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Health & Fitness

Last night, Childs Park became a force in the election

I am posting this on behalf of my friend Gypsy Gallardo, the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief ofThe Power Broker Magazine.  The piece was written by Ms. Gallardo.

Six days from the primary election, when just about e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y is ready for this race to be over…..after umpteen candidate debates…..and three times as many polls……. what could possibly be news about the eleventh hour forum pulled together by the young Jabaar Edmonds, 6 of his friends, and their faithful leader Brother John Muhammad……..all for the benefit of some of the City’s poorest neighbors?

Especially since I’d estimate that 10% of attendees were ex-offenders who are ineligible to vote.

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Plenty happened, and anybody who cares about this City should stand up and pay attention.

  • A Mayor of Florida’s fourth largest City humbly admitted that he’d never had his eyes opened to institutional racism until this past week.
  • A young black man – candidate Anthony Cates – had the courage to stand beside three of this City’s most seasoned politicians, and proceed to hold his own.
  • A star was born as another young black man – Dr. Christopher Warren – sparkled at the mic in the forum moderator role.
  • “The least of these,” like ex-offender Niki Johnson “spoke” and for the first time, became part of our civic fabric.
  • The now grown children of business and civic leaders – like Chaz Williams, son of the late shero Lorian Williams – came out to “support” and joined the body politic.
  • The two-year old offensive to rebuild the long neglected Childs Park neighborhood culminated in the first taste of political power for so many in attendance.
  • And for those who pay close attention, please note that the new “knowledge culture” in South St. Petersburg was cemented last night; Southside voters are no longer interested in pat empty answers. Just the facts, and make it plain. Some went so far as to demand from the candidates a simple “Yes” or “No” to their very specific questions.

The political beltway crowd will want to know the straw poll results, and yes, I’ll get to that in a second.

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  • But I first want to give honor to the heart of the people who led us to last night’s milestone:
  • The City workers at Childs Park Recreation Center who gladly pitched in to host the occasion
  • The ever-supportive Thomas “Jett” Jackson, who received an SOS call at 10 a.m. yesterday because the young people still didn’t have a sound system for the forum….and took care of it within minutes
  • The ladies in the kitchen - including Tashawn Muhammad and my old friend Ruthie Maynard Jones – who served the evening’s food
  • The new allies in the struggle – Christian Haas, Aaron Deitrich and others – who, with only days notice, came out to man the polls

And to all those whose names and contributions aren’t yet counted………..

You should know that you’ve done something important.

If it isn’t clear to the candidates yet: this election will not be politics as usual in South St. Petersburg. The community has awakened in ways that you don’t yet fully know; our vote will not be had for nothing in return.

Call it hunger from four years of recession. Or fatigue from the four decades since schools integrated, and still, only 45% of black boys are graduating from high school.

Call it what you want, but know this: there are people all across the Southside driving turnout this year, and the young brothers and sisters of Childs Park just joined their ranks.

Well done, Brother Jabaar. Well done.

Last night’s straw poll results:

Rick Kriseman came out on top for the second Southside forum in a row. An exit poll at last week’s Open Mic at Bethel Community Baptist had Kriseman out front with 64.7%, Mayor Bill Foster at a distant second with 16.4% and Kathleen Ford trailing at 10.3%.

Last night’s polls (taken before and after the forum) gave yet another sign of the momentum shifting to Kriseman among African Americans. It also showed that some voters made up their minds during the debate, while others changed theirs.

The presence Anthony Cates (who wasn’t at last week’s forum) changed the mix: 20.4% of attendees (a large number of whom were about his age) picked Cates at the top of the hour.

Comparing the post versus pre polls, Cates votes fell to 15.8%; Mayor Foster picked up 1%; Ford dropped slightly by 1.3%; Congemi had zero votes both before and after the forum; and Kriseman had the biggest take of the evening, with 34.1% of votes pre-debate and 44.2% at exit.

                      No. of Ballots      Share of Ballots

                      Pre     Post          Pre          Post           Change 

Cates              18      15            20.5%     15.8%         -4.7%

Congemi         0        0              0.0%        0.0%           0.0%

Ford               16      16            18.2%      16.8%        -1.3%

Foster            13      15            14.8%      15.8%         1.0%

Kriseman       30      42            34.1%      44.2%         10.1%

Undecided      11      7              12.5%       7.4%         -5.1%

______________________________________________________

Total Ballots    88    95                     100.0%     100.0%

______________________________________________________

Adult Attendance   95

Total Attendance    110

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