Because of budget concerns, the city had to cut back on holiday decorations. Some merchants on Clearwater-Largo Road think they detect a grinch.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published December 14, 2003
LARGO - As usual, Largo Central Park is exploding with Christmas lights. And once the sun sets, the lamp posts along West Bay Drive are aglow with reindeer, wreaths, candles and holly.
But, the city had to spread holiday cheer a bit thinner this year.
For the first time in a long time, Clearwater-Largo Road doesn't have holiday decorations.
Officials think things will be better next year. But this year, they say they had no choice: They couldn't afford them.
This has raised some hackles on the road, a major north-south thoroughfare.
"I'm not so happy about it," said Nick Pappas, who owns Grillmarks on Clearwater-Largo Road. "It's definitely disappointing. You go down West Bay Drive, and it's beautiful."
The city officials said they had to trim the budget to offset future expenses, such as computers for police cars. Plus, they had to cover a 30 percent health insurance cost increase and donate $1.1-million to the police and fire pension plan.
But that didn't prevent the city from splurging on Largo Central Park. Like last year, the city spent about $30,000 on the park's holiday extravaganza. That wasn't going to change, said Parks Superintendent Greg Brown.
"That's our signature event for the whole year and Largo is known for it," Brown said.
The parks department actually had hoped to expand street decorations this year at a cost of $25,000, Brown said. But the tight city budget meant that Largo could only spend about $2,500 to install street decorations this year instead of $7,400.
Ulmerton Road and Seminole Boulevard didn't get decorations this year, either, but it was Clearwater-Largo Road's loss that seemed to disappoint folks the most, including Commissioner Charlie Harper.
"Ever since I was a boy they had lights on Clearwater-Largo Road," said Harper.
Shock made the change a bigger deal for some Clearwater-Largo Road merchants. Several had no idea their street would be bare this year.
Around Thanksgiving, they saw the lights go up on East and West Bay Drive from Highland to Clearwater-Largo Road. They thought their street was next.
A week or so later they got the picture.
It's not just the lack of Christmas lights that bothers merchants on the corridor. It's what the decorations symbolize.
Both the Clearwater-Largo corridor and West Bay Drive are streets targeted for major facelifts to revitalize downtown. But Pappas and other corridor merchants think Clearwater-Largo Road is getting the short end of the stick.
Ron Bortolini, president of Clearwater-Largo Road Merchants Association, said other issues concern him more than holiday aesthetics, but the omission is telling.
"It's another way of showing us we're not on the top of the list of their concerns," said Bortolini, who owns Durable Coatings. "It's a token indication of where their priorities are."
But Community Development Director Mike Staffopoulos said the street is a priority.
"That's why it's been designated as a community redevelopment district," he said.
Staffopoulos said $700,000 is budgeted over the next three years for Clearwater-Largo Road streetscaping and as of Aug. 1, the city had spent about $1.7-million dollars on the corridor with $680,000 on business assistance and the balance on improvements, such as sidewalk repairs, undergrounding of utilities and parking lot construction.
The city has spent about $20-million to widen and landscape West Bay Drive, improve drainage, add old-fashioned street lighting and acquire property on the south side of West Bay.
Not every merchant on Clearwater-Largo Road feels slighted by the lack of lights. Steve Combs, who owns the Skinny Rooster, said Christmas lights on the street don't matter much because they don't affect his livelihood.
And a couple of new business owners on West Bay Drive said merchants on Clearwater-Largo Road have little to be jealous of, anyway.
They'd like to see bigger, better decorations on their street.
"(The city) could definitely try to get some new ones for next year," said Beth Corby, who owns West Bay Fine Wine & Tobacco. But she added, "It's a money issue and money doesn't grow on trees."
