Rose Ferlita looks forward to giving her notice.
That would be to CVS Pharmacy in South Tampa, where she works as a pharmacist about 15 hours a week. Come this March, she hopes to be the first licensed pharmacist elected Mayor of Tampa. Meanwhile she’s filling prescriptions behind that busy CVS counter at Howard and Swann avenues several days a week.
It’s a uniquely intriguing venue to find a mayoral candidate. And a reminder that this quintessential Tampena is more than a familiar politician. She’s also embedded in the same workforce as average residents. A number of whom, of course, have more than a note from their doctor. They also have a ballot.
“People like to see you being a regular person working,” acknowledges the Ybor City native. “You also absolutely have the pulse of what people are going through. I think it’s worth a lot.”
Prescriptions as part of the campaign script.
The feisty 65-year-old is as Tampa as the family Ferlita Bakery, where she used to work as a kid; as the Academy of Holy Names, where she went to high school; and the old Rose Drugs on North Nebraska, which she founded back in 1984.
“I grew up here,” Ferlita underscores. “I didn’t pick to be born here. But I did pick to stay here.”
And Tampa is where she’s remained since receiving her degree from the University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy. She’s been on both the corporate (Eckerd Drugs and CVS) and small-business side of pharmaceuticals. She’s been a neighborhood civic association president, and from 1999-2010 Ferlita served on Tampa City Council and the Hillsborough County Commission. Such service gave her a forum for leadership on an eclectic mix of issues–from taking on code-enforcement challenges to reducing energy costs to addressing school bullying.
For more than three decades she’s been a volunteer consultant with ACTS, the Agency for Community Treatment Services. She’s also a board member of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay as well as Mary Lee’s House, a child advocacy and protection center. Ferlita could probably bedeck an entire wall of her Hyde Park home with awards she’s won–ranging from the Florida Pharmacy Association’s “Pharmacist of the Year” to the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida “Women of Distinction.”
Tenacious Advocate
Those who know her from a constituent perspective will tell you she is a blunt, tenacious, effective advocate. She won’t back down from a cause worth standing up for. Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe has called Ferlita a “tireless worker” who “enjoys putting it on the line.” The only registered Republican in the mayoral race, Ferlita is known to be fiscally conservative and socially moderate.
But there are those who will tell you there’s also a short-tempered side to that work ethic that is less than flattering. It’s pertinent because temperament–and its perception–is not unimportant for those in public-leadership positions. The mayor–aka City Hall CEO and Salesperson-in-Chief–needs it more than council and commission members do. Image matters.
Ferlita has heard it all before and dismisses its relevance–with an ironically engaging chuckle. She considers herself a “strong-willed female” not unlike the incumbent mayor, Pam Iorio. She has joked that she doesn’t have “an anger management problem.” But it’s no joke that it gets brought up.
“I have an incredible sense of humor,” she maintains. “But not when I’m on point. I’m serious at the right time. The business of the city is serious business.”
Indeed, the business of this city has rarely been such a serious challenge.
It’s common knowledge that Tampa is hardly flush. Not with a shrinking tax base, 12 percent unemployment and a flood of foreclosures. More belt tightening is necessarily in the offing.
Arguably, there’s never been a time when more will be expected of the person in charge in Tampa’s strong-mayor system. It’s a position that includes considerable clout on matters of budget, personnel and public safety. It’s also a formidable, high-profile forum for leveraging partnerships across the spectrum of city and regional players–from the county commission to the business community to USF.
Timing Is Right
Ferlita believes the convergence of her experience and this city’s challenges are more destiny than fortuity.
“If you have the resume, you need to step up,” asserts Ferlita. The city needs a “very, very strong mayor,” she underscores.
“Obviously, there are lots of easier things to do, but I’ve never been afraid of challenges,” she points out. “This is not about legacies and statues. It’s about making the hard calls. It could be nerve-wracking–and maybe some won’t like you because you don’t smile a lot. … In fact, I may only be a one-term mayor. But if that’s the price to pay to do what’s right, if not popular, then so be it. I’m not in it for the bows.”
The first order of business under a Mayor Ferlita would be in-house scrutinizing. As in departmental audits and assessments. But it would be “case by case,” says Ferlita, not an out-with-the-old housecleaning. For example, she would “love” for Director of Revenue & Finance Bonnie Wise to stay on.
Ferlita, who would demand a “public servant”–not “civil servant”–mindset, would also look to utilize existing experience in new ways, she says. And absolutely count on permitting to be streamlined and red tape scissored, she adds. Those doing business with the city will be “walked through the process,” not “directed to a website,” she emphasizes.
Ferlita’s priorities for the city can be easily summarized in mantra-like fashion: “Needs vs. Wants.” Or, as she’s also phrased it: “Essentials vs. pretty things.” No, it doesn’t mean she’s not a believer in downtown energy and aesthetics, for example. In fact, fine arts is a passion of hers, and she loved the ice-skating rink at Curtis Hixon Park. But it does mean the needs of “all constituents” come first. “It wouldn’t come down to an infrastructure problem vs. extra fireworks for a holiday, for example,” she explains.
And on a more basic level: “It’s common sense as well as a public trust matter,” she stresses. “It’s not my money.”
She’s certainly supportive of the tax-break proposal for new and expanding businesses that will be on the March 1 ballot. And as mayor, she would also push for a property tax-abatement ordinance for all residents who want to improve or add on to their (non-historic) residences. “We want to help everybody,” she says, while also noting the potential job-creation ripple effect.
Partners A Priority
The words “partners” and “synergy” are very operative in Ferlita’s game plan for the city.
The former is critical, she says, for an appropriate, city-county relationship. “If we don’t partner, we die,” she states. For openers, she would promote more “collaboration.” She shies away from using “consolidation,” she says, because employees often equate that to a “loss of identity.”
The latter applies to her three-pronged priority: being pro-neighborhood, pro-development and pro-business. They’re hardly disparate elements, she points out, but part of the same complementary cycle.
And, yes, modern transit must happen.
“From years ago, we’ve needed better transportation–in one form or another,” assesses Ferlita, who as a member of the County Commission voted to put the transportation initiative, which prominently included light rail, on last November’s ballot. And, yes, she’s for regrouping and trying again–only with more attention paid to details and transparency. Too much literally rides on it, she says, including jobs and “transportation-oriented development.”
And make no mistake of Tampa’s catalytic presence, reminds Ferlita.
“It’s a very powerful role,” she notes emphatically. “It affects a lot of places–from Pinellas County to the I-4 corridor. And the mayor is center stage. Ultimately, it all focuses on the mayor of Tampa–and what direction the city is going. …And that means being more creative than ever. We have to start marketing the city of Tampa better.”
One sure sign of how Tampa is marketing itself will be manifest next year when the GOP national convention comes to town.
“We will be front and center to the entire world,” Ferlita says. “We will use it to the hilt to benefit Tampa. My job will be to charm them, to be the best saleswoman that Tampa could possibly have. I will break out my Spanish and Italian. We will grab everything we can. I embrace the role of ‘Recruiter-in-Chief.'”
Ferlita Outtakes
*Being the only registered Republican in the race, albeit one that is officially non-partisan: “I don’t follow a party line. The further up you go, the more important labels are. In local politics, you have no business in being politically partisan.”
*Tampa panhandling: “It’s a public safety issue. It’s out of control. Outlaw it. But it doesn’t disallow being compassionate. Do it regionally.”
*Possible casino scenarios: “Going to have to look at that some more.”
*Possible Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium scenarios: “Our business is to encourage business to come (regionally) here. … But our business is to not make commitments with tax dollars we don’t have.”
*On running against opponents she’s known for years: “We can be friends and opponents too. But no mudslinging. It has to all be about the issues.”
*On her adoption of (11-year-old cocker spaniel) Murray and (3-year-old beagle-terrier mix) Hal, the most recent of her more than a dozen rescue dogs she has made part of her life over the years: “People with money can buy any dog they want. But what about the mistreated? I love them, and they love me for adopting them. There’s nothing better than that.”
*Favorite immutable law: “There’s life after politics; there’s dogs after politics.”