‘On the Record’: Candidates for Port St. Lucie mayor<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Florida primary election is Tuesday, August 18th in Port Saint Lucie. Three candidates are in the race for mayor, which is decided through *** nonpartisan process, meaning the candidates do not declare their party affiliation. If *** candidate receives *** majority of the votes, more than 50%, they are declared the winner and do not advance to the. An election in November. If no one receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will advance to *** runoff in November. This morning we sit down with the three candidates vying to be the next mayor of Port Saint Lucie, one of Florida’s largest and fastest growing cities. Let’s go on the record from WPBF 25. This is On the Record with Natalie Pozo. Good morning. We start this morning with the incumbent in the race, the current mayor of Port Saint Lucie, Shannon Martin. Mayor, thank you so much for being here with us this morning. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. So you have been mayor since 2021, officially since 2022, but you have been in public service for quite some time. Tell us about yourself. Yeah, so I first was elected to the city council in 2010. And in 2016 I was appointed vice mayor by the former mayor, and when he left his post early in 2021, I ran in *** special election, and then I ran again in 2022 for the full term and won by *** supermajority. OK. And why is public service so important to you? It has been so important to me for the last 16 years. I raised my family here. My children grew up here. My husband is also *** public servant. He is *** lieutenant with our police department. And making sure that I’m getting things done for our community, listening to our residents and implementing projects and things that are so important to our residents, especially when it comes to public safety and infrastructure and addressing traffic congestion. Is really so important and um I love doing it and I love serving our residents well we spoke to some of the residents in Port Saint Lucie you just mentioned one of the things that is extremely important to so many of the people that we spoke to. I’m talking about traffic they’re talking about just how congested the city can be at time, how long some construction projects are taking place, so. What are you doing to be able to relieve some of, I guess that this large population that we’re dealing with when it comes to traffic and infrastructure and just making it easier for people there in the city? Yeah, so we have so many, uh, projects that are going on right now. We have over 90 infrastructure projects that are in *** determination of need stage to *** planning stage to *** construction. Uh, stage we have projects going on right now, construction projects in the city, Floresta Drive, Phase 3, Port Saint Lucie Boulevard South, and we have many more in the hopper as well to make sure that we are addressing traffic congestion, infrastructure issues to meet the needs of our growing community. You were saying that during COVID, just the population just exploded there in Port Saint Lucie. Nothing that really was imaginable at the time. Um, is that quite *** challenge to be able to bring things up to speed for the amount of people that are living in Port Saint Lucie? It absolutely is because, um, what people don’t understand is that all of these, um, design project or projects that have to get designed and implemented and then go to construction phase, they take *** long time. Design takes 1 to 2 years. Construction takes years to do. We have to go out in *** formal bid process in order to, uh, get the. Contracts in and get the get the bids in and determine who uh gets those contracts and we have to follow all the laws and the procedures uh that are put upon us in order to get all these processes going so um it’s not something that happens overnight they do take time and it also depends on who’s in control of the projects because if DOT is in control of the projects or we’re in control of the project that makes *** difference as well. I want to talk to you about affordability as well as another thing that people were were talking about. It’s been such *** fast growing city like we said how do you accommodate for the growth? How do you keep that affordability factor, you know, when you look at Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach County, the prices are. Just so high right now. Port Saint Lucie is considered an affordable market. Yeah, so as we all know that we can’t control the real, uh, real estate market. We don’t control *** lot of things that happen in the economy with the inflation, but what we do control in Port Saint Lucie is our millage rate. And the city of Port Saint Lucie, we have lowered our milage rate every year for the last 10 years. We went from 6.6289 to 4.975 to make sure that we are lowering it as much as we possibly can while still meeting the needs of our community and providing those. Valuable services. That’s the way that we can help our residents, um, with affordability in the city. We’ve pledged that to our residents. We’ve done so, and only 22% of the tax bill, um, goes to, um, of the overall tax bill. Um, goes to the city of Port Saint Lucie. The rest goes to all the other taxing authorities. So, uh, *** lot of people don’t realize that as well, that when you do pay that tax bill, majority of it does not come to the city. Mayor, I wanna talk about that because we’re talking about property taxes as well. Um, as you know, there’s *** proposal right now to eventually eliminate property taxes, something that so many counties and cities rely on when it comes to public safety and things like that. If it does receive *** majority of the vote in November, more than 60%. Um, we will be on the way to eliminating property taxes. So do you have *** plan in place for that when it comes to the city? So that’s something that our city manager and our, our financial management team and office of Management and Budget are working on right now, looking at those impacts and what they are. Um, we’re gonna have to have those conversations as we go through the summer and we get into our, uh, budget workshop that’ll happen at the end of July. We will have significant impacts to our general fund. Um, that’s just being really honest and truthful with our residents and what that looks like. Our city manager and the budget team are going to have to present that to us if in fact it does pass, and we’re going to have to have some serious and hard conversations because majority of our departments are funded out of the general fund and the state is also. Putting restrictions on what can be funded out of the general fund as well. How do you think you will vote in November for that? Um, I haven’t decided yet, to be honest with you. It’s ***, it’s *** very hard, um, decision to make because I know the services that our cities provide. *** lot of people think that, um, and as what’s been presented that, uh, you know, the government wants to. Own homes and we don’t wanna own homes. We want to keep providing these valuable services that are ongoing and in perpetuity. We have to provide public safety. We have to provide fire protection. We have to make sure that we’re keeping up our roads and filling those potholes and that happens by our, uh, employees working every single day. And making sure that all these things and these services and the complaints that are put into the city are addressed and uh at parks is another example we have uh almost 50 parks in the city and we have to make sure those are operated and maintained so that all the kids can come out and play ball and um the adults can. Well and utilize our parks and enjoy our playgrounds and so they have to be operated and maintained. So it, it’s definitely gonna be *** challenge, but as with anything, we’ll work through it. All right, Mayor, thank you so much for being here with us this morning. Coming up here on the record, we’re gonna sit down with the other candidates in the race for mayor of Port Saint Lucie. You’re watching On the Record on WPBF 25. Welcome back. We continue our conversation this morning with the candidates in the Port Saint Lucie mayoral race. Steven Giordano, one of the three candidates running for this position. Welcome, Steven. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. So many people became familiar with your name during the Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s race in 2024, not the outcome that you were hoping for, but here you are running for office. Yeah, so it seems that public service is very important to you. Um, tell us about yourself. Yeah, absolutely. So I’m *** dual certified officer with Saint Louis County Sheriff’s Department. Uh, after that I went on to working at the nuclear power plant, the highest level of security. Uh, I’ve been in the community since 1989. I’m very passionate about the community, and I want, uh, to restore accountability and transparency back into local government that works for the people. What are some of the priorities in your campaign? Uh, definitely to fix the traffic, uh, big issues going on there. Um, I wanna say. Excuse me, that, uh, the trash is an issue. The residents wanted *** check. We should have gotten them *** check, um, and I think definitely that the construction is, is an issue right now too with the building, and, uh, we need to slow down the growth to fix what the issues that we have now. Why do you think that the residents should have gotten *** check? Can you just expand *** little bit more for people who aren’t familiar? Absolutely. So I believe the residents wanted the money. That’s, that’s what we went to City Hall to talk about, and they got it as *** credit. And, uh, you know, the mayor’s been in since 2010. That’s 16 years. Believe the community is ready for *** change of leadership in our community because we’re down 13% as of the citizens, uh, survey in Port Saint Lucie. And when we’re talking about trash, we’re talking about the pickup and everything that all the issues that have been happening over the last few years or so, residents are now hoping for 22 days *** week. There is *** lot of people that want one, and I understand, and we’re gonna let the residents vote on it. We have to have *** local government that works for the people, and that’s what I want. I wanna give the people what they want and what they deserve. They’re the taxpayers. Steven Giordano works for them. All right, Steven, you also brought up. Traffic, um, we spoke to some Port Saint Lucie residents, and that is *** big, big priority for them. Um, we’ve just seen Port Saint Lucie explode over the last few years. So how do you fix the traffic? How do you deal with those construction projects, um, to accommodate the growing city? Absolutely. So we definitely need to stop building roundabouts. Those are real issues that we have going on right now. Underneath my leadership, we will stop all roundabouts. Uh, we need to work hand in hand with law enforcement, make sure that, you know, whatever they’re doing is going to be. Working for the people to stop the, uh, you know, the traffic issues. I mean right now we have construction projects going on. We’re over budget 3 projects right now, $28 million currently. We need to deep dive and trim the fat, uh, and fix out, fix what we can do to stop all this. Yeah, *** lot of people we’re talking to about just how long these construction projects take too. It’s ridiculous. We’ve had projects going on for 5 to 10 years, and it’s totally unacceptable, and I have *** construction background, and that’s gonna stop when Stephen Giordano wins this mayor race. And Steven, I mean. With, with all due respect, I mean, *** lot of people say things when they’re running for office. They make *** lot of promises, but then they get into the job and for whatever reason it may be, you know, these things don’t happen. So why would it be different with you? Because I have *** proven track background of, uh, construction. I’ve been flipping property since 2012. I know construction. I know how to get things done. I’m very proactive, and I think that’s what the the people want is they want somebody who knows how to get stuff done. We haven’t had *** track record of that for the past 16 years that the mayor’s been in, and I feel the community. Ready for *** change. Yeah, I mean one could argue too that Port Saint Lucie saw such *** growth, you know, over the past few years and you know no one was really imagining something like that happening. Um, I wanted to talk about just housing and affordability. When you look at some of the counties south of Port Saint Lucie, just, you know, affordability is gone, you know, it just doesn’t exist anymore. How is Port Saint Lucie different? How do you keep that affordability? Well, we have to make, uh, you know, we have to what, what works for the people. I mean, at the end of the day, I think the community needs to feel. *** sense of relief. I know we have tax reform coming up. I 100% support getting rid of the taxes, and that means we’re gonna have to trim wasteful spending at City Hall, and that’s good. That’s *** good thing again because we’re over, we’re over budget on *** lot of projects, and that shouldn’t be. We need to have *** local government that’s here for the people. Um, I want to talk to you about property taxes. So if it does pass, um, in November on that ballot gets more than 60% and the process begins to start eliminating property taxes for people here in Florida, um. Does that plan look like as the leader of *** city who has to, who depends on that money for public safety and other things? Absolutely. So we’re going to trim fat where it needs. We don’t need to have wasteful spending and projects. We’re going to deep dive into the budget and find out exactly what we can do to save the taxpayers’ money because every dollar counts, and I want to make sure that the taxpayers are getting the most services for the best amount of dollar that we’re spending. So you believe that the services can continue and even improve in Port Saint Lucie even if that property tax goes away. Underneath the right leadership, I can’t stress that enough. You’ll find *** way to work it in the budget and we gotta support all the local businesses, and there’s *** lot of local businesses that wanna help out, that wanna support, that wanna get actively involved, but we have to have the right leadership and right now we don’t have that unfort youly support then you will be voting in November to, to eliminate the property taxes, OK, um, we also spoke to some people who, um, the younger generation in, in Port Saint Lucie who kind of tell us that there’s really not much to do there for them in Port Saint Lucie, but this is. Where they’re going because again right now that’s where housing is affordable. I know for people who live in Port Saint Lucie that’s not the case, but for people who are coming from outside of the city this is now affordable so what do you do to um to just I guess attract the younger generation? So we need to have youth programs. I mean, uh, we need to have trade schools for the youth to become, uh, uh, you know, successful. We need more trade schools. We need more electricians, more plumbers we need things for the youth to do. So I again I think it. Down to leadership having somebody in here who’s genuinely here to help the community, um, you know, and bring set set Port Saint Lucia up for success, uh, we need to get actively involved, boots on the ground with the people in the community and find out how can we help you. I wanna get their input. I want the problems because the only way to fix it is to take it on. So I’m all about solutions, professional problem solver. Steven Giordano, thank you so much for your time and coming up we’re gonna sit down with the 3rd and final candidate in the memorial race in Port Saint Lucie. Welcome back. Eric Crozzieri is now here with us this morning rounding out the candidates in the Saint Lucie mayoral race. Eric, welcome. Thank you for being here this morning. So you’re *** newcomer to the political world, excuse me, you’re *** combat veteran. Tell us *** little bit more about yourself. So yes, my name’s Eric Sruzzari. Um, I am *** combat veteran. I am born and raised here in South Florida. After the 9\/11 attacks, it inspired me to join the army where I quickly deployed to Iraq to fight for our rights and our freedoms, and lately it’s been feeling like we’re losing those rights and those same freedoms that I went and fought for and so many died to protect. And we have uh you know politicians campaigning utilizing the same rhetoric without actually providing any solutions to the problems and once they’re elected they quickly forget about the promises they made to the people, the veterans, the small businesses and the seniors in the community so I’m running to bring accountability, integrity and transparency to City Hall. Do that Eric. So one of my big things is the transparency piece, and that is creating, uh, town halls and I wanna open the flow of information from town hall and the residents. So those are things that I’m looking at is creating town halls whether that’s monthly or quarterly and as well I’m looking at *** feedback button on the city site so I’m exploring. Many options, but I have to, you know, I’m, I’m going to ensure that there is an open line of communication between the residents and the leadership. Yeah, you really wanna hear from the residents. Absolutely. I’m, I’m just here to be the people’s voice, OK. So we spoke to some people in Port Saint Lucie, and, um, the traffic was the one we kept hearing *** lot. That’s *** very, that’s very important, *** priority for, for residents there in Port Saint Lucie. So how do you handle that? So, so infrastructure is one thing that is. At the top of my mind, um, the, the roads are *** mess. They’ve been *** mess for the past 20 years of me being in Port Saint Lucie. Nothing has changed there. The, the, the traffic has just gotten progressively worse. It’s bumper to bumper in Saint Lucie West, um, and, uh, so the infrastructure is one of my main priorities as well as the drainage there and the technology infrastructure. Mhm mhm. What are some of the other things that are important to you in the campaigns you’ve been hearing from people, and great question. Um, the quality of life, uh, quality of life, uh, for the residents, I, I feel like there’s really no quality of life there for, uh, the residents. It’s been 20 years and there’s still nothing to do. Everybody takes their, uh, you know, spends their money in West Palm Beach, and, you know, there’s nothing wrong with the West Palm Beach, but I’m trying to bring those entertainment venues to Port Saint Lucie musicians, comedians, restaurants, just more entertainment for the people. The quality of life there is suffering, and those are some of the big things that I’m trying to. Bring and and more jobs as well so and I think bringing these uh restaurants and and you know um attracting larger businesses um to come there will provide more jobs and and you know more happiness for the residents. Some people that we spoke to, they wanna know yeah about high paying jobs, you know, about bringing that to the city, making people wanna stay there, work there, and then build their life there. Absolutely. So that’s, you know, again that’s my big plan is, you know, attracting these uh larger technology companies. I have, uh, you know. Over 20 years of cyber security experience, you know, uh, my perspective is, is I really would like to see Port Saint Lucie become *** hub, um, for technology. We’re centrally located in Florida. We’re an hour and *** half from, uh, Fort Lauderdale, about 2 hours from Tampa, about 2 hours from Orlando, so we, we, we’re in, you know, position in, in *** really good spot to really attract these, uh, bigger businesses that I think we really need in Port Saint Lucie because all the professionals come to West Palm Beach. And again there’s nothing wrong with the West Palm Beach, but I would love to keep the money in Port Saint Lucie and and how do you do something like that when we see, you know, Port Saint Lucie just booming with *** lot of residents with traffic issues and now we’re gonna bring more people, more developments into the city so how do you kind of balance all of that? Sure, right, so it’s all about, uh, you know, smart investments, you know, my main priority again is fixing the roads so that is what I’m focused on and you know that’s one of my biggest things but obviously, you know, we need to bring those jobs there. So it’s all about balancing it right and not rushing and building things like *** soccer stadium, you know, prior to having the infrastructure in place to, you know, be able to handle that so you know these are some of the things that are on my mind is really ensuring that these roads get straightened out as soon as possible, not waiting 50 years. Eric, I wanna talk to you also about property taxes. We’ve been talking to all the candidates about it this morning. Um, what is the plan for you look like if voters do approve this measure on the November ballot to say we’re gonna start working. To get rid of the property taxes, what does that mean for the city? So what it means for the city is obviously it’s gonna be less money for the city. I believe we have two line items on the property tax bill, um, so if it does pass in its current state, which you know I’m not very supportive of because there is really no solutions to those problems, you know, it’s just *** great idea and you know for me, you know, I, I can’t operate on great ideas. I need the facts and the facts are there is really no plan currently as it’s being. Proposed, um, you know, obviously if there was some solutions to the problems, um, you know, uh, saying like, hey, you know, we plan to, you know, follow suit with half of America and legalize marijuana for, you know, an influx of cash and, uh, and assist these cities for that, then I’d be on board. The biggest issue is if, if we vote to, uh, amend that or, or, or remove property taxes, then the fees are gonna go up, you know, the sales tax is gonna go up, everything is gonna go up day to day. How will you vote? November I, me personally, at it’s the way it’s currently written, um, I’m against it, so I will be voting no, um, however, if they propose solutions that makes sense because it’s all about common sense and just like City Hall, it, it’s all about common sense decisions and currently the way it is I’m against it because we’re gonna pay more every single day and that’s really gonna hit the low and middle class families against what you’re you’re absolutely because my, my perspective is, is I’m running to bring. Down the property taxes to be fiscally responsible to look at what we’re spending money on as well as working with this, uh, the, the, you know, the, the county with the school board because they have 4 line items and even look at how, how we can help them and work together to reduce, you know, uh, because look, we’re the highest mileage rate in the state of Florida and, and I’m, I’m here to bring that down. That’s another priority of mine. Eric. I’m getting the wrap from my producers and my apologies, but thank you so much for coming here this morning. We’ll be right back after this. Thank you for making us *** part of your morning. We’ll see you back here next Sunday.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWPBF 25 News goes on the record with three candidates vying to become the next mayor of the city of Port St. Lucie: Steven Giordano, Shannon Martin and Eric Daniel Strazzeri.The latest: WPBF 25 News coverage on PoliticsGet the latest political updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
WPBF 25 News goes on the record with three candidates vying to become the next mayor of the city of Port St. Lucie: Steven Giordano, Shannon Martin and Eric Daniel Strazzeri.<\/p>\n
The latest: WPBF 25 News coverage on Politics<\/a><\/p>\n