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Each slide represents a different political race that will be on the ballot. Follow the flow chart through each ‘Topic’ section. Tally up the stances you agree with (Candidate A or Candidate B). Once you reach ‘Results’, see whether you had ‘Mostly A’s’ or ‘Mostly B’s’ and discover which candidate you match with.
ST. PETERSBURG — As the unprecedented presidential election takes the nation by storm, coverage of local politics is suffering.
On Tuesday’s ballot, several races will have profound and immediate effects on St. Petersburg’s Midtown community. This year, Republican incumbent Marco Rubio, who fell out of favor with Florida in the presidential primary, is running against Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy for the U.S. Senate. Incumbent Rep. David Jolly and former Florida Governor Charlie Crist are battling for Florida’s 13th Congressional District. At the local level, Democratic candidate Darryl Rouson and Republican John Houman are campaigning for Florida’s District 19.
Based on a series of interviews with community members, candidates and information on local forums and events, the Neighborhood News Bureau condensed the most discussed issues into three categories: education, the high cost of living, and reform in law enforcement.
The right to a fair and unprejudiced education is not the reality for many children in Midtown, according to community members. Parents are concerned with the disappointing experiences in their children’s education and poor curriculum standards.
“How do we have a say in what is taught in our children’s schools?” Tonya Givens, an audience member at Midtown by Midtown, a discussion forum hosted by the Neighborhood News Bureau, described a disturbingly misleading narrative that has been introduced to her daughter at Campbell Park Elementary. “My daughter came home and was taught that Africans came to America as migrant workers.”
Among the candidates for the U.S. Senate, Rubio has voiced his support of education reform several times in the past, saying that education should be handled at a local level and “if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed”.
His opponent, Murphy, who did not respond to emails or calls requesting an interview, states on his campaign website that schools should have “additional support and services” from the government.
Watson L. Haynes, President and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League, said “children of trauma” is a key term used when discussing obstacles students face as instability at home prevents successful learning. Parents and children experiencing issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, long-term imprisonment, unaddressed mental health problems, and unemployment in their families may affect the children’s development. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, can be detected not just in veterans returning from war but in children who endure one or more of those issues as well.
Jolly discussed the need to create a more accommodating environment for students who find themselves in these sorts of situations.
“Let’s move towards more individualized curriculums, recognizing not every student learns the same way. We can do that in the public school system. For a parent who is trying to save their kid from a failing school, let’s give them choice. Let’s keep our opportunity scholarships in place,” he said at a civic forum held at the Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church on Oct. 13
“Every student is different; every community is different. The responsibility of government is to make sure that the resources are available in the communities that need them most.”
Crist echoes this sentiment and believes the answer lies in investigating failing schools in the area and investing in those schools, providing equal funds to every school in the district.
During the forum at the Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church, Rouson spoke about a situation he found himself in, where he visited a local school and found a young girl in time-out because she “couldn’t think [that] day.” Her mother had been arrested for drugs the night before. “Education must become more creative… more responsive,” he said.
Maria Scruggs, President of the NAACP’s St. Petersburg branch, says that she constantly speaks on behalf of the importance behind quality early childhood education.
“The research clearly supports that when children receive a quality early childhood education, the better prepared they are to enter a public school. Many times it’s too late by the time they’re in first grade,” said Scruggs.
Rouson supports parent involvement and small class sizes, as well as fully funded education from the state. This includes early childhood education programs. In his statements on policy reform, he claims to fight for at-risk children by working with the legislature to increase funding for pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs for jeopardized children.
Houman’s stance on education remains vague. “Education is the backbone of our society. State and local communities have to work together to improve our educational system,” he said during a phone interview. He has primarily emphasized specialized and higher education, with not much mention of the early fundamental education Midtown is lacking. He supports implementing training grants in manufacturing, healthcare services, IT, and agriculture.
There has been established discomfort surrounding local law enforcement in the area, reflective of the same sentiments felt nationwide. The community has continued to demand amendments and reform throughout the police department.
The main concerns raised by the community are advanced police training to properly handle situations involving citizens with mental health issues; restorations of rights, and accelerating the process of released convicts of non-violent crimes; the cessation of racial profiling; fostering good community relations between police officers and residents; ending private prisons.
When asked about the state of relationships between local law enforcement and the community, Ashley Green, Labor Organizer at SEIU-FL and Movement Organizer with Dream Defenders, said, “The answer is no. The [current] policies do not foster good relationships with the community.”
The U.S. Senate race between Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy has heated up on the topic of police reform. Their stances vary in multiple degrees.
Republican incumbent Rubio does not support the legalization of drugs in any capacity, and claims that doing so would be a “great mistake.” He also does not encourage the reduction of prison sentences for drug charges and discourages leniency in such situations. Rubio explicitly does not call for the end of privatized prisons.
Brother John Muhammad, president of the Childs Park Neighborhood Association, joined Scruggs and Haynes in the discussion surrounding Midtown and spoke to the current conflict surrounding privatized prisons.
“We have a whole generation of black people that are in prison for minimum mandatory sentences for petty drug crimes,” he said.
Democratic candidate Murphy calls for the automatic restoration of rights for nonviolent ex-felons. He claims to support reintegrating those who have responsibly served their time back into society. This support includes banning barriers on employment applications and credit checks to expand job opportunities to released nonviolent offenders.
Murphy authored the Tracking Reputations Upgrades Societal Trust (TRUST) Act to increase cooperation between police and the communities they serve by measuring community trust in the local police force.
The high cost of living in Midtown shows it’s face on many streets on the south side of St. Petersburg. Many can no longer afford increasing rent prices due to gentrification of the community. Access to jobs, healthcare, food sources, and housing have become increasingly difficult in the midst of the community renovations.
One of the largest Community Redevelopment Areas, or CRA’s, in the state of Florida, is sitting on the south side of St. Petersburg, beginning at its approval in 2015. Occupying 4,700 acres of land, including Greater Childs Park, more than twenty neighborhood and business associations, and most of Midtown, the CRA has been highly contested by residents.
CRA’s goals are typically associated with redevelopment of urban areas to promote new business and additional housing projects, various opportunities, and commercial revitalization,
The problem, according to Akile Anai, an audience member at Midtown by Midtown, is “the gentrification and building of Midtown is pushing out the African American community.”
These claims stem from accounts of housing and rental prices being raised as the CRA further develops in the community. Gentrification is the process by which middle and upper-class people take up residence in a traditionally working-class area of a city, changing the character of the city.
“The CRA is a development tool to suppress community,” said Scruggs, describing the lack of coordinated or strategic focus of how one single plan supports the work of the bigger picture: developing Midtown.
Rouson has said in his campaign strategies that he believes small businesses are the real engine of a community. His plan to grow small businesses into flourishing marketplaces includes providing incentives for creating new, good jobs.
“It is so difficult and so challenging [for small businesses to get a loan.]” Crist testifies to the hardship the Midtown community faces in the midst of attempting to produce small businesses and expand local job opportunities. Aside from the CRA, he believes there are alternate solutions.
“I believe that there are things that Washington can do, to free some of that capital up. And from what I hear, here in St. Petersburg, it needs to happen to get more minority owners.”
Republican opponent Jolly does not advocate for an arbitrary hike of minimum wage but believes that a gradual index in doing so is safer for jobs in the long-term.
“We need to index it [the minimum wage], create wage growth, but also protect jobs. [And] figure out in a bipartisan way how we do that.”
To find local sites visit votepinellas.com for more information. Polls are open 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Filmed by USFSP student, Tracy Darity, this video shows her concerns regarding “concerning gentrification, the Warehouse Arts District,” and the lack of entertainment options in Midtown, St. Petersburg. According to Darity, “as a person of color, I believe this is a very important topic, and it saddens me that black community has grown numb to what is taking place around them.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPTvoA2eAsw
BY SAMANTHA PRITZLAFF AND CHOYA RANDOLPH
NNB Reporters
ST. PETERSBURG – The Neighborhood News Bureau (NNB) reporters successfully participated in reporting the 2015 Municipal Election in Midtown, the first NNB Special Project since launching the new website in September 2015. This project was a collaboration with Creative Loafing in which USFSP students enrolled in NNB provided stories and information to Creative Loafing news and politics blog Political Animal.
The collaboration began with a USFSP professor who wanted his NNB class to have more hands-on experience in live reporting. Bernardo Motta, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, met in September with David Warner, Creative Loafing’s editor in chief and news and politics editor, Kate Bradshaw, about covering the upcoming elections. After some planning, Motta, Bradshaw, and Jared Leone, a graduate student at USFSP who also works as an editor for NNB, organized the students in the class to cover the essential parts of the elections.
Leone played the role of section editor for the project while each student-reporter was in charge of a different aspect of the election. Topics ranged from City Council candidates, referendum questions, talking to different groups of people throughout Midtown about their concerns and elections issues, covering the polls during voting day and promoting the stories on social media.
“[Students] had obstacles but almost all got their stories in,” Motta said. “I’m really proud of what the students produced,” he added.
Obstacles to reporting
Lorien Mattiacci chose to talk to two teachers at Melrose Elementary School, Kelly Milnes and Ashli Doss, about what they saw as important issues the candidates needed to address if elected.
She did run into some obstacles on the way when one of the teachers didn’t have much information on the candidates due to the fact that she didn’t live in the district, but she did have enforcement ideas.
One teacher did mention that the council used to work with the school. Students were able to take field trips to see and ask the city council questions. Sometimes the council would come to the school. According to Mattiacci, the council stopped coming because of a series of investigative articles published by the Tampa Bay Times as a special investigative project named “Failure Factories.”
Mattiacci planned to meet up with Milnes and Doss. She knew the two from a previous story she wrote. Milnes and Doss are journalism teachers in the “Journeys in Journalism“ program. Mattiacci did admit that she learned that she shouldn’t combine too many stories. However; she took multiple photos of the classroom, students and even helped with a lesson.
Other NNB reporters also revealed difficulty in finding people willing to talk about the elections. Some City Council candidates took days to return phone calls asking for interviews. One candidate even refused to talk to an NNB reporter.
“Most of my potential sources were too busy to talk or said they ‘didn’t want to get political,’” NNB reporter Danielle Von Dreele said. Von Dreele covered the first referendum question on the ballot concerning seagrass protection in the Tampa Bay and the St. Petersburg’s water supply.
Another student, Brigitte Toulon, had a few more obstacles than Mattiacci had. Toulon was assigned to interview event planners/organizers and people who head nonprofit organizations. She reached out to 3-4 people and only one got back with her. After many unanswered emails and voicemails, Toulon finally was able to get into touch with Susan Ajoc, the Director of Community Services for the City of St. Petersburg. Ajoc chose to not comment at all on the candidates. Toulon found herself with less amount of time to write and no one willing to talk. It wasn’t until a classmate suggested a name that Toulon was back on track with her story.
She was able to speak to Paul Wilborn, the Executive Director at the Palladium Theater. Toulon learned that responses about the election would vary because some knew more than others. According to Toulon, Wilborn didn’t know the candidates but was leaning towards Lisa Wheeler-Brown because of the issues involving the Tampa Bay Rays and Tropicana Field. Wilborn also mentioned that if he were to interview the candidates he’d ask them if they were able to give up their biases for the community.
Finding a way
Once the reporters got past their struggles, they produced results. Although some sources were difficult to get in contact with, they became fun to work with and contributed greatly to the stories.
City Council candidates District 5 candidate Steve Kornell and District 7 candidate Will Newton were among those who played a big role in helping shape their stories.
“I think the easiest part of the assignment, which wasn’t originally mine, was to cover Will Newton’s watch party,” said Toulon.
Toulon was encouraged by other journalists, and even Newton, when her camera battery died. According to Toulon, Newton was very calm at every aspect of the watch party. When Wheeler-Brown was announced for the winner, “the entire mood changed,” Toulon said. “You could tell that people were a disappointed,” Toulon added.
After learning about the result, Newton called Wheeler-Brown before anyone else just to congratulate her. According to Toulon, Newton was upbeat and calm after the winners were announced. He calmed Toulon’s nerves which made her comfortable to stay longer than she needed to.
Zenena Moguel covered Steve Kornell. Although she struggled at first, her story came through in the end.
“Once I was able to get to him, he’s actually a friendly guy,” Moguel said. “He contributed a lot to the profile. He wasn’t afraid to share his plans.”
Moguel also played a big role in helping advertise student’s election stories on social media.
“I think NNB deserves a lot more publicity about what we’re doing, so anything I can do to help, to get people to know how important this class is and how the students are really making a difference in this class for future journalism. That’s what I enjoy the most,” she added.
Overall, the entire process of completing this project, from scheduling interviews to writing the actual stories, was a learning experience in and of itself.
“This entire project, it takes a lot of teamwork. I don’t think it would have been so great with just a couple of us covering elections. We got point of views from people that were in the precincts, people that were at the candidate parties, we got an inside look at the entire election, and I think teamwork is the biggest thing here,” Moguel said.
“It’s like a beautiful symphony of musicians, tuning up and working together,” said Jared Leone, the Graduate Assistant who oversaw the project. “It all comes together at the end with beautiful music.”
Stay tuned at nnbnews.com for future, in-depth projects, including “Voices of Midtown,” coming in late November.
St. Petersburg, Fla. (Oct. 2, 2015) – Student journalists with the Neighborhood News Bureau got the chance to learn photojournalism techniques and skills from a professional Wednesday, Sept. 23.
Lara Cerri, Tampa Bay Times photojournalist, shared her years of knowledge and experience with these students at the USFSP campus. With these tips, NNB will continue its mission to serve the Midtown area and surrounding communities of St. Petersburg through the practice of journalism.
‘Times Talk’ is what these students call it, and photojournalism was the topic of the week.
Photojournalism is the practice of communicating the news by the use of photographs and images. Photojournalists are the visual storytellers of the story, and Cerri was more than happy to express the important and impactful role photojournalists play.
“I have wanderlust,” said Cerri. “I have always had wanderlust.”
According to Cerri, it’s that curiosity that makes for a great photojournalist. She stresses the importance of trying to get the essence of what the story is about. The job is more than just taking photos. It is finding the story, writing the captions, and getting to know the sources.
“Part of the joy of my job is getting to know these people. If you got time, show an interest,” said Cerri. “It is first about human relationships.”
Photojournalists must be confident, patient, and compassionate. Being able to put yourself in the shoes of the another person and share a part of yourself builds trust and relationships. Any and every situation can be an opportunity for a great story, so always be ready for the unexpected.
Cerri’s Times Talk inspired these future journalists. View the entire ‘Times Talk with Lara Cerri’ video provided where she touches on topics including photographing children and funerals, how to approach people and finding story-telling moments.
The full video of the talk can be found here: http://www.nnbnews.com/2015/10/02/video-lara-cerri-tampa-bay-times-photojournalist/
About Neighborhood News Bureau
Neighborhood News Bureau is a working newsroom, staffed by University of South Florida St. Petersburg undergraduate and graduate students under the guidance of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies faculty members. The newsroom opened in Midtown, St. Petersburg March 2006. Its mission is to serve the Midtown and surrounding communities of St. Petersburg. For more information, visit http://www.nnbnews.com/ or email nnb@usfsp.edu.
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