Politics & Government

Causes Of Increased Gun Violence? St. Pete Mayoral Debate

During Tuesday's debate, each candidate suggested solutions they believed would contribute to decreasing St. Petersburg's gun violence.

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ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The eight mayoral candidates were asked Tuesday what they attributed to the spike in St. Pete's gun violence, and how they would address this issue as mayor.

Seventeen homicides, 16 gun-related and one caused by child abuse, have occurred so far this year in St. Petersburg as of June 24, St. Pete police told Patch.

In total last year, police said the city saw 15 homicides.

Find out what's happening in St. Petefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The Decision 2021 St. Petersburg Mayoral Debate covered topics including gun violence, systemic racism, and privatizing marinas. Patch will post a series of stories with candidates' views from the June 22 debate.

All candidates were virtually present for the debate: City Council members Darden Rice and Robert Blackmon, former Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch, former city council member and state representative Wengay Newton, entrepreneur Pete Boland, former political operative and marketer Marcile Powers, University of South Florida political science student Michael Ingram, and non-partisan St. Petersburg resident Torry Nelson.

Find out what's happening in St. Petefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Related: Systemic Racism In Police Department? St. Pete Mayoral Debate?

Marcile Powers: "I attribute the violence that has occurred in our city to the pandemic, and to social distancing. And people not knowing how to integrate back with each other after being isolated for so long, and unlike most people, I spent most of the pandemic going to meetings about how to communicate with other people through non-violent communication, so there's a lot of tools in my tool belt to get people to communicate again.

Darden Rice: "Well, of course we have been through an unprecedented, economic and health crisis. I think it's important for the city to step up, and be able to offer people or show people how to get mental help. There's certainly no shame at all in asking for help and dealing with stress. And I think it's important for the city to continue to support the organizations in the community, and support mental health. And talk through these issues with people."

Ken Welch: "Well, as of the thirteenth shooting, which resulted in a young lady dying right in front of my father's former office at 1601 16th Street South. I called a meeting and brought the community together in a private session—no media, no social media and asked the question of what's happening? Young people were there, and the said there's a lack of hope, there's a lack of paths to success that young people see. So we either flood this zone with opportunity for our young people, and actually talk to them about what they're seeing. I've already done that, and I had a youth summit on June 1 to follow up."

Robert Blackmon: Blackmon said he wants more educational opportunities for kids because he believes the lack of economic opportunities leads to crime.

"We need to show kids there's a better way forward through different educational opportunities. That being said, I went to a number of NAACP's community conversations. Commissioner Welch was a commissioner for 20 years, and the problem got no better under his leadership in South St. Pete, so why should we expect any different now?"

Bay News 9's Holly Gregory gave Welch an opportunity to respond to Blackmon's statement.

Ken Welch: "Well, I think if you talk to the people in the community who have seen me working for 20 years to create an APAD (Adult Pre-Arrest and Diversion Program) program that more than 4,000 people have gone through to avoid being arrested. We have the highest juvenile diversion program most effective in the state. The Times has reported on that. So we've been working on these issues. I don't know where Mr. Blackmon has been, but I've been in the trenches working with people in the community. This isn't the first time that they're seeing me."

Pete Boland: Boland believes the increase in gun violence is a consequence of the lockdown and the achievement gap of South St. Pete.

"The literacy rate is down in South St. Pete. I think we have an issue, too, of financial literacy in a lot of folks. But it does go back to things like the war on drugs. The gun violence and drug trades doesn't go well together. We need to move on from some of this stuff."

He said he wants to address the real problems, and move on to new ideas.

Michael Ingram: "I believe that this is an economic issue to move forward with gun violence. What we need to do is not grow from the top up. We need to be growing from the bottom up. We can't grow as a city, and leave behind the little guy because that results in gun violence. And poverty issues already in St. Pete. Ten percent of people are below the poverty line. So in order to fix our gun violence issue, we need to fix our economic issues to give people opportunities to do better than that."

Torry Nelson: "I believe the gun violence is attributed to be honest, rap music, and illicit drug sales in the city. It's a big problem. We can't stop the rap music, so we have to bring economically more jobs for the youth. They want to have financial stability."

Nelson said if the young people had more jobs in this economy, they wouldn't be turning to drug trades, and they'd feel like they had financial independence.

Wengay Newton: Newton said the state had 57,472 juvenile arrests last year, and out of those, St. Petersburg had the most.

"They cannot get a job, they can not go to the military, they can not go to school. There is nothing left but illicit activity and crime."

He said he wants to make sure the kids have opportunities so they don't kill each other.

Election Reminder
St. Petersburg primary elections are scheduled for Aug. 24; The two candidates receiving the most votes in each district will be placed on the Nov. 2 municipal general election ballot.

The registration deadline for the primary elections is July 26. Visit Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website to register or update your address.

Tuesday's debate was hosted by Bay News 9 and the Tampa Bay Times.

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