“RANDY BECKER ANNOUNCES RUN FOR MAYOR”

Randolph “Randy” Becker, involved community activist, filed on Friday, March 2, 2018 as a candidate for Mayor of Key West. Randy Becker came to Key West in 2007 to become minister to the local Unitarian Universalist congregation. A resident of Bahama Village for the past eleven years, he immediately got involved in community service as one of the original appointees on the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee and as a member of the Truman Waterfront Advisory Board.

 

In the 2016 race he was also a candidate and was a strong second-place finisher behind the incumbent mayor.  “I am running again,” Becker said, “because so many of our shared problems have not been resolved. If we want to have the future we desire as a city we need to begin now to shape that future, not just compensate for the problems and neglect of the past nor simply clean up after Irma. We have a unique opportunity at this time, as we move through our loss, to build a city more responsive to the needs of its residents.”

In other areas of community service, he is a member of the board of the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless and has been President of the Interfaith Ministerial Alliance. For five years he served on the Truancy Team at Key West High School as a community representative and was a board member of the Neighborhood Accountability Board (an effective restorative justice program for first-time youth offenders).  He has also been active with Equality Florida and community witness in times of social crisis.

An internationally recognized and honored writer and speaker, he highlights that and other experience as qualifications for mayor:  “The mayor of our city has three important roles: to be an articulate representative of Key West to the world, to chair the meetings of the City Commission with skill and fairness, and to help build a consensus among the commissioners and citizens around our vision for the future.”

Having led or advised assemblies from 7 to 700, Randy Becker is knowledgeable and experienced in parliamentary procedure central to the conduct of meetings.

The bulk of Randy Becker’s professional work has focused on helping communities of diversity work together to build bridges, find common ground, and develop shared vision.  As he often says, “We can all make it if we focus on connections, not on differences.”

A native of Utica, New York, he holds a degree in Physics and Sociology from Brandeis University, a Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago, and a post-doctoral PhD work at New York University.

“My experience has all been in the area of non-profits and government agencies which exist without an infinite supply of funds.  I approach public service with a belief that we do not need more funding, but rather more vision.  In my time in Key West, over and over again, I have seen leadership scrambling to get on top of situations that have been neglected or ignored until they have become emergencies.  It is time for us to move past being reactive and start being proactive and creative.”

Over the course of the months between the announcement of his candidacy and the election on August 28, 2018, Randy Becker will be releasing a series of position papers. “I think it is important for voters to know and understand my views on a number of the central issues in our city.  Some of the topics I will cover are: Environmental Responsibility, Economic Development, Homelessness, Affordable and Workforce Housing, Helping Our Seniors, Diversity, and Governance.”

In summing up key points of his campaign, Randy says, “As much as I revere the past, I trust the dawning future more. I believe that the best days for our island community are ahead. I am running for Mayor of Key West because I want to provide leadership that will call on the best in each person in Key West.”

The “Randy Becker for Mayor” campaign welcomes the participation of all in Key West who share his vision and want to shape the future.  More about the candidate,  and his campaign and ways to be involved are on the website, www.RandyBeckerforMayor.com, or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BeckerforMayor

“It all starts with my vision of the role of mayor, which is based on the central values of integrity, transparency, and vision: Every person treated equally and fairly, every decision made thoughtfully on the basis of facts and its benefit to city as a whole, all issues considered and resolved in an open and respectful way.”

Randy Becker is married to Elissa Bishop-Becker, a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in grief and loss, and the author of Loss and Growth: The Grief Spiral. They are the proud parents of four daughters and have four grandchildren. Beyond work and community service, Randy enjoys music, cooking, and railroading (which is hard when the nearest railroad is in Cuba!).  Most mornings you can find him engaged in a 5 mile walk that takes in all of downtown and the adjacent waterfront areas.

 

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