Anthony Westburys Article about Yours Truly!!! in todays TCPALM There are sins of commission and those of omission. While I certainly have plenty of room for improvement in the former category, I’m addressing the latter today. Last week I wrote a column about four candidates running for mayor of Port St. Lucie. Problem was, I omitted two people who’ve also filed for the race: Joe Edge and Joshua Moore. My apologies to them and you for the omission. Joe Edge’s is a familiar name in Port St. Lucie politics, even though he has yet to hold an office with the city. Edge was one of 12 candidates for the mayoral race in 2010, but was narrowly beaten out of the runoff election by JoAnn Faiella and Chris Cooper. A newly confident Edge is back this time, with a platform that includes restoring residents’ faith in their city council, overhauling the “dysfunctional reputation” of Port St. Lucie in the eyes of both residents and the press, and retooling severance package procedures for departing city staff. As a 24-year owner of a small business in the city, Edge believes he has the skills and experience to better market the city to prospective business owners. He also has a plan for the former Digital Domain studio building in Tradition. Edge is convinced he’s the best candidate to raise citizen expectations about their elected officials and their performance. “I know I can do it,” Edge insisted. “I have a lot more support this time — from city employees, small business owners and other members of the public.” Edge believes his tax preparation, accounting, business consulting and small business startup experience gives him — pardon the obvious pun — an edge over his opponents. “We’ve never had a mayor who’s been a small-business owner,” he said. Edge believes two issues are paramount: establishing the integrity of Port St. Lucie (”You can’t call it ‘re-establishing’ if you’ve never had it”), and boosting property values. Although Edge has been critical of current Mayor JoAnn Faiella, he believes a climate of disrespect toward residents during public comment time at city meetings dates back much farther to the days of former mayor Bob Minsky. “There are a lot of dysfunctional attitudes (from the dais),” Edge said. “I hadn’t realized how many residents watch those televised meetings. We need to remember that.” Edge also is adamant the city should stop giving money to big developers. “We can’t risk more City Centers, Digital Domains or Southern Groves,” Edge insisted. As for Digital Domain, Edge thinks the building would make an excellent, highly visible city-owned K-12 charter school. He said he knows from his own clients that many PSL business owners live in Palm City or Stuart because schools there are considered better than those in St. Lucie County. “That’s embarrassing,” he said. Edge is highly critical of the city paying out generous severance packages (the latest for former City Attorney Roger Orr) to employees who have resigned. He believes that may be in part because the agreements typically include “gag orders,” which prevent ex-employees from later criticizing the city. It’s “hush money,” Edge claims. Edge said if he’s elected, he would only serve one term. His passion for offshore fishing is behind that. Once tax season is over every year, Edge told me, he typically goes fishing in the Bahamas for months at a time. He’s willing to give up his passion for a single four-year term, but no longer. Joshua Moore, the sixth candidate for mayor, filed paperwork in February but has been missing in action ever since. According to a March 17 TCPalm story, Moore is an unemployed computer programmer and website designer. It’s strange Moore doesn’t seem to have either a website or Facebook page dedicated to his mayoral bid. His listed phone number seems to have been assigned to someone else and his email address doesn’t work. Not a good start to a political career. Mayoral candidates have the week of June 16-20 to pay a $477.55 election fee, and a primary election will take place Aug. 26. The top two vote-getters will go head to head on Nov. 4. Because of the personalities involved — and some animosity between certain candidates — the mayor’s race should be one of the most interesting this election season. One thing’s for sure, it won’t be boring.
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 11:21:53 +0000
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