By Matt Wiley
The ballot is set: incumbent Victor Crist (R-New Tampa) will attempt to retain his District 2 Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) seat against opponent Elizabeth Belcher (D-Seffner) on November 4.
A relative newcomer to running for elected office, Belcher spent more than 27 years as a criminal investigator for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She did also run for the Florida State Senate District 24 seat in 2012, but lost to Tom Lee (R-Brandon). Some of the issues in her neighborhood got her interested in local government, she says.
“I got involved in a zoning issue in my area and was appalled at the way it was handled (by the county),” Belcher explains. “Then, I got involved in more zoning issues. So, when I retired (from the IRS), I became an activist.”
Belcher explains that she fought for Cone Ranch, an undeveloped 13,000-acre parcel in northeastern Hillsborough County that has been renamed the Lower Green Swamp Preserve.
“(The BOCC) wanted to sell it to developers,” Belcher said. “Me and two other people saved the Cone Ranch.”
Belcher adds that she also has been an advocate for libraries and says that she helped get the Seffner-Mango Branch Library built on land adjacent to Lopez Elementary that the BOCC wanted to use for a traffic control center. Belcher also has served as the president of the Seffner-Mango Friends of the Library group and treasurer of the Hickory Hill (the community she lives in) Special Dependent Tax District.
“It seems to me that the (BOCC) is not responding to ordinary citizens,” Belcher says. “I called repeatedly to talk to a commissioner (countrywide Dist. 7 Comm. Al Higginbotham) about the Bass Pro Shop in Brandon (and the tax incentive that was used to bring the store to Hillsborough County), but never was called back. We need people who respond to ordinary citizens.”
Belcher says that she is very concerned with the New Tampa Cultural Center deal for the land across from Hunter’s Green.
“I’m not sure about what they’re going to do there,” she explains. “I think they’ve shoved the idea of development there down people’s throats.”
Another issue that she is concerned about in the county is mass transit.
“We need to address the mass transit issue,” Belcher explains. “If citizens want to vote on a sales tax for future mass transit, that’s something for the citizens to decide, not elected officials. If elected, I will follow that money to make sure that it’s spent appropriately.”
At our press time, Belcher had raised nearly $11,000 for her campaign. For more info, visit Elizabeth Belcher.com.
‘Crists Crossed?’
Although he has represented the New Tampa area on the Hillsborough BOCC since 2010, Commissioner Victor Crist, of Hunter’s Green, says he is taking this race very seriously.
Having already raised more than $97,000 for his campaign, Crist says that this time around, he has been taking a “grassroots” approach, knocking on doors throughout the district and letting people know that he’s running for reelection. “I’m not a traditional campaigner,” Crist says. “Some people are all about brochures and TV ads. I’m about people.”
Crist says that the current BOCC has been productive and that by keeping him on as New Tampa’s representative, that productivity will continue.
“These are tough times,” he explains. “The county needs a BOCC that works well together, with no in-fighting or the politics that have plagued previous boards. We’ve been able to get more quality work done because of our congeniality and respect for the process… and for each other.”
Crist says that he was an integral part of bringing the University Area Community Development Center to the USF area. “I think that I’ve built a strong reputation of doing what I say and delivering,”he says. “I believe in performance, not promises.”
Crist says that lately he’s been trying to identify what fixes are needed most throughout the county and getting them funded.
“I’ve been working with Tampa Palms residents to deal with noise from (I-75), that has resulted from trees being cut down (for the widening of I-75 from E. Fowler Ave. to S.R. 54),” he explains. “We’ve been able to get some new trees planted and I’ve worked with the City (of Tampa) and the Florida Department of Transportation to try to extend the sound barrier (wall).”
Most recently, the former State Representative and State Senator and says that he’s been working on bringing a cultural center to the county property across from Hunter’s Green (see page 8).
“We have a variety of small business that offer cultural opportunities (in New Tampa), but what we’re talking about is a venue where they can utilize the space for recitals, shows and activities that they can’t necessarily do at their businesses,” Comm. Crist says. “We want to open a venue to help grow those local businesses and to help get more people involved in the arts and culture.”
Before serving on the BOCC, Comm. Crist also spent several years in both the Florida State Senate and Florida House of Representatives. He says that he hopes voters don’t confuse his name with Democrat Charlie Crist’s name, which also will appear on the same ballot.
“I hope voters don’t get their Crists crossed,” Comm. Crist says.
For more information, please visit VoteVictorCrist.com.
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