Community organizer and nonprofit leader Talethia Edwards is running for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3, one of six candidates seeking the open seat ahead of the August primary election.
WFSU’s Tristan Wood spoke with Edwards on Candidate Convos, a digital series of one-on-one interviews with local candidates in Tallahassee and Leon County ahead of the August primaries.
You can watch Edwards’ full appearance on Candidate Convos here:
During the conversation, Edwards discussed the often-debated 3-2 split on the Tallahassee City Commission. She said while disagreements among commissioners have drawn attention, she thinks it's often overblown.
“Yeah, I hear a lot about this 3-2 split, and when I began to look further into it, of course, big issues we've seen that 3-2, but about 90, 92% of the time the commission is voting 5-0,” she said. “You ask me, who do I think is responsible for it? I think a lot of... we're all responsible.”
When asked how Tallahassee can better retain young residents, Edwards said the city needs to focus on creating more high-paying jobs, expanding affordable housing options, and making downtown more active.
“Definitely, higher paying jobs. We're losing people to cities that aren't that far away from us because we don't have enough higher paying jobs," she said. “We do have state government, city government, right? We have the institutions, but young wage earners are looking to earn money, right, to have benefits,” she said.
Edwards is facing Darryl "Dar" Alfred, Tom Derzypolski, Maxwell Herrle, PJ Perez, and Norme Roche in the race for City Commission Seat 3, which is currently held by Commissioner Jeremy Matlow. The primary election is on August 18th.
