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More housing units would be mistake on crowded beach

The city of Clearwater is out of its mind in allowing additional units of housing in the form of condos or condo-hotels on Clearwater Beach.

One weekend, I attempted to meet my daughter at Post Pizza at 4 p.m. I left my house at 3:30. I was coming from Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard at U.S. 19. This should have been a short 25- to 30-minute drive. The traffic was unbelievable! Halfway to the beach, it became bumper to bumper. When I was able to move ahead, it was for 5 or 6 feet at a time.

In the exhausting process, I watched many others give up and turn around, but I had promised to be there and so I doggedly kept edging my way toward the beach. It was 5:02 p.m. when I pulled into Post Pizza's parking lot.

Now that's ridiculous! And you want to put more people on that small island? As I struggled along bumper to bumper, I couldn't help wondering what would happen if a fire engine or ambulance were needed.

My wife and I lived at the Yacht House on Clearwater Beach 20 years ago. After two years, we left because of the traffic problem and went to Island Estates. After two years there, again because of the traffic, we went to the mainland for good. I can't imagine any developer being able to sell those proposed top-floor condos for the price tags they intend to charge. Only a fool would pay those prices and not be able to drive unimpeded to and from the beach. I don't know what insurance company would be dumb enough to give them fire insurance.

But there is some good news. My wife and I have decided to help your traffic problem. We will never go to Clearwater Beach again.

You don't need to worry about height restrictions for those new buildings; what you need to do is freeze the number of living units at the present level. Don't make the mistake of making it any worse than it already is.

Better event planning needed to prevent traffic congestion

I was running some errands on March 12. My last stop was at Advance Auto Parts on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. My receipt shows I left at 3:56 p.m. Traffic was very heavy heading west to downtown. In a very short time, it was at a standstill. A concert was apparently taking place at Coachman Park.

After an hour, drivers were getting agitated. Some motorbikes and then cars were pulling into the center left-turn-only lane on Cleveland Street, speeding a block or two and then trying to squeeze back in line. On two separate occasions, I saw kids trying to walk their bikes across the street almost get hit when entering the left-turn lane.

Another hour passed. Drivers were cutting over curbs, through parking lots and making U-turns to get out. I couldn't help wondering how many of the people who gave up were trying to get to Clearwater Beach for an evening of dinner and shopping. People's time and gasoline were being wasted as cars inched along.

By 7 p.m., I was near the post office on Cleveland Street downtown. It was 7:16, three hours and 20 minutes from my start, before I got through downtown - a distance of 2.1 miles.

Whoever is supposed to organize this downtown event, anticipate its impact and control what goes on had better go back to the drawing board before some serious consequences occur.

State should follow Largo's lead in removing roadside memorials

Re: Largo restricts roadside tributes, story, March 13.

Kudos to Largo for removing those roadside memorials. I do agree that they are distractions. Family members should do their mourning at the grave site and not remind themselves often as they drive along the road where a loved one lost his or her life.

I wish all of Florida would do the same. Some highways in Florida look like a drive-through cemetery.

I am very sympathetic to those who, like me, have lost loved ones, but I do not need a constant reminder alongside the road of the loved one lost. Isn't this the same as littering?

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[Last modified March 27, 2005, 00:34:19]