Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
Clearwater, Florida’s city council voted 3-2 on Thursday night to vacate the right-of-way of additional streets, this time for parking for an entertainment complex that is associated with the Church of Scientology. This decision was less controversial than the council’s June vote to turn over a downtown street to Scientology for its L. Ron Hubbard Hall project, but once again Scientology packed the meeting Thursday, making it difficult for citizens opposed to the vote to have a say. Once again, Mayor Bruce Rector and council member Lina Teixeira were the two ‘no’ votes. We asked Mark Bunker, who is running to be on the council again, for his thoughts about this latest development…
For those Save the Garden folks who arrived at 7 am to be able to speak at the 6 pm meeting, that is dedication and it is also horrible that they would have to do so. This council seems downright cruel. There’s nastiness and pomposity on display. For them to make it such a burden to have a chance for people to speak their mind is so petty and so wrong. The rules seem to change at whim. With an hour of debate allowed on an agenda item, ten people should get to speak for three minutes for the item and ten can speak against it. That was in place and suddenly vanished in favor of first come, first serve. That’s insane and insulting to the citizens of Clearwater.
There was no doubt the movie theater would get the streets they wanted. If I had been on the council, I would have taken the time to talk about what we discovered during the earlier marathon meeting where the theater developer essentially said, “I need those streets and I have it in my contract with the property owner that I get those streets.” Why the hell should a deal be made with the anonymous Scientology LLC owner over owning city streets? That should be negotiated between the developer and the city before a huge announcement is sent out in a glossy Scientology-produced video telling everyone we will have THE LARGEST SCREEN IN THE WORLD!!!
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tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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[/td]For those Save the Garden folks who arrived at 7 am to be able to speak at the 6 pm meeting, that is dedication and it is also horrible that they would have to do so. This council seems downright cruel. There’s nastiness and pomposity on display. For them to make it such a burden to have a chance for people to speak their mind is so petty and so wrong. The rules seem to change at whim. With an hour of debate allowed on an agenda item, ten people should get to speak for three minutes for the item and ten can speak against it. That was in place and suddenly vanished in favor of first come, first serve. That’s insane and insulting to the citizens of Clearwater.
There was no doubt the movie theater would get the streets they wanted. If I had been on the council, I would have taken the time to talk about what we discovered during the earlier marathon meeting where the theater developer essentially said, “I need those streets and I have it in my contract with the property owner that I get those streets.” Why the hell should a deal be made with the anonymous Scientology LLC owner over owning city streets? That should be negotiated between the developer and the city before a huge announcement is sent out in a glossy Scientology-produced video telling everyone we will have THE LARGEST SCREEN IN THE WORLD!!!
READ MORE
Clearwater council making it tougher for citizens to oppose city’s capitulation to Scientology
Clearwater, Florida’s city council voted 3-2 on Thursday night to vacate the right-of-way of additional streets, this time for parking for an entertainment complex that is associated with the Church of Scientology.
tonyortega.substack.com
