Ford, Foster top picks for St. Pete's mayor election

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

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Bill Foster and Kathleen Ford were the two top vote getters in the primary election. They will face off in the Nov. 3 general election.

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Several elections took place Tuesday in Pinellas County.

In St. Petersburg, voters chose from among 10 mayoral candidates in a primary election.

Candidates Bill Foster and Kathleen Ford beat out the other eight candidates and are the mayoral primary nominees for the Nov. 3 general election.

Foster was the overall leader with 27 percent of the vote, but Ford was not far behind with 25 percent of the vote.

It didn't take long for Ford to point out some of the differences between her and Foster.

More Information

Complete election results
Foster's celebration
Ford's celebration
Watch Conversation with the Candidates Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. on Bay News 9.

"Well there's some differences between me and Mr. Foster. One of the biggest ones right now is the fact that Mr. Foster wants to renegotiate that lease agreement for a new stadium. And I really don't think we can afford a new stadium. It's about to be paid off. We've got a lot more things that we have to address here in the city of St. Petersburg," Ford said. "And not spending public funds on a new stadium I think is a critical difference between the two of us."

Foster said that he and Ford agree about 70 percent of the time, and it will be up to the people to decide who they want to lead the city based on the other 30 percent where they don't agree.

"It's all public safety. You can talk about economic development, homelessness, panhandling, BayWalk, but it all starts and ends with public safety," Foster said. "And I'm going to work very closely with Chuck Harmon and my staff and that's the message we're going to get out."

There were also three city council seats on the primary ballot in St. Petersburg, Districts 4, 5 and 6. Each council race had three candidates, and the top two will go on to the general election.

In the District 4 race Leslie Curran and P. Settlegoode will go on to the general election.

Candidates Steve Kornell and Angela Rouson will move on to the general election for the District 5 council seat.

And in the District 6 race Karl Nurse and Vel Thompson will be the candidates in the general election

The November general election will also have two additional city council seats, Districts 2 and 8, on the ballot.

St. Petersburg residents also passed a charter amendment that gives authority to the Pinellas County Canvassing Board, instead of the City Canvassing Board, to canvass city election returns.

You can watch Bill Foster's and Kathleen Ford's victory speeches on Tampa Bay On Demand channel 342. Go to the St. Petersburg elections category. The speeches will be available beginning at about 2 a.m.

Belleair Bluffs referendum

In Belleair Bluffs voters passed the referendum for the city to contract with a third party for the provision of primary fire services within the city.