No knockouts in mayoral debate

By Duwayne Escobedo
INWEEKLY…

Soon-to-be ex Mayor Ashton Hayward paraded around Pensacola Little Theatre glad-handing his supporters.

Then, bless his heart, he sat in the middle of the front row where all six mayoral candidates could see him. The packed crowd did give him loud applause when he was introduced by the PNJ moderator.

Hayward, who will give up his seat as Pensacola’s first Strong Mayor, was on all the candidates’ minds, too, and received less than warm welcomes at the Pensacola News Journal mayoral candidate forum Monday evening.

The candidates never mentioned Hayward by name. However, all spoke of leadership, being accessible, meeting regularly with citizens, collaborating with the Pensacola City Council and making and executing plans — some things Hayward’s critics have accused him of failing to do.

“We need a plan for each district with the mayor out front making plans with the citizens,” said Grover Robinson, who jumped into the race first back in November. “That’s what makes us better.”

Drew Buchanan aggressively went after Mayor Hayward’s administration with almost every answer in the political forum. He questioned the lack of solutions for the Port of Pensacola, Tech Park and other long-time projects.

“There’s been a lack of vision for the city and a clear lack of leadership,” he said.

PNJ divided the debate into two rounds with six questions each. The first candidate to answer the question had two minutes, while the rest had one minute. Onlookers who packed the theater, even standing along one wall, applauded loudly when the daily newspaper said candidates would be banned from answering the following question, if they continued talking after the buzzer. None did.

The questions covered sales tax expenditures, economic development, pedestrian and traffic safety, and their priorities.

Brian Spencer, who has served as the District 6 city council member for two terms, defended the decision by Hayward to spend nearly two-thirds of the estimated $93 million in sales tax raised by the city in the first two years of the Local Option Sales Tax Fund that expires in 2028.

“We’re paying now for what will inevitably be higher costs in the future,” said Spencer, while candidates Buchanan, Robinson, David Mayo, Lawrence Powell and Jonathan Green all questioned the decision.

Candidates also said their economic development strategy would focus as much on helping homegrown small businesses, rather than chasing big businesses from out of town.

“I will be a wise steward of your hard earned tax dollars,” Mayo said. “I will help small business flourish like never before.”

Powell said he would invest in workforce development and veterans’ programs.

When it comes to improving pedestrian and traffic safety, Spencer said it’s a way to attract the “best and brightest.” He suggested as mayor he would copy other cities who’ve implemented “tactical urbanism,” doing projects on a small scale — one to four blocks at a time.

Mayo called Cervantes “the Great Wall of China.” Green suggested building train tracks parallel to Interstate 110.

Robinson, who often referred to his track record as the Escambia County Commissioner for District 4 for the past 12 years and whose family has lived in Pensacola for generations, said he expects great things for the city in the future.

“I believe Pensacola is nowhere near reaching its potential and being where it should or could be,” he said. “Every neighborhood needs a plan. I have the expertise to make these plans happen.”

Note: We’ll post more on the debate later.