She has volunteered for local and state campaigns, and helped lead Barack Obama's presidential campaign in Tampa. For 20 years, she owned and ran JC Jewelers on Dale Mabry Highway. A Tampa resident for 59 years, she graduated from Leto High School and lives in South Tampa. She lost a bid for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives in 2008.
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Ciftci helps organize conferences on green business and has worked on political campaigns since his days at the University of Florida. For two years, he was the political point man for local developer Donald Phillips, and has also run Phillips' political action committee. Born in Turkey as an American citizen, he grew up in Okeechobee until moving to Tampa in 2007 to work as the West Florida director for John McCain's presidential primary campaign. This is his first run for public office.
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Hart served as a Hillsborough County commissioner from 1994 to 2002. For the past several years, he has run a business consulting firm. After serving 22 years in the Army, including a tour in Vietnam, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1988. He has also worked as a banker and served on several local boards, including the Hillsborough City-County Planning Commission. Hart was born in South Carolina, graduated from H.B. Plant High School, and now lives in South Tampa. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2003 and county clerk of courts in 2004.
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Education
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Attended University of Tampa and Hillsborough Community College, but did not receive a degree
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Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Florida
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Bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Tampa; graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the Armed Forces Staff College
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What are your ideas for the city budget?
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Consolidate police administration and restructure the department's pension system. Use reserves before making cuts, but rebuild reserves when revenues increase. In the face of a budget crisis, reduce salaries of city employees but retain their jobs. "Everyone take a cut and let everyone keep their job," she said. "The morale would be a lot better."
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Consolidate city services with county services. Privatize when "the private sector can do it better and at less expense." Consider specific cost-saving measures, such as prohibiting police who live outside Tampa from bringing their cruisers home. Ensure first responders "have the resources necessary to guarantee the public's safety," he said.
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Prevent any increase in taxes, and look for opportunities to reduce taxes and fees, specifically for small businesses. Examine every contract with an eye towards public-private partnership. Review many city departments and programs for effectiveness. Examine police and fire contracts to eliminate waste while still providing the departments with necessary resources.
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How would you spur job growth and economic development?
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Focus on small businesses. Push to direct stimulus money to small businesses and encourage banks to issue them microloans. Also push for more funding for Hillsborough Community College to train workers.
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Personally contact City Hall for business owners in order to streamline their paperwork. Incentivize green technology manufacturers to build in Tampa. Visit business executives who are considering bringing jobs here -- "I'll go and sit in that person's lobby until they meet with me and hear the pitch for Tampa."
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Support the University of South Florida business incubation program. Market the city as a potential home for international firms. Tap into MacDill Air Force Base as a consumer of goods and services and as a resource to aid the high-tech industry.
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What is your position on public funding for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium in Tampa?
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Opposed. Would consider tax incentives, but not direct funding. If a stadium does come, she would want the city to own all parking property for city revenue.
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Opposed, but supports tax incentives for a privately funded stadium.
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Opposed to all public funding, including tax incentives. Believes public funding cannot be considered for at least several years.
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How would you address the city's transportation issues?
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"Absolutely" to light rail. She also wants to add bike lanes and signage for drivers to share the road with cyclists.
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Create an "affordable mass transit system." He would push for light rail.
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Focus on the HART bus line, adding routes and enhancing service. "We have great opportunities to make that more robust," he said. He also wants to build sidewalks to help pedestrians get to bus stops.
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Assets
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$697,511: property, CDs, money market account, personal belongings
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$10,000: personal belongings
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$1,493,512: Home, condominium, personal belongings, stocks, bonds, life insurance, retirement and savings accounts
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Liabilities
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$28,397: loan
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$12,377: loans
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$95,988: mortgage
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Income
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$77,667: City Council salary, rental property, bank interest
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$35,000: salary from two green business consulting firms
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$95,570: business consulting salary, Social Security, state and military pension
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Personal
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Married to Juan R. Capin; they have an adult daughter
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Single
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Married to Patricia Hart; they have one son, Chris Hart IV, a former state representative
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Website
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capinforcitycouncil.com
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michaelfortampa.com
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hartfortampa.com
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E-mail
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votecapin@
capinforcitycouncil.com
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michael@
michaelfortampa.com
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chris@
hartfortampa.com
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Part 2
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Seth Nelson, 40
Old Hyde Park (D)
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Jason Wilson, 32
Bayshore Gardens (NPA)
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Experience
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Nelson is a lawyer who still lives and works in the neighborhood where he grew up: Hyde Park. He serves on the budget advisory committee for the Tampa City Council and the citizen advisory council for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. He is a former member of the city's variance review board, and the former board president for AMIkids Tampa, an alternative school for troubled youths. He focuses on family law, and has represented disabled children against school districts. He graduated from H. B. Plant High School. This is his first run for public office.
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Wilson is chief resident of emergency medicine at Tampa General Hospital. He will soon begin a new post there as a director of the University of South Florida residency program. He is also the top doctor at an urgent care clinic in West Tampa. He was the class president and legislative representative of USF medical school. As a USF undergraduate, he served on the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County. The H.B. Plant High School graduate grew up in Virginia Park, and now lives with his family in Bayshore Gardens. This is his first run for public office.
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Education
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Bachelor's degree in English and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin; law degree, University of Florida
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Bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of South Florida; master's in anthropology, University of Michigan; doctor of medicine, University of South Florida
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What are your ideas for the city budget?
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Consolidate city services with county services. Support capital expenditures that save in the long term, such as police cruiser "push bumpers" that save on maintenance and repair costs, and mandating all homes in the reclaimed water service area hook up to the network. Review every city department. "If we do not need the department, it should be eliminated."
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Review the entire budget to find ways to spend more efficiently, like joining with private wellness clinics in the city instead of paying out-of-state providers. Create more predictability in city pensions, directing returns on pension investments into reserves, which would lessen the burden if the economy sours. Discourage fees that would price residents out of city resources.
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How would you spur job growth and economic development?
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Fix zoning regulations to promote business growth. Encourage everyone to buy locally: "If each of us spends 10 percent of our disposable income on locally owned business, city revenues will go up by 30 percent."
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Explore public-private partnerships. Support career development centers. Brand and market the biotech, medical, and defense information fields already in Tampa to attract businesses and compete for research grants. Streamline zoning and building permits.
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What is your position on public funding for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium in Tampa?
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Open to considering all proposals. "There's a lot of different ways to make this happen," he said, "but you have to do your due diligence."
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Opposed. Would prefer to use tax-increment financing for transportation projects.
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How would you address the city's transportation issues?
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Supports the intermodal transportation plan proposed on the last ballot, including light rail.
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Supports a mixed mass transit model, but first wants to change the "culture of ridership:" Market the HART system, bolster its route map, add signage for bicyclists, and add bike lanes, including on every new road built.
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Assets
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$202,809: stock, savings account, personal belongings
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$190,000: home, personal belongings
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Liabilities
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$139,839: loans
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$356,330: mortgage, credit card, student and car loans
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Income
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$125,769: attorney salary
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$87,400: doctor salary
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Personal
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Divorced with a young son
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Married to Christina Porcelli-Wilson, a teacher; they have one young son
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Website
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sethnelson2011.com
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voteforwilson.org
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E-mail
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seth@sethnelson2011.com
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voteforwilson@gmail.com
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