For the first time in nearly a generation, Mobilians will have a new mayor, and the race is down to two contenders who will face off for the privilege of running Alabama’s oldest city. During last month’s general election, State House member Barbara Drummond and former Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis outpaced their competitors but neither candidate earned the 50 percent majority needed to avoid a runoff. Drummond led all candidates with 33.7 percent followed closely by Cheriogotis at 27.7 percent.
Throughout their campaigns, Republican Cheriogotis and Democrat Drummond, agreed on some key issues, such as public safety, empowering youth and the need to address blight throughout the city. But they differ on how their disparate levels of experience have prepared them for the mayor’s office atop Government Plaza downtown. Drummond has years of experience serving in the Mobile city government and is currently an Alabama state legislator. And, Cheriogotis served as a Mobile County Assistant District Attorney and defense attorney before spending six years on the bench.
Last week the candidates participated in the final two debates before Tuesday’s runoff, one held by Fox10 news and one by the Alabama Media Group. Their comments were recorded during the final debate by AMG at the company’s office on Bienville Square.
“Every community in Mobile deserves to share in the city's success,” Drummond said. “And a Drummond administration will make sure that it happens. I am the only candidate with proven experience in city, county, and state levels of government.
“When things are tough, I am not going to complain. I'm going to go to work on day one to make sure that there are solutions. It's not what I am going to do. It is what I am doing now.”
“I'm invested in the future of Mobile, and I believe the future of Mobile is bright, Cheriogotis said. “Mobile deserves leadership, that appreciates the problems of today, but reflects the opportunities of tomorrow. We can't afford to get stuck in the politics of the past. Mobile deserves leadership with clear vision and energy to seize the opportunity our city has before it right now, because if we let this opportunity pass, we may never get it back.
“I want to move Mobile into that potential. We've been the city of perpetual potential for long enough. It's time that we realize that potential and we become a city of unlimited possibility.”
When asked during the debate, both candidates had specific ideas on how to bolster their constituents’ quality of life through further investment in existing public assets. They each agreed that a new arena, to replace the aging Mobile Civic Center demolished last year, was an important part of broadening the city’s entertainment districts.
Drummond also singled out Africatown, the community created by former slaves abandoned on the shores of the Mobile River after what’s widely considered to be the last slave ship voyage to America, decades after the practice was criminalized. The remains of that ship, the Clotilda, were recently discovered in the river’s mud and silt north of Mobile.
“The first thing that I think I would do, and I think it's such a jewel when we talk about quality of life here in Mobile, we have an international story that sits in Africatown,” Drummond said. “The world knows our story. It is true, the ship has been found. I think that we have an opportunity to build a international museum in Africatown and make it an ecotourism market here that will help with the quality of life.
“I just think that Africatown is an untapped jewel that we all have to embrace that will bring mega-millions into the city of Mobile. And I think that we need to weave it into all of the other historic things that we have in Mobile.”
Cheriogotis said he would focus on projects promoting further connection downtown to the city’s waterfront, as well as completing the Brookley by the Bay city park complex which was begun on the shores of Mobile Bay near the Brookley Aeroplex which is home to the city’s new downtown airport. That project has stalled in recent years.
“Mobile has never really connected its waterfront to its entertainment district. And so one thing I'll do as mayor is really fight to reimagine Water Street,” Cheriogotis said. “We need to create a situation where visitors to Mobile, citizens of Mobile, can take a stroll in our downtown, leave Bienville Square and just happen to find themselves on the water. That's something we need to do to fully activate our downtown.
“Brookley by the Bay, I think, will be the crown jewel of our city's park system. We have a $25 million plan to fully utilize that space, but we don't need to invest $25 million to make that waterfront area great. Just give me a parking lot and a weed eater and let's create some walking trails and some bike trails.”
Mobilizes will soon find out which of these projects will get the new administration’s focus, and who will be leading that administration. Of the more than 150,000 registered voters in the city, less than 17,000 voted for Drummond and Cheriogotis. On Tuesday the accounting for the mayor’s race will reach its conclusion, so what’s up to this point only been hypothetical will become reality.
