SAFETY HARBOR â The 2021 Safety Harbor municipal election field offered someone for everyone.
With seven contenders â including men and women, political newcomers and veterans â vying for three open seats, this election allowed voters to pick a candidate who best aligned with their viewpoint.
And by the time the polls closed March 9, it was clear who the residents wanted to see on the City Hall dais. Incumbents Nancy Besore and Cliff Merz retained their Seats 1 and 2, respectively, while former mayor Andy Steingold won a hotly contested battle for Seat 3 against former commissioner Scott Long, according to the unofficial results posted on the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website.
In Safety Harbor, âtownies versus the developersâ dominates city commission races
Safety Harbor and nine other small Pinellas municipalities will hold elections March 9.
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Candidate signs are seen along a street Friday, March 5, 2021 in Safety Harbor. It is one of 10 small Pinellas municipalities that will hold elections March 9, with four mayorâs offices and 19 council or commission seats on the ballots. [ CHRIS URSO | Times ]
By William March
Updated Mar. 6
The perennial political argument in Safety Harbor â development vs. preserving what everyone calls âsmall town charmâ â is again dominating city commission campaigns in this community of about 17,000, known as the cutest town around Tampa Bay.
SAFETY HARBOR â Thereâs an old baseball saying, âYou canât tell the players without a scorecard,â and that adage could easily apply to the 2021 Safety Harbor City Commission races.
Seven candidates, including two incumbents (Seat 1âs Nancy Besore and Seat 2âs Cliff Merz), two former commissioners (Seat 3 opponents Scott Long and two-term mayor Andy Steingold), and a trio of political newcomers (Seat 1 opponents Heather Norton and Lorraine Duffy Suarez, and Seat 2 candidate Liz Lindsay), are vying for three open seats on March 9. Five of the seven agreed to participate in a virtual candidate forum hosted by the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 27. Besore and Lindsay declined.