Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[Allbritton, Mannino, and Cotton came through for Dave]
We watched live last night as Clearwater’s city council took its final vote and, with 3 council members voting yes — David Allbritton, Mike Mannino, and Ryan Cotton — Scientology will get what it wants as a portion of South Garden Avenue in downtown is “vacated” and closed off from the public right-of-way.
Scientology argued that it needed the street vacated as a safety concern as it builds L. Ron Hubbard Hall on the east side of Garden Avenue, and L. Ron Hubbard Park on the west side.
The two no votes — Mayor Bruce Rector and Lina Teixeira — as well as several members of the public pointed out that Scientology can have its future hall and future park, and it can get permits to shut down Garden Avenue for large events without vacating it as a public street.
But Allbritton, Mannino, and Cotton seemed swayed by Scientology’s security concerns, which were laid on pretty thickly by the Scientologists who had signed up to speak before the council.
Painting scary pictures of maniacs driving trucks into crowds, lunatics firing at strangers, and even Mexican home invasions as examples of why Scientologists needed to be protected from the public, speaker after speaker spoke in fairly formulaic presentations that seemed to have been if not written for them, vetted by the Office of Special Affairs.
But hearing from the public was merely a formality. Nothing had changed from an initial vote that was taken two weeks earlier.
Council member David Allbritton cited previous street vacations, a lack of traffic on Garden Avenue, and the safety concerns to conclude that he didn’t see a compelling reason not to grant Scientology’s request.
READ MORE
tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
[td width="876px"]
[/td][td]
[/td]We watched live last night as Clearwater’s city council took its final vote and, with 3 council members voting yes — David Allbritton, Mike Mannino, and Ryan Cotton — Scientology will get what it wants as a portion of South Garden Avenue in downtown is “vacated” and closed off from the public right-of-way.
Scientology argued that it needed the street vacated as a safety concern as it builds L. Ron Hubbard Hall on the east side of Garden Avenue, and L. Ron Hubbard Park on the west side.
The two no votes — Mayor Bruce Rector and Lina Teixeira — as well as several members of the public pointed out that Scientology can have its future hall and future park, and it can get permits to shut down Garden Avenue for large events without vacating it as a public street.
But Allbritton, Mannino, and Cotton seemed swayed by Scientology’s security concerns, which were laid on pretty thickly by the Scientologists who had signed up to speak before the council.
Painting scary pictures of maniacs driving trucks into crowds, lunatics firing at strangers, and even Mexican home invasions as examples of why Scientologists needed to be protected from the public, speaker after speaker spoke in fairly formulaic presentations that seemed to have been if not written for them, vetted by the Office of Special Affairs.
But hearing from the public was merely a formality. Nothing had changed from an initial vote that was taken two weeks earlier.
Council member David Allbritton cited previous street vacations, a lack of traffic on Garden Avenue, and the safety concerns to conclude that he didn’t see a compelling reason not to grant Scientology’s request.
READ MORE
Clearwater's 3-2 final vote gives Scientology vacated street for its Vatican City
We watched live last night as Clearwater’s city council took its final vote and, with 3 council members voting yes — David Allbritton, Mike Mannino, and Ryan Cotton — Scientology will get what it wants as a portion of South Garden Avenue in downtown is “vacated” and closed off from the public...
tonyortega.substack.com
