First Mayoral Debate - A Recap !
All four Fort Lauderdale Mayoral candidates met the business community early this morning at the Bahia Mar for a cordial debate. Here they are:
Steve Rossi Earl Rynerson
Jack Seiler Dean Trantalis
The function was arranged by the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and drew a room full of interested business owners and City big shots. Commissioners Teel and Rodstrom were in attendance as well as Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson, who dropped out of the Mayoral race last week, but drew a standing ovation from the crowd for her decade of service.
It appeared to be the first time many in the room had heard from the candidates, but the frank discussion surely helped them form opinions.
Below is a short compilation of some of their answers, the funniest (or weirdest)comments of the morning, and my take on who won this first round!
Questions and Answers
"How do we take the City from good to great?"
Rossi - wants the City to adopt "green technology", a "green silicon valley type City"
Seiler - says we need to improve relationships with County,State and Feds, preserve and protect natural resources, plan future growth and development, and have the Mayor be the "public face" of tourism
Rynerson - says the City needs to develop more tourist "destinations". Says some areas that could work would be South Andrews Business District, Sistrunk Blvd. (as a cultural area), and NE 13th St. Wants to fix the underdeveloped areas of the City
Trantalis - wants to make sure the City "embraces all the citizens", bring down crime, and make all feel welcome.
"What is your position on future growth and development?"
Rynerson - He further developed his "destinations" plan, and says that the City government is always in "reactive mode" and needs to approach redevelopment and the vision for it proactively.
Seiler - says redevelopment is not a four letter word, wants to see where we need more redevelopment, but opposes zero lot line and encroachment of commercial into neighborhoods.
Trantalis - opposes more beach development, but wants to be a Mayor that "compromises,cajoles, and gets the Commission to work better together." Says the City Manager "has not been given direction" on redevelopment
Rossi - says we should develop the tourists' areas, and that the City needs to make tourism a year-round event.
Funniest (or weird) Comments:
Top award in this category goes to Rossi. In his opening comments, Rossi told the crowd that though they might not have heard his name, they knew his face since his lawyer advertisements were on all the bus benches around the county. And then he added (and probably wish he hadn't), "more people have sat on my face then any candidate in the race!" You could hear an audible gasp.
Second place goes to Rynerson, a businessman, who after all his colleagues were introduced, who are all attorneys, said " I guess that makes me the alternative to attorneys!"
And Rossi also wins third place - when describing how the homeless can be mainstreamed back into society, Rossi said that he had a client that was a Doctor that due to mental illness was living under a bridge. Rossi said that the Doctor "took one pill and was back to practicing medicine!".
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So who won Round One ? (in my humble opinion!)
Seiler won Round One. He came off as the most prepared and was totally at ease with the crowd. One civic activist called me just after the debate and said he went in uncommitted, but came out " sold on Jack".
Rynerson should be proud of his performance. As an unknown, he introduced himself to the group most professionally and showed he had been developing new ideas for the City.
Trantalis was off his game, but never count him out. He is very bright, and if he finds his voice, and figures out why he wants to be Mayor, could come on strong.
Rossi was entertaining!
Steve Rossi Earl Rynerson
Jack Seiler Dean Trantalis
The function was arranged by the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and drew a room full of interested business owners and City big shots. Commissioners Teel and Rodstrom were in attendance as well as Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson, who dropped out of the Mayoral race last week, but drew a standing ovation from the crowd for her decade of service.
It appeared to be the first time many in the room had heard from the candidates, but the frank discussion surely helped them form opinions.
Below is a short compilation of some of their answers, the funniest (or weirdest)comments of the morning, and my take on who won this first round!
Questions and Answers
"How do we take the City from good to great?"
Rossi - wants the City to adopt "green technology", a "green silicon valley type City"
Seiler - says we need to improve relationships with County,State and Feds, preserve and protect natural resources, plan future growth and development, and have the Mayor be the "public face" of tourism
Rynerson - says the City needs to develop more tourist "destinations". Says some areas that could work would be South Andrews Business District, Sistrunk Blvd. (as a cultural area), and NE 13th St. Wants to fix the underdeveloped areas of the City
Trantalis - wants to make sure the City "embraces all the citizens", bring down crime, and make all feel welcome.
"What is your position on future growth and development?"
Rynerson - He further developed his "destinations" plan, and says that the City government is always in "reactive mode" and needs to approach redevelopment and the vision for it proactively.
Seiler - says redevelopment is not a four letter word, wants to see where we need more redevelopment, but opposes zero lot line and encroachment of commercial into neighborhoods.
Trantalis - opposes more beach development, but wants to be a Mayor that "compromises,cajoles, and gets the Commission to work better together." Says the City Manager "has not been given direction" on redevelopment
Rossi - says we should develop the tourists' areas, and that the City needs to make tourism a year-round event.
Funniest (or weird) Comments:
Top award in this category goes to Rossi. In his opening comments, Rossi told the crowd that though they might not have heard his name, they knew his face since his lawyer advertisements were on all the bus benches around the county. And then he added (and probably wish he hadn't), "more people have sat on my face then any candidate in the race!" You could hear an audible gasp.
Second place goes to Rynerson, a businessman, who after all his colleagues were introduced, who are all attorneys, said " I guess that makes me the alternative to attorneys!"
And Rossi also wins third place - when describing how the homeless can be mainstreamed back into society, Rossi said that he had a client that was a Doctor that due to mental illness was living under a bridge. Rossi said that the Doctor "took one pill and was back to practicing medicine!".
.....................................................................
So who won Round One ? (in my humble opinion!)
Seiler won Round One. He came off as the most prepared and was totally at ease with the crowd. One civic activist called me just after the debate and said he went in uncommitted, but came out " sold on Jack".
Rynerson should be proud of his performance. As an unknown, he introduced himself to the group most professionally and showed he had been developing new ideas for the City.
Trantalis was off his game, but never count him out. He is very bright, and if he finds his voice, and figures out why he wants to be Mayor, could come on strong.
Rossi was entertaining!
Rossi has shown his typical lack of taste and class. Will someone please have him step down and stop embarrassing Fort Lauderdale!
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The blog entry portrays Mr. Rossi in a manner that is not accurate. He did try to inject some levity into the proceedings.
What got lost in Mr. Smith's seemingly skewed report is that Mr. Rossi provided a very serious and sober answer to the first question posed to the candidates, that each and very candidates ultimately deferred to.
Perhaps a certain type of decorum was expected for a breakfast meeting of the Chamber of Commerce that Mr. Rossi did not adopt. He is an unconventional candidate running an unconventional camapign.
I thought the summary was disrespectful.
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I don't think anything was lost in the report. In fact, Tim Smith did a great job of reporting Rossi's joke about oral sex. Perhaps, he's trying to revive the Clinton years, when oral sex was not considered sex, particularly in the Oval Office.
Rossi showed a staggering lack of judgment and taste. He clearly showed that he does not have the character necessary to represent the City of Fort Lauderdale as Mayor.
Perhaps he has a future on X-rated Hbo specials, but keep him out of City Hall.
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This is what’s really important! Let’s stay focused on the issues. Mr. Rossi spoke about bringing green technology to our City, a sentiment that was echoed and continuously praised by the other candidates throughout the entire event. He also gave several great examples of this.
Second, it’s obvious that Mr. Rossi has superior knowledge and expertise about fighting crime which is on balance with what voters are asking for. That’s important!
Lastly, Steve Rossi recognizes and has a grasp on the need to revitalize tourism and had interesting ideas about how to do so. I like him because he doesn’t talk in circles like so many politicians do. Important!
The issues concerning the citizenry are “Most Important” and that’s what we should be focusing on. I know Mr. Rossi will be.
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Let us stay focused on issues, and let us begin with the issue of CHARACTER.
Attorney's are held slightly below used car salesmen in terms of honesty.
Rossi's law practice defines the word sleaze.
Rossi's lack of judgment to tell a sexual joke at a political campaign event shows his lack of both character and judgment.
The only thing Rossi has a grasp upon is a knife and fork.
Don't vote for lawyers!
We also have some carpet baggers trying to pick up the Mayoral position because they lost their previous jobs due to term limits.
Just say NO to Cindi Hutchinson - term limited as City Commissioner.
Just YELL NO at the TOP OF YOUR LUNGS to political hack State Representative Jack Seiler - term limited as State Rep.
Just smile at poor Dean Trantalis - former one term City Commissioner, he wimped out as City Commissioner. No way we could ever trust him now.
That leaves the ONLY viable candidate. Earl Rynerson - local businessman and former San Francisco official. He is the only candidate with a VISION for Fort Lauderdale. He is the only candidate that is a true RESIDENT of Fort Lauderdale.
Steve Rossi - local lawyer best known for his advertisements on bus benches
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Good evening Eastsider. You go ahead and vote for your buddy Earl however Jack Seiler will be our next Mayor.
Earl does not have the background as Jack in my opinion.
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Trixie, will you share some of what you've been smoking with us? Everybody know that Seiler:
a) Does not even live in Fort Lauderdale! Look at his reports - three different addresses.
b) Is only running because he is term limited out of the Legislature.
c) Is another tax and spend leftist.
d) Is a lawyer.
e) Has no personal convictions. He tells you what he thinks you want to hear.
f) Has no objections to Fort Lauderdale spending TWICE what other similar cities spend.
g) Waffled on the Calypso project and said he would listen to both sides -- which means the BIG OIL MONEY would be able to buy his support.
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