Edith Shelley, 56
Daytona Beach
Executive assistant and Daytona Beach City
Commissioner
Challenger
Q. What do you see as the biggest issue for the office you are seeking?
A. The appearance of our city. We must upgrade our city to improve our quality of life, stabilize neighborhoods and inspire economic development. We must revitalize the core of our city by working together and forming new partnerships with higher education, residents and businesses.
Q. What are your qualifications for the office you are seeking?
A. I am a 20-year public servant, as both an elected official and volunteer board member, in this city. As a small business owner and 30-plus years resident, I know the challenges our city faces and I am prepared to lead from day one.
Q. If you win, what's the first issue you will tackle?
A. Our top priority has to be improving our individual neighborhoods by beefing up code enforcement and funding additional community policing throughout the city. Quality of life starts with making our neighborhoods safer and cleaner. Better neighborhoods will increase economic growth for all residents.
Q. If you lose, will you continue in politics?
A. I never set out to be a politician. I am a city commissioner only after 18 years of service on the planning board. While perhaps not political, I promise I will always seek to better this community, whether elected or unelected, as I have done throughout my life.