floridatoday.com/article/20081017/NEWS01/81017003/1006 -
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Published on: 10/17/2008
Last Visited: 10/21/2008
COCOA — On a recent Sunday afternoon at Mayor Mike Blake's home on Blake Avenue, supporters gathered in his living room.
...
Blake, the city's first black mayor, likes to treat every election like he is 1,000 points behind.
Although he enjoys incumbent status and won the mayoral election in 2004 with 48 percent of the vote in a four-way contest, Blake is taking every challenger seriously.
"We pound the pavement . ¤.¤. knock on all doors and listen to concerns," he said.
His competitors — Board of Adjustment member Dave
Golding and recent college graduate Dontavious "Tay" Smith — also are pounding the pavement because, they say, Cocoa needs new leadership.
"I'm trying to do something that should've been done during Blake's term," said Smith, who graduated from Florida A&M University and returned
home in April.
Smith currently is unemployed, although he and two colleagues manage a startup marketing and promotions company.
...
Blake says much has been done in his four years as mayor, and voters know where he stands on issues.
"I'm a proven leader with a track record," he said, pointing to job growth and more than 20 businesses that have expanded or relocated to Cocoa in
his tenure, increased residential growth and the new city hall project.
"We've been a good steward of the taxpayers' dollars."
But Golding, 61 — a retired ship captain who ran against Blake
unsuccessfully in 2004 — disagrees.
Too much money was spent on the new city hall, he said, and he
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