FORT PIERCE \u2013 The future operator of city-owned Little Jim Bait and Tackle and how the city should select the next one have become campaign fodder for all three candidates running Nov. 4 for the vacant District 2 seat on the Fort Pierce City Commission.<\/p>\n
Candidate Jaimebeth Galinis is calling for current operator Salty 3 Baitshack LLC to get another long-term lease for the property and has announced a Sunday rally to \u201csupport the current Little Jim\u2019s owners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contender Donna Benton is urging people on social media to go to Monday\u2019s city commission meeting \u201cand hope they vote to do the right thing by keeping Little Jim Local!\u201d<\/p>\n
Candidate Chris Dzadovsky posted that he doesn\u2019t disagree with the popular North Hutchinson Island bar\/restaurant\/bait shop being \u201coperated by locals,\u201d but advocates for \u201cfixing the current terrible process for these types of proposals before starting again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galinis\u2019 rally of support for current Little Jim management is Sunday, from 2-4 p.m., at Causeway Cove Marina.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe operators have poured their hearts into keeping it\u2026locally owned and true to its roots,\u201d Galinis\u2019 statement says. \u201cLet\u2019s make sure Little Jim\u2019s stays local, independent, and ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benton says the city had the chance \u201cto proactively ensure a good 20-year lease was in place long ago, preserving our charm and history. Fort Pierce history matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelling out Little Jim is another bad move by the city commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dzadovsky\u2019s website shows pictures of the Little Jim property on North Hutchinson Island when recent flooding covered a portion on the site with water, saying the city must address multiple issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent developments in the City\u2019s bid process \u2014 and Commissioner Mike Broderick\u2019s public call for the City to withdraw and re-evaluate the current proposal \u2014 underscore the need for a comprehensive, transparent, and accountable process moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
He supports extending the current lease on a year-to-year basis until the outstanding environmental, legal, and procedural issues are resolved and a fair, compliant process is established.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Jim\u2019s is located off the waterfront causeway that links Fort Pierce with North Hutchinson Island. It was originally a guard building to access a Navy training center here during World War II and became city property when the U.S. Navy conveyed the land city when its based closed in 1944.<\/p>\n
The city has followed city and state rules by soliciting bids for proposals to operate the site on a long-term lease. The lease outlines each party\u2019s responsibilities for the property and how much the city will be compensated for its use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2013 The future operator of city-owned Little Jim Bait and Tackle and how the city should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":{"0":"post-8621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","11":"tag-st_lucie"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}