NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — When municipal elections roll around April 9, people who live within the limits of corporate New Port Richey will have four candidates to choose from. Two are incumbents, two are newcomers, and all say they want to see the city thrive.

Deputy Mayor Jeff Starkey and Councilman Chopper Davis are running for reelection to their third three-year terms – the most officials are allowed to serve consecutively. Both point to changes downtown as some of their proudest accomplishments during the past six years, including revamping Sims Park.

"If you go to the park on any given weekend, it's completely packed," Starkey said. "The splash pad's full unless it's freezing cold out. The businesses downtown around Sims Park have just thrived since we've renovated the park."

Both also touted the construction of the long-in-the-works Main Street Landing mixed use project and The Central apartments, as well as getting a developer on board to remodel the Hacienda Hotel.

“We’ve remodeled the rec center, taken it to the next level,” said Davis. “There’s just so much opportunity in this town for places to live and places to invest.”

Davis said in the next three years, he’d like to focus on redeveloping the old Community Hospital site and beautifying the city’s gateway along U.S. 19.

“The whole 19 corridor needs to be worked on – especially north of Main Street. We’ve got a lot of businesses that have recently closed up in that area,” Davis said.

A priority Starkey said he’s had from the beginning that he’d like to carry into a new term is on addressing crime – and that also involves a focus on the U.S. 19 corridor. The council has already begun considering an ordinance that would ban motels along 19. City officials said in recent years, the establishments have turned into long-term housing for low income individuals and families.

“It shouldn’t be a low-income, long-term rental facility. If you’re a hotel or motel, if this ordinance is passed, you have to start acting like one again,” said Starkey. “Unfortunately, a lot of the motels on the U.S. 19 corridor harbor our criminal element.”

Going up against the incumbents are former business owner Judith Allen and recent Harvard grad M.J. Faqouseh.

“Right now, everything is being done very, very slow in city council. We need somebody to dedicate their time, their motivation, and their energy to changing the city completely,” Faqouseh said.

One of the changes Faqouseh said he’d work toward: diversification of downtown businesses.

“I see just a majority of bars in downtown, which creates no foot traffic. It creates no culture, it’s not a family type of environment. There’s no major restaurants,” he said.

Faqouseh said bringing in big name anchor stores could create more foot traffic and exposure for mom and pop businesses. Other goals include tax reform and working to get more residents involved in city government by implementing a text system to alert them to new laws being considered and events taking place.

If elected, Allen would be the only woman on the council. She also stressed the importance of increasing citizen participation.

“There’s a lot going on. The city council room is empty. People aren’t showing up. They built that big room because, at one time, we had standing room only,” Allen said.

Allen said she was inspired to run, in part, by a neighborhood shooting.

“I hear these gunshots all over the neighborhood, and we’ve gotten to the point where we ignore them now. I know, having been a business owner, that this is going to hurt our economy, it’s going to hurt our real estate, and we’re going to have to do something,” said Allen.

Getting churches involved in curbing crime, training citizens in what signs of trouble to look out for, and standing behind and supporting local law enforcement were all possible steps Allen said the city could take to help make the city safer.

The municipal election will be held at the city’s Recreation and Aquatic Center from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on April 9.