Mayoral Candidate Profile: Kaitlin Gracie Kramer

Age: 24 
Profession: Bartender/Manager
Political affiliation: Independent (editor’s note* The article originally published in print states Kramer’s party affiliation as “Democratic Party” based on information from VoterRecords.com)
Civic involvement: Donation drives for Toys for Tots, coordinate fundraising events to support breast cancer research

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

The Lakelander
Let’s just start at the beginning, going into why Kaitlin Gracie Kramer is running for mayor?

Kaitlin Gracie Kramer
If there ever was a time for me to do it, it would be now. I’m in a position in my life where I’m so happy and so content with everything that I’ve built, and I feel like my next step would be to develop outreach into the community, help the people around me and give back to the city that has put so much into me. 

I genuinely care so much about Lakeland. I love this place and I think that it is the most beautiful city in the entire world, so if I could give parts of myself to a place that has built me, I would love to do that for the next couple of years. I grew up here, want to raise my family here…and just bought a house in 2020.

I think that civic engagement is so important, and now that I’ve gotten past all the things that I needed to accomplish within myself, I feel more comfortable putting myself into the public and taking care of the public in a way that they need above anything.

I definitely want to represent younger people and people who don’t feel like they currently have a voice in our government. It’s super important to me that young people feel like they have a spot in politics because it seems like that’s a general concern that a lot of people are facing where they feel like you have to be retired in order to get into anything. 

I am a working class candidate. I’ve been a bartender for the last six years of my life…I think that it’s great and it’s taught me a lot of social skills, but then in the same way, it almost sets me apart because I am involved with the public actively every single day. I hear what people like, I hear what people don’t like, they come to me to confide in me, they come to me to resolve a couple of their own issues in their own ways.

The Lakelander
How do you feel about the transparency of city government here in Lakeland and secondly, what would you change or are there things that you would do to make it more transparent if you think that’s something that’s a need?

Kaitlin
I appreciate the transparency that we have now. It seems like they are actively trying to get the public involved, but it seems like the efforts that they’re putting in aren’t being appreciated as much by the people that do need to get involved. I’ve been talking to a lot of people and they consistently tell me that they have no idea who our current mayor even is, and that’s sad. People need to know who leads them. 

The Lakelander
What do you attribute that to? Obviously it’s just your opinion, but what do you attribute that of lack of knowledge and awareness about our local government to?

Kaitlin
I think that leads back to people not feeling represented…[which leads to them asking] ‘ Why should I care if I don’t feel like I’m a part of this to begin with?’ I think that genuinely, if people felt that they were more involved and more included in conversations they would be more likely to know who is having these conversations.

The Lakelander
That makes sense…but to your point, a lot of times people just stick with a hands-off approach unless it’s something that’s very personal to them or something that kind of gets them fired up. How do you create opportunities for better engagement if you’re elected?

Kaitlin
You definitely develop different ways of outreach. Currently we’re having city meetings during business days, and a lot of people feel like they can’t go to those, whether it’s because they need afterschool care for their children, or they are preoccupied with structuring their small amount of free time into getting groceries, or taking care of themselves. Not just in Lakeland, but around the world…people have to keep fighting to fend for themselves and they aren’t putting a lot of thought into taking care of the people around them because of the struggles that they’re facing within their own world.

The Lakelander
How would you respond if someone were to say, ‘Why would Kaitlin be good in the role of mayor as a sounding board as well as a good leader for city staff?’

Kaitlin
I may not be a businessman, but I certainly am good at managing money. I think that there have been some allocations within our last few years that have not necessarily been as beneficial to the public as they could have been. I would like to work toward putting that money back into the hands of the people and putting it into programs that will help develop our city in a way that we can see growth for the next few years.

The Lakelander
When it comes to planning for growth and meeting the needs of a diverse population, you have revitalization projects like the one happening on Memorial Blvd. where a developer is building out the old Sears Town Center and Talbot House is building a new headquarters. The reality is that Lakeland is home to many transient and homeless people who need services and need provision and government assistance. How do you navigate the need for continued economic development for the benefit of everyone, but also still serve the needs of those who oftentimes are most easily forgotten?

Kaitlin
I am very appreciative of the programs that we have in place right now that are openly trying to help those people. I think genuinely we need to look more toward long-term solutions [like] long-term housing rehabilitation centers that help with mental health, that help with drug abuse and getting people rehabilitated toward becoming functioning citizens…nobody wants to be unhoused, right? Nobody wants to be homeless. That’s not something that’s your goal in your life, but it’s an unfortunate circumstance that people fall into.

But that’s also something like the saying [goes], ‘It takes a village.’ Yeah. It certainly takes a village sometimes even when you feel like you can’t help yourself, you need a village around you to help you get back into a place where you can be a functioning, happy, successful member of society.

The Lakelander
In your messaging you have talked a lot about infrastructure to support Lakeland’s growth, and a lot of times people’s first question regarding that is, ‘How much is that going to cost?’ How do you navigate the challenge of supporting a city where there is a need for more services and a need for more infrastructure but the tax rate has stayed the same for a long time?

Kaitlin
I think in our current economy we definitely need to look into reallocating [funding] into different spaces. Raising the taxes on people [who] can already barely afford to keep their homes does not seem like it would be a great idea long term, because that’s going to put us back in the position of people who can’t afford to live, people can’t afford to eat, people can’t afford to send their kids to school and help with all of the funding that the schools need. You want people to be able to feel comfortable in the city that they’re in. You want them to feel comfortable paying their bills, paying their car payment, feeding their kids, taking care of their grandparents. If you don’t have the ability to do that, I almost feel like you’re asking people to lower their quality of life.

The Lakelander
You mention you would like to raise your own family in Lakeland one day. What are some things that you think in the next five to 10 years can or might threaten the quality of life of Lakelanders as we know it? And then what do you see yourself hopefully being able to cast a vision of that will hopefully prevent some of that?

Kaitlin
I think right now we’re having a big issue with infrastructure. Florida is pretty notorious for hurricanes, I think we can all agree. After the last one, I saw so many people displaced for days, if not weeks, if not months, because their houses flooded and they had nowhere to go.

When everything is concrete, there’s nowhere for the water to go, and you get into issues where it’s coming back into people’s neighborhoods, it’s coming back into our roadways and we develop sinkholes and potholes, and then you’re looking into other issues like, ‘Are our cars safe?’ [and]  ‘Are community buildings safe?’ That matters a lot to me over the next few years.

The Lakelander
I think from generation to generation the way people look at politics continues to change, but you’re now part of the political stratosphere. What does that feel like, just knowing where you’ve been and where you’d like to make an impact for your community?

Kaitlin
It’s been very interesting to be a politician. I’m 24 years old, so I think that being so young, people have a negative connotation of that a lot of the time. But I really don’t think that should be the case. I care just as much about this city as somebody that’s 75 [and] has lived here their entire life. I’ve lived here my entire life. 

I want to build a better future for people who maybe even right now don’t even have a voice. Like, for instance, [my friend] Heath’s son, Hudson. He’s nine years old. I told him that I was running for mayor …and I was like, ‘Hudson, I’m gonna be Batman. I’m gonna be the Dark Knight and I’m gonna save the city.’ And he went home that night and he talked to Heath and he [said], ‘She’s gonna save the city.’  [Heath said], ‘Yeah, she’s going to save the city.’ But [Hudson] was like, ‘Can she stop the traffic?’ [and] ‘Can she make the water less smelly?’

The Lakelander
How do you give hope to young people including soon-to-be graduates and recent college graduates that this can be a city that supports them and gives them opportunities to stay here and to thrive?

Kaitlin
To stay here and to thrive here is really important to me. I think that as our city is growing and we're creating more opportunities for business there will be better jobs that open up. Lakeland has grown so much in the last few years. Look at all of the things that we've built. Genuinely, I believe that over the next few years, there will be good opportunities…as far as developing jobs here, we need to rally around the city. We need to work toward creating more job opportunities, creating better situations where people can feel comfortable living and raising their kids here.

Learn More About Kaitlin and Follow Her Campaign
kramer4mayor.com  
Contact her: kramerformayor@gmail.com