City Commission Seat 3 Candidate PJ Perez held his launch party this weekend. He spoke against the direction of growth at city hall and took a jab at Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey.
Dailey has already endorsed community advocate Talethia Edwards in the race. And Perez referenced that at his launch party.
“If you notice that Mayor Dailey isn't here, he's not going to give me money. That's okay. We'll make it work without him. Right?” he said.
Perez is messaging against urban sprawl and certain development trends in Tallahassee. He also spoke against the direction of economic development spending from programs like the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency.
“Imagine if we had those hundreds of millions of dollars that we could spend on things like making our community centers more robust. Think about afterschool programs, think about mentorship program, think about the pipeline of people from FAMU, FSU that we invested in trying to give people, not just the students, but also people in the community with workforce and skill development as well as programs,” he said. “I think this is a version of spending money well spent, and this is an integration into our neighborhoods and our communities that works best for us as a city.”
Perez appears to be close with the current minority faction at city hall. City Commissioner Jack Porter was in attendance, and Jeremy Matlow aide Ryan Ray introduced him to the crowd.
He is one of four candidates vying for the seat Matlow is leaving to run for Mayor. The other candidates are Edwards, political consultant Max Herrle and former Pinellas County Commissioner Norm Roche.
A video showcasing both Edwards and Perez’s campaign launch parties is in the works and will be posted to WFSU Public Media’s YouTube channel in the coming days.