NTP’s production of ‘Oklahoma!” was supposed to debut tonight (Friday, October 17), but due to male lead Gabriel White Marin leaving the area this week for a his new role in a touring company production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the opening night of “Oklahoma!” had to be moved from tonight to tomorrow night, so that the show’s choreographer Christan McLaurine could properly learn the choreography of the show’s classic fight scene in his new additional role as “Curly.” “It’s never easy to lose a show lead,” Paine says, “but I can’t think of a better reason to lose one! We’re all excited for Gabriel and know he will do great! We also know that Christan will do an amazing job as Curly!”
Note — If you have tickets for tonight’s cancelled performance, NTP producing artistic director and “Oklahoma!” director Nora Paine says you can either have the cost of your tickets refunded or you can exchange them for any of the remaining available performances. Call the New Tampa Players Box Office at (813) 543-6252 if you haven’t already to make your arrangements.
As for the show itself, the heart of the American frontier comes alive on stage as NTP — New Tampa’s community theatre troupe — opens its highly anticipated production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center.
Directed by Paine (who also directed NTP’s “Singin’ in the Rain” in 2024), G. Frank Meekins (“Grease,” 2023) and Karissa Barber (“Into the Woods,” 2025), the production captures the spirit and charm of this beloved 1943 musical known for its rich score, iconic characters and sweeping depiction of life in the early 20th-century Oklahoma Territory.
A Classic Reimagined For The Community
“Oklahoma!’ is more than just a musical: it’s a celebration of resilience, hope, and love,” Paine says. “We wanted to stay true to the classic while also making it feel fresh and relevant to our community.”
From the opening strains of “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” to the stirring finale, the show features standout performances from a terrific cast of local talent.
The multi-talented Mr. McLaurine, who wowed audiences as James “Thunder” Early in NTP’s production of “Dreamgirls” (he also was the incredible baritone voice of the man-eating plant Audrey II in NTP’s “Little Shop of Horrors”), steps into the role of Curly for Gabriel. Meanwhile, Isabella Ruano, a newcomer to the NTPAC stage, brings strength and warmth to the role of Laurey. The supporting cast — including NTP newcomer Madison DeBrino as Ado Annie, newcomer Tristan Horta as Will Parker, and long-time NTP veteran Michael Neary as the troubled farmhand Jud Fry — bring their roles to life with humor, heart and depth.
The Heart Of The Community, Too!
The production is a true community effort, involving more than 50 volunteers. Leading the team are costume designer Deb Lastinger, technical director Paul McColgan and scenic artist James Cass. Audiences will be especially delighted by the vibrant choreography by McLaurine and ballroom choreographer Erica Holland — a beautiful highlight of the show.
Music directors Rick Barclay and G. Frank Meekins have teamed up to guide this 23-person cast and 14-musician orchestra through a score that will have you humming all the way home, including the title song, plus “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and many more.
Don’t Miss It!
Don’t miss your chance to experience “Oklahoma!” like never before and get ready to be swept away by the beauty, music and magic of this unforgettable production.
Buy your tickets now, before NTP sells out the rest of this six-performance run! Performances of “Oklahoma!” will be Saturday, October 18, at 8 p.m., Sunday, October 19, at 3 p.m., Friday & Saturday, Oct. 24-25, at 8 p.m., and Saturday & Sunday, October 25-26, at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at NewTampaPlayers.org and cost $22-$40. Also, see the ad below for more info.
When Azteca D’Oro co-owner Victor Ramos told me he wanted to highlight his new menu items in his next ad (about a month or so ago), I definitely wanted to check out the new items the authentic Mexican restaurant in The Shops at Wiregrass would be bringing to the table (pun intended).
But, when I saw the photos of those new items he sent me to put in that new ad, I knew Jannah, photographer Charmaine George and I had to try them — all of them, that is!
Already one of the Wesley Chapel area’s favorite restaurants (based on Azteca being named our readers’ second favorite restaurant in Wesley Chapel in our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest each of the last two years — the first two years it’s been open here), I also knew that Azteca was due for its 2025 Dining Feature, so I figured the new menu items were a great way to tell you more about the restaurant this year. And yes, we were all impressed with the new options.
We started with the Azteca Dip Sampler (left photo), which includes nice-sized cups of non-spicy esquites (Mexican street corn), queso, spiced bean dip and Azteca’s already-famous, house-made guacamole. We all liked the esquites the best, but the queso, bean dip and guacamole were all pretty tasty, too.
We also took the plunge by ordering the huge, 55-oz. “Big Azz Margarita,” served “Grand Vida Style” — topped with two small bottles of Grand Marnier orange liqueur. It certainly was big enough for all three of us (and maybe a fourth person) to share. But no, I had the great idea to also order a regular-sized (16-oz.) Grand Vida Style margarita, so we could show just how much bigger the Big Azz Margarita is by comparison (right photo). Azteca’s full premium liquor bar has lots of top-shelf tequilas if you want to truly make your margarita your own or add a shot to it, as well as my Jameson and a nice variety of Mexican and other beers.
We all also agreed that our favorite of the new menu items was the birria “pizza” (top photo), which layers melted cheese and a unique combination of lamb, pork and beef between two large flour tortillas (like a quesadilla), garnished with fresh cilantro, pickled onions and lime and served with a cup of birria consommé that is plenty large enough for dipping every delicious piece of the “pizza.”
We did also enjoy the huge 12-taco Taco Sampler Platter (left photo), where you can select up to three different proteins (four tacos of each) from: pollo adobato (chunks of chicken marinated in flavorful adobo sauce, made from dried chiles, vinegar, garlic & spices), pastor asada (pork with chiles and spices), carnitas (crispy pork chunks), chorizo sausage, shrimp, lengua (beef tongue) or tripa (beef tripe).
Since I couldn’t eat the shrimp, we chose to have four chicken, four carnitas and four of the crispy fish tacos and all were yummy. My favorites were the crispy fish tacos, served with a semi-spicy chipotle ranch sauce. Jannah preferred the chicken tacos, which also had their own zesty sauce, and Charmaine liked the carnitas the best. Being able to sample at least one of each was fun, too!
And of course, Azteca still has upscale favorites you can’t find at most other Mexican places, like pescado frito (whole fried snapper), grilled salmon and molcajete d’mar (snow crab, clams. mussels, scallops, shrimp & octopus), as well as Mexican standards like fajitas, quesadillas, enchiladas, vegetarian dishes and more.
And, don’t skip dessert! Try the deep fried ice cream, churros, tres leches, flan or the cream cheese-filled mini empanadas (right) we had for the first time. All delectable ways to finish a meal!
Azteca D’Oro (2000 Piazza Ave., Unit 170) is open every day for lunch and dinner, from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (and until 11 p.m. on Friday & Saturday). For more info, call (813) 527-6033 and visit AztecaDoro.com.
(L.-r.) Justin Olsen & Dr. Joseph Perno of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Teresa Campbell of HKS Architects & Bryan Durkin of Robins & Morton, with NTBC president & CEO Hope Kennedy, discuss the process of building Wesley Chapel’s pediatric hospital at the NW corner of Overpass Rd. & McKendree Rd.
The North Tampa Bay Chamber’s quarterly Economic Development Briefing on Sept. 24 brought four of the principals involved in the design, construction and staffing of the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital of Wesley Chapel, which is being built just off the Overpass Rd. exit of I-75. The event was held at Pasco Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch.
NTBC president and CEO Hope Kennedy led the panel discussion that included Justin Olsen, the chief operating officer and Dr. Joseph Perno, the VP of Medical Affairs of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, as well as HKS Architects partner Teresa Campbell, and Bryan Durkin, the operations manager from Robins & Morton, which is building the 230,000-sq.- ft., 56-bed hospital at the northwest corner of Overpass Rd. and McKendree Rd.
Wesley Chapel’s first and only pediatric hospital is expected to be completed in late 2027, but this was the first real opportunity for the local business community to get an update on the progress of the hospital since the groundbreaking ceremony for it back in April of this year.
“The overall land purchase was about 112 total acres, and the hospital will be on about 30 acres, which is actually the same size as our St. Petersburg campus,” Olsen said. “The facility itself will have a full-service pediatric ED (Emergency Department) and will offer perioperative and surgical services and also will have our first inpatient rehab program for physical rehab. I will tell you that in St. Pete, we have a need for that service, so this project is going to become a center of excellence for us, to be able to provide rehab following traumatic injury. It’ll have med-surg beds, or general admission beds, and it’ll also be ready for a pediatric intensive care unit. We may not launch with that, but the facility will be designed so that, if we need to turn that on right away, we can. Lastly, it will have a really extensive outpatient footprint, with approximately 30,000 sq. ft. for kids coming in for ambulatory visits. And, we’ve already started recruiting a host of subspecialists to join the staff and live in Wesley Chapel to provide that care.”
Dr. Perno added, “It’s more than just a building. It’s moving our culture and our attitude about how we care for children, and replicating that from what we do in St. Pete to provide that same high-quality care. I’m really excited about finding the physicians that want to be part of this community and provide that care to our local pediatric patients.”
He added, “I’m probably not telling anybody in this room something they don’t already know, but this is a growing area. There’s a lot of young people here and there’s a dearth of pediatric care in this area. I’ve seen a lot of patients from this area coming to the emergency department in St. Pete and I know they’re commuting all the way down there to see our caregivers. And, I knew that we could bring the care we deliver in St. Pete closer to home for our patients in Pasco County, so we feel we’re fulfilling a big need for the community and really helping children, which is what we’re all about.”
Campbell said, “We love designing pediatric facilities. Just because a patient is having a stressful health situation doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be in an environment that’s elevating and inspiring and playful. We also think about the patient’s family, and we need to be really thoughtful about the design We work with the Patient Family Advisory Council, to really ask them, ‘What do they need? What do they want? What do they like? What do they dislike?’ We work with real patients with real parents, who provide feedback and input that really helped influence the design aspect of this project.”
As for the construction process, Durkin said, “As important as the doctors and nurses are to a hospital, subconratctors and trade partners are the folks who get the job done on the construction side. We’re getting our door knocked on consistently by high-quality contractors who want to work in a health care facility and understand the unique challenges of building health care and hospitals.”
He added, “And, what’s unique about this arrangement is that Johns Hopkins hired the construction manager at the same time as they hired the architect design team, so there was a collaboration right from the get-go of budget, design and purpose. I’m happy to continue to extend our invitation out to additional trade partners throughout the area, but our outreach started almost two years ago, when we were awarded the project . We’ll have 400-500 people on the site on any given day and 1,200-1,300 different folks come in throughout the course of the overall project. It’s important that we engage folks in Pasco County, specifically — it’s one of our contractual requirements.”
And, speaking of that workforce, Olsen said, “Yes, we’re bringing 500 jobs to the community, which is good news, but it’s also anxiety-provoking. We all know health care team members are in short supply, so making sure we can find people is going to be a challenge. We will hire a myriad of different types of roles, from administrators through nursing, and all those areas that go into a hospital and make it work. So we’re gonna have a lot of hiring to do here, and it is gonna be certainly a challenge as we look at some of our in-demand specialty areas.”
He added, “I didn’t appreciate how many of our current team members actually drive to St. Pete from this community. So, a lot of them have already started sending emails almost every week. ‘When do I get to apply for it?’ I love that people who are currently part of that culture and our team are going to join the facility here, and they will help make it the exact same in terms of always putting the kid first. It is going to be a big lift, to bring 500 new, really well-paying jobs to this community.”
Dr. Perno also noted that, “We’re looking for physicians who want to care for kids and be embedded in this community. And I’m already hearing interest on that. And, you know, we, already have people asking, ‘When is it opening? When can I start working there?’ I’m like, well, we’ve just got dirt right now, but we’re working on it.”
He added, “We have a clinic in this area now that’s bursting at the seams (on Allegra Way, off Wesley Chapel Blvd.) with physicians and practitioners working there, seeing patients. So, we’re looking at more opportunities up in this area and the physicians are fighting to go there and be part of it.”
Campbell also talked about how the building itself is being designed to be as hurricane-proof as possible, with multiple backup systems for power and water, high-wind-rated windows and more. And, Durkin talked about the challenges of dealing with two more hurricane seasons while the hospital is being constructed.
Olsen noted that this $300-million project, “is not Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital of St. Pete coming to Wesley Chapel. We are building Wesley Chapel’s children’s hospital. We will provide the departments and services this community asks for. This is a partnership. We’ve already been accepted amazingly by this community and will do what the community asks to improve kids’ health.”
Photo below by Gary Nager. Above photo source: Facebook/USF Athletics
When former USF football coach Jim Leavitt was arrested for assaulting his former girlfriend, stealing her belongings and putting his hands on another man back in August, USF alumni Kathy and her daughter Jamie Miller were hopeful that their alma mater’s Athletic Hall of Fame committee would change its collective mind about inducting Leavitt into the USF Hall.
After all, Leavitt had previously assaulted Kathy’s son, Jamie’s brother and former USF football player Joel Miller at halftime of a game the Bulls were winning back in 2009, lied about it, convinced Joel to go along with his lie because he was, “the most powerful man in the building,” but got fired for it anyway, had the remainder of his contract bought out by the school to the tune of $2.75 million, was told to never come back but went on to receive multiple subsequent coaching jobs despite this less-than-impressive resume.
But, things didn’t go nearly as well for Joel or his family after that. Joel was blamed for being the “kid” who got Leavitt fired, couldn’t show his face on campus, got hit in the head with a thrown brick and saw his once promising future go down the drain before passing away at age 29 in 2017.
How Leavitt’s name was even on USF’s Hall of Fame ballot this year is beyond the imagining of this editor. Yes, he started the school’s football program but it never won anything of consequence under his leadership. Yet, there he was — one of five inductees in the Class of 2025. Just using Leavitt’s name and “Class” in the same sentence makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
On Sept. 10, the eighth anniversary of Joel’s passing, it was announced that the new charges against Leavitt had been dropped — interesting timing considering the fact he had only recently been announced as a USF Hall inductee.
Then, on Sept. 17, I brought Kathy and Jamie into the Emorys Rock Realty Podcast Studio at the North Tampa Bay Chamber office in The Shops at Wiregrass to try to help sway USF into changing its collective mind about inducting this lowlife. Kathy and Jamie started a Change.orgpetition that has now been signed by 641 people and they did everything they could —made phone calls, sent emails and even stopped in at the USF Athletics office to try to get someone to talk to them and update them about this sad situation. Instead, they were told that if they didn’t leave the premises, they would be escorted out by the campus police. That podcast episode was viewed more than 2,300 times on Facebook.
“We remained calm, didn’t raise our voices, didn’t threaten anyone,” Kathy said, “we just wanted someone to talk to us.” “Sad,” Jamie added.
Into this unenviable situation stepped Rob Higgins, another USF grad who has spent the last two decades as the super-successful Tampa Bay Sports Commission executive director. Higgins was officially named the first-ever chief executive officer of a major college athletic department on Sept. 18 (although he didn’t officially assume the job until Oct. 1) and, on Sept. 19, committed his first fumble in his new position.
Higgins announced on X (formerly Twitter) that, “Jim Leavitt and I have had candid and productive conversations…We have mutually agreed that he will not attend and/or be recognized at [the Oct. 2] USF Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony.”
Did that mean Leavitt was no longer being inducted? No, it did not. On Oct. 2, Higgins (right) oversaw the Class of 2025 induction, which didn’t mention Leavitt, nor was his photo shown with those of the other inductees — former USF men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who passed away on Oct. 24, 2024, baseball legend Scott Hemond, women’s basketball star Kitija Laksa and football great Kawika Mitchell. There were several comments on Facebook that Leavitt should have been included, which begs the question: If a “Hall of Fame” is an honor bestowed only on the best of the best, why would someone elected to a Hall not be invited to or included in their induction ceremony?
Higgins said in his post on X that, “Coach Leavitt understands the importance of USF Athletics being able to honor this year’s inductees without distraction.” Really?
Will Leavitt’s mug shot be added to the Hall anyway? Shouldn’t the school be so proud of every inductee to not care what some people think?
I attended the news conference on Sept. 22 when Higgins was introduced to the public and I was impressed with everything he had to say. I believe he will be a great leader of USF Athletics.
But, I also say this was one he muffed and that he should have at least talked to the Miller family before finalizing this truly bad decision.
I first met Morris Lopez 30 years ago, when he opened the original Amigos Spanish Café (later Las Palmas) restaurant in the same Pebble Creek Collection plaza where I moved the Neighborhood News office in 1995.
Morris, who was born and raised in Tampa, and his wife Yvette (also in the photo) and their two daughters moved into a 1,600-sq.-ft., $89,900 house in the adjacent Pebble Creek community, “because it was the only place we could afford,” he says.
At the time, Morris was only eight years into his now-38-year career with the Hillsborough County Fire Department, which did not then (and still does not today) have a location anywhere in New Tampa.
So, how did the career Hillsborough County firefighter and current shift commander decide that he wants to run for the District 7 Tampa City Council seat being vacated in 2027 (or possibly before) by two-term incumbent Luis Viera?
Well, first of all, Morris’ childhood home was in District 7 and he moved his family to Tampa Palms after selling Amigos three years after opening it.
“I’ve been serving the public my entire adult life and I want to continue to serve,” he says. “And honestly, Luis has inspired me.”
“It kind of came out of nowhere,” Morris said while sitting with Yvette and me in the restaurant at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club. “Once I got promoted with Hillsborough County, after 38 years and getting promoted into admin, I dealt with a lot of events and the political side of it.”
He added, “And, I met Luis (Viera) and got to know him a little bit, and became a fan of his, watched what he did out here and I just loved the fact that he was for all of the people and very much into public safety. And, he did a couple of things for us that were unexpected, including the tribute he did — and got City Council to do — for my grandfather, Morris Lopez I — and he’s actually working now on naming a street for him, which I think is very special — and I became a fan.”
For those who don’t know, or read Luis’ Facebook posts, Tampa Police Patrolman Morris Lopez was gunned down from a passing car while on his patrol in Ybor City on July 9, 1949. He was only 25 years old. The case remains unsolved to this day.
“I never got to meet my grandfather,” Morris said. “But, it was because of his service that I became a firefighter and I so appreciate Luis recognizing his service and his sacrifice.”
So, when Viera announced that he was leaving his seat, Morris said, “Believe it or not, that’s the first time that I ever thought about it. For 38 years, I’ve been in public service and now, at an administrative level. The next thing for me, to continue to serve, is to move into some kind of non-partisan position like this — where I can actually have a voice like I have at my job. I think I can transition into [elected office] and do well.”
A Lifetime Of Service
Morris started his career with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue in 1987, as a firefighter at the Gibsonton station, but soon moved to his “home” area of District 7 and the University area, “at the two busiest stations in the county. I never thought I’d one day be able to maximize my career, but I’ve done it.”
When I mentioned that his inspiration for opening his restaurant may have come from him doing a lot of the cooking during his 24-hour firefighter shifts, Morris said, “We don’t even allow the firefighters to cook now until they build their skills, but I’m not in the stations anymore.”
But now, as a shift commander, he said, “I am responsible for that whole shift [for the entire county], so after 5 p.m. and on weekends and holidays, I’m pretty much running the entire department. It’s a lot different now than it was when I was a firefighter and my only responsibility was to clean toilets (and maybe do some cooking) and I only made $5.87 an hour — which is the reason my wife and I had to have a small business.”
He started cutting grass out of his truck, “and I would take my crews to that deli that guy had [in the Pebble Creek Collection] and I became the first to bring Cuban food to New Tampa.”
Yvette added, “We got married in 1990 and built our first house in Pebble Creek, because it was affordable. I was working at USAA (the giant insurance headquarters building in Tampa Palms) and we decided to raise our family here.”
Although they are doing some remodeling at their home, Morris says that he still has the story we published in the Neighborhood News about Amigos back in 1995.
Yvette also acknowledged that she and her husband were among the very few people living in New Tampa at the time, “who were both originally from Tampa. Most everyone else was from someplace else. They’d say, ‘You’re from Tampa and you live out here?’”
It wasn’t long before Morris and Yvette decided to move to Tampa Palms. “The reason was because we had two young daughters (Danielle and Courtney) and I was — and still am — a very big advocate of the county’s public school system,” Yvette said. “My dad taught at Plant High School for 37 years. And I said, ‘These schools are good. We want to raise our children here.’ And what an experience we had, taking our children from Tampa Palms Elementary to Liberty [Middle School] to Freedom [High] and then to USF!”
Morris added, “We’ve only owned two residential homes in our entire lives. Pebble Creek was our ‘starter’ and I worked very hard to save enough money to afford a lot in Tampa Palms, when Yvette was pregnant with our second daughter (Courtney) — in 1997, after I sold the restaurant. I was still doing the landscaping and the money from the sale was the only way we could afford to move here. This is our forever home. We’re not going anywhere.”
The Election Itself
Morris said he has heard about some possible opponents for the Dist. 7 seat, but he isn’t concerned about whether or not he will have competition for it.
“I haven’t really delved into that,” he said. “It’s more about finding out if I had viability [as a candidate] myself. I’ve gone down the list and looked at what kind of support I could get and I feel very comfortable about that. But, the most important thing is my wife and how important she is to me and whether or not she wanted us to take on this challenge.”
Yvette smiled, “I honestly think it’s more of an opportunity. We’ve just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary and I always say that the only thing he’s been committed to longer than myself is the Hillsborough County Fire Department. The one thing I will say about him is that he’s a committed, loyal man — as he is to me and as he is to his department, he will be to the people of this District and this city. I’ve watched him grow from being a firefighter to being a Division Chief and he has used that platform to represent where he came from and he can do that now.”
She also noted, however, that, “We both grew up middle class and I used to think that you can’t really have a voice unless you have money, that money is power. But, you know what? Having a sincere desire to serve and help people and make a difference, I now think that’s what you really need.”
Morris added, “I maximized my position with the Fire Department and I became a voice and I was able to do things for my people and actually plant seeds and watch them grow. I don’t want that to stop.”
As an example of his voice, Morris said that, “We’ve made so many changes in Hillsborough County in the Fire Department. We’ve grown so much and to help with that growth — helping with quicker response times, knowing the area and being so involved for so long, and now, we’re going to be one of the best departments in the nation.”
Morris said that he believes that if elected, he can finally get the additional ambulance unit in K-Bar Ranch that Viera has been fighting for with Tampa Fire Chief Barbara Tripp. “Until I became an admin, I spent 34 years in the union and I have to walk that fine line every day,” he said. “I have to protect my admin family in the Fire Department but also co-mingle with the union. I’ve been that mediator between our union and our admin because I was part of it for so long.”
He added that, “When we lived in Pebble Creek, if there was a call for a cardiac arrest in our neighborhood, our Ladder Truck [from Hillsborough Station No. 5, north of E. Fletcher Ave.] would drive right past Tampa Station No. 20 on Bruce B. Downs in Tampa Palms. But now, we pay the city to cover [Pebble Creek, Cross Creek and Live Oak] because that’s the best way to get those county residents the best service at this time.”
Top Priority: Keeping People Safe
“My top priority will be public safety,” he said, “but also infrastructure and transportation and traffic. We’ve grown so much in Tampa, but there are things we can do to improve the services we provide, so those items will be most important going forward. What I’m going to bring to the table is that I’m an information gatherer and although I’m only one decision-maker (out of seven), I will have a voice. I will do what I do for people in my department and carry that over to the residents of the district and the city. I will have the same passion in office as I do now when I serve my people in my department. That’s what my platform is.”
Yvette added, “Morris is the person you can go to if you have a problem. He will have a very open-door policy and the people need to know that he’s going to listen to every voice and help the city and county to work together.”
And finally, he said, “The county has been so good to me, but my heart and soul are in the city. I don’t want this to be about my grandfather, but he gave his life for the city. My dad was two years old when that happened. He grew up without a father and I grew up with nothing. That’s my inspiration. I would feel like I was doing him an injustice if I didn’t try this, no matter how it turns out.
“I looked into the viability, got my wife’s support and I realized this could happen.”
If and when Viera vacates his seat next year — if he is able to gets elected to replace House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell in House District 67 the State Legislature, “I will have an interview with the City Council. If that goes well, I could be appointed to the seat, but I still have to be prepared to run for it, too. I will file all of the paperwork by the first of the year.
“This isn’t a political aspiration,” Yvette said. “He wants to run to make a difference.”
