Subject: Florida Journal: Clearwater urged to exploit edge
From: [email-masked] (Anonymous)
Date: 7 Mar 1996 18:42:11 +0100
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology

DJ 6 Mar 1996

Florida Journal: Clearwater urged to exploit edge

By Robert Johnson, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Copyright 1996 Dow Jones & Co., Inc.  All rights reserved.

  Downtowns don't get much better than Clearwater's, sitting atop a
grassy bluff that rises behind pleasure-boat marinas on a small bay,
with rows of beach hotels and the shimmering Gulf of Mexico beyond.
  But the facade of comfortable calm conceals troubled depths.
  Clearwater hasn't attracted a new employer of significance in more
than a decade, and for just about every small business that has moved
in, another has left. A new farmers' market represents the city's top
yield from economic recruitment. A recently built convention center
lures bridge tournaments, square dances and little else.
  "I had higher expectations for Clearwater," says Bob Clark, a
first-term city commissioner who owns a printing shop. "We haven't been
nearly aggressive enough. Deals have to be cut with private developers,
but we don't want to give away the city."
  For years, the city government, instead of marketing Clearwater, has
been buying much of it up in anticipation of selling to developers who
haven't materialized. Now, the city is its own largest landowner, and in
the view of many local businesspeople, it crimps the bluff's commercial
potential by keeping the faded library and Chamber of Commerce buildings
on prime lots there.
  "The bluff is one of the greatest pieces of real estate in all of
Florida -- and the most underutilized," says David Stone, president of
Citizens Bank & Trust and vice chairman of the Downtown Development
Board.
  The bluff, how it is used and Clearwater's overall economy have become
hot issues as a March 12 election for three of the five seats on the
city commission nears. "I would really like to see some change," says
Elise Winters, an attorney who chairs the development board.
  Two years ago, some commissioners pushed unsuccessfully to dissolve
the development board in a squabble over the board's suggestion that the
city provide matching grants for renovation of downtown storefronts,
among other things. The commission eventually approved the grants, but
it continues to draw criticism for some of its own initiatives.
Prominent among them is the $13 million Harborview Center for
conventions.
  "It's ill-conceived from the get-go," says the development board's Mr.
Stone. "The first thing a convention booker wants to know is where
people will stay. Well, the nearest big hotel is on the beach two miles
away."
  The only mainland lodgings the development board has to offer in its
current guidebook, "479 Great Reasons to do Business in Downtown
Clearwater," is the 48-room Travelodge.
  Even Mayor Rita Garvey, who occupies one of the three commission seats
up for election, concedes that the panel has to accept some
responsibility for Clearwater's lack of progress in attracting investors
to downtown. She relies on the stock explanation: The large training
operation of the controversial Church of Scientology.
  "They're dominating downtown," says Ms. Garvey. "At certain hours,
they just pour en masse in and out of buildings for training and meals."
  The Los Angeles-based, interdenominational order often described as a
cult started moving into downtown Clearwater 20 years ago. The church's
legions of full-time workers and visiting students numbering around
3,000 much of the time, as well as its military-style uniforms and
penchant for privacy, offend many outsiders.
   Yet the church can take credit for beautiful renovations of several
historic buildings it uses as offices, classrooms and dormitories. It
also displays admirable public spirit by organizing trash cleanups,
Christmas celebrations and the like without aggressively proselyting.
And members' downtown presence at night is widely considered a check on
crime.
  Ms. Garvey's electoral opponent, real-estate broker James Warner,
says, "Scientology has been a whipping boy long enough for a city that's
going nowhere."
  Mr. Warner, who isn't a Scientologist, adds: "At least that church is
bringing in thousands of employees and visitors that spend millions of
dollars. That's more than the city government has been able to say for a
long time."
  Indeed, the day when the Scientologists might have damaged
Clearwater's image with prospective employers is long gone, says Saul
Grohs, a corporate-site specialist in Florham Park, N.J., who assesses
cities in Florida and other states. "To tell you the truth," he says, "I
had forgotten they're there. But that wouldn't keep any of my clients
away, unless maybe they're selling religious books."
  Local businesspeople suggest that the city stop fretting about the
church and start focusing on the common economic good. Among other
things, they think the city should press the county on completing the
Pinellas Trail highway, which is intended to link St. Petersburg to the
south with Tarpon Springs to the north. They also think the city should
push for more state and federal dollars to replenish the eroding
shoreline of the Sand Key beach section and build a bridge over
Clearwater Bay to connect downtown and the beach without having to cause
several interruptions daily to let boats pass underneath.
  Most of all, the city needs to privatize its share of the bluff with a
hotel, restaurants, shops and other businesses that would produce
property taxes and jobs. It shouldn't be that hard, says Alan Bomstein,
a local building contractor. "You don't see many downtown waterfronts
like this -- without rusting shipyards and grunting longshoremen," he
says. "It's gorgeous."

  ---

                  Clearwater at a Glance

  The city's population is growing faster than surrounding Pinellas
County
 
                    '90 pop.    '95 pop.    % gain
 Clearwater          98,784     108,454      9.8%
 Pinellas County    861,176     918,591      6.7%

  The city is more affluent than its bigger neighbors, as measured by
households with annual incomes of more than $35,000
 
                     Households      % of local
 City               above $35,000    households
 Clearwater             56,286          37%
 St. Petersburg         44,295          31%
 Tampa                  37,449          28%
 
  The Business Scene

 Major Economic Sources

  -- Tourism on Clearwater Beach
  -- Providing services for retired residents
  -- Church of Scientology education facilities

  Potential Economic Growth Area

  -- Convention business

  plus: City's downtown convention center is only a year old
  minus: Only hotel in walking distance is 48-room Travelodge
 
  Sources: City of Clearwater; University of Florida Bureau of Economics
and Business Research