July 31, 2024 • 16 mins
Capps is running in a Republican Primary that is open to all registered voters in Martin County.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Joel Malcolm four w j n O dot com.
(00:02):
My election spotlight is on Martin County's commission races. There
are three right now, Districts one, three, and five, and
we are focusing on District three right now where Harold Jenkins.
Missioner Jenkins is not seeking a third term, so after
two terms, he is not running. So there are three candidates.
(00:24):
It's an open seat, and we have one of those
three candidates with us right now, Blake Capps. Thank you
for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We should also point out this is a Republican primary,
but it's I guess what they call a universal primary,
since there are just three Republicans, just three of you
running and nobody nobody else, no third party candidate or
no Democrats so and no NPA. So this is open
to all registered voters in Martin County, regardless of where
you live in Martin County.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Correct, that is all right? That is right?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And I guess there may or may not be a winner.
I guess it's just a majority, So I guess there
will be a winner in this. So this will not
be on the ballot in November at all.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Correct, Correct, that rate will be over on August twentieth,
night of the primary. Just a simple majority. Whoever gets
a simple majority in this so well, to give us
some background on you. First of all, have you ever
served in office or run for office before? I have
not served in office. That's will be my first time
(01:32):
to serve in public office. Although I have a lot
of experience and county government committees that have and boards
which have really immersed me in the subject matter of
county government for the last several years. So I think
I do have some good experience to bring to bear.
(01:57):
But I think you said you wanted me to tell
a little about myself.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, I want you to go, Yeah, tell us more
about you.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes, Well, I'm deeply vested in our community. We moved
to Hope Sound when I was thirteen, forty seven years ago,
so I'm sixty and so I'm a forty seven year
resident of Hope Sound. I met my wife of thirty
nine years in our county, and we have raised three
(02:27):
great kids who still live in Hopeesound. They have been
raised in our community. They're all gainfully employed and they
live in Hopeesound, just a couple of miles north of
my home. Our church is here. Most of our friends
are here. We have run a family business in Hope
Sound for the last thirty one years, serving thousands of
(02:48):
Martin County residents, which has been a great joy in
my life. And now it's time to get back and
make a difference in public service and the community that
we love most. Everything we hold deer to our hearts
is right here on Martin County soil. So we look
forward to the prospect of serving the residents of Martin
(03:08):
County and county government.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I'm sorry, and you may have just mentioned and I apologize.
What is it that you do for a living or
have done?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yes, we have a family roofing business Caps Roofing in
the Hopetown and so we have worked up and down
the streets of our county for over for thirty one
years now and in the region as well. But we
have had the privilege of working on most of the
streets of Martin County for a long long time now,
(03:41):
So sure a great privilege.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Share with me. It's any what benefits being a business owner,
you know, could have to serving on the County Commission.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think we can really benefit from having some private sector,
private enterprise business people in county government rather than people
who have basically been working in for the government and
various capacities. You know, there's nothing like the school of
(04:20):
free enterprise and running a small business UH to prepare
you to stretch dollars and find efficiencies. If if you
don't get good at that, you're going out. You know,
you're you're not going to be in business long because
that's the name of the game. And you know, when
(04:43):
you're responsible to meet all of your expenses and have
a little bit left over that we call profit to
make it all worth it, you get pretty good at UH,
at tightening your belt and finding efficiencies and bringing real
value to the marketplace. And that's what I think is
(05:07):
regularly needed in government service these days.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You know, one of the things that come up in
this race and the others in Martin County some candidates,
you know, field there's a bit of over development. So
what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, I think that is right. You know, we have
something really special in Martin County to preserve. We call
it the Martin County Difference. And we have three great rivers,
the Indian River, the Saint Lucy River, and the laxa
Hatche River to the south. And that makes Martin County
a very unique piece of geography. Not not that many
(05:45):
counties have something like that to protect and to preserve.
And you know, Martin County has had a comprehensive plan
that has set it apart from counties that has worked
well for us for over forty years now. And the
(06:06):
proof is in the pudding. You know, look at Martin
County and look at surrounding counties and you can feel it,
and you can see it. There's a big difference.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
When I think of the Martin County difference, I always
think of two great examples. One is, you have just
landed at PBI on Beach International, and you're coming home
to Martin County on nine ninety five, and you come
through Jupiter on ninety five and you see a little
(06:38):
green sign on the right that says entering Martin County,
and you take a big sigh of relief, and the
air seems a little fresher. You see thousands of acres
of Native Florida and you realize you're in a different,
very different place. And that's the Martin kind of difference.
(06:59):
And the other one is when you come on up
here to confusion corner in Stewart and turn riding you're
heading to Hutchinson's Island. You get on top of those
two great bridges, the Evans Curry Bridge and the Arnest
Lions Bridge, and you look to the south at Selfish
Point and you see buildings four stories or less. And
(07:21):
then you look to the north at the northern end
of Hutchinson Island, which is Saint Lucy County, and you
see high rises thirty stories rows of them along the beach.
And then it's a powerful visual of the Martin County difference.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And that's the.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Beautiful place that we live in and the place that
we need to work hard to preserve. And we'll do
that by upholding the Comprehensive Plan. You know, most housing
developments in Martin County are approved with amendments to the
plant that award density increases to developers. And we need
(08:04):
to get back to just asking builders and developers to
work with the land use and the zoning classifications that
are already in the plan. Doesn't mean that no building
and no development is going to happen. But we we
do it a little differently here, you know, where we
(08:28):
we don't focus so much on high density developments. That's
another thing that our complan has us look at. So
we need to get back to the complan and been
working with the provisions that are already in it.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know, you had mentioned earlier you have not served
in public public office before, and you know you're the
only one in this race that hasn't you talked about
the positives of somebody coming from the private sector business
as opposed to serving public sector. But one of the
two candidates, the other two candidates in this race, who
(09:09):
has served as mayor of Indian Town currently and had
mentioned to me that she felt that in the past
the County Commission has with regard to this district because
Indian Town is in District three, but that sometimes Indian
Town has been ignored by the County Commission. So I
(09:30):
wanted to get your thoughts on that, being that you
could be serving on the on the County Commission if obviously,
if she doesn't get it or the other or the other.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Candidate right, and I think she probably has a valid
sentiment there. You know, District three is the southern part
of Martin County, which is basically Hopetown and Indian Town
and what we call South County which is the question
of Jupiter area of Martin County now by like.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
The unincorporated spots.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Of right right, right right, So it's those basic three communities,
and Hope sounds the largest of those communities. And Indian
Town is an interesting places that it's sort of isolated,
kind of out there in the country, and it's a
small community of about six thousand residents as I understand,
(10:23):
and because of its geographic isolation, you know, it's I
imagine some of the folks out there might feel that way,
and it would be one of my priorities to seek
out the folks in Indian Town if I got elected,
to to not ignore them, but to you know, find.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Out all that they meet out there. I mean, I
have some ideas, but to get more educated and more
involved with key leaders out there who can further enlightened
me as to what are the needs of the folks
are out there?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
They are their own there are they are they?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah? They're incorporate government now right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
There are portions of Indian Town that are outside of
the city elements and still would be in need of
count of the government help.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
So and the fairgrounds are going to go there eventually
to the unincorporated area near Indian Town. So it'll be
interesting to see when that gets done. But uh uh,
let's get back to the development issue. You know, you
were talking about the downtown area there you infuse a
corner and all that right there is not far from
where you're going to have at some point soon a
(11:40):
new bright line station. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah? I am for it the concept. Uh you know,
but as a small business owner, I'm heavily influenced by
what we can afford at when we're asked to stroke
the check. You know, I condition it on the times
that we're in at that moment, whether these state grants
(12:04):
come through to help us with the costs.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh is that?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Let me ask you, is it not?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Is it not a done deal that it's happening, because
that's what I was under that impression.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Maybe I'm wrong, right, there's still snags that that should
basically make it go away. You know, the county and
the city are still negotiating, and then there's this whole
issue of whether state grants are going to come through
as anticipated, and so we have to look carefully at
(12:42):
the timeline of things and take it one step at
a time and see what kind of time conditions we're in.
You know, I always think of two thousand and eight.
You know, I wouldn't want to be a doom's there,
But all of a sudden in two thousand and eight,
our economy collapsed, you know, so you know, careful what's
your promise? Uh, what promises you make, because at the
(13:04):
end of the day, we have to everything has to
be bought and paid for. That's one of my bigg statements.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
And the other concern that some people have with with
the with the train station is the traffic with you know,
you talk about confusion Corner and look, I live in
Martin County and I could tell you that can be
a confusing area as it is, and then when you
have the construction going on and then you bring in
more traffic with people going to the train station, there
are people that are concerned that, you know, what's going
(13:32):
to be done with the roadways there to make it
feasible exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Those particulars are really important. I think one of the
positive sides of it, in addition to being able to
ride the trains Orlando or to Miami right from Stuart,
would be the you know, we would Stuart, and Stuart
would end up getting a sizeable parking garage, which probably
(14:01):
would be good for the downtown area for our town.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
You know, for Stewart to haveright line is bright line.
The part of the deal is bright line pace of
the garage. Correct.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Well, it's a city of Stewart, that's the planning to
do the garage, and the county is kicking in fifteen
million for the building itself, and then we're hoping to
get state grants to knock those numbers down for the
city and for the county.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
What about tourists coming in potentially on bright Line from
other areas of the state. Is that you do? You
see that happening?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah? I think so. I think that would be stops
and it would help downtown Stewart. I was sure. I
think with the close proximity of the station to downtown Stewart,
I think you could just walk over and have some
nice lunch and visit the over there. So I think
it'd be good for downtown Stewart. All right.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Once again, three candidates in this race are Republican primary,
but it's open to all voters in Martin County District three.
But you know, with three candidates to choose problem. It's
an open seat. Why, ultimately, in a nutshell should folks
choose blade caps?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Well, together, we can do great things. We can preserve
the Martin County difference by upholding the comprehensive plan. We
can also improve the water quality in our rivers by
buying conservation lands and storing and cleaning water before its
return to the rivers.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And we can.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Also improve our water quality by converting from septic to sewer,
which and those will be priorities of mine if I
get the privilege of serving. And then thirdly, we can
hauld the line on taxes. And I believe that my
background as a small business owner will help us a
lot in that respect. So those are my three big issues.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
All right, Well, I appreciate you joining us here again.
County Commission District three candidates blank caps here on WJNO
dot com.
Hey, Joel Malcolm four w j n O dot com.
(00:02):
My election spotlight is on Martin County's commission races. There
are three right now, Districts one, three, and five, and
we are focusing on District three right now where Harold Jenkins.
Missioner Jenkins is not seeking a third term, so after
two terms, he is not running. So there are three candidates.
(00:24):
It's an open seat, and we have one of those
three candidates with us right now, Blake Capps. Thank you
for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We should also point out this is a Republican primary,
but it's I guess what they call a universal primary,
since there are just three Republicans, just three of you
running and nobody nobody else, no third party candidate or
no Democrats so and no NPA. So this is open
to all registered voters in Martin County, regardless of where
you live in Martin County.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Correct, that is all right? That is right?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And I guess there may or may not be a winner.
I guess it's just a majority, So I guess there
will be a winner in this. So this will not
be on the ballot in November at all.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Correct, Correct, that rate will be over on August twentieth,
night of the primary. Just a simple majority. Whoever gets
a simple majority in this so well, to give us
some background on you. First of all, have you ever
served in office or run for office before? I have
not served in office. That's will be my first time
(01:32):
to serve in public office. Although I have a lot
of experience and county government committees that have and boards
which have really immersed me in the subject matter of
county government for the last several years. So I think
I do have some good experience to bring to bear.
(01:57):
But I think you said you wanted me to tell
a little about myself.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, I want you to go, Yeah, tell us more
about you.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes, Well, I'm deeply vested in our community. We moved
to Hope Sound when I was thirteen, forty seven years ago,
so I'm sixty and so I'm a forty seven year
resident of Hope Sound. I met my wife of thirty
nine years in our county, and we have raised three
(02:27):
great kids who still live in Hopeesound. They have been
raised in our community. They're all gainfully employed and they
live in Hopeesound, just a couple of miles north of
my home. Our church is here. Most of our friends
are here. We have run a family business in Hope
Sound for the last thirty one years, serving thousands of
(02:48):
Martin County residents, which has been a great joy in
my life. And now it's time to get back and
make a difference in public service and the community that
we love most. Everything we hold deer to our hearts
is right here on Martin County soil. So we look
forward to the prospect of serving the residents of Martin
(03:08):
County and county government.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I'm sorry, and you may have just mentioned and I apologize.
What is it that you do for a living or
have done?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yes, we have a family roofing business Caps Roofing in
the Hopetown and so we have worked up and down
the streets of our county for over for thirty one
years now and in the region as well. But we
have had the privilege of working on most of the
streets of Martin County for a long long time now,
(03:41):
So sure a great privilege.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Share with me. It's any what benefits being a business owner,
you know, could have to serving on the County Commission.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think we can really benefit from having some private sector,
private enterprise business people in county government rather than people
who have basically been working in for the government and
various capacities. You know, there's nothing like the school of
(04:20):
free enterprise and running a small business UH to prepare
you to stretch dollars and find efficiencies. If if you
don't get good at that, you're going out. You know,
you're you're not going to be in business long because
that's the name of the game. And you know, when
(04:43):
you're responsible to meet all of your expenses and have
a little bit left over that we call profit to
make it all worth it, you get pretty good at UH,
at tightening your belt and finding efficiencies and bringing real
value to the marketplace. And that's what I think is
(05:07):
regularly needed in government service these days.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You know, one of the things that come up in
this race and the others in Martin County some candidates,
you know, field there's a bit of over development. So
what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, I think that is right. You know, we have
something really special in Martin County to preserve. We call
it the Martin County Difference. And we have three great rivers,
the Indian River, the Saint Lucy River, and the laxa
Hatche River to the south. And that makes Martin County
a very unique piece of geography. Not not that many
(05:45):
counties have something like that to protect and to preserve.
And you know, Martin County has had a comprehensive plan
that has set it apart from counties that has worked
well for us for over forty years now. And the
(06:06):
proof is in the pudding. You know, look at Martin
County and look at surrounding counties and you can feel it,
and you can see it. There's a big difference.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
When I think of the Martin County difference, I always
think of two great examples. One is, you have just
landed at PBI on Beach International, and you're coming home
to Martin County on nine ninety five, and you come
through Jupiter on ninety five and you see a little
(06:38):
green sign on the right that says entering Martin County,
and you take a big sigh of relief, and the
air seems a little fresher. You see thousands of acres
of Native Florida and you realize you're in a different,
very different place. And that's the Martin kind of difference.
(06:59):
And the other one is when you come on up
here to confusion corner in Stewart and turn riding you're
heading to Hutchinson's Island. You get on top of those
two great bridges, the Evans Curry Bridge and the Arnest
Lions Bridge, and you look to the south at Selfish
Point and you see buildings four stories or less. And
(07:21):
then you look to the north at the northern end
of Hutchinson Island, which is Saint Lucy County, and you
see high rises thirty stories rows of them along the beach.
And then it's a powerful visual of the Martin County difference.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And that's the.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Beautiful place that we live in and the place that
we need to work hard to preserve. And we'll do
that by upholding the Comprehensive Plan. You know, most housing
developments in Martin County are approved with amendments to the
plant that award density increases to developers. And we need
(08:04):
to get back to just asking builders and developers to
work with the land use and the zoning classifications that
are already in the plan. Doesn't mean that no building
and no development is going to happen. But we we
do it a little differently here, you know, where we
(08:28):
we don't focus so much on high density developments. That's
another thing that our complan has us look at. So
we need to get back to the complan and been
working with the provisions that are already in it.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know, you had mentioned earlier you have not served
in public public office before, and you know you're the
only one in this race that hasn't you talked about
the positives of somebody coming from the private sector business
as opposed to serving public sector. But one of the
two candidates, the other two candidates in this race, who
(09:09):
has served as mayor of Indian Town currently and had
mentioned to me that she felt that in the past
the County Commission has with regard to this district because
Indian Town is in District three, but that sometimes Indian
Town has been ignored by the County Commission. So I
(09:30):
wanted to get your thoughts on that, being that you
could be serving on the on the County Commission if obviously,
if she doesn't get it or the other or the other.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Candidate right, and I think she probably has a valid
sentiment there. You know, District three is the southern part
of Martin County, which is basically Hopetown and Indian Town
and what we call South County which is the question
of Jupiter area of Martin County now by like.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
The unincorporated spots.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Of right right, right right, So it's those basic three communities,
and Hope sounds the largest of those communities. And Indian
Town is an interesting places that it's sort of isolated,
kind of out there in the country, and it's a
small community of about six thousand residents as I understand,
(10:23):
and because of its geographic isolation, you know, it's I
imagine some of the folks out there might feel that way,
and it would be one of my priorities to seek
out the folks in Indian Town if I got elected,
to to not ignore them, but to you know, find.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Out all that they meet out there. I mean, I
have some ideas, but to get more educated and more
involved with key leaders out there who can further enlightened
me as to what are the needs of the folks
are out there?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
They are their own there are they are they?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah? They're incorporate government now right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
There are portions of Indian Town that are outside of
the city elements and still would be in need of
count of the government help.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
So and the fairgrounds are going to go there eventually
to the unincorporated area near Indian Town. So it'll be
interesting to see when that gets done. But uh uh,
let's get back to the development issue. You know, you
were talking about the downtown area there you infuse a
corner and all that right there is not far from
where you're going to have at some point soon a
(11:40):
new bright line station. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah? I am for it the concept. Uh you know,
but as a small business owner, I'm heavily influenced by
what we can afford at when we're asked to stroke
the check. You know, I condition it on the times
that we're in at that moment, whether these state grants
(12:04):
come through to help us with the costs.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh is that?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Let me ask you, is it not?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Is it not a done deal that it's happening, because
that's what I was under that impression.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Maybe I'm wrong, right, there's still snags that that should
basically make it go away. You know, the county and
the city are still negotiating, and then there's this whole
issue of whether state grants are going to come through
as anticipated, and so we have to look carefully at
(12:42):
the timeline of things and take it one step at
a time and see what kind of time conditions we're in.
You know, I always think of two thousand and eight.
You know, I wouldn't want to be a doom's there,
But all of a sudden in two thousand and eight,
our economy collapsed, you know, so you know, careful what's
your promise? Uh, what promises you make, because at the
(13:04):
end of the day, we have to everything has to
be bought and paid for. That's one of my bigg statements.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
And the other concern that some people have with with
the with the train station is the traffic with you know,
you talk about confusion Corner and look, I live in
Martin County and I could tell you that can be
a confusing area as it is, and then when you
have the construction going on and then you bring in
more traffic with people going to the train station, there
are people that are concerned that, you know, what's going
(13:32):
to be done with the roadways there to make it
feasible exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Those particulars are really important. I think one of the
positive sides of it, in addition to being able to
ride the trains Orlando or to Miami right from Stuart,
would be the you know, we would Stuart, and Stuart
would end up getting a sizeable parking garage, which probably
(14:01):
would be good for the downtown area for our town.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
You know, for Stewart to haveright line is bright line.
The part of the deal is bright line pace of
the garage. Correct.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Well, it's a city of Stewart, that's the planning to
do the garage, and the county is kicking in fifteen
million for the building itself, and then we're hoping to
get state grants to knock those numbers down for the
city and for the county.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
What about tourists coming in potentially on bright Line from
other areas of the state. Is that you do? You
see that happening?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah? I think so. I think that would be stops
and it would help downtown Stewart. I was sure. I
think with the close proximity of the station to downtown Stewart,
I think you could just walk over and have some
nice lunch and visit the over there. So I think
it'd be good for downtown Stewart. All right.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Once again, three candidates in this race are Republican primary,
but it's open to all voters in Martin County District three.
But you know, with three candidates to choose problem. It's
an open seat. Why, ultimately, in a nutshell should folks
choose blade caps?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Well, together, we can do great things. We can preserve
the Martin County difference by upholding the comprehensive plan. We
can also improve the water quality in our rivers by
buying conservation lands and storing and cleaning water before its
return to the rivers.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And we can.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Also improve our water quality by converting from septic to sewer,
which and those will be priorities of mine if I
get the privilege of serving. And then thirdly, we can
hauld the line on taxes. And I believe that my
background as a small business owner will help us a
lot in that respect. So those are my three big issues.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
All right, Well, I appreciate you joining us here again.
County Commission District three candidates blank caps here on WJNO
dot com.
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In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.