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‘It’s time for me to move on ...’
By THOMAS MICHALSKI
Article published on Friday, March 9, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/030907_par-02.jpg) |
| Patricia Bailey-Snook |
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PINELLAS PARK – A veteran city councilwoman, former mayor and one-time state legislator has announced that she will not seek re-election when her term expires next year.
Councilwoman Patricia Bailey-Snook, 71, who first took office decades ago to fight the so-called “good old boys political machine,” said she will step down and move to Lake Panasoffkee in North Florida.
She has endorsed former State Rep. Mary Brennan to fill her council seat that will be up for grabs in March 2008.
“It’s time to move on,” Bailey-Snook said. “I feel as though I have done my job for the people of Pinellas Park and Pinellas County.”
Councilman Rick Butler holds the only other council seat up for grabs next year. He plans to run again.
Mayor Bill Michler also is expected to seek re-election.
Bailey-Snook, who has lived in the city since 1956, said it saddens her to leave Pinellas Park after so many years.
“The city has grown into a hub, an important center of the county,” Bailey-Snook said. “I will miss it and its people.”
Born in Kentucky, her family moved first to Lakeland when she was 7 and later to St. Petersburg where her Russian-born father ran a neighborhood grocery store. One of eight children of four boys and four girls, Bailey-Snook became a teacher.
Her first foray into public service came while attending Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. She worked with welfare mothers and prisoners to get them a better education and jobs. Later she did the same in St. Petersburg.
She married her childhood sweetheart, Larry Smith, and together they purchased her present home for $9,950. There she raised son Michael and daughter Lisa who now live in Polk County.
Smith, a delivery driver and warehouseman for Sears, died of cancer 28 years after their marriage.
Back then cities would purchase what were known as “packaged sewer plants.” The sewage permits cost only $100, but some members of the administration allegedly bought them up and resold them to new homeowners and land speculators for up to $3,000 each.
People, Bailey-Snook said, were getting ill from the raw sewage that flowed through some of the city’s canals.
“Pinellas Park at the time was the fastest growing city in the United States,” Bailey-Snook said. “It was a blue collar community with a lot of personality.”
Her first taste of fighting city hall came when she was drafted to represent a group of homeowners that demanded better sewage and other services. Bailey-Snook confronted the then city administration and quickly became frustrated over their lack of attention.
“There were no future plans for the city, no plans to make improvements,” Bailey-Snook said.
She decided to fight the system from within and successfully won a city council seat. It was a dirty campaign. She learned quickly that a lot of city business was conducted behind closed doors.
“There was no Sunshine Law in those days,” Bailey-Snook said. “I was the only woman on the council so when it came time to make a decision all the men would go into the rest room.”
One day Bailey-Snook and a local female reporter followed them into the men’s toilet.
She eventually won a seat in the state legislature. She fought for child welfare and senior citizens who were being pushed out of their homes to make way for highways and other construction. Bailey-Snook was named to the legislature’s Growth Management Committee and was concerned over what was happening to elderly residents.
“Some of them were so poor that they were eating dog and cat food and committing suicide,” Bailey-Snook said. “There was more to the month than money could be stretched.”
Bailey-Snook said the Social Security system never was meant to be a retirement plan, but more of a supplemental income.
At home she formed Helping Hand, a forerunner to today’s People Helping People project. She helped organize food banks for the needy and was instrumental in bringing senior citizen housing to Pinellas Park.
She once had breakfast with President Jimmy Carter at the White House and convinced him to sign a $10 million package to help citizens in both Broward and Pinellas counties.
She became mayor, but had to step down due to her husband’s illness. She returned as councilwoman a few years later. She feels that today the city is in good hands.
“There is planning, there is a future and everyone works together for the people,” Bailey-Snook said.
In August 2000 she married John Snook, a trucking company executive with roots in North Florida.
“Legislators at all levels these days seem to forget who put them in office, who they represent,” Bailey-Snook said.
With retirement looming over the horizon Bailey-Snook already is making plans for an active life.
“I want to continue helping people,” she said. “I will remain involved when I move up north, and leave my beloved Pinellas Park.”
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Article published on Friday, March 9, 2007
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