FPC Blogger and Activist Mike Cantone Running for Orlando Mayor

October 5, 2011 by Kenneth

Visit his official web site.

His remarks as prepared:

Today we start a journey to City Hall to transform a politics in this City that is stuck in the past.

My name is Mike Cantone and I am running for Mayor of Orlando!

I love Orlando. Orlando is my home and my community. Like all of you, it is where I feel I belong and where I want to be. But Orlando is no longer a small town of citrus farms run by the ‘good ole boys’ – we are an international destination hot spot and it’s time we become the world-class city we are meant to be. We need bold progressive leadership – leadership that may not always get what it wants and understands that – but leadership that nonetheless pushes a platform to inspire our community, to celebrate our diversity and to propel Orlando forward while welcoming the world to our City Beautiful. I run for Mayor of Orlando to empower my community and those around me. I run to propose new policies at a time where it is unmistakably clear that we are headed in the wrong direction.

Take for instance Mayor Dyer’s Creative Village. This one project symbolizes what is broken in our local government and why our leadership is out of touch. Once again, our Mayor believes that the only hope for Orlando is to import jobs from somewhere else. Not only that, he believes we must build them a castle – or in this case, a “Creative Village” – to lure them here. Once again, our mayor has put in front of us a large spending project with no future vision and one that does not match the character and identity of our City Beautiful. Instead, I’m ready to invest in the diversity and talent we already have here. We don’t need to build a Creative Village, we are a creative village. Mayor Dyer has failed the people of Orlando and we can no longer afford his attempt to buy a legacy with our taxdollars.

At stake is not just the leadership of our city, it is also the opportunity to restore our place as the leader for the entire state and recover Orlando’s virtue. I have listened to the discouraged youth and hurting middle-class families in Orlando and I have felt their frustration, anger and desperation. But let me also share with you what I saw — I saw the hope and the potential yearning to thrive. Every day I see the real reason we are the City Beautiful, it’s not the lakes or the scenery and it’s not the parks or the coasters – it’s the people. It’s all of you.
I run to seek a new direction, a new vision closer to the pulse of our vibrant, diverse City Beautiful. There is a need for generational leadership change in Orlando, as the only way to change course is changing the men who put us here. We must take back the rights of democracy that the rich and the placeholders have taken from Orlando.

You see, this election is about what Orlando can be versus what Orlando simply is today.

So, if you want more of the same. If you are content with the status quo and if you are happy with your lot in life – remain seated; continue with the facade.

But if you want to dream for a better future, if you want to forge ahead on the path of true progress and fresh beginnings – then enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

If you think Orlando could be so much more, that our livelihoods, our dreams, and our future here could be better – then enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

If you are ready to reclaim the City Beautiful from the cobwebs of entrenchment, from the dust of big business and grasps of the Chamber of Commerce – then enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

Orlando, enough is enough!

Let us shake off the shackles of a decade of incumbent reign. Let’s bring Orlando into the 21st century and start preparing it for the 22nd. It is time for a new guard in this town. Our parents always tell us that we are leaders of tomorrow – well tomorrow begins NOW!

Current leaders like our mayor see the world through their own lens – that world is now gone, we have entered a new generation and new times. It demands new answers and new solutions.

I invite you to discard the old way of thinking and the old mindset of politics in Orlando – and I challenge you to consider a bold new vision for Orlando. And I ask you to join me in this journey to transform City Hall! I believe we can win this together. In the meantime, I look forward to earning your trust and your vote over the coming months.

Thank you.