Perspectives

There are four candidates in contention to succeed Gil Ziffer in this City Commission seat: Henry Adelusi, Jr., Howard Kessler, Bob Lotane and Dianne Williams-Cox. Some of the major issues they address in the course of this program include the perception of corruption at City Hall, the city’s crime rate and the balance between growth and preservation.

There are six candidates in the mayor’s race and five of them took part in this lively discussion of what the future of Tallahassee should look like: John Dailey, Dustin Daniels, Carriel Litherland, Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda and Joe West discuss a wide variety of topics. Candidate Norris Barr did not attend.

The five candidates vying to succeed Nancy Miller on the Tallahassee City Commission discuss issues ranging from economic development, to crime to charges of corruption at City Hall: Lisa Brown, Richard Garzola, Alex Jordan, Jeremy Matlow and Bill Schack.

Topics range from individual teacher autonomy to district-wide curricula selection during this lively exchange between the long-time incumbent, Georgia “Joy” Bowen, and the challenger, Marcus Nicolas.

The five contenders for this seat talk about charter schools, a proposed constitutional amendment limiting school board member terms and the need to marshal more resources to prevent two troubled elementary schools in the district from being taken over by charter school management. The incumbent in the race is Maggie Lewis-Butler. The challengers are: Charles Antonio Williams, Lynn Jones (a write-in candidate who will appear on the Nov. 6 general election ballot), Dr. Donna Hayes-Austin and

The three candidates for the school district that encompasses the northeastern section of Leon County talk about their qualifications, their priorities and what they consider to be the major challenges facing the district: challengers Patty Ball Thomas and Ricky Bell will face incumbent Alva Striplin in the August 28 th primary election.

Four of the five candidates for Leon County’s northwest area talk about the issues they believe are most critical to the region and why their respective backgrounds and approaches to governance would be most effective at addressing those issues. Those contenders were: Emily Fritz, Rick Minor, Carlos Rey, and Kyle Frost. (Candidate Rex Rekstis called afterward to extend his apologies for missing the discussion.)

Since 1996, Bill Proctor has been the Leon County commissioner representing District One. In the upcoming November election, he’ll face a challenger, Florida State University student Jasmine Ali. Mr. Proctor was invited to be on the program but did not attend. Ms. Ali discussed her background, qualifications and views on the issues facing the district during the course of the program.

The recent and devastating fire near Eastpoint in Franklin County has led to a larger discussion about prescribed burns. Talking about it are: Kevin Hiers and Dr. Kevin Robertson from the Tall Timbers Research Station; and David Godwin with the Southern Fire Exchange at the University of Florida.

In contrast to some other places, the Tallahassee area isn’t seeing widespread opioid addiction. But to keep that relatively good situation from getting worse, a coalition of groups has joined in a well-coordinated preventive initiative. To discuss that effort: Ellen Piekalkiewicz with the Florida State University College of Social Work; Captain Ed Cook, Criminal Investigations and Homeland Security Division supervisor with the Leon County Sheriff’s Department; Jordan Cowart with DISC Village;