Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[Clearwater, 2525]
Tampa Bay Times reporter Tracey McManus had another major scoop this weekend when she revealed that Scientologist developer Moises Agami has filed plans to build two towering condo buildings in downtown Clearwater, Florida that will be the new tallest structures in the city.
When we first read the news, we thought it turned things upside down in that Gulf Coast town: Wait, a Scientologist developer is going to build things now in downtown rather than hold back progress?
We’re used to the long-running battle in Clearwater, where Scientology surreptitiously invaded in 1975 and has had a stranglehold on its downtown that only got more pronounced after Scientologists went on a buying spree in 2017. (We know that thanks to another major investigative triumph from McManus.)
But traditionally, this has been a story about Scientology preventing downtown development by buying up buildings and keeping them empty, while Clearwater officials have struggled to attract more visitors with recent successes like the new Coachman Park and its amphitheater.
So what does it mean that now Agami, who was the developer behind Tom Cruise’s Clearwater condo, is planning to change the skyline of Clearwater with his two 35-story towers just feet from the intracoastal?
“We’re screwed,” Vice Mayor Mark Bunker told us when we rang him up to ask him what the heck is going on in his beleaguered city.
He told us that he was stunned to read McManus’s story, which revealed that Agami is taking advantage of the city’s attempt to encourage more development by removing some zoning regulations in an effort to lessen “red tape.”
READ MORE
tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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Tampa Bay Times reporter Tracey McManus had another major scoop this weekend when she revealed that Scientologist developer Moises Agami has filed plans to build two towering condo buildings in downtown Clearwater, Florida that will be the new tallest structures in the city.
When we first read the news, we thought it turned things upside down in that Gulf Coast town: Wait, a Scientologist developer is going to build things now in downtown rather than hold back progress?
We’re used to the long-running battle in Clearwater, where Scientology surreptitiously invaded in 1975 and has had a stranglehold on its downtown that only got more pronounced after Scientologists went on a buying spree in 2017. (We know that thanks to another major investigative triumph from McManus.)
But traditionally, this has been a story about Scientology preventing downtown development by buying up buildings and keeping them empty, while Clearwater officials have struggled to attract more visitors with recent successes like the new Coachman Park and its amphitheater.
So what does it mean that now Agami, who was the developer behind Tom Cruise’s Clearwater condo, is planning to change the skyline of Clearwater with his two 35-story towers just feet from the intracoastal?
“We’re screwed,” Vice Mayor Mark Bunker told us when we rang him up to ask him what the heck is going on in his beleaguered city.
He told us that he was stunned to read McManus’s story, which revealed that Agami is taking advantage of the city’s attempt to encourage more development by removing some zoning regulations in an effort to lessen “red tape.”
READ MORE
We asked Mark Bunker about Scientology developer’s high rise plans for Clearwater
Tampa Bay Times reporter Tracey McManus had another major scoop this weekend when she revealed that Scientologist developer Moises Agami has filed plans to build two towering condo buildings in downtown Clearwater, Florida that will be the new tallest structures in the city.
tonyortega.substack.com
