Longtime Residents Battle For Les Miller's County Commission Seat

TAMPA, FL — Two candidates are vying to fill the Hillsborough County Commission District 3 seat being vacated by 10-year county commissioner and former Florida House of Representatives member, Les Miller. Miller is leaving office due to term limits.

District 3 includes the University of South Florida area, Seminole Heights, Wellswood, Tampa Heights, west Tampa and extends east to the Orient Road, Palm River and Clair-Mel area.

"I’m a first-generation Cuban American, born in Ybor City in October of 1955," said Republican Maura Cruz Lanz. "I grew up in the Ponce de Leon Projects, close to family and friends. My parents worked very hard. My father was a server at Columbia Restaurant and my mother worked as a seamstress at Sun State Slacks."

Lanz said her parents scraped together enough money to buy a small house in West Tampa where she spent most of her life, graduating from cosmetology school when she was 18.

"I worked as a hairstylist and attended night school," she said. "In 1976 I graduated from Jefferson Adult High School and, in 1978, I graduated from Tampa Barber College, and started working with my father at his barbershop, Carlos Hairstyling."

In 1979 She met my husband, Manuel Lanz, in 1979, and they were married in June 1981. They have three children: David, Manuel Jr. and Mia.

In 1985, the couple started Manuel Lanz Construction Corp.

"We worked mainly commercial construction for municipalities," Lanz said. "In 1998 we received an award from the city of St. Petersburg for MBE Contractor Of The Year and in 2006 we received an SBE Achievement Award from Hillsborough County commissioners," she said. "We retired in 2015 and have lived in the Wellswood community for 28 years."

While she said she is enjoying her retirement and spending time with her five grandchildren - Justin, Leilani, Giana, Victor and Samuel - she said she began to feel the call to run for office in May "after seeing everything that is happening here and around the country. I realized that local government is just as important as state and national."

While this is her first time running for public office, Lanz said "I hope to serve and make a difference for our community in District 3. I believe it’s our civic duty."

Her opponent is also a first-time candidate. But she's not a newcomer to Hillsborough County government. Democrat Gwen Myers has worked for Hillsborough County for 25 years, serving with contracts management and health care services.

“I’m hearing from everyone that they want fresh leadership that will put people first," she said. "I look forward to being their voice and advocate to deal with the many pressing issues in District 3." Myers said.

Myers has been active in a number of initiatives to improve Tampa's Black neighborhoods including the University Area Community Development Corporation Inc., a public/private partnership focusing on the redevelopment of the area around the University of South Florida, once known as Suitcase City due to its transient population. The CDC is part of an ambitious redevelopment program to bring high-tech and medical employers to the area.

But for the past 20 years, the University Area CDC has been focused on crime prevention, adult education, affordable housing and youth programs.

In the southern part of the district, she's worked with Progress Village, Tampa's first affordable housing suburb, on community cleanups, renovating housing, addressing flooding issues and attracting neighborhood retail.

Describing herself as an advocate of "smart growth," Myers worked on the grassroots campaign to pass the All for Transportation ballot initiative approved in November 2018 to devote 1 cent of sales tax toward improving Hillsborough County's transportation system.

In a sign of unity, all four former Democratic candidates in the District 3 race have endorsed Myers including community advocate Rick Fernandez, former Tampa City Councilman Frank Reddick, former Hillsborough County Commissioner Thomas Scott and Sky U. White.

However, Myers opposed the 2016 Tampa Bay Express initiative that promoted widening the region's highways to create 90 miles of toll roads to move traffic more quickly. The initiative would have included a 4-mile stretch of Interstate 275 in Tampa that would have displaced 340 minority residents.

After designing and managing a program for first-time home buyers in Hillsborough County and supervising the county's indigent health care program, she said affordable, accessible housing and providing health care for the poor are two other issues that are near and dear to her heart.

Myers has served on Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s African American Advisory Council, the Hillsborough County Health Care Advisory Board, the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center Council, as well as the League of Women Voters and the West Tampa Chamber of Commerce.