Does Bill Foster Really Want to Be Mayor?

I don't think there is any question that Bill Foster wanted to be Mayor when he originally ran for office.  

It is pretty obvious Foster wants to pick and choose among the various responsibilities that come with being Mayor of St Petersburg.

Foster would have made a great mayor prior to 1992 and the Charter changes when the Mayor's job was largely ceremonial. Today the Mayor needs to be cheerleader and CEO.

One of things it appears is that Foster does not want to be is CEO of a 2700 employee, $450-$500 million dollar enterprise. In round numbers including capital projects that is the size of the St. Pete municipal government.

Foster likes the attention, the media, being Mr. baseball,  but he is falling woefully short on leadership, planning and direction of daily operations.

His comments at staff meetings are condescending, repetitive and lack genuineness. I know I was there.

There is a significant lack of leadership and quietly Foster is being taken advantage of by his own staff.

He has failed to establish a staff that is loyal, mostly because he is unpredictable and not particularly loyal himself. The words are there but there, but they ring hollow with the staff and there is little follow through.

Most of the staff is in the hide and wait mode and very few are taking any aggressive action because there is little support for new ideas.  On the Pier/LENS Foster's leadership has been severely lacking.

His budget decisions regarding the Fire Department have left the City with sidelined fire apparatus putting the very public Foster claims to want to protect at a degree of risk. The motivation for those decisions has come into question.

Retirements and staff departures are met with glee by Foster (no tough decisions here) but the positions go unfilled or filled by lackluster talent. And when qualified talent shows up it quickly departs as in the case of Matt Spoor former Budget Director.

In this case incumbency is not a plus. There absolutely no reason to "give" Bill Foster another four years to lead St. Petersburg deeper into quagmire he has already created.

His 828 initiative is a classic example.

If you vote for Bill Foster you vote for more of the same, poor leadership, floating positions, knee jerk reactions, no direction and a continuation of the circus at City Hall.

The people I talk to don't think Foster will step up in a second term. There seems to be general agreement it's just not in his DNA.

Want to know where the Mayoral Candidates Stand check out Seven Questions for the St. Petersburg Mayor's Race Candidates.

Be sure to mark your mail in ballot, sign the back of the envelope and mail it right away.

e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook Friend request.

Campaign Disclosures: Contributor to Kathleen Ford Campaign, Darden Rice Campaign, Concern Citizens of St. Petersburg