‘The decision to not run allows me to really give my undivided attention to the work that I want to do for the rest of the year,’ said Bro. John Muhammad.
BY J.A. JONES | Staff Writer
ST PETERSBURG — After announcing he won’t run for District 7 city council in 2025, Bro. John Muhammad is looking forward to rolling up his sleeves and strictly focusing on community initiatives during his last 11 months in office.
While he spoke highly of his fellow council members and the City of St. Pete leadership and staff, he is excited about pushing forward in his district work without the distraction of preparing for another campaign.
“The decision to not run allows me to really give my undivided attention to the work that I want to do for the rest of the year,” Muhammad noted, listing the initiative he is tentatively calling “New Deal 2.0” as one of his priorities.
Councilman Bro. John Muhammad was sworn in on Oct. 20, 2021, by the Honorable Pamela A. M. Campbell, Sixth Judicial Circuit.
The community activist-turned-politician is eager to take the survey results and data gained from numerous town halls and meetings to help determine progress points and formulate a community-led agenda. Muhammad said this will enable citizens to make informed decisions regarding voting time.
Armed with an agenda outlined by the community, those attending candidate forums can judge whether the promises being made actually align with what they and their neighbors have stated are priorities. Muhammad noted this will help constituents know that “when we vote, we’re voting for people who we feel confident will endorse our agenda and support the work that we need to get done in our community going forward.”
While Muhammad acknowledged that when entering office, he intended to run again, his time in office has shown him that he can make more progress on the things he cares about without politics.
“I wasn’t interested in being a candidate and running and asking people for support and begging for money and going to places where I’m not really welcomed. The part of the job that I enjoyed the most is the organizing, the activism and the advocating for the issues that matter,” he shared.
Muhammad has found that the larger percentage of council agenda items are often procedural, judging that as little as 20 percent of the issues are ones he’s felt strongly about. “By stepping out of the race and back into the role of a private citizen, I can take that 20 percent of the agenda and really give 100 percent of my focus to that without having to be concerned with all of the other things that a broader constituency demands of me.”
Aware that, as a public official, “I work at the pleasure of the voters,” Muhammad looks forward to being a private citizen again. “I believe that by stepping back into the role of a private citizen, I can really channel and focus where my passion is; my heart is to serve the community.”
“It can be disheartening to experience some of the things that I’ve experienced,” Councilman Bro. John Muhammad said.
Still, the District 7 representative expressed satisfaction with the growth and acumen earned during his time in office; he confirmed that it had been a very informative experience that he would encourage others to pursue.
“I think for those who have a passion for service and governance, and really, public policy and legislation — because we’re really writing the policies — it is something that should be pursued. It’s very necessary to have good representation on council.”
He also recommended having a strong commitment to “going through the process,” which he admits was sometimes tricky.
“It can be disheartening to experience some of the things that I’ve experienced,” he said, noting that it takes a certain kind of tolerance to deal with “the bureaucracy that’s required to get it done. So, it is not for everybody. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
He called it a very deliberative process and added that anyone aspiring to the job should be mindful of this. “I’ve struggled with some of the decisions,” he said, noting that when you’re advocating as an activist or private citizen, you only have your issue and don’t have to weigh both sides. “But as a decision maker, it is not about what you want the outcome to be.”
“I wasn’t interested in being a candidate and running and asking people for support and begging for money and going to places where I’m not really welcomed,” said Councilman Bro. John Muhammad.
Muhammad said he’s grown to appreciate the job, especially the decision-making process. “I learned so much about myself in this process as well. Because you have to really be able to see both sides of everything that comes before you … and really weigh it. So that you can make a decision that’s in the best interest of the greatest number of people.”
Other lessons learned included the importance of cultivating good relationships with the city staff and with the administration. Muhammad noted that only some decisions go through the council, and many administrative practices that help improve efficiency and process can be achieved through working directly with the administration.
“A lot of things don’t necessarily need to go to council. You can take them to the administration and have conversations with them. If the administration and the staff are on board and see it as a process improvement or something that will benefit the city and the community, they can make the change without ever coming to council.”
Muhammad feels that healthy relationships and mutual respect have allowed him to expand the scope of relationships with city staff, allowing for deeper connections while working on things with staff members. “I’m encouraged and inspired by the opportunity that presents; staff can help solve a lot of the challenges that we’re facing.”
While Muhammad acknowledged that when entering office, he intended to run again, his time in office has shown him that he can make more progress on the things he cares about without politics.
He also noted that watching how passion from a citizen can turn into citywide policy, pointing to the recent ordinance banning the retail sale of rabbits in the city. “That started with an email from a constituent who said, ‘You know, this is a problem.’ And I don’t think it was on the radar of any of my colleagues,” Muhammad averred.
However, one of the council members recommended looking into the issue and referred it to the committee, and it went through the process of coming before residents and stakeholders.
“It came to council, and in a matter of seven or eight months, we had an ordinance in place that banned the retail sale of rabbits. It was just beautiful to witness, you know, democracy in action. Because they brought it, somebody picked it up, they moved it through the process, and they got a policy change. You know, which was amazing.”
He’s looking forward to contributing that kind of information to community conversations and exposing residents to that process to prove that sometimes the democratic process can work.
“Just seeing how individuals who are organized around issues that matter to them can really make an impact in the city; it just reminded me of, like, yeah, that’s what I really want to do more than sitting on this side of the table.”
Check out Bro. John Muhammad’s blog at www.d7speaks.com/blog.
