The church says it has an interest in seeing downtown Clearwater thrive for its parishioners and the area.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published May 29, 2003
CLEARWATER - The Church of Scientology has sent out promotional brochures to national retailers such as the Gap and Banana Republic in an effort to lure more upscale businesses downtown.
But city officials, largely caught off-guard, expressed surprise and disappointment at the strategy.
"I thought that it was odd that an independent entity would do this," Commissioner Whitney Gray said. "You don't see other businesses, or churches certainly, marketing downtown to this degree."
Gray said she had been notified by the church about plans for the eight-page flier touting downtown. She met with a church representative and bluntly outlined her concerns. Given the church's dominant presence downtown, there are people who refuse to spend money there because they think it would benefit Scientology, according to Gray.
"If it looks to the public like the Church of Scientology is building downtown," she said, "people won't come."
Indeed, a recent church-commissioned survey cited deep and widespread negative opinions about the church among Pinellas County residents.
Church spokesman Ben Shaw said the survey results and the flier's impact are unrelated.
The brochure was distributed to 10 to 20 retailers, including Haagen-Dazs and Ann Taylor, Shaw said. The church, he said, has an interest in seeing downtown thrive, both for parishioners' benefit and for the community at large.
He said the brochure was an afterthought, part of an ongoing initiative to kick-start redevelopment. It was meant to augment the city's efforts, not compete with them.
"We see it as a community effort," Shaw said. "It's not just the city's job.
But the brochure, which does not cite sources or disclose its author, provides information about business incentives offered by the city and includes names and phone numbers for city staff.
Commissioner Frank Hibbard said the church had ventured outside its traditional bounds.
"When you talk about promoting Clearwater as a whole," he said, "that is the role of city government."
In fact, the city put out a glossy brochure of its own in March, sending it to 4,000 developers nationwide. Assistant City Manager Ralph Stone said the effort was widely publicized and sought input from a host of city groups, many that include members of the church.
"They had a chance to coordinate with us and they chose not to," he said. "Our preference is that they would."
Stone later acknowledged the church had supplied Economic Director Reg Owens with a mockup of its brochure, which remained in his desk on Wednesday. Stone said Owens did not understand that the church's brochure was intended for distribution.
"I think he thought it was pretty innocent," Stone said.
Mayor Brian Aungst said he was surprised by the brochures.
"I don't know that it hurts anything," he said. "It's probably helpful, but we'll find out, I guess."
City officials said they had no problems with the information contained in the church's flier - it is standard economic development fare, with statistics on population (78,421 within a 3-mile radius), median age (44.2) and income (45 percent of families earn more than $50,000 annually).
But they worried about straying from a unified message.
At the very least, Gray said, the city of Clearwater needs to be perceived as heading up its own economic development.
"This just makes it a little bit harder," she said.
