Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Campaign 2024 - Tallahassee Seat 2 City Commissioner Curtis Richardson

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Campaign 2024 - Tallahassee Seat 2 City Commissioner Curtis Richardson · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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Curtis Richardson is seeking reelection in a hotly contested race for the Tallahassee City Commission
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and we recently sat down and had a conversation, and so we begin another
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conversation here, this time with incumbent City Commissioner Curtis Richardson. As the kids
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like to say, it's been a minute, it has been. How you
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doing, doing great? Doing great? Life is good. I'm retired professionally,
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and I've got two beautiful daughters, Preston that one is a Naval Academy
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graduate and we'll talk about that a little bit more, and the other is
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a midshipman currently at the Naval Academy. So I'm curious because you've had a
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long political career in local politics. Yes, how different is the process to
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run now versus when your children were young. It's it's pretty much the same,
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okay, It's just the dynamics have changed so much. I was on
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the phone just a few minutes ago actually with a former local elected official,
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and we were talking about the differences in how elections and campaigns were run and
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service and you know, the collegiality that is this did you could be you
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could disagree, but you didn't have to be disagreeable. Nobody attacked you or
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your family during a campaign or tried to paint you a certain way. And
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yeah, he was like, Curtis, thank you for your service, because
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I'm glad I got it out of it. When I did, you mentioned
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the lack of collegiality, and Curtis, this isn't something that's new this election
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cycle. The seeds of this started a while back. When did you first
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notice? I first noticed it Preston during the last election cycle, and it's
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sort of been exacerbated since then. And it's worried me because you know,
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I've been in this, as you mentioned, for quite a while. I
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don't plan to be in it very much longer. But what it does,
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or what it has done, is a lot of people who might have been
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interested in serving our wonderful community they see this and hear what's going on,
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and they don't want to have anything to do with it. And so I'm
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just afraid of what that's going to leave us with in terms of people that
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will be willing to run for office and choose to serve this community and where
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that's going to take us. Sure, I observe the same thing the last
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election cycle, there was a definite difference. And you know, I don't
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vote in the city elections because I don't live in the city. I live
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in the county. That said, obviously I talk about city issues. I
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talk about what decisions are made or not made, the dynamics of what's going
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on in our community. It matters because this is my home too. The
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thing that I'm curious about, as best you can take us back through the
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last couple of years since that last election cycle, how has that change?
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That shift where colleagues sitting on the commission are actively campaigning against fellow sitting commissioners,
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How has that changed the dynamic of how you have functioned as a commission
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right, Well, it definitely has impacted the communication between the commissioners on the
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DIADZ. I have a wonderful relationship with both the Mayor and Commissioner WILLIAMS.
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Cox, not so much with Jeremy or Commissioner Mattlow and Porter. And interestingly
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enough, I supported Commissioner Mattlow in his first race for the city commission because
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I felt he came across as the kind of guy that you know, we
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could definitely have a relationship with and work together local businessman exactly, exactly,
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yeah, yeah, yeah, But he kind of showed his hand when we
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went on a chamber trip to Greenville, and rather than participate in the activities
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of the chamber, he was off on his own and said he wanted to
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talk with the regular people in Greenville, and that's kind of where all of
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this started, and the relationship has been down here ever since. Do you
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think it's appropriate for his aid to be running the local Democrat Party. I
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don't, and I said that in an interview yesterday at WFSU. You as
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the Democratic Party chair, you have to be impartial. You have to support
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all Democrats in these races that we have, local, state, national,
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But in his case, he certainly has taken sides. He's supporting commission reporter,
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He's supporting my opponent and president. I've been a Democrat since I registered
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to vote in nineteen seventy six as a student at Florida State University. I've
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run as a Democrat, served as a Democrat. I've supported Democrats. But
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I'm concerned about where the Democratic Party is now, and I think it has
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a lot to do with the actions that are being taken by our current party
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chair. Let me give you an outsider's perspective of it, because, like
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you, I picked a party when I was a kid, and unfortunately,
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my parents were just dismayed that I became a Republican. And other than spending
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about ten years as an independent when I got mad at the state Republican Party,
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I've just been a Republican, conservative minded person my entire life. There
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would be an event diagram a lot of areas you and I would probably agree
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on a lot of issues, of course, but there would be areas we
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would disagree on, and that's okay. But I share all that because as
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an outsider, but I still my voice represents maybe forty to forty five percent
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of the people that live in the general Leon County community. Maybe not the
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city proper might be a little less than that. But I look at it
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and I think to myself, well, the city elections are supposed to be
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nonpartisan, exactly, and you can't be any more partisan than to chair the
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Democrat Party, and you're running policy and activities for a citing commissioner. And
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I think to myself, Okay, if I'm a constituent of Jeremy Mattlow's and
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I want to talk with him. But I'm not a Democrat. I really
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am worried now that I have any say, any voice in what's going on
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locally, that I'll be listened to at all. Right, do I have
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fair concerns? Well? I you know, I can't speak for Commissioner Mattlow.
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I can only speak for Commissioner conservation of it that you know? Okay?
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In that corner, his aid's running the party, and the party is
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gone very left, very extreme, very I describe it as illiberal. And
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I'm thinking to myself, where do people like me go if I want to
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meet with Commissioner Mattlow? But yet the person that is his direct aid runs
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the party, right, and I worry about that. Yeah, I'm worried.
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Should you should? But what I can tell you from my perspective,
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and that's why I'm so glad these city commission races are nonpartisan. As I
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told somebody recently, if somebody has a pothole on their street or their garbage
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hasn't been picked up, they could care less what your political party is.
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They want to know that they can call their commissioner. Because we run citywide,
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we don't have districts, so we catered We answer to citizens from throughout
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the city, and they want to know if they call me with an issue,
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regardless of what the issue is, that I'm going to be there for
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them and I'm going to try to answer their question or get them the assistance
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that they need, regardless of political party, what part of town they live
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in. And that's how I govern. Do you think since you brought up
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the concept of the districts, obviously you know there's a greater call. Certainly
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I've been making that call that the city needs to go to districts, maybe
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a couple of at large, maybe an at large commissioner, the mayor is
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at large, and then go to districts. Do you see where maybe people
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in the northeast part of the city and pockets of the north are feeling a
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little like they are heard. Well, I hope that's not the case,
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Preston, because I can tell you whenever I have been contacted from people throughout
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the city, I respond. You know, the one thing you hear about
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Curtis Richardson is that he's everywhere, all the time. And that's how I
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govern, and that's how that's what my public service is all about, is
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being out in the community wherever my constituents are hearing what they have to say
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about their issues. And like we said, you know, we don't always
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have to agree, but at least they want to be heard on the issues
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that are important to them, and that's how I try to serve this community
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on a daily basis. What would your response be when I when I point
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out that Tallahassee is the only city out of the top most populated twenty cities
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in Florida that does not have districts, the only one. I didn't realize
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that, But I don't think it's been a major issue. I haven't perceived
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it as being a major issue in our community, you know, up until
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recently, and that's why I wanted to bring it up, just to get
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your perspective on it. Obviously an issue that has been discussed quite a bit
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in the forums, and certainly, you know, because it's part of the
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process of governing. Is the taxes, property taxes and the decision to vote
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to increase them, your process, your thoughts on that, well, preston.
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What I can tell you is I'm a property owner as well. My
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wife and I built our home on the south side of Tallahassee thirty years ago,
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and it was so I'm very cognizant of that issue, and it was
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a very difficult decision to make, but I came down on the side of
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approving it. When I see what is happening in our community with respect to
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violent crime. My family has been indirectly impacted by that. A young man
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was shot and killed on the church grounds within yards of my house. He
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was a personal friend of my youngest daughter. She was devastated by it.
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And the perpetrator, as it would happen, was a neighbor of ours.
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His family lived in our neighborhood. And so when I see that happening,
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the mother recently that was shot and killed, the mother of eight children,
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I have to feel like I'm doing everything I can to address that issue in
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our community. And so that's what the modest property tax increase is all about.
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Center property owners will not be impacted by it, but what it will
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do it will allow us to invest in public safety in our community. And
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what that entails is hiring additional police officers. I think it's twenty additional police
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officers because our police force is short staffed. It will raise their salaries so
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that they're competitive with the state and area law enforcement agencies and invest in the
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technology that they're using now to solve a lot of these crimes. And so
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that's what I said. It was a difficult decision, but that kind of
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investment is what we need to do in our community because it will have an
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impact economically. It will have an impact in terms of tourism and how that
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impacts our economy. If we are portrayed as a violent city, a city
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that's gripped by violent crime. Let me dig a little deeper into this because
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I think that there's some nuance here that is worth talking about. Commissioners Porter
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and matt Low took a position against raising property taxes. I believe that the
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nuanced position in all of this, Curtis, was that, yes, absolutely
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law enforcement needed more money. Tpd'd been underfunded for a long time, and
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I think that you are, we all are catching up. Yes, that
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said, I think there were other ways to provide that funding without raising taxes
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because revenue was up because of property valuations being up. And so I think
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the position that probably I would have advised you and Commissioner Daily or Mayor Daily
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and Commissioner Diane Williams Cox to take would be, let's get the city manager
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to bring us a budget without raising taxes, and let's look at that that
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properly funds law enforcement, because I personally believe that the other two commissioners voted
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against the tax increase because that money was going strictly to law enforcement. Yes,
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And so they come off as looking as though, look at us,
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we're looking out for the pocketbooks of the people. And it's far more sophisticated
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than that. They are merely trying to position themselves to say we voted against
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a property tax increase, when what they were really doing is voting against funding
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for Tallassee Police exactly. So should that have been a third position, Should
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there have been an effort, in hindsight maybe to get the city manager to
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offer options. Well, we did that as we went through the process.
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We had the city manager, had our budget director to go through that budget
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with have finally sharpened pencil to see where we could cut. But it's a
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really complicated issue in terms of how the city budget is. Police services are
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paid out of our general fund budget. There are about eleven or twelve different
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funds in terms of how budgeting occurs with the city, and so you have
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certain programs that are funded out of the general fund. In addition to police
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services, Parks and recreation, for instance, is funded from the general fund.
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Personnel costs from the general fund. So if we start cutting, we
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cut from parks and recreation services, we don't give our employees a pay raise,
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and we know when they don't get pay raises, it puts an extra
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burden on their families. And so we looked at those kinds of things and
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we cut where we could. And so that's why for the upcoming budget,
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the twenty five year budget, we did that and we have already approved a
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balanced budget for the next fiscal year. But we didn't want to cut.
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You know, it was just that Truesdale Center. Daughters used to go to
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gymnastics there. It could have meant increasing fees, for instance, for families
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for their children to participate in gymnastics or swimming, or you know, other
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events or activities that's provided by our parks and recreation. Do you think that
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the city then is falling victim to its own way of handling the budget in
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general? For example, I've long believed that the city should not be transferring
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a sizable amount of money from the city utility in part because it becomes a
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fairly regressive form of taxation on people that are among the poorest, because everyone's
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got to have power, right, You've got to have energy to keep your
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house cool or warm and power the appliances and so forth. But by doing
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that transfer, I feel as though the city for years, and this is
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not laying it on you, it's just it's been a policy they've been able
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to keep their property tax rates artificially low, when in fact, maybe we
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ought to stop transferring money from the utility, lower those rates to become far
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more affordable for a lot of people in the community that may not be as
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well off as you and I are, and then let's address property rates and
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what they ought to look like versus them being subsidized by the utility. I
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guess I'm saying that to say I think the city has found itself a little
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bound by a little bit of too much money coming in from too many sources,
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and it becoming a kind of a convoluted, complicated mess where now you're
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sitting there defending a tax increase where you feel like it's viable. Yes,
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but a lot of people listening to me right now are saying, hey,
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wait a minute, we're in one of the worst economic times in this country's
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history. What are we doing? Valuations were up? Yes, is there
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room to maybe start looking a little differently at how we just do the budget
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in general? Well, I mean we're open to that, Preston. It
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hasn't been recommended to. I wouldn't think it would be, but I know
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right well, it's I mean, it's a different way of looking at it,
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and it's saying that revenue source which you count on, you're going to
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have to do it differently. Yeah, But when you look at it,
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though, we have the lowest milage rate, or one of the lowest milage
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rates of comparably sized cities in the state. We're usually at the bottom or
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number two. But again, why is that? Because they transfer so much
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money from the utility. But our utilities, though, are still if you
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I used to work in Gasden County and one of the things that the people
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over there complained about, like you wouldn't believe was what they are charged for
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utilities by Talquin who provides you know, electricity for Gaston County and so.
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But you don't hear that here in Tallahassee and so. We're trying. I
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think we've reached that balance, and that's why we transfer those funds from the
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public utility. Our rates are low there, but we still have the lowest
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milage rate in terms of what we charge our citizens for property taxes. The
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county shows their budget and they're keeping their millage exactly where it is, and
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they're living off of the increase in property values. What would you say to
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people that say, why couldn't the city do that? Well, we've done
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that for the ten years that I've been on the Commission. I think let
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me take that back, because I think it might have been a couple of
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years after I came to the Commission we did approve a modest property tax increase.
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Back then, I can't remember what the issue was that we needed to
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address. But in the ten years that I've been on the Commission, this
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is only the second time that we've proposed a property tax, and it's for
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a specific reason other than that we have lived, if you will, within
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our means, the property tax increases that have come as a result of the
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increase in property values. Let's stay on the subject of law enforcement. It's
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a subject that is important to me as it is everybody in this community,
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because the community can't thrive if it's not safe. As you point out,
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the decision to develop the land for the new police station, and those costs
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have seemingly exploded. Some of it was absolutely expected and well understood because of
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post COVID inflation and where we've been in the cost of things. Yet I
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think a fair appraisal would say that we've gone beyond that and that the costs
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have maybe more than tripled. Give me your thoughts reaction to where the cost
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is now and and kind of how we got there and whether we ought to
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stay there. Well, Preston, you know, again, that was an
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issue that came up just recently at a forum, And what I would tell
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you is if you look at where construction costs are now and where they were
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pre COVID, If you look at labor cost and where they are now compared
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to pre COVID, that has contributed so much to the increase in the cost
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of these major construction projects. If you look at the thirty two blueprint projects
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that we approved in twenty fourteen, it is amazing how those projects have increased.
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The Northeast Gateway, the Airport Gateway on the south side doubled, tripled
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in terms of the cost. And that's what we're seeing with the police headquarters.
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One of the things that we're doing. You know, they've been in
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that what used to be in elementary school for years. It totally inadequate,
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agree antiquated. They've got police department functions scattered all over town. What are
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the things we're doing is consolidating all of those functions. Some of the functions
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that they have to go to at the Law Enforcement Academy in Gadsden County,
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a shooting range for instance, and others will be consolidated in that facility right
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here in town, so that all of that as well contributes to the cost.
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Now, some of that cost will be offset because of course we own
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the property where the current facility, the police headquarters is, and we'll sell
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that property and so we'll use whatever the proceeds are from that to pay off
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some of the debt for the new facility. So your view of kind of
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where the construction costs have gone is just an unfortunate reality. I think so,
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because we're always constantly looking at, you know, where we can save
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money. But like I said, you have to look at where we started
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with these blueprint projects and where they are now. So compare apples to apples
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is a better way to look at it. Yes, okay, yeah,
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you mentioned blueprint. Are there projects that you see coming up that are really
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important to you that you feel like you need to play a role in getting
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to the finish line? Well, you know, of course, Preston,
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when I ran for the City Commission, one of the reasons i ran was
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to make sure that resources were distributed equitably throughout this community. And as I
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mentioned, I live on the south side of town, and there were many
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areas that were not given the same resources, They were not equitably distributed throughout
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the community, and so when we were looking at blueprint projects, that was
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one of the things that was a priority for me to make sure that we
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were investing that. You know, if we were named in All America City,
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but I wanted to make sure that regardless of where an individual lived in
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the city, they felt like they lived in in All America City. And
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so we are now investing in those areas that have been neglected for years.
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So eighteen of the thirty two blueprint projects that were approved by the voters will
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be on the south side of town. And so we'll right now, if
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you go to the airport, you'll see the expansion of Capital Circle southwest.
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That was one of those blueprint projects that was approved, the airport gateway.
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Development of the fair grounds. We just approved two hundred and thirty million dollars
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for development of a portion of the fairgrounds because they don't need all of that
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property for a fair and so we're looking at, you know, doing some
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commercial and residential development on that property. And so that I think that those
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are the kinds of projects that I have advocated for, but of course we
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made sure we had projects that were important to others throughout the city as well.
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Let's go ahead and tackle the other significant question that I know that you're
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being asked, okay, because I think it's only fair to give you the
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opportunity to put in your words your answer and reply to it. That is
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the issue of voting to put on the ballot a pay increase for city commissioners.
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I voted for that, Preston, and I'll tell you the reason I
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did. It wasn't for Curtis Richardson. Financially, I'm good, but what
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I know will happen, and I've had conversations with some young people in our
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community who I hope would have an interest in serving in an elected position.
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They couldn't do it on forty five thousand dollars a year, and so many
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of them wouldn't have a job that would allow them to do both. I've
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been fortunate that before I retired, I did have that opportunity. But I
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want to make sure that if an individual wants to run for office, they
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don't always they don't have to choose between running for office and serving and poverty
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because it's difficult, of course, as you know, to live off of
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forty five thousand dollars a year and what we're doing, and it's up to
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the voters. I simply wanted to let the voters have a say as to
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whether or not the four city commissioners would have a salary equal to the mayor
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and the seven county commissioners. We represent the entire city. County commissioners represent
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districts of twenty five thousand or less constituents, and so I just think it's
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something we needed to look at from those two perspectives, and however the voters
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decide. I'm comfortable with the other side of that coin would be that you're
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making the position which is always been maybe romantically thought of as public service a
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profession, and that we don't need professional commissioners in any setting. Well,
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we've got it. We've got seven professional county commissioners and a professional mayor.
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So that's we can look at it from that perspective. But like I said,
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I look at it going forward and individuals who might want to serve this
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community but not be able to because they couldn't live off of forty five thousand
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dollars a year when a colleague of theirs is you know, or colleagues across
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the street at the courthouse are making twice what they make, and in our
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instance, I would I would argue that we're putting in more effort and time
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and work and hours because we serve on the City Commission, the CRA Board,
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I serve on the CRTPA, I serve on the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee,
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I serve on the board of directors of the Tallahassee Lenders Consortium. And
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I would beg you to find any other commissioner who's putting that much time into
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serving their community. I'm sure they'd all have a pushback on that, but
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that's for them to have I'm not sitting as a commissioner, so I won't
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take out that mantle, but it will be up to the voters to decide,
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and if they say no, then we continue to move forward with serving
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the people of this city. What do you think is the single biggest challenge.
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Let's we've addressed crime, yes, and the specter of where that's originating
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from and all of that, and there's certainly some overlap with the county and
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the school system on that front. But what do you think are the other
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significant issues facing the city? Oh? No, question is affordable housing precedent.
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Can you help me with this because to me, in a very different
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way, affordable housing is like, let's define an assault weapon. I can
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take a frame off this wall and make it an assault weapon. Yeah,
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you know what I mean. And so it's real ambiguous, and I've never
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found anyone that's been able to define what does affordable housing mean because it is
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so subjective to each and every circumstance. Well, for me, there's a
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range of affordability. What I might be able to afford in terms of my
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monthly housing cost. You may not be able to afford the same, it
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might put a greater strain on you in terms of what you're paying for housing
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in the expense of maintaining a home. And so where I look at it,
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the perspective that I look at it from is that range of affordability from
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those who are essentially living in poverty to those working professionals like our firefighters,
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our police officers, our teachers, and what they can afford. And I
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want to make sure that we have housing available in that entire range of affordability,
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so that so much of a person's monthly income or annual income is not
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going into just trying to pay the rent and put food on the table.
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The irony, of course, is that the efforts to promote what is called
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the living wage has in fact led to inflationary pressures. Yes, and that
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effort, however well intentioned it may or may not have been, has been
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fired dramatically because those people then are cut hours because employers can't and so they're
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right back only now inflation's taken over. Yet, inflation has taken a huge
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chunk in the housing market, the costs, whether it's rent or home ownership
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or mortgages. Now, So what role do you feel like the city government
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plays in affordable housing, well, our role is more partnerships with those agencies
31:29
that are responsible for affordable housing. For instance, when I came to the
31:33
Commission, the area called South City on Orange Avenue, Magnolia to the north,
31:40
Orange Avenue to the south was not in the CRA district and so they
31:45
weren't eligible for funds from the CRA. And so I thought took me four
31:51
years to do it because I had a lot of opposition to get that area
31:55
included in the CRA district. That's the Community Redevelopment Agency district, and a
32:00
lot of people just for clarity, don't fully understand what that means, and
32:04
that basically means, and correct me if I'm wrong that the taxes that are
32:07
paid inside that district go back to that district. Specifically, Well, the
32:13
the increase it's capped at a certain what whenever the district is established, whatever
32:20
the tax rate is, it's that is captured at that rate for the district.
32:23
In every increase in revenue, like we said, you know, based
32:29
on the value of property, then that money goes into it's called tax increment,
32:36
so it literally reinvests the local dollars and by local, meaning in that
32:40
local area. Yes, back into that local, same local exactly, Okay.
32:45
And so so then with the Tallahassee Housing Authority what used to be the
32:51
Orange Avenue apartments now being included in that CRA district, they were able to
32:55
get some seed money to help make that, uh the redevelopment of that property
33:02
a reality. And if you go there now and see Columbia Gardens at South
33:07
City Preston, it's a place where I would want to live, but it's
33:12
still affordable. They're also including some market rate housing in the development as well,
33:17
and so that's the city's role in in helping to make a housing affordable.
33:23
We also have a partnership with an organization I mentioned. I serve on
33:28
the board of directors of the Tallahassee Linders Consortium and they work with individuals to
33:34
help them. It's most their front. Their projects are mostly infield projects,
33:40
renovating homes, doing repairs on HGTV. That's not in those homes that are
33:49
that are neglected and be people that want to take them on. Of course,
33:54
the city, in partnership with TC may donate some property. If we
34:00
took over some land because of foreclosure or code violations and the people aren't keeping
34:07
the property up. Then we have what we call a community land Trust,
34:13
and the city donates the land to the TLC for the building of the home,
34:19
and that takes the land cost, which is the largest part of what
34:22
raises the cost of a home, out of the equation. And so that's
34:28
what TLC has done. Of course, we partner with Habitat for Humanity and
34:34
we provide some funding for them. Our staff, our city staff participates in
34:38
a Habitat build once or twice every year. And I also serve on the
34:44
Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, and we look at policies that will help increase the
34:52
affordable housing stock in the community. For instance, we may waive fees for
34:58
developers who are develop being property. We have an inclusionary Housing Ordinance that says
35:05
if you build a development of twenty five units or more, ten percent of
35:09
those or certain percent. I may be wrong in the ten it might be
35:14
three, but a percentage of those units have to be what we call affordable.
35:21
And so those are the ways that the city partners with developers and others
35:27
throughout. But we don't get into the housing business ourselves. But that's how
35:30
we partner with developers and organizations like the Tallahassee Housing Authority. What about homelessness.
35:38
I've long believed that the city and county have kind of just put their
35:43
hands in their pockets and written a check as opposed to really establishing a comprehensive
35:49
set of I guess criteria that we're going to attack the problem. Yeah.
35:53
Well, President, as you know, there was a bill passed by the
35:58
legislature and signed by the governor that says that we have to provide certain services
36:06
for the homeless beyond what the Currney Center does. That we have to find
36:12
property and put on that property amenities for them like showers and you know,
36:19
tents for them to live in and other and that cost is going to be
36:24
has to be taken on by the city. Another unfunded mandate by the legislature.
36:34
I think there was some money put into it, but of the four
36:37
hundred municipalities throughout the state, it's a drop in the bucket. Well,
36:42
I mean, it will do nothing in terms of the costs that are going
36:46
to come about as a results of the law that has been passed by the
36:52
legislature. So we're going to have to take a close look at that the
36:55
community is going to have to be involved. We're going to have to sit
36:59
down with those agencies that are in the space of providing services for the homeless,
37:06
for our veterans, for our families, to the Hope community and others
37:12
and come up with a way to provide those services that we're going to be
37:16
required to provide and then to pay for it. You know, I've spent
37:22
a good bit of time on the program talking about homelessness and talked about the
37:28
cities and how cities that don't have a problem, how they've addressed it,
37:32
how they've addressed the issue. And I clearly think the state has a responsibility
37:38
to be part of the solution. And I think mental health facilities is one
37:43
of those major components because as I've looked at the homeless issue, and for
37:49
me, it was something that I addressed when I was a vacational pastor and
37:53
just you know, just the offering somebody some work on the side of the
37:58
street, saying what are you going to pay? And he laughed at me,
38:00
saying I'm going to get that the next hour, and it was like
38:04
okay. And you learn that that these people that are in these situations,
38:08
they fall into three basic categories. They are people that have mental health issues,
38:13
and a lot of them are veterans that deserve our best, oh of
38:16
course efforts. Yes. The second category are those that are well, they're
38:22
just they're very happy, yeah, in that lifestyle what they want to do.
38:30
Yeah. And then the third are those that are really having a tough
38:34
time. They don't want to be in this circumstance at all, right and
38:37
just need a little help. Do you feel like we've ever really kind of
38:42
just said, let's take an approach and try to speak to each of these
38:45
three groups and address them well. And any other is those that are drug
38:51
addict addicted. I guess I would kind of put them under the umbrella of
38:54
those with mental health issues and kind of in that same same area, because
39:00
obviously that can overlap all three of those areas. Yeah, some form.
39:02
Well, you know, one of the things that creates the problem for us,
39:05
Preston. You know, we're the hub of the Big ben region Tallahassee.
39:12
Everything around us is rural, limited in resources, and so what we've
39:17
found is that a lot of those the people from those areas are coming to
39:22
Tallahassee for the services that we provide, and not just our region. They're
39:28
coming from all over the country. We have a program now that we call
39:31
HOST. It's the Homeless Outreach Services Team. It's the Sheriff's department, police
39:37
department, mental health professionals, social workers, so on, and so forth
39:42
that make up that team, and they go out in the community and they
39:47
work with the homeless who may be in the camp behind Walmart. That was
39:52
my experience in traveling with them. But what they do. One of the
39:57
things that they do is they find some of those homeless people who might want
40:02
to go back home. Let's say they came here from Detroit, Michigan,
40:07
and they say, well, I want to go back to my family in
40:10
Detroit. They will get them a bus ticket. They of course, first
40:16
of all, contact the family they want to come home, You all okay
40:21
with it. They'll get them a bus ticket, take them to the bus
40:24
station, put them on the bus, and send them back to Detroit,
40:29
Michigan, if that's where they came from. So far from what we've been
40:32
told, we have had five hundred instances of that and none of those people
40:37
have come back to Tallahassee. So that's one of the things we're doing to
40:40
address it. But I agree with you, and like I said, given
40:45
where we are now, we are all as a community going to have to
40:49
sit down and look at what's going to be required of us in terms of
40:53
serving the homeless and how we provide those services. The Carney Center is not
40:59
the total answered. They're doing a fantastic job with the resources that they have.
41:04
Well, but that area of town has almost become blighted and the business
41:08
owners in that area are really hurting. Yeah. Yes, Stephen Leoni is
41:13
a He was the contractor on my home. I don't know if you know
41:15
Steve, but he he's a business owner that has invested heavily in that western
41:22
quadrant on Pensacola Street, and I get calls from him all the time.
41:28
Well, because it's a pretty major artery between the state college, which it's
41:32
now going to be and Florida State University and FAMU, for sure, for
41:37
sure, it's going to be a challenge, and we certainly don't want to
41:40
become a San Francisco or a Portland, Oregon, or you know, even
41:45
a Jacksonville, Florida if you've been to downtown Jacksonville. And so we're going
41:50
to have to get beat proactive if you will, and work together as a
41:55
community to address that issue. Tell me what your thoughts are on kind of
42:04
how the whole thing unfolded where we are with the firefighters, the protracted negotiations,
42:12
and it's gotten kind of ugly. You know. I'd be the person
42:16
that probably looks at it and foolishly because I'm not in the weeds like you
42:22
guys are, But i would look at it and say, Okay, we've
42:24
got a fire service fee. Let's just make sure we pay them, because
42:29
I just whether it's first responders that are firefighters, police, sheriff's deputies,
42:35
EMTs, I don't care. They should all be paid more. Sure,
42:39
explain to us how did we get here where we just are sitting still waiting
42:45
for something to happen. Well, Preston, let me first of all say
42:52
I support our firefighters. I have because they provide an invaluable service, as
42:59
you know, one of our first responder groups to this community, no question
43:02
about it. And I've had a great working relationship with them over the years
43:07
up until now. They have always endorsed my campaign for election or re election,
43:15
and I was the one that advocated for a new fire station on the
43:21
south side of town because we found that there were more calls for services in
43:27
that area, but the response time was longer. And we just approved twenty
43:30
seven million to build that new fire station on the south side of town.
43:37
But what I would say beyond that, in terms of the negotiations that is
43:42
all outlined in state law. It's called collective bargaining where the city manager and
43:50
his team as the administrator of the city and the leadership of the union come
43:54
together and negotiate salaries and benefits. And I think we all want to make
44:00
sure that our firefighters are paid a wage that is comparable to others, because
44:07
we don't want to lose our firefighters, of course, But all of that
44:12
is worked out during this collective bargaining process that the City Commission has no role
44:17
in until a recommendation comes to us. They came to an impass where they
44:24
couldn't agree, they brought in a special master. The special Master heard both
44:30
sides, collected evidence, and came out with the ruling made recommendations. The
44:37
city quickly accepted those recommendations because we wanted to have an agreement so that our
44:45
firefighters could begin to be paid. But we haven't heard from the firefighters yet
44:52
and Preston in extent to some degree, I believe this has been made political
45:00
try to influence the outcome of the elections. And I would say that this
45:05
is a one year contract. So whatever was not negotiated in this one year
45:09
contract because the firefighters wanted to be on a different schedule than the police officers,
45:16
they could have negotiated when they as they continue the three year which is
45:22
the normal contractual period, they could have negotiated for whatever else they wanted in
45:31
that three year contract. So this could have been done. I wholeheartedly support
45:37
our firefighters, but I think at this point they've added politics into the mix,
45:44
and that's kind of where we are at this point. But they're still
45:47
we're still waiting to hear from the firefighters. I understand they took a straw
45:53
pole or a vote, and so we're waiting to see where they are.
45:58
By the time this airors, maybe we'll know exactly where that is. But
46:00
yes, in the meantime, is there I've got one more question, but
46:05
is there anything you feel like we haven't covered that you want to make sure
46:08
that we cover well. The one thing that I'm really excited about precedent is
46:14
what we're doing in the area of economic development. You know, when I
46:17
came to Tallahassee almost fifty years ago, Tallahassee was seen as purely a government
46:23
town, you know, state government, the universities, the state college now
46:30
and there wasn't very much for these college graduates that were graduating, and you
46:37
know, there was no professional jobs here, reason to stick around, no
46:40
reason to stick around, and so they were having to go other places.
46:44
And so we're addressing that now largely through our Office of Economic Vitality. And
46:50
that was part of what we approved when we said we wanted to extend the
46:55
penny sales tax. Twelve percent of the revenue from that is now going towards
47:00
our Office of Economic Vitality. Their job is to recruit businesses to the community,
47:07
like Amazon. Sixteen hundred jobs created at Amazon with benefits and the property
47:15
tax that will be paid to the county because they're in the county that will
47:20
come from that development. Dan FoST turbicore the level of jobs that they're providing,
47:25
and so what we're trying to do is broaden our private sector base bringing
47:30
in these businesses, but at the same time growing and supporting our local businesses,
47:36
particularly our small, minority and women owned businesses, and they are doing
47:40
a fantastic job in that respect. And so as we continue to grow as
47:46
a city, I hope that we will continue to put an emphasis on growing
47:51
that private sector base, working with our chambers of commerce and move in Tallahassee
47:58
so that we don't have the brain from our colleges are universities and state college
48:04
that we've seen in the past. You know, you mentioned, so I'm
48:07
lying I have two more questions. Just made me think of another one.
48:12
Well, you mentioned the chambers, Yes, and I'm going to just sort
48:15
of just sort of lump it all together as just the local chamber of Commerce.
48:20
Yes, I feel as though they're getting bullied and that they're being bullied
48:23
into silence, that the progressive element of the local movement of the Democrat Party
48:30
is attacking business, is painting them as evil, that if you're a business
48:35
owner, which is ironic because you know, a member of the Commission is
48:37
one of the more successful business owners in community, which is ironic, of
48:42
course, but you know what I mean, and I've long believed, far
48:46
longer than you've served on the Commission that at least the Greater Tallahassee Chamber has
48:53
not been as independent and as forthright in speaking to city and county officials about
49:04
what businesses need in this community. Because you're right, those are the mom
49:08
and pop shops, They're the local businesses, They're the backbone the small employers.
49:13
Sure that if they do well, expand and hire a few more and
49:16
then do a few more. And I feel as though we don't have an
49:21
environment right now within the city for sure that is fostering involvement and active I
49:31
guess spokesmanships on behalf of business in town. I just look at the people
49:37
that are speaking at City Commission meetings, and it's getting to be one note.
49:43
And that note is shrill, yes, negative, and it's mean spirited
49:46
and it's angry. And I've been encouraging the chamber and businesses speak up.
49:54
These elections are remarkably consequential, right, And that's how I see it,
50:00
right, And again, I don't have a dog in this fight other than
50:06
just caring about wanting everybody to succeed, right, Am I overstating the importance
50:10
of these elections because I've made this statements to Tallahassee. Is is one election
50:16
away from becoming portly. Yes, this is a very very fair This is
50:22
a very important election cycle, and I hope that people will pay attention to
50:29
what's happening in our community, what's being said, how unfairly people are being
50:35
attacked and ridiculed and including law enforcement. Oh, absolutely absolutely, And so
50:43
yeah, yeah, you're absolutely correct. And you know, we can either
50:47
go in one direction or the other depending on the outcome of this election and
50:53
the majority that exists on that city Commission afterwards. So what would you say,
50:59
because you know, let's go back to the last election cycle, Kristin
51:06
Doser had more votes than John Daly in the primary, right in the generals,
51:12
she didn't, I would submit, it's because primarily people like my listeners
51:19
made that vote happen. They were difference makers. What would you say to
51:24
people? And look, I've been very transparent about my feelings about you.
51:31
I think you've always been one of the most courteous, genuine people. I
51:36
know, I think you're delightful. I don't agree with you all of your
51:38
votes, but but I find you personally to be a wonderful guy. That
51:44
said, I think I know you well enough to know you know you've been
51:49
willing to take questions about the tax vote, about raising pay all of those
51:53
things. What would you say to people? Not in a patronizing way,
51:59
but the fact to the matter is that people listening are going to decide what
52:01
happens in your election. Yeah, what are you going to say to them?
52:05
Now's your chance? Well, what I would say to them is,
52:08
look at my record of service to this community and what I've brought to the
52:14
table that I've been there. I'm transparent in what I do. I'm not
52:22
influenced by money, but i just love this community president, and I want
52:29
to see it continue to grow. It's been twice named in All America City,
52:34
and I want my vision is to make sure that wherever an individual and
52:37
their family lives in this All America City, that they feel they're a part
52:44
of that All America City. And so that's and like I said, that's
52:49
why I'm glad that these city commission seats are nonpartisan, because that should not
52:53
factor in how a person is represented in their city. Sadly, though,
53:00
it's become very partisan and I'm not talking Democrat Republican, I'm talking Democrat Democrat.
53:08
Unfortunately, in terms of the dynamics of the relationships, but in terms
53:15
of how I serve this community. Political party has or even geography has nothing
53:23
to do with how I make decisions. It's what's in the best interest of
53:28
the citizens of this beautiful city that we all live in and cherish. Someone
53:34
wants to reach out, find out more, maybe even shoot an email your
53:37
way and get your thoughts on something we haven't covered. What's best way to
53:40
do it? Well, you know, if it's a city issue, it's
53:44
Curtis c U R Tis dot Richardson at taugov dot com. Okay, and
53:50
for the campaign. For the campaign, they can go to my website,
53:55
Curtis for Tally at c U R Tis f O R tally dot com.
54:02
Thanks for making time, Preston. Thank you. It's so good to see
54:05
you again. It's been a while, Yes, sir, it has.
54:07
We both are a little more gray than we were. Yeah, I've lost
54:10
quite a bit. I'm still hanging in there. Thanks for the time.
54:15
Thank you, Presten.