While Marcile Powers has never run for public office until she entered the race for St. Petersburg mayor this year, the Kenwood resident and small business owner says anyone who questions her political acumen doesn’t know her very well.

“I worked on my first political campaign when I was five,” she told Spectrum Bay News 9 on Friday, speaking specifically about working with former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash.

“My father was a campaign manager. I’ve managed campaigns myself. I worked for Tempo newspaper about city hall incidents, so I would say I have over 20 years of political experience.”

Powers currently co-owns Kenwood Organic Produce with her husband. She had been a political independent but says she registered as a Democrat shortly before officially filing to run for St. Pete mayor.

“This was where I was called to run,” Powers adds when asked about why she is now running for mayor. 

With concerns about affordable housing being top of mind in this election, Powers says she’s concerned that the term is going to be “co-opted” and translate into residents making rental payments to foreign real estate investors, who she dubs “the new venture capitalists.”

“I’d like to see people directly own the land,” she said. “Put people into ownership with affordable mortgages.”

She has specific prescriptions when it comes to development in St. Petersburg and the potential costs to the city’s environment.

“When we put up these concrete buildings with sidewalks — concrete all around — what we do is we create more strain on our sewers. So what we need to do is we need to start having our buildings collect rainwater directly with gardens built into the balconies, “ she says. “If we’re building upward, we need to build upward gardens and upward ways to collect our rainwater. Because once we can take control of our rainwater and stop letting it push out the sewage into the bay, then we’ll have a lot better grasp on our environment.”

With the city council and Mayor Rick Kriseman at odds regarding the speed of negotiations with redevelopers about the Tropicana Field site, most mayoral candidates have had plenty to say about the issue — but not Powers. She says she’ll reserve judgement until she gets the opportunity to speak directly to Rays management. 

Regarding relations between the St. Petersburg Police Department and the community, Powers says she feels she became enlightened after meeting with people in South St. Pete.

“My original impression was that we were better than most areas, and then as I went to the Southside and I talked to the Black community I found out no,” she says. “Some people routinely get pulled over and over again because of tinting on their car. There are street vendors trying to make a living who feed their family, and they’re routinely kicked out and it’s hurting their livelihood. So it seems to me that we need to actually sit and talk to the Black community and say, ‘this is happening to you. What do you want changed?’”

When asked about her thoughts on Mayor Kriseman’s reign as mayor, Powers is somewhat evasive. She says she believes he’s still popular in the city but says credit should be spread out, mentioning Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin as worthy of praise. 

She was critical of the administration’s threat to pull the late-night permits of some downtown establishments that were in violation of the city’s COVID-19 ordinance related to employees wearing face masks or be socially distanced.

“You’re not everybody’s mommy in the city. Or daddy in the city. So at some point people have to have personal accountability, and the best you can do is say, ‘hey, your life is in your hands right now,’” she says.

Powers is one of ten candidates who have filed to run for mayor in St. Petersburg this year.

Qualifying for the office ends next Friday, June 18.