Town Councilman Scott Safford and Town Council candidate Greg Scasny joined Beach Talk Radio for the full hour Saturday, July 6th. Both are running for Fort Myers Beach Town Council. Watch the interview HERE.
Did You See Our Interview With Scott And Greg?
4 people are running for 3 seats.
Scott, Greg and Jim Atterholt are all property owners. They have skin in the game. Dan the mayor does not own any property. Owning property on FMB should be mandatory to be on town council since they vote on things that can raise our taxes and have an impact on my property value.
The requirement is to be a resident and have lived on FMB for a certain number of years (I don’t recall how many, two? three?). Owning property is immaterial; it’s residency that matters.
So everyone in the Country who is a renter should not be allowed to vote in an election?
I’m not saying he should not be allowed to vote in elections. I am saying he should not be allowed to vote on a policy that will raise my taxes or vote to approve workforce housing or something that will make my home go down in value. I believe a person should have skin in the game or they should not be allowed to be on the council “governing” home owners. That’s riduclous. Steve, are you a home owner on the island? Usually people that have opinions like yours are either renters or don’t even live on the island or like some in here that have big opinions and don’t even live in the state as well as are not a property owner.
So only those with enough money to afford a $500,000+ condo or home should be allowed to run! Got it.
With that logic maybe theres federal things we should get rid of because they affect others too. You chose to live in a expensive and high sought area that brings people fornits beauty. Dont want higher taxes, move out of the panhandle plain and simple if taxes is what youre worried about.
Im actually worried about who is the best fit for our little island si it doesnt get overdeveloped like Miami Beach
Do you even know where Fort Myers Beach is? No where close to the panhandle.
Yes, I have been a full time owner of 2 properties, my homestead and a rental, since 2012. The Mayor has “skin in the game” and you should not make assumptions about people making comments as you are obviously naive or uneducated.
It happens out of DC every day. As much as we’d love to prevent most of them from having a voting voice because they don’t own property here, we can’t.
Jade, were you a full time resident at the time of Ian? Are you aware of what this “renter” did for this community? I wish we had more renters like that. BTW, the previous mayor was also a renter. Did you bitch when that mayor and council raised the millage rate from .95 to .99?
I’m not going to reply to your non-stop posting of nonsense. Clearly you are retired and have way too much time on your hands. But what I will say YES, I am a full time resident and YES I am a home owner. Have a Good day Steve.
If you have ever rented or owned a rental property, you would know and understand that the renters pay the property taxes as part of their rent. No landlord is going to pay taxes and not pass that cost on to the renter.
Most renters certainly don’t have the impact of elected officials on homeowners in mind when they vote. Let alone most renters don’t pay attention to local politics yet they vote for people that have powers to make impacts on homeowners. All homeowners should have a say (vote) for local politics even though if it’s not their primary residence.
Joe
Well we certainly know one renter who paid attention to town government. He became mayor.
People only get to vote where their primary (legal) residence is, not in every municipality in which they may own a home.
Jade
How silly.
The last state to eliminate the ownership qualification in voting was North Carolina in 1859.
Florida and the other states have no such requirement and the town cannot unilaterally adopt or legislate such a requirement.
Such discrimination would violate all those amendments in our constitution securing voting rights.
“How Silly”??? LOL That sounds like something my grandmother would say. That’s a blast from the past. I did not say it is a law, I said ” I believe a person SHOULD have to be a home owner”. “TO ME” it just makes sense that someone should be a home owner to be making these decisions for home owners. A renter has more rights than a property owner if they don’t live on the island. It seems to me that renters/out of state visitors have taken over the comments on this site. Meanwhile owners are silenced.
Maybe we should repeal the 19th Amendment!!!!
Should the foreign property owners (Chinese, Canadians, Germans, etc) have a vote and residents who are owners not???? Wake up!
Jade
You seem to want to make renters second class citizens. That’s beyond silly. It’s ludicrous.
Heard that word lately?
Again, you are making assumptions and don’t have a clue what you are talking about. No wonder you won’t respond. The Mayor is the only council member that voted against increasing density and has worked harder for this Town than any other prior Mayor.
Dean they are both residents. Don’t like the choices get in the game.
I’m aware they are both residents… with different opinions on how best to serve the people who vote for them.
Dean – I can assure you, for me, everyone’s of my friends and neighbor’s here on the island opinion’s count. The only reason I am running is to assure that FMB Families and the FMB Community comes first! This is the most important time since our islands incorporation, and decisions made now will forever effect the future of our island. I intend to make sure that FMB will continue to be a place for communities and families. Feel free to email me at gregscasny@gmail.com if you have questions/concerns I can address.
Im happy to see youre running. Ive had interactions with both you and the family in the past and they have always been pleasant.
I know you’re someone for the island, immediately after the hurricane getting back and getting a basecamp before helping other beach families with rallying for the school to get it rebuilt. You’ve done a lot of good Greg and I hope regardless of who is on council, they keep in mind that we are smaller by a lot than Miami Beach, and we were so special because we did have a smaller charm.
My opinion, whether you wanted it or not is not to elect someone who is so strongly commercial/business biased that they don’t listen to the residents. Both will tell you they are in favor of residents concerns but only one is telling the truth. Remember… history repeats itself. Both candidates are out for the resident’s vote and other opinions don’t matter.