Innovation isn’t a box you check off and say, “Done!” And too many people confuse innovation with technology, thinking that if they focus on the latest gadgets that means they are innovative. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, new technologies are developed every day that aren’t particularly innovative. They are just copies of old tech with shinier boxes.

Innovation is about making things better. And in the process, if you can use technology to enhance that innovation, then all the better for you. It’s important that we have a Mayor who understands this subtle distinction otherwise you will have someone in office who simply throws money toward hi-tech systems and gadgets without analyzing whether or not the technology will make the current system function better. A truly innovative Mayor will first seek to make something better, before throwing money toward building a brand new technology.

If you’ve lived in Tampa for more than a decade and have paid any attention at all to how Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa get along, you’ll know that they don’t really get along at all. This has to stop.

As your Mayor, I may not have control over the county commissioners, but I will have an impact. There is an influence of sorts, but without the proper leadership in office to bridge that gap between a typically Republican based county and a Democrat based city, that influence is almost nonexistent or even negative.

Nobody has ever been a child and written down a goal to one day grow up and live in affordable housing. “Affordable Housing” may sound nice, but the reality is, this typically equates to finding a forgotten part of our city, building the cheapest, and most institutionalized type of group housing project on the land, void of any landscaping, and then approving the bare minimum amount of funding to be able to say, “I did something.”

We need to leverage the good work started by the Tampa Bay Wave, The new Innovation Hub, Florida-Israel Business Accelerator […]

“How will you attract big companies like Amazon to want to relocate to Tampa?”

I get this question asked a lot, and I’m not sure that’s even the best move to try to get them here. Which would you rather have in our city? A big business like Amazon moving here, or a local small business growing into such power and scale that they compete with, or even overtake the size of companies like Amazon?

There are so many different modes of transportation available for Tampa, I thought it might be easier if I break down some of the various types before I share my thoughts on the solutions:

We are the only major city that doesn’t use its extensive network of waterways for transportation. That’s a disgrace. It sends a message to the world that we aren’t very innovative. Let’s change that. As mayor I would aim to fully utilize our waterways for transportation and mobility. I will forge partnerships with innovative companies who are exploring new technology for water vehicles so that we can effectively connect the communities across our beautiful bay.