Port St. Lucie, Fla. \u2014 The Port St Lucie mayor\u2019s race is one of the races we are watching closely this week.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019ve been following of our coverage of the WastePro Settlement <\/a>and the public\u2019s frustration with trash pickup, you know, that is likely top of mind for voters.<\/p>\n The current mayor, Shannon Martin, is fighting to hold on to that office.<\/p>\n She\u2019s facing two challengers, and both have been downright boisterous in their attacks on her leadership.<\/p>\n They say she and other officials have botched the situation with garbage collection so badly that it\u2019s time to overhaul City Hall.<\/p>\n Dating back to the pandemic, trash has been a very serious matter in the city and now many residents say it’s why the mayor\u2019s race is in the balance.<\/p>\n On the set of ARC Florida, the three candidates talked about the Waste Pro Settlement decision. They are Shannon Martin<\/a>, Steve Giordano<\/a> and Eric Strazzeri<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city told residents they would be getting a tax credit<\/a>, not a refund check in the mail, after the city won $24 million; essentially, the prize money for suing WastePro for years of shoddy service.<\/p>\n And not only would there be no cash back, sometime later, the cost of trash collection went up.<\/p>\n Now, the question of how many times a week should trash be collected will be a ballot issue<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n Marco Ortiz is a small business owner. His Top Notch barbershop is a place where men talk about what’s happening in the community, he says the conversation often turns to trash pickup, the hot topic as it were, going into this election.<\/p>\n “We need to keep Port St. Lucie beautiful,” Ortiz said. “Of course trash collection is important. It’s Florida. It’s hot, trash brings flies and it smells, we need more reliable service.”<\/p>\n