John Alloco
My name is John Allocco and together with my wife, Randi, we own and operate a small business – a physical therapy practice – here in Hernando County.
I moved to Florida to pursue a college education. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences at the University of Florida and a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy at the University of St. Augustine and began my career here, more than sixteen years ago.
Not too long after, I met Randi – a nurse working here in Hernando. Almost a decade ago, we opened our small business and we are blessed to have grown, with the opportunity to serve residents of our community, each and every day. We now have 8 full-time employees and several part-time employees. Our “blended” family has grown as well, with two adult children and two young children – both of whom attend school here in Hernando County.
Hernando County is a wonderful place to live, work and raise our children.
There is a new excitement in the air and our county is once again growing, but even with the economy recovering, too many of our local businesses are still struggling. Too many of our residents and our children are leaving to pursue university educations and trade certificates and returning to find those jobs requiring those highly valued skills still don’t exist in Hernando County. Many of our residents live here but must commute many miles to neighboring counties to find the job they need to support their family.
I’ve never sought a political office but now I am running for Hernando County Commission, District 3, to bring a new, fresh, small business perspective to our County Commission.
I am committed to setting policy for smart, sustainable growth and a balanced tax base, to strengthen our local economy, so our local businesses grow and flourish.
I am committed to working with our Sheriff, first responders and School Board so they have the resources they need to create a safer and more secure community.
I am committed to creating an environment in Hernando County that is attractive to new businesses – providing new jobs and career opportunities for Hernando County residents and helping our existing businesses grow.
I see a bright and prosperous future for our community and working together, we can ensure Hernando County’s best days are still ahead. If you believe as I do, on Election Day, I humbly ask for your support and your vote!
Diane Rowden
When I first entered politics, I made a promise to myself that I would strive to leave Hernando County better than when I found it. I have lived here for 33 years and am not done making Hernando County better. Over the years, change has come very slowly but all of those small changes are coming together. I want to guide and make sure that Hernando County stays on its path to prosperity. Several years ago, under the direction of our county administrator, we developed a collective vision and a plan to implement that vision. The vision and plan was adopted after many many months of research and discussion. Here’s a condensed version and the results it has produced. It’s a good plan and we are making progress.
Economic
- Have a robust, renewable, viable, and sustainable economic engine to support the needs and enhance the lifestyles of our residents and visitors.
Accomplishments
- Workforce development, a major initiative to improve our economy, continues to strengthen as AM Skills graduated its first class of 29 students.
- Recruited five new companies while retaining and growing two existing businesses representing 233,000 square-feet of space, 230 new and 101 existing jobs.
- Continued to enhance the permitting process by reducing wait time to an average of 3-5 days for residential and 10-15 days for commercial.
Infrastructure
- Create and maintain a highly effective infrastructure that enables the community activities of its citizens and businesses.
- Develop infrastructure that supports multiple modes of transportation while protecting our natural resources.
Accomplishments
- Improved roadway surfaces on 43 miles of roads.
- Maintained and improved 10 county parks by adding electronic gates, pay stations, a dog wash station, and by replacing beach sand, playground equipment and a football field.
- Improved transit services by rebranding with a new logo and adding services including a fourth bus route (Green Route), expanding the Purple Route into Pasco County, reducing wait times from 75 to 60 minutes and increasing the bus fleet.
- Approved use of the 9th Cent Local Option Fuel tax as a long term dedicated source of funding for Transit Service.
Natural Resources
- Establish a sustainable community by embracing the best ecological practices and policies.
Accomplishments
- Passed a noxious tree plant ordinance aimed at controlling the spread of Lead Tree and Brazilian Pepper Tree plants.
- Continued site preparation at Lake Townsen Preserve and trained and certified four employees as Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agents.
- Increased recycling by 10 percent.