Orlando Gudes says he is all about the people, and all about his community.
He thinks he can help uplift both as a Tampa City Council member.
Gudes told the Neighborhood News that he intends to run for the District 7 Tampa City Council seat that will be soon vacated by Lisa Montelione, who has filed to challenge Shawn Harrison for the Florida House District 63 seat in November. State law requires that Montelione resign and vacate her council seat by June 10 of this year.
Gudes, a retired Tampa police officer and Director of the United Youth Football Conference, joins a field of prospective candidates for the municipal elections next March that already includes Cory Lake Isles Community Development District (CDD) chair Dr. Cyril Spiro, and recent Tampa Palms resident and La Gaceta (Tampa’s largest Spanish language newspaper) assistant to the editor Gene Siudut.
Tampa Palms resident and lawyer Luis Viera also has expressed interest in representing District 7, which runs north from Waters Ave. to County Line Rd., including Forest Hills, Terrace Park, New Tampa and the University of South Florida.
Gudes, who helps run his family’s Gudes Funeral Home on E. Hillsborough Ave., is the first non-New Tampa resident that we know of with intentions to run for Montelione’s seat. Gudes has lived in North Tampa (between Fowler Ave. and Busch Blvd., in the Copeland Park area) for 16 years.
“The heart of North Tampa,’’ he calls it.
He said that as a police officer, youth football coach and organizer, and mentor to countless children and adults, public service is in his blood. He sees a division between North Tampa, New Tampa and other parts of District 7, a gap he would like to bridge.
“It’s a unique district,’’ said the 48-year-old Gudes. “To me, I feel the district has become kind of divided and I don’t think it should be. New Tampa, University area, whatever you want to call it, we’re all in the same district. I don’t believe the area you live in defines you, rich or poor. We’re all people. We should all be helping each other.”
Gudes says there isn’t a door in North Tampa he probably hasn’t knocked on at some time or another, and few residents he hasn’t met.
A Tampa Bay Tech High (on Orient Rd. in Tampa) graduate, Gudes attended Bethune-Cookman College (now University) in Daytona Beach, before transferring back home and receiving his Associate of Arts degree from Saint Leo University near Dade City. He also says he has a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Behavorial Science and a Master’s degree in human resource administration from National Louis University in Tampa.
Gudes served nine years as a school resource officer in the late-1990s, early-2000s before “returning to the streets” and becoming a master patrol officer.
In 2004, Gudes started the Unity Youth Football Conference (UYFC), to give local children a flag and tackle football league that they could afford and that was in their community.
The UYFC instituted study halls and grade-point-average requirements, and helped keep kids out of trouble. A number of its players went on to become high school and college players, including Matt Jones, currently the starting running back for the NFL’s Washington Redskins.
While Gudes says he has some ideas about what he would like to accomplish as a City Council member, he plans on unveiling his platform after taking the pulse of the community. “This isn’t about me, it’s about them,’’ he says.
“The whole philosophy of our campaign, our whole mission is community, compassion and contribution,’’ Gudes says. “That’s my commitment to the people.”
Gudes also says he is planning to hold multiple “Chat and Chew With Gudes” meetings at which the community will be invited to discuss what they think its needs are. He says he wants to hold one in every part of District 7.
“Whether some of the things people want is attainable or not, they need someone to knock on those doors, to get them to open and to get people to listen to us,’’ Gudes says. “I’m not afraid to knock on those doors.”
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