Search

Willie Shaw is seeking another term on Sarasota City Commission - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Willie Shaw, a 72-year-old retired postal worker who first won election in 2011, has filed for District 1

SARASOTA — City Commissioner Willie Shaw, a 72-year-old retired postal worker who first won election in 2011, will file to run for a third term in District 1.

He is unopposed.

Shaw vows to continue to invest projects that help advance quality of life in District 1 and the rest of Sarasota.

Those priorities include the Baypark Conservancy’s 53-acre bayfront project and a continued in investment in neighborhoods and social organizations within his district. Shaw also promised to continue working to develop workforce housing and job training skills.

“Much of the workforce comes from this area,” Shaw said. “But yet skill sets and skill training here are on the lower side of the spectrum.”

Shaw was born in “Black Bottom,” a swampy land in Newtown near Maple, Palmadelia and Goodrich Avenues. He is the great-grandson of a railway worker who helped lay tracks for the Seaboard Air Line Railway, the second successful railroad in the city.

With the exception of the time he served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, Shaw has lived his entire life in Sarasota, much of it in the district north of downtown that he represents.

Shaw graduated of Booker High School in 1965, two years before Sarasota County Schools were desegregated.

The following year, he was one of several African American students to cross the Skyway Bridge to attend Gibbs Junior College (now St. Petersburg College). Gibbs was the first of Florida’s 11 African American junior colleges, founded in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid racial integration mandated by Brown v. Board of Education.

After Vietnam, Shaw returned to the area to study at Berean Bible College and Seminary in Palmetto. He later became an associate minister and bereavement counselor at Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church.

Shaw’s election in 2011 made him one of only six African American commissioners in Sarasota’s 118-year history. He served as Sarasota’s mayor from 2014 to 2017.

In his nearly decade-long career in office, Shaw, a Democrat, has championed workforce training programs and affordable housing.

Shaw’s family has lived in the Sarasota area for more than 100 years. He has nine children. Willie Shaw Jr., his youngest son, is a local saxophone player and jazz musician.

Let's block ads! (Why?)



"term" - Google News
January 22, 2020 at 11:39PM
https://ift.tt/2NSFvoJ

Willie Shaw is seeking another term on Sarasota City Commission - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
"term" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35lXs52
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Willie Shaw is seeking another term on Sarasota City Commission - Sarasota Herald-Tribune"

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.