As the Aug. 26 primary election draws closer, the Plant City Times & Observer will be publishing profiles and Q&As from each of the candidates who will represent Plant City and its constituents.
In this edition, we introduce the candidates for Hillsborough County Commission District 7.
District 7 candidates include Republicans Al Higginbotham, Don Kruse, Robin Lester and Tim Schock; and Democrats Patricia “Pat” Kemp and Mark Nash.
DON KRUSE, REPUBLICAN
Age: 54
Hometown: Hillsborough County
Education: High school
Experience: Small-business owner, Beauty and Health Institute
Favorite author and book: Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “he Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism”
If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? My grandfather
Website: donkruse.com
What would be your top priorities if elected?
My priorities are to see through to fruition a smart transportation system in place that encourages smart growth to our metro areas away from creating gridlock producing sprawl, economic development by attracting businesses such as nanotechnology that will create opportunities for a skilled labor-force and higher-income jobs.
What are some of the current challenges in Hillsborough County, and what are your solutions to those problems?
More now than ever to help ensure that Hillsborough County grows in the right direction, with smart growth, without sprawl, by building an infrastructure that is compatible with the 600,000 projected growth in our population by the year 2040, with a smart mass-transportation system in place along with forward thinking leaders, growth can be guided to our metropolitan areas and away from creating more urban sprawl.
What are some of the current challenges facing Greater Plant City, and if elected, how would you address those concerns?
Keeping sprawl in check and not encouraging redevelopment of productive farmland to non-agricultural use, and promoting expansion and relocation of agribusinesses to the area.
The county has reached out to residents through Imagine 2040 to help determine how growth should take place. How would you like to see the county grow in the next 30 years?
Hillsborough and its surrounding counties will all benefit from a regional approach on dealing with varying issues that concern us all, from helping the homeless (for if we don’t do something together as a team, they’re just going to drift from one county to another), to developing and implementing a multi-modal transportation system, and Hillsborough County should lead and seeing this through.
What makes you the best candidate for the commission?
I’m the only one in this race that actually has a plan for job growth, through my PIWA PLAN, Property Improvements Without Assessments, by allowing all property owners within a 24-month period in Hillsborough County to make improvements to their property (up to 50% of the current value), and, as long as they own the property, they will never be assessed for those improvements. Not only do you create jobs under this program, but later, when these properties or sold, the new owner will pay the full assessed value of the property providing future tax revenue for our county. To view the plan, visit piwaplan.org.