Former candidate for District 3 Commissioner, Martin “Leigh Shannon” Fugate is reiterating his
support for Robert Stuart, whom he says has stood against overdevelopment in Rosemont and
supported LGBTQ+ rights.
"My biggest concern this election was the Rosemont Development Plan,” Fugate explained. “ I
was very vocal in speaking out in opposition of this plan as it was initially presented, and was
pleased to see that our current District 3 City Commissioner Robert Stuart ended up voting
against the development plan."
The last hearing on the controversial development plan lasted more than four hours, with dozens
of public comments from neighbors of our College Park community. Commissioners ended up
approving the plan with a 5-2 vote, with our Commissioner Robert Stuart joined with Tony Ortiz
dissenting in the minority position.
“I am extremely disappointed in the votes to approve the Rosemont Development Plan from Commissioners Jim Gray, Patty Sheehan, Regina Hill and Bakari Burns, as well as Mayor Buddy Dyer. I urge them to begin to consider listening to public input and considering changes to future development plans prior to approving them,” Fugate emphasized.
The two other city commission candidates in this race- Nicolette Springer and Samuel Chambers,
remained silent on the Rosemont Development Plan during the public input process, and have not
issued any official statements about the growth happening in the RoseArts district.
A long time supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, Commissioner Robert F. Stuart has voted in favor of
the following ordinances and supported the following initiatives:
December 11, 2011 – an Ordinance establishing a Domestic Partnership Registry
June 23, 2014 - the Mayor and City Council authorized the filing of amicus curiae (friend of the
court) briefs in support of marriage equality in several Florida cases trying to overturn the
Florida same-sex marriage ban.
August 11, 2014 – an Ordinance adding Gender Identity as a protected class to the City Code
Chapter 57 regarding Discrimination.
Because of Commissioner Stuart’s long-time commitment to LGBTQ+ rights, as well as his
willingness to listen to the community and vote against the Rosemont Plan, Fugate is
encouraging his supporters as well as other local residents in the community to support Robert
Stuart for re-election.