Karen#1
Well-known member
[Clearwater councilman Mannino is clashing with the Latvalas over Flag]
Tampa Bay Times reporter Colbi Edmonds had another great piece about Scientology in Clearwater, this time about some surprising sniping going on between local politicians there.
It’s in the wake of the city council’s decision to vacate the right-of-way of a downtown street so Scientology can take it over as part of its “L. Ron Hubbard Hall” project. The measure passed on a vote of 3-2, and councilman Mike Mannino was one of the yes votes.
He’s getting some pushback on that from a Pinellas County commissioner, Chris Latvala, whose wife, Bianca Latvala, is running for the Clearwater council this year.
We asked Mark Bunker, who is running again to be on the city council, to help us make sense of what was in Edmonds’ article and what’s going on down there…
Ohhhh, there’s excitement in the air and I am all here for it! Such drama.
Councilmember Mike Mannino decided to withdraw his endorsement of Bianca Latvala because she disagreed with the Scientology wing of the city council needlessly giving away S. Garden Avenue to Scientology’s tiny leader David Miscavige.
Worse yet, Mannino dragged this into public by sharing a request Bianca’s husband, Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala, made to Mannino, asking that the council merely delay the vote because the county has yet to decide what it wants to do with the 17 properties the county owns and will soon be vacating downtown.
Here I must quote from the Tampa Bay Times article on this spat:
Mannino responded that the vote on South Garden Avenue would not affect the county’s effort and that the Garden Avenue discussion needed closure.
Latvala responded: “Well when developers read in the wall street journal that our city council is owned lock stock and barrel by L Ron Hubbard I am sure it will,” he said, referring to the founder of the Church of Scientology. “And dont use God as an excuse for not having any balls and being a sellout.”
DAMN!
Mannino then responded: “My relationship with God is not yours to question nor ever used as an excuse. It takes balls to stand up to bigotry, antisemitism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. All of which are cousins of discrimination. I prefer to stay consistent against all the above and not move the goal posts for political popularity.”
Does it really take balls to stand up to bigotry, antisemitism, racism, sexism, and homophobia? That seems like it should be the default position for most people. However, It does take balls to stand up to tiny Slappy Miscavige and tell him he can create his little L. Ron Hubbard Hall and park...but do it without stealing a city street.
Mannino, who voted in support of the church’s request, said his decision had nothing to do with her stance on the vacation of South Garden Avenue. Bianca Latvala is opposed to the city giving away the street.
“The truth of why I felt that I had to remove an endorsement was because I do not think that a sitting county commissioner pressuring, bullying or insulting a City Council member hours before a vote is a good place to be for Clearwater or for our county,” Mannino said.
Chris Latvala said his wife is an independent person, and any disagreement he has with Mannino does not involve her.
“She’s running for City Council,” Chris Latvala said. “I’m not.”
Then, channeling all of the Theta postulating that has been filling the council chambers by the hundreds of Scientologists at recent meetings...
“Clearwater is in such a place of hope and optimism and momentum,” Mannino said. “It’s unfortunate that divisive behavior and negativity are being inserted in a time like this.”
There’s been so much conflict and strife in meetings lately that it makes me pine for a simpler time when Mayor Hibbard would just threaten to “take me outside.”
Speaking of negativity, I believe both Mannino and councilman Ryan Cotton argued that the safety of the poor parishioners was at stake because they could be mowed down by a crazed zealot if the street weren’t closed. Although I and others reminded them that an event permit could be issued to close the street on nights when an event was held, that simply wasn’t good enough. The street had to be permanently shut down. Downtown Clearwater must be a far more dangerous place than when I was on the council. Other places seem to be able to have large crowds of people safely attend events without shutting down streets. For example...
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Mark Bunker on the sniping going on between Clearwater political figures over Scientology
Tampa Bay Times reporter Colbi Edmonds had another great piece about Scientology in Clearwater, this time about some surprising sniping going on between local politicians there.
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