GOVERNMENT
Fort Pierce native Linda Hudson
took the oath of office on Dec. 3
and stepped into history as the
city’s first female mayor.
11
As the new year gets under way, Fort Pierce has a
new mayor and city manager, both of whom say
their goal is to see the city thrive, prosper and be
responsive to the people who live there.
Fort Pierce native Linda Hudson took the oath
of office on Dec. 3 and stepped into history as the city’s first
female mayor. She replaces longtime mayor Bob Benton.
Only a month earlier, Robert Bradshaw, a former assistant
administrator for St. Lucie County, replaced David Recor
as city manager.
The duo is the new public face of city hall.
“I have met with so many people,” Hudson says. “People
want to know who I am and they want me to know who
they are.” She is spending most of her time at city hall
getting to know everyone and learn more about the city,
and says she plans to be very accessible. Some of the city’s
elected officials have been criticized in the past for not holding
regular office hours.
With a lifelong career in trade association management,
Hudson, 68, sees herself as a person who gets the job done,
rather than as a female in a formerly male position.
Although, she says, “My parents would have been so
proud to have seen me become mayor of this city.”
“I say to myself, ‘What kind of expectations do people
have of me?’ “ she says. “A lot of people have told me they
are hopeful that I can help because I am a woman. I say yes, I
have lived through the women’s movement; I’ve had a career.
I try to think of what I am supposed to do, not of being a
woman. I look at women’s issues, like equal pay, as society’s
issues, not as women’s issues.”
Still, she notes that the City Commission is made up of
two districts with two representatives from each, and the
mayor holds the deciding vote when the two districts deadlock.
She does see herself as trying to get the two sides to
agree if possible.
“I want to hear both sides and put myself in other people’s
shoes,” she says.
The new mayor has her eye on making the city a vibrant
place to live and work — and to that end, she has a special
interest in the city’s finances.
“I want to see the city keep costs down while maintaining
essential services before taking care of the frills,” she says.
“I am interested in the security and prosperity of individual
families, of the family which is the city of Fort Pierce government
and the family of our city as a whole.”
She also wants the city’s businesses to prosper and says she
hopes to see the city attract new businesses.
“I want us to become business friendly. Before I became
mayor I had this idea that if I could become mayor, I could
try to make whatever they are doing inside city hall understandable
to the people outside city hall. I am working on
that. I want them to know the city is not working against
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