New Hope for the City of Mobile

On Tuesday, August 27th, Mobile, Alabama will be electing a new leader the city desperately needs. It's been said that everything rises and falls on leadership. Our current Mayor Sam Jones is finishing his second term in office. 8 years is a long time to effect change. In his 8 years in office we've seen numerous serious mismanagement which Mobilians would be wise not to forget when they vote.
1. Ladd Pebbles stadium financial mismanagement . (City owned property)
2. Bay Bears stadium which is a city property received no rent payments for years from the privately owned Bay Bears Company.
3. The city owes over $20 million dollars on a cruise  terminal with no cruise ship. Carnival cruise lines pulled out suddenly and was not under contract leaving the city with massive debt.
4. Over the last 8 years the Mayor has had only one singular vision....increase the sales tax to 10 percent. At one point the council agreed to a 'temporary' tax that when it expired had the Mayor a week later insisting we could not survive without a reinstatement of this 'temporary tax'. We again now have the 10 percent tax in place after numerous votes, threats and scare tactics were employed including threatening the public safety by both the Mayor and one Council Member (Fred Richardson) who predicted Mobile was 'going down in flames' unless the tax was passed.
5. In 8 years time and even with increased revenue from the sales tax our public safety employees who were threatened with lay offs have received no significant increase in their pay or benefits. The Mobile police department is paid less than any other department in the region....thus leading to a continuous exodus of experienced and talented officers out of the area.
6. Over the 8 years the Mayor has been in office his communication with both the public and city council has been very controlled and difficult. As council members and concerned citizens seek for answers concerning budgetary issues they have met with delay and in some cases denial of their requests.
7. Even in the management of his own campaign fund the Mayor had numerous discrepancies that caused him to refile his reports and pay back funds which had been inappropriately used for personal or inappropriate items.

All of the things mentioned in this blog show a pattern of mismanagement and a lack of strong leadership skills. We've given Mayor Jones eight years in office and it's my firm conviction that we need someone with a stronger commitment to good management and visionary leadership to take Mobile forward. Sandy Stimpson has decades of business and management experience and he is committed to assisting small businesses to get the same attention that has been paid to the big businesses recently arriving to our city. Sandy also wants to make government more accessible to the people and on day one will remove the door to the office of the Mayor as a symbol of transparency and accountability. Sandy is committed to making Mobile a safe city by working hard to ensure our public safety workers receive the pay they deserve and the equipment they need to serve the public well. The quality of life in Mobile is impacted by the quality of leadership that it receives. Now is the time for Mobile to embrace a proven leader with a clear vision for Mobile. Elect Sandy Stimpson on Tuesday, August 27th and bring new hope to Mobile, Alabama!

-