Ted Blankenship announces his campaign for mayor of Naples

Ted Blankenship, a member of the Naples City Council, will launch his mayoral campaign on Monday night at Baker Park.

In order to run, the seasoned businessman will forfeit his place on the Naples City Council, according to an article by Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics.

He remarked, “I’ve enjoyed serving on Council, but I think our Council has gotten a good way off track.” We tend to micromanage a lot of other city affairs and are not focusing on what matters most to residents, similar to other parts of the country.”

Blankenship will challenge Mayor Teresa Heitmann, who dethroned Bill Barnett in 2020 by winning the position. Blankenship defeated many incumbents to win a seat on the council in the same election.

But Blankenship expressed his frustration with a number of decisions, namely the cancelation of some long-standing events in favor of a contentious Pride celebration, especially after Hurricane Ian last year.

According to him, “that was the wrong event at the wrong place at the wrong time. People felt ignored and frustrated during that process.”

Online on Monday morning, a campaign video mentioned both rising property tax rates and that matter. This year, Blankenship expressed frustration at budget hearings because he felt that City Council members were trying to raise taxes despite the fact that growing property values had already resulted in a 12% annual increase in property tax income.

Additionally, he objected to changes in building codes that occurred during the hurricane, which caused Blankenship’s own house to flood. It was a bad idea, according to Blankenship, because decisions regarding the building were being made while a large number of regular people were participating in the process and few could attend council meetings to discuss or even learn about the issues.

He did, however, emphasize that, although drawing the greatest attention to City Hall, zoning and development choices are simply one aspect of community leadership.

“We spend a lot of time talking about protecting the small-town charm of Naples. I definitely support and believe in that, but it’s more than focusing on buildings,” Blankenship said. “A lot of time we spend distracted and focusing on redevelopment projects and how buildings look; we could focus more on our charm and on promoting our values, our environment, our economy, and making it an engaging city where residents feel like they are heard.”

Prior to entering government service, Blankenship was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the leading accounting firms in the world. He has held the position of chief financial officer for several businesses, such as ZeroChaos, situated in Orlando, and The InfiLaw System, based in Naples.

Heitmann is expected to run for office again. Former City Councilman Gary Price has also filed, in addition to Blankenship. Candidates must qualify by January 19th.

On March 19, a winner-take-all election will take place.

This article originally appeared on Florida Politics

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