Tampa is Ready

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Jane Castor: You know, mayors are our focus, regardless of how big or small our cities may be. The problems that we face are pretty similar.

You know, a successful city has to be built on a strong foundation of infrastructure.

Small businesses are the backbone of of our economic success.

Good government in Tampa is the city. Government knows what the community wants because they’re engaged in touch. 31 years. It was never a day I didn’t want to go to work. I love being a police officer. And same thing with mayor. It’s just there’s just something that is incredibly rewarding about being able to serve your community.

David Martin: Hurricanes, floods, Latin culture, Cuban cigars. These are just some of the things that make Tampa, Florida the city it is planning for disasters and protecting citizens well. All in a day’s work for the mayor of Tampa. Welcome to the good Government show on days, Martin. First, help us share the message of good government by liking us and sharing us where we are.

On Facebook, x YouTube, Instagram and Blue Sky. Please share our show with your friends and review us where you’re listening and join our good Government Show community. Check out our website for the links. Jane Castor is the mayor of Tampa and we had a lot to talk about. I’ve been wanting to have her on the show for a while now.

First, we discussed being the mayor of a city where minorities specifically Latin Americans, make up a large part of the city’s population. She has some strong ideas about how city should be, or more correctly, should not be part of what federal law enforcement is doing. She said citizens need to have the trust in their local police force. As she explained, that means doing only the job that local police must do.

In 2024, Tampa got hit with two hurricanes that caused extensive damage. We talked about how the cleanup is going and how a city in what’s known as Hurricane Alley prepares. Mayor Castor was also appointed to a national FEMA advisory council, and we talked about her role in FEMA’s role. As we met at the conclusion of the annual conference of mayors meeting, we talked about national issues and about how America’s mayors across the nation are working to deliver good government.

And we talked baseball, the Tampa Bay rays, and what it’s like to throw out the first pitch. She did pretty good. Check it out. See how she did. There’s a link on our website. So coming up, my long awaited discussion with the mayor of Tampa, Florida, Jane Castor.

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Well, I am finally sitting down with Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, Florida. We have I’ve been trying to get Ahold of you for two years now, so I finally corralled you because I had to come to your city.

Jane Castor: Oh, there you Tampa.

David Martin: We are at the. The Conference of Mayors has just ended, and I finally got you alone. So thanks for coming. Thanks for stopping to talk.

Jane Castor: My pleasure.

David Martin: So let’s just talk about your city a little bit. You’ve just been the host city for the Conference of Mayors. You’ve been on several different, stages, throughout this conference. This is a good government show. Are you hopeful that there’s good government out there?

Jane Castor: Oh, there’s definitely good government out there. Just look of of the, collective group of mayors that we have brought together for this conference. Individuals that are serving their cities and doing everything that they can to successfully grow their cities.

David Martin: Do you feel like now that you’ve got a real, true national perspective, not that you didn’t have it before, but, you know, what are you seeing? What are the trends that you’re seeing across the country? You know, give us some hope.

Jane Castor: Well, you know, mayors are our focus regardless of how big or small our cities may be. The problems that we face are pretty similar. You know, everybody is looking at issues with affordable housing, transportation solutions or dealing with congestion, workforce, trying to bring high skilled jobs into your communities. And then clearly resiliency and sustainability. So by bringing mayors together at conferences like the U.S. Conference of Mayors and being able to share ideas on best practices, but also in many instances on initiatives that may have been tried that didn’t work so well.

So you really get to share those ideas and take them back to your community and implement some, some great, programs and initiatives.

David Martin: And the old saying, it’s true, you learn more from your failures and your success.

Jane Castor: Without a doubt. I love to interview, individuals, business owners, and in our city, and you talk about their successful business. And then I always like to end up with, have you ever had any failures? And their faces light up and they’re like, have I had failures? Let me tell you about story for.

David Martin: Yes.

Jane Castor: And it it really is interesting you do learn more from failure than you do success.

David Martin: Well, let me let me put you on the spot that what is the biggest mistake you’ve made as mayor? What’s your failure? What’s what’s the what is mayor? Oh, I did not do that one well.

Jane Castor: Well, I think as as mayor, you know, if if I were to start over again as a police officer, which I was for 31 years, and you.

David Martin: Were a former chief of the police department for.

Jane Castor: Two weeks, you get thrown to satisfaction, make a decision, then you move on. And and I like to joke that then I became mayor and met transportation. So I think, maybe, understanding a little earlier how long these projects took.

David Martin: Okay.

Jane Castor: Probably would have been of of value to our community. You know, I could have found ways to move them, more quickly, which we did, but still, I mean, you.

David Martin: Can’t do everything overnight. And everyone.

Jane Castor: Still, some of them just take too.

David Martin: Long. So I just, you know, kind of briefly looked at some of the things you’ve done. You are on the work force for youth talent group managing disasters. Obviously the Criminal Justice Committee, in fact, you just, had some resolutions on the Criminal Justice Committee. What were the big takeaways from the Criminal Justice Committee this year?

Jane Castor: From the Criminal Justice Committee? The biggest focus for cities in America is that we don’t get involved in immigration, that that is a task that is headed by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So, local law enforcement for your law enforcement officers to be successful in your city, to be a safe city. It has to be built on a foundation of trust that the community trust the law enforcement officers are they cannot be successful.

And so you have to be there for the community and residents and visitors, and everyone has to feel comfortable coming forward to law enforcement. And so there are let’s use as an example, Hispanic community. In some areas there is a distrust of financial institutions. So a lot of Hispanic workers would carry money around. And they would they would be robbed.

And if they’re feel afraid to come forward and report that because they may be an illegal immigrant, then those crimes are going to escalate. So the job needs to be, immigration needs to be enforced by Ice, and it needs to be done on those immigrants have a criminal record. Everybody agrees that they don’t want criminals in their community.

But there are so many hard working individuals that are trying to go through the process and become American citizens so they can do what all other Americans do, and that is work hard to realize their dreams.

David Martin: We’re in the state of Florida, which was probably a Spanish territory longer than it’s been in our territory. You have a huge Spanish Cuban population. South American population. Are people worried.

Jane Castor: Here? We are a minority majority city here in Tampa with, Latinos being at the top of that. Yes. People are worried. They’re not showing up for work. I have a Hispanic advisory committee. I actually have two. And with the city, I have one citywide. And then I have one, that is made up of city workers and even individuals that are American citizens are afraid because they afraid.

They’re they’re afraid they’re going to be stopped just by the look. And, we’re seeing the impact in effect on our local businesses. And it it just from my observations, this immigration enforcement is being used more to sow fear than it is to take criminals out of our communities.

David Martin: And as the mayor of a minor city, minority majority city, what can you do about that?

Jane Castor: What I can do about it is to assure our residents that that we are going to be, you know, stopping on a street corner and asking people for their papers. This needs to be what the current administration promised, and that was that we’re going to remove criminals from our communities, our neighborhoods and our nation, and not just this random round up of let’s see who we catch in the net, throw out the net.

And yes, you may get people who are American citizens. You may have people who have work visas, and you may get a couple of individuals that are illegally in the country. That’s not the way it should be done.

David Martin: We just heard a speech from Mayor Todd Gloria of San Diego. Yesterday, I spoke with, the mayor of Tucson. I’m sure you guys have had conversations together about this. Are you all together? You know, the mayors working together on this?

Jane Castor: Yes. Mayors are all working together. And that was one of the, resolutions that we passed today. Is that ICE’s focus should be on those individuals that are committing crimes in our country. And not on individuals that are trying to enter the country legally and become American citizens.

David Martin: So I want to, get local now and talk a little bit about your city. You were hit very hard with two major hurricanes. I think I read somewhere that you had to answer 15,000 emergency calls.

Yes.

How does how does a mayor manage that kind of crisis? And, let’s talk about the future for that. Where are you going?

Jane Castor: It, you know, we’re we’re probably, Well, we’re definitely as prepared as any other state and possibly the most prepared, for these types of incidents, because every year there’s going to be a hurricane somewhere in the state of Florida. So we have the appropriate policies, procedures. Equipment, personnel. And we exercise our plans on a regular basis.

And we have historically been in a position where we send our resources to another location that got hit. Tampa hasn’t taken a direct hit in 100 years. And Helene was 100 miles offshore, and we still had 4 to 7ft of storm surge, right? And melting more rain than we’ve ever had in one evening than we’ve ever had in a month in the history of our city.

And and one of the things I told two of the mayors I worked for as I was a police chief, I said, we’re as prepared for hurricane as we can be, but nobody’s going to be high fiving each other afterwards. It is a disaster. And so it’s going to take us a while to get back up on our feet.

And that’s what happened with Helene. And we were picking up the debris from that. And 13 days later we got hit by Milton. But you can see very few signs of that hurricane damage. We still have a lot of houses that have to be repaired or rebuilt, but we’ve really gotten back up on our feet.

David Martin: I was doing a little research about you because I had two years to prepare for this interview. I you did, you know, tell me if these numbers are incorrect. 94 million to water upgrades, 350 million for stormwater maintenance. And then you’ve got something called the Pipes project I want to talk about. That’s a $209 billion, project for water and sewage.

That’s a lot of money.

Jane Castor: That is a lot of money.

David Martin: Is this money well spent?

Jane Castor: This is money incredibly well spent.

David Martin: My numbers correct.

Jane Castor: Your numbers are correct. Might be a bit higher on the water, but we did pass, $3 billion pipes program to replace our water and wastewater pipes that in many instances are a century old. And so we respond to, water main break. So tune of multiple millions of dollars a year. And, one of my good friends who was a former mayor, she said, Jane, you know why we haven’t replaced the water wastewater pipes?

I said, I don’t know. She said, you’ve never seen a ribbon cutting for new sewer pipes. So I literally have had ribbon cuttings for new live stations. New sewer pipes for you. Yes. But, you know, that’s because.

David Martin: You look great on TV.

Jane Castor: I think that, you know, a successful city has to be built on a strong foundation of infrastructure. And so we we really have paid attention to that and are making great progress.

David Martin: How do you explain those huge numbers to citizens?

Jane Castor: Well, we we have, put those into so our water, wastewater and parking are all enterprise. So they’re they in essence are businesses. And they have to, keep themselves in the black. And so we have, put in a staggered increase in our water and, wastewater and solid waste costs, you know, our utility costs monthly, but our monthly bills are still lower than the other municipalities and counties in our area.

David Martin: So how does a cop become an expert in sewage systems?

Jane Castor: It’s hilarious. I when I first came, I became mayor. You know, I went around and learning the ins and outs of all of the different areas. And I have to say, hands down, my two favorite are water and wastewater. People have no idea. They turn on the faucet in the morning, and the expectation is a clean water’s coming out.

They have no idea. The hundreds of people that are behind that, that are making sure that that happens and it it really is fascinating. Just, we have our own water. We have Tampa Bay water, which is a consortium. And Tampa was of counties and cities. We were able to maintain our permit to pull 82 million gallons of water out of the Hillsborough River every day.

We treat that into some of the best drinking water in the world. And then we supply the entire city and a third of the county with that water.

David Martin: I understand that you have been appointed to the FEMA Review Council. This is a national Federal Council appointed by the president of the United States currently. How is it going? And and are you optimistic that, the dollars that belong in FEMA are going to stay there?

Jane Castor: I don’t know about the dollars that belong in FEMA. If they’re going to stay there. We’re certainly fighting for that. You know, all all government organizations have room for efficiencies. And you go from local government to state to federal. One of the things I tell my team at budget season is look back before you look forward, you know, are there changes that you have made that don’t necessarily, you don’t necessarily need certain positions and you can repurpose those.

The federal government is not good at that. They look forward, forward, forward. So there are a number of efficiencies that can be had on the federal level and in FEMA. But just say we’re going to do away with FEMA is impractical. I mean, everybody has a role local. The event happens. Locals are on their own for 48, 72 hours.

The state can bring in resources. The federal government has to come in in the end and support the recovery efforts. And so there’s a role for each. And we can make a lot of progress with FEMA. But, to say that it’s going to be done away with, I think is, is impractical.

David Martin: Well, you are the the only mayor that lives in the in a hurricane zone. So I hope that your voice carries.

Jane Castor: I hope so too.

David Martin: Yes. Here’s an interesting, fun fact I found out about Tampa is the top city for women in business.

Jane Castor: Yes.

David Martin: How did you how did you pull that.

Jane Castor: Off that there? Well, I don’t know if I pulled it off, but we really recruit. I recruit businesses to move here from all over the world. We have an amazing chamber of commerce. Our economic development is a great resource as well. So we work hard to bring companies in and to ensure that our economic portfolio remains diverse. We saw what happened in the pandemic in those cities that really, you know, didn’t have diversity.

They were focused on a couple of industries, and they really suffered. And so we want to have that diverse portfolio. Now, when we go out and recruit companies to either expand or move their headquarters here, we also understand that growing businesses from the ground up, that that is what makes our community successful. Small businesses are the backbone of of our economic success.

And so making sure that you’re providing the opportunity for everyone to be successful is really what led us to to being the the best city for women owned businesses.

David Martin: And when they see Madam Mayor walking into city credit. I want to ask you about something else. What is the Vision Zero action plan?

Jane Castor: Vision Zero action plan?

David Martin: Sounds like the.

Jane Castor: Government. Yes, it really is. And it’s something that started, in, outside of the United States, but it really has there’s a number of cities who have pledged Vision Zero and that, that imagines a community without any pedestrian, cycle or motoring deaths in your city. Now, that’s a pretty lofty goal for us here in the Tampa Bay region, because we are often in the top three of fatalities, throughout the nation.

But that is ensuring that you have, safe roadways. You have, bike lanes. We have put in so many miles of bike lanes in our city in the last six years and continuing on with complete streets, the design of intersections, everything that you’re doing is focused on keeping your traveling public safe.

David Martin: And I have to ask, before we get into our questionnaire, this is a big sports town. You got the Buccaneers.

Jane Castor: All right, Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay. No champ Bay.

David Martin: She has a bay.

Jane Castor: So that’s right.

David Martin: You got hockey. You got you got, football. And, right now you have the Tampa Bay rays playing in the New York Yankees spring training complex. Right. The race day.

Jane Castor: They are staying.

David Martin: There. Stay. Are you going to build a new stadium? What’s the.

Jane Castor: Plan? There will be a new stadium.

David Martin: Do you have any. Can you can you share any details of where when.

Jane Castor: I don’t have all the details now. But I’ll say that it will. It will, proceed with breakneck speed, because these conversations have been going on for over a decade, about the rays, building a new stadium. And so there are a number of deals that have been made that haven’t made it to fruition, but I think this one is going to happen.

You’re on top of this. The the owners going to sell the team that’s in process. Okay. And then, I, I believe that the rays will I know the rays will stay in Tampa Bay. I believe they’re going to be in the city of Tampa.

David Martin: And have you ever got a chance to throw out the first pitch I have? Hey, how.

Did you do?

Jane Castor: I did it was like, I don’t know, 80, 85, mile an hour slider. It was it was pretty awesome.

David Martin: So whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. That’s that’s an $85 slider.

Jane Castor: All right, all right. But, I tell people that’s the most stressful thing you do as a mayor, because all eyes are on you and you can’t go out there. You have to get up on the mound. Yep. You gotta you gotta slam it down.

David Martin: Creighton, did you practice a little bit?

Jane Castor: I was out, till probably 10:00 the night before practicing with my son’s girlfriend. She was a softball player, pitcher. And so out there pitching, making sure that you’re getting it right, it’s on video. I mean.

David Martin: All right, well.

Jane Castor: You see.

David Martin: I think you said you were a basketball player, right? Yes. All right. Baseball. Ever. Softball? Nothing.

Jane Castor: Yeah, I played everything when I was young. I was a product of title nine that said that girls could participate in sports. The same degree is as young boys. So I played everything that there was every sport and actually went to University of Tampa on an athletic scholarship.

David Martin: For basketball.

Jane Castor: Basketball and volleyball. You can be two sport back then. All right.

David Martin: Yeah, but, but don’t tell you they have it. You have to throw it out. The first pitch at a at a basketball game.

Jane Castor: Yeah, I know, I, I’ve, you know, throwing the ball up and I’ve, flipped the coin for hockey and, softball and all those other ones.

David Martin: See, that’s the fun part of it.

Jane Castor: Yeah. It is. That is a fun part.

David Martin: That’s the fun part. All right, well, that was the easy part. We’re going to get to the hard part in just a minute. The Good Government Show is sponsored by our. That’s ou are for our community. Get involved. We hear that all the time from government leaders. Our Cobra with your government’s name and logo, your staff and the people you serve are connected and part of your community.

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So, I’m going to ask you a series of questions to get to the true heart of your philosophy of government. The first question. The first what is the easiest to find?

Jane Castor: Good government defined, good government.

David Martin: What is it? What is good government? What does good government look like in Tampa?

Jane Castor: Good government in Tampa is that city government knows what the community wants because they’re engaged in in touch and that we, ensure that we provide the services that our community needs and are good stewards of our tax dollars.

David Martin: And that’s all easy, right?

Jane Castor: Right.

David Martin: Piece of cake. No problem.

Jane Castor: Nothing. I mean, every day, every day.

David Martin: People.

People say how wonderful you’re doing.

Jane Castor: Yes. Actually our community, you go and walk around, our community is very supportive. This is a very positive city. It’s very collaborative. Everybody comes together to celebrate all of our our wins. But we also come together in times of need.

David Martin: And for people who don’t know, there’s the city of Tampa, there’s the city of Saint Pete, there’s the city of Seminole, Largo, Clearwater. All of this is, you know, the sort of Tampa region. So all of you mayors, you.

Jane Castor: Bay area.

David Martin: Tampa Bay area to all of the mayors sit down together. And, you.

Jane Castor: Know, we do it. So the mayor of Clearwater, Saint Pete and Tampa, we meet on a quarterly basis. And then we have the mayors in Hillsborough County. Yep. We meet as well. And then, we have the big city mayors in Florida that meet on a regular basis. And then we have, the, Florida League of, of Mayors as well.

David Martin: So a lot of meetings.

Jane Castor: There’s a lot of.

David Martin: Coordination. So if people don’t like what you are doing or what government is doing in Tampa, what should they do?

Jane Castor: Actually, everybody in this city has my cell phone number. They literally have my cell phone number.

David Martin: Is that why I can’t get a call back and you can get.

Jane Castor: Calls and they will text me and, let me know what the issues are in their neighborhood. And to me.

David Martin: Do they.

Jane Castor: That. Oh, yes. I just got a text. Last evening with a flier about, I’d like some car races that they had planned on Davis Islands. And so I sent it to my police chief who didn’t know anything about it. But, when they all showed up, or when they show up for that event, the police will be there waiting on them.

So those are the kind of things that if you can cut out the bureaucracy in the middle and just solve the problems, that’s what people appreciate.

David Martin: Does it take you a while to get through the grocery store?

Jane Castor: Oh my gosh, my kids stop going to the grocery store with me when they were probably 7 or 8. I stop off to pick up 1 or 2 things and it’s an hour. Hour and a half later.

David Martin: But it’s.

Jane Castor: Good.

David Martin: I was talking to a county commissioner and his wife let him go to the hardware store.

Jane Castor: Oh, there you go. Yeah.

David Martin: Save it, I suppose a police officer rose through the ranks in the Tampa Police Department. Police chief. And now, mayor, what drew you to public service?

Jane Castor: Well, you know, I kind of stumbled into it when I was graduating from University of Tampa. I had aspirations of going into the federal service, and President Reagan had put a freeze on federal hiring. And I had some friends that said, you should come to the police department. You really like it. And I had no idea. I didn’t know any police officers never did a ride along.

And I tell people I was blessed because for 31 year, 31 years, it was never a day I didn’t want to go to work. I love being a police officer. And, same thing with mayor. It’s just there’s just something that is incredibly rewarding about being able to serve your community.

David Martin: What would you tell someone? I mean, you look at what’s going on in in the public discourse today about government and about public service. It’s not something that people automatically think, oh, this is a great thing to do. What would you tell them?

Jane Castor: Well, I would tell them, and that’s true. You know, we’re in some divisive times, but, you know, the pendulum swings back and forth. I would say that you have to get into, public service for the right reason. And if you choose to run for office, run for office. On the desire to serve and have strong values that, you know, you don’t sway from.

I had a police chief one time that told me, he goes, I, I use the analogy of a stream where your values are as steady as the rocks in that stream, but they’re you’re nimble enough and flexible enough to change with the times as the flowing water does. And so there are a lot of people in political positions that take action based on how many votes they’re going to garner.

And I say, you have to go in there, talk to people, know the issues, and then make decisions that are in the best interest of your community, not what’s the most popular decision.

David Martin: Who inspires you?

Jane Castor: Who? Everybody inspires me. I mean, just being at this conference and and hearing the comments from all of the attendees about everybody, everybody that they have encountered has been so friendly and so welcoming from the volunteers to the staff at the hotels, our police officers, everybody, it’s somebody said, the Uber driver couldn’t stop talking about how great the mayor is and how great this city is.

So those are the kind of things that, you know, this is a big city with a small town feel.

David Martin: Did you you know, your police chief? Did you think you’re going to be running for mayor right away?

Jane Castor: No, never. And I always said people go, did you always want to be police chief? And I said, yeah, right. When you’re new and you think you know everything and I’m like, make me chief fix place. Yeah, but, I’m I’m very competitive. I always say I don’t have to be number one. I just can’t be number two.

But the, you know. So I would do very well on promotional exams and those types of things. So I continue to move up the ranks. But becoming a police officer, you have to be in the right place at the right time because it’s a very flat organization. We have 1400 people in our police department and there are ten people on staff.

So, you know, there’s not a lot of room for advancement. And then, when I retired from the police department, I really never had any aspirations of of being in political office. But knowing our city was going to change more in this decade than it has in my entire life. And to be a part of the growth of this city was just, you know, just something I could not pass up.

And it’s been amazing.

David Martin: Do you want to announce your your your run for governor?

Jane Castor: No, I, I will never leave the city of Tampa. I was born here, raised here. I will never live anywhere else.

David Martin: So use your your second term as mayor. Correct. What have you learned about government that other people should know?

Jane Castor: I kind of joke. Sometimes I feel like I’m in an episode of Veep.

David Martin: I.

Jane Castor: I think the government. Well, I think what everyone should know is that people dedicate themselves to public service because they want to serve. And that sounds simplistic, but it’s true. And when people are very critical of actions taken, I’m all for constructive criticism. But make sure that it’s informed that your feedback is informed. And what I ask of people too, is don’t just come forth with criticism, have some ideas on solutions or better ways to do things.

David Martin: What’s the best part of being mayor?

Jane Castor: Best part of being mayor is all of it. One of, some of it I love talking to young people. I love just being out in the community, cutting ribbons for new businesses.

David Martin: And sewage treatment.

Jane Castor: Sewage treatment plants in the winter. Okay, water is good year round, but winter is the best time to to to go through those. But really, just everything you learn about the community, it is fascinating and rewarding every minute.

David Martin: Does every time a hurricane warning come up. Does that is that your nightmare?

Jane Castor: That is my nightmare. And you watch when we have you become a.

David Martin: Meteorologist and amateur meteorologist.

Jane Castor: Yeah, I try to, but in our our emergency operations center, as we were watching, Milton come in, we had we have three giant screens and three meteorologists and one was like, oh, it’s going to hit, dead center on Tampa. Another one said, it’s going to head north, which actually would have been worse than a direct hit.

And another one said, no, it’s going to be South, which was the best scenario for us. And it ended up 26 miles south, which was a godsend for us. I mean, I feel bad for our neighbors, but, yeah, hurricane season is a bit stressful.

David Martin: A bit stressful bit. Do you have that NOAA meteorologist you on your speed dial?

Jane Castor: Oh, yes. Okay. No. Yes. Where we are. Well, were he, that the group is retired since a lot of the. So I don’t know who we’re going to we’re going to get next. But we are BFFs with, our Noah people in all of our, our weather forecaster during hurricane season.

David Martin: Well, maybe on the FEMA board, you can you can make sure those conversations continue. So let’s brag about Tampa a little bit. All right. For the people who are here visiting Tampa, where would you send them. What’s the thing they must try. What is the what is the dish of Tampa.

Jane Castor: There’s well first of all you have to stay a minimum of a week to see everything because we have so much history here in our community and it’s very, very exciting. So you’d have to take a trip to Iowa City. That is part of Tampa that was given to the cigar makers, back in the late, 1800s, early 1900s.

And we were in, the cigar capital of the world. We had so many cigar factories in Ybor City and then in West Tampa as well. So down there for the food. For the cigars, for the chickens. There’s chickens and roosters all over.

David Martin: What is the deal with chickens all over Ybor?

Jane Castor: So it’s something that came from the keys. And they’re just everywhere, all over the city, and it’s it’s.

David Martin: They call wild.

Jane Castor: Just wild. Just out feeds them walking around. Everybody.

David Martin: Okay?

Jane Castor: Everybody feeds them. So that’s a cool, place to be. And you can take our street car that is free, from Eber down through channel side and Water Street. Okay. Which, Jeff Vinik, the owner of our, Stanley Cup winning lightning hockey team, he and Bill gates built this community. It is the first Leed certified neighborhood in the world.

David Martin: Okay.

Jane Castor: And it is amazing. Restaurant shops all on the water through our vibrant downtown. Just so many different areas. We have the best kids zoo in America. And, Lowry Park Zoo, our aquarium, Florida Aquarium is down here. They’ve done amazing things with coral restoration. So many things to do on the water. One thing I would suggest is a pirate taxi at night.

Okay, so you get to go down the Hillsborough River and hear of the history of the city of Tampa and see the beauty from the river. So that’s a must do.

David Martin: Columbia is the oldest restaurant in the state of Florida. I think it’s the largest restaurant in America. What is your order? What is your what is your standard order?

Jane Castor: That my order is, 1905 salad. 1905 was the year that that it was founded. 1905 salad, with grilled shrimp on top, no olives. And it has enough garlic in it to knock out whoever you’re talking to. So you just have to be forewarned, though.

David Martin: No. No pork.

Jane Castor: And they also have no, it’s, well, Cuban sandwich. And we have whatever Miami can say. They have a Cuban sandwich. They don’t even have Cuban bread.

David Martin: We are our Cuba bread.

Jane Castor: No, not the real Cuban bread.

David Martin: I don’t know about.

Jane Castor: Real Cuban bread is still made with palm fronds. They cut palm fronds and tear the leaves and put it in the middle of the loaf. So that’s what causes the break in the, the Cuban, the top of the Cuban bread loaf. Trust me, you eat what Miami says is Cuban toast. You come to Tampa and have it.

Oh, my money says.

David Martin: You’re going to be a part of society.

That will compare.

Right?

Jane Castor: I guarantee you.

David Martin: What do you do for fun?

Jane Castor: Oh my gosh. Well, first of all, my job’s big fun. Okay, look at this. You know, this is my job, and I’m coming at us. Conference of Mayors.

David Martin: And.

Jane Castor: Mayors. You can come in on the good government show what could be more fun than that? And, I live on the Hillsborough River, so I have a boat right out my back door so I can just get on my boat. I’m going to do that this afternoon. Go for a boat ride before it rains this afternoon. So that’s a lot of fun.

And I exercise like a maniac. That’s what keeps me sane.

David Martin: This is the good government show. We always bring it back to good government. Tell me about a good government project that you’ve been able to pull off as mayor. That you’re proud of.

Jane Castor: I think, the pipes program is is something to be able to really replace, make a, huge impact on the infrastructure, in our community, with our water, wastewater pipes, repaving of our roads. I think that that we’ve made a real impact in the future of our city.

David Martin: Jane Castor, the mayor of Tampa, the host of this year’s Conference of Mayors. Thank you for finally coming on the show. It’s been a pleasure meeting you and getting to know you. And, I look forward to my next trip to Tampa and seeing you in Miami for a Cuban sandwich.

Jane Castor: Right. All right. Yes. And you definitely. You will say Tampa’s got the Cuban sandwich. I. You all right?

David Martin: Thanks for coming. Take care.

After you get done with this episode, hear more good government stories with our friends at How to Really Run a City for Mayors Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter, a Philadelphia, and their co-host, journalist and author Larry Platt talk with guests and other mayors about how to really get stuff done in cities around the nation. Check them out where you’re listening now or through their nonprofit news site, The Philadelphia Citizen.

Dot org slash podcasts.

You don’t have ribbon cuttings for new sewer project, except in Tampa. It seems like you do. Well, sure, ribbon cuttings are fun and the perks are great of being mayor, but being mayor also means getting into the nitty gritty on things like hurricane preparation and understanding sewage treatment. Not the glamorous part of the job, but really the most important.

A really good conversation with the mayor. I’ve kind of know a little bit over the past few years. She’s a dedicated public servant, a former police officer, police chief, and now mayor. I like what you said about a career in public service. And by the way, after we finished talking, she said she was heading home and then heading out to Tampa Bay on a boat.

A good way to spend a Sunday in Tampa, for sure. Well, that’s our show. Thanks for listening. Please like us and share this with your friends. And review is right here. We’re listening and check out our website. Good Government show.com for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government and action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here.

I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

The Good Government show is a Valley Park production. Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe then share and like us and reviews. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

00:40:29:02 – 00:40:32:02
David Martin:
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**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.