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These are the stories from election year 2024 — from local candidates in north central Florida to the state legislature, all the way to the battle for the White House.

Who is running for Alachua County Commission District 1?

In Alachua County, eight county and city-level offices face competitive primary or general elections this fall.

Our newsroom reached out to all 20 candidates in those contested races and asked if they would help us inform voters about the issues they care about, what motivated them to run and which agenda items they seek to pass if elected.

Florida's primary election is Aug. 20.

The deadline to change your voter registration for the general election is Oct. 7.

The general election is Nov. 5.

Scroll below to learn more about some of the candidates running for Alachua County Commission District 1.

Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford (Photo Credit Alachua County)
Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford (Photo Credit Alachua County)

Mary Alford

Mary Alford is the incumbent county commissioner. She is a Democrat.

What are the three most pressing problems happening in your district or jurisdiction?

The role of a county commissioner is to manage taxpayer dollars effectively to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. In 2022 almost 20% of Alachua County residents had serious housing issues - being homeless, living in houses they could not afford, living in houses what were substandard, living with friends or relatives, living in cars. We continue to have a serious shortage of workforce and affordable housing and that affects everything from child literacy to public safety. Literacy is the second biggest problem in our county and contributes to truancy, underemployment, crime, homelessness, poor health, etc. Finally, protecting the land and environment here in Alachua County, development that we cannot control, development that threatens our green space and doesn't meet the needs of most Alachua County residents - like the University of Florida's planned luxury golf course on Parker Road or the cement plant proposed for inside the city limits of Archer.

Your suggested solution for top problem:

There are many right answers to address housing, and we need to be doing most of them. My background in engineering, architecture, energy efficiency and affordable housing has proved useful as a county commissioner. Projects that I have championed that are underway include a $15,000 grant for energy efficient upgrades to rental properties in exchange for those properties being maintained as affordable housing. This project is important because landlords were upgrading properties and turning them from affordable housing to student rentals. The County purchased two motels on South 13th that are being transformed into efficiency apartments for permanent supportive housing for folks that would otherwise be unhoused. By one of those developments we will be providing shipping container apartments. Together these projects will provide approximately 100 units. We are working on a number of initiatives, incentives and partnerships to provide workforce housing across the county - these would be homes targeted for people like teachers, firefighters, health care workers, retail workers and others that provide critical services to our county. Housing availability for people making these salaries is extremely limited. This is one of the reasons that 60,000 people commute to Alachua County everyday. One of those developments will be at the site of the former Ability Housing project.

Your suggested solution for problem two:

Like housing, our approach to literacy must be a multi-pronged approach. We are partnering with the Children's Trust and the Alachua County School Board to address literacy concerns for our youngest citizens. However, I am working to see that work expanded by identifying women with literacy challenges that are pregnant. This is can help address the root cause of generational literacy problems by helping moms learn to read by reading to their babies - and also learning to read the directions on a Tylenol bottle. It is also important to recognize the link between teenage literacy and teenage behavioral issues. There are young people that have not received the help they need to be successful students, and many act out in inappropriate ways out of frustration and despair. Rather than punishing those children, we need to give them our best resources. Ensuring their success in middle and high school will lower future jail populations and decrease violence and vandalism in our community. I support providing resources to help our young adults be successful. We also have, and need to have, literacy programs in our jail, at Grace Marketplace, in our libraries and in our churches. Increasing literacy levels will lift up all of Alachua County - when some of us are lifted up, all of us are lifted up!

Your suggested solution for problem three:

Besides roads, the top complaint from citizens is typically about development. It is frustrating to tell citizens that the state has limited the ways we restrict development and that people have the right to develop when they meet our stringent land use regulations and work within our comprehensive plan. We also have control over development that happens inside city limits. And if the state (or the University of Florida) purchases property, they can work outside of those regulations. Fortunately, there are many ways we are working to protect Alachua County’s land and environment. Through programs like Alachua County Forever and Wild Spaces Public Places we have protected 30% of our county from development. We are also losing critically important agricultural lands to development, so we are now providing conservation easements for agricultural lands by purchasing the development rights and allowing family farms to stay in operation. When appropriate and necessary and when we can afford to do so, we purchase property. The most recent example being the West End Golf Course Property. We routinely review our land use regulations and comprehensive plan for vulnerabilities and improvement. When a Dollar General was to be built in Micanopy on land that was historically and archeologically important as well as environmentally sensitive, we identified a way we could prevent that type of development on similar properties throughout the county. This may seem counterintuitive when we also have a housing problem, but we also are incentivizing density and infill inside urban areas. This includes allowing accessory dwelling units, tiny houses, (our newly revamped) cottage neighborhoods, and density incentives in Transit Oriented Developments (like Celebration Point) and Traditional Neighborhood Developments (like Tioga or Haile Village Center). The county offers assistance to cities when proposed development may not meet a city’s long term planning objectives or causes other concerns. While the county does not have jurisdiction over city land use, we formally offered assistance to the City of Archer as they consider approval of a concrete plant within their city limits that may affect property values and the health and well-being of neighbors. Development is one of the most complex issues we face as county commissioners, and I am glad that my environmental science and engineering background helps me understand those complexities and offer creative solutions.

It's been two years since the infrastructure surtax was passed. How do you feel the county is progressing with road repairs?

I am so grateful to the voters of Alachua County for passing the Infrastructure Surtax as part of WSPP. Because it is a tax, that money is not immediately available, but we started work right away to evaluate every mile of the 700 miles of county roads and rank those roads in terms of need. We also significantly increased the general fund allocation for roads. Our road budget for fiscal year 24/25 totals $45 million, which is about ten times the budget from when I started campaigning in 2019. Historically the roads around Gainesville received priority for maintenance, because roads with the highest number of miles travelled were ranked significantly higher. Our new ranking system, which includes an equity component, ensures that we are repairing roads all across the county. While contractors do most of the major road repair projects, we also have purchased equipment to allow us to address some roads repairs in-house – we will likely use this on roads that are not on our project list. We are over twenty years behind on road repairs, so those repairs are not going to all occur overnight. It is a ten-year plan. Our limitations now are manpower, asphalt availability and availability of components. Availability of stormwater culverts held up the start day for NW 23rd Ave near Santa Fe College, but now that project is well underway. Roads were a part of my campaign when I ran in 2020 and 2022. I am pleased with where we are. I wish we could repair everything next year – the road in front of your house or my house is always the most important road. But we have a fair and equitable plan and we are working the plan, and that is the best way.

What are the environmental issues you believe the county should address?

Our greatest environmental concern is climate disruption and the ongoing challenges it brings. Changing weather patterns not only are affecting natural disasters like fire, drought, heavy rainfall and hurricanes but they are also affecting agriculture, which is an economic driver in our county and a critical need as we consider resilience against an uncertain future. Rising heat levels bring a higher demand for electricity to stay cool and creates safety concerns for outside workers, children on playgrounds and sports fields, and older people that can’t efficiently regulate body temperature. Water, a critical resource, is threatened on all sides as development creates demand and development threatens the natural systems that protect our groundwater. The County has performed a vulnerability analysis looking at these factors, and we are proposing a climate action plan. This plan will be a dynamic document and will be presented to the public this fall. We are asking for public input and help from the many experts in our community to move forward. The County is also measuring our current carbon footprint and implementing ways to mitigate that impact by lowering energy use, implementing sustainable procurement policies, adding hybrid and electric vehicles to our fleet, and analyzing our procedures. Protecting Alachua County for our children and grandchildren is our greatest environmental priority.

Since declaring gun violence a public health crisis, how do you feel the county has managed gun violence? What steps would you take as county commissioner to further prevent gun violence?

Gun violence, particularly gun violence by youth, is more than a public health crisis, it is a moral crisis that we must address. I appreciate the succinctness of the statement by Gainesville City Commissioner Desmond Duncan-Walker: “We need things to do. We need places to go. We need mentors. We need jobs.” We need to continue to work with the City of Gainesville, Alachua Count Sheriff’s Department, the Children’s Trust, Santa Fe College, the School Board, community groups like Moms Demand Action and M.A.M.A.’s Club, and faith-based institutions. This work needs funding, and we must fund it – we fund our priorities and this is a priority. I am not sure any of us can name the root cause, the one thing that we could change to prevent gun violence in the future, but we have identified contributing causes, and we can and are addressing those. We created a master plan for parks and recreation are funding places to go and things to do. We are addressing literacy, and we are partnering on multiple new job training opportunities – good paying jobs that can provide a long term career path for young people. I support creating a Gun Court – just like Mental Health Court and Veteran’s Court, young people that are arrested for the first time in gun related incidents would receive targeted resources and community mentors to stop the cycle of violence. Addressing recidivism by providing robust re-entry support as people leave our jail providing medication, housing assistance, jobs, bus passes, and other wrap around services will provide stability and support. Our Central Receiving Facility which will be open this Fall will help identify people with mental health, drug and/or alcohol problems and provide them with the help they need. As we continue to address housing we provide stability for individuals and families so it is easier for them to obtain and keep employment, education, and family connections. Again, places to go, things to do, jobs, mentors.

Dejeon Cain (Courtesy of Dejeon Cain)
Dejeon Cain (Courtesy of Cain)

Dejeon Cain

Dejeon Cain is a Democrat running for District 1. He did not complete WUFT's survey, so we have pulled relevant information from his campaign website.

What are the three most pressing problems happening in your district or jurisdiction?

Reduce Violent Crime, Increase Affordable Housing, Protect Our Natural Resources

Your suggested solution for top problem:

We must come together to address the urgent matter of violent crime in Alachua County. By confronting the underlying issues of poverty and lack of education, we can bring about a future where our streets are safe, and our children can live without fear.

- Embrace community-oriented policing strategies
- Invest in programs that prevent violence from taking root
- Forge strong bonds between law enforcement and community organizations
- Uphold mental health and addiction treatment as vital resources

Your suggested solution for problem two:

We envision an Alachua County where all everyone has access to affordable homes. We will strive to ensure that every family has a decent place to live, regardless of their income.

- Champion the development of affordable housing units
- Stand up for renters’ rights and safeguard against unjust evictions
- Foster partnerships with developers in pursuit of affordable housing projects
- Support housing assistance programs for families in need

Your suggested solution for problem three:

Our county is endowed with bountiful natural resources, and it is our moral duty to protect them for our children and their children. We shall adopt policies that prioritize environmental conservation and encourage sustainable practices.

- Defend our waterways, wetlands, and wildlife habitats
- Advocate responsible land use and development
- Support initiatives for renewable energy
- Encourage recycling and waste reduction endeavors

It's been two years since the infrastructure surtax was passed. How do you feel the county is progressing with road repairs?

As our county continues to grow, let us ensure that this growth is sustainable and benefits all members of our community. We shall work together to create a comprehensive plan that harmonizes economic development, environmental preservation, and social equity.

- Craft a long-term vision for land use and transportation
- Promote smart growth principles in urban planning
- Prioritize green spaces and natural habitats in development projects
- Guarantee that infrastructure and public services can accommodate our county’s future growth

Lizabeth Doebler (Courtesy of Lizabeth Doebler)
Lizabeth Doebler (Courtesy of Doebler)

Lizabeth Doebler

Lizabeth Doebler is a Republican running for District 1.

What are the three most pressing problems happening in your district or jurisdiction?

Infrastructure (Road improvement) Private Property Rights, Protecting the Water Supply

Your suggested solution for top problem:

Use tax dollars from District 1 to repave roads also improve cross walks in areas where needed.

Your suggested solution for problem two:

Keep District 1 residents private and not be impacted by large apartment development

Your suggested solution for problem three:

Regulating industrial pollutants. protecting our areas water supply is vital for public health and environmental sustainability

It's been two years since the infrastructure surtax was passed. How do you feel the county is progressing with road repairs?

Please drive down Wacahoota Road...there"s my answer. Nothing has been done.

What are the environmental issues you believe the county should address?

Run off from industrial use as well as clearing trash and items that have been dumped. This is costly however the ones that are doing the damage should be responsible.

Since declaring gun violence a public health crisis, how do you feel the county has managed gun violence? What steps would you take as county commissioner to further prevent gun violence?

The guns are not the violent thing the person using the gun is. Arrest and prosecute the offender and not put them back out on the street.

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