He doesn’t have all that much political experience, but Clearwater City Council candidate Bob Cundiff definitely has a vision for the future of his city.
During a recent interview with FloridaPolitics.com, Cundiff, a communications professor at St. Pete College, spoke at length about careful tax spending, government officials listening to the public, and local job and business growth.
“I see a lot of empty lots,” said Cundiff. “Those could be parks. Those could be businesses. Whatever the city can do to encourage that, I think would be beneficial.”
Things got extra interesting when he started talking about expediting downtown Clearwater’s development efforts — especially when the idea of a monorail system that stretches from downtown Clearwater to Clearwater Beach came up.
The company who builds the style of monorail Cundiff spoke of is called skyTran, a NASA Space Act company based in California which calls its product a “high-speed, low-cost, elevated personal rapid transportation system.” It uses a network of computer-controlled, 2-person “jet-like” vehicles which get around via magnetic levitation. (Check out the link above for a video.)
So far, skyTran has a deal in place with an foreign company to build a monorail system through Tel Aviv, Israel.
In order for the monorail to work for Clearwater — which means both clearing up traffic while also being financially profitable for the city — Cundiff contends that there needs to be more of a draw to downtown. In other words, people need to want to not only be on the beach, but to be downtown as well. Which is why part of Cundiff’s plan includes more downtown high-rises and better parking.
“There needs to be a clear vision of Clearwater in the future,” says Cundiff. “What do we want it to look like 20 years from now?”
As far as Cundiff’s political resume goes, well, it’s not quite that lengthy. But, his experience in the academic world and in the field of communication is pretty impressive.
Cundiff, a 20-year Clearwater resident whose affectionally known as Dr. Bob to his students, earned his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University, where his formal training was in speech communication and theater.
Since 1998, he has been teaching adjunct at SPC. But, from 1996 to 2013, he was also a full-time professor of communication at Clearwater Christian College, where he taught such subjects as communication, debate, mass communication, journalism and theater. He chaired the Department of Communication Arts while at CCC as well.
Cundiff is also the president of the Clearwater chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, a patriotic nonprofit organization. He’s a member of the Dramatists Guild, Inc. too and volunteers with the Salvation Army, the Tampa-based Children’s Home, and also with his church.
A registered nonpartisan candidate, but self-described conservative who commonly votes Republican, Cundiff will be seeking to oust an incumbent he otherwise might have voted for — Clearwater’s current Seat 3 holder and vice mayor, Republican Jay Polglaze.
Polglaze, a 40-plus-year resident of the Clearwater-Largo area and U.S. Postal Service employee for nearly as long, has been on City Council since 2012 — when he was awarded the post after having run unopposed.
The notion that Polglaze would again win without facing any competition — as both Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos and Councilmember Doreen Hock-DiPolito did this time around — is something that just didn’t sit well with Dr. Bob Cundiff.
“I don’t like seeing anyone run unopposed,” he said.
However, and despite being the only candidate filed to run against the incumbent, Cundiff will need to amp up his fundraising efforts if he wants to give himself a real shot at winning.
According to the most recent candidate finance reports, Cundiff has raised just $200 compared to Polglaze’s $3,200.
Although, Cundiff says that now he’s officially qualified as a candidate, he’ll be dedicating more of his time to fundraising, adding that he’ll sprinkle in a little old school with the new school by both going door-to-dor to pass out campaign literature and shake hands, while also campaigning through his Twitter and Facebook pages.
Election Day for the Clearwater City Council is March 15, 2016.
