Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Boat slips debate provokes leader's ire

A Clearwater commissioner says an ex-commissioner may try to spread "misinformation" against a proposal.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published March 18, 2006

CLEARWATER - The referendum has not been scheduled.

There is no ballot language to discuss.

The details of the project are still up in the air.

Yet the political sparring has already begun.

City Council member Hoyt Hamilton lashed out at former Clearwater City Commissioner Fred Thomas on Thursday night, saying he believed Thomas might finance a "misinformation campaign" against a plan to build more than 100 boat slips alongside Coachman Park.

In 2004, Thomas paid $32,000 for a controversial mailing that city officials blamed for killing a series of proposed downtown waterfront projects.

"I can promise you there's going to be another misinformation campaign," Hamilton said during a City Council discussion on the boat slip plans. "The individuals responsible know who they are. And an individual who used to sit up here is probably going to fund that campaign."

Hamilton continued speaking about Thomas, without using his name.

"He missed in Largo two weeks ago," Hamilton said. "For the first time, he wasn't able to buy an election he wanted. (But) I don't think it will deter him."

Thomas, who owns the Pinch-a-Penny pool supply chain, supported defeated Mayor Bob Jackson in the Largo race. Thomas did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

As Hamilton finished his remarks, council member Bill Jonson asked that the council "not perjure the intentions" of those interested in discussing Clearwater's future.

"You have not been personally attacked by these people; I have," Hamilton responded. "And I will remember that."

Hamilton said Friday that he was referring to a mailing sent out by the group Save the Bayfront, of which Thomas is a member. The mailing attacked his family, Hamilton said.

He said he believed Anne Garris, a member of Save the Bayfront, directed the advertisement.

"I wanted her to know I do not appreciate her personal attacks on me," Hamilton said Friday.

His words, coupled with comments made earlier in the meeting by Garris, could mean another testy city election.

This time, city officials are proposing 138 boat slips of varying lengths jutting out from the old Clearwater Memorial Causeway bridge, which will be rebuilt as a promenade.

"The preliminary design is one more time preempting the public's waterfront to lease to private individuals," Garris said. "I've been told this is going to help redevelop downtown Clearwater - I really would like some specifics. It would be nice to know exactly how.

Somehow, Garris said, the council cannot recognize that "people want open-space/recreation on the waterfront, not something leased by private people."

In 2004, city leaders said a misleading mailer that Thomas bankrolled led to the defeat of a series of proposals to change the areas around Coachman Park that would have included a marina, an amphitheater and a parking garage.

The mailer, which was delivered days before the election, included a picture of Coachman Park with an amphitheater and the words "hard rock concerts here." Birds flying overhead asked "Where did the park go? What about the kids?"

Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard thinks voters, who have the final say, according to the city's charter, could support adding only boat slips to the area around Coachman Park. A vote is tentatively scheduled for November.

Two residents spoke in favor of the proposal at Thursday's meeting.

"The downtown boat slips are going to be one of the only opportunities to add some sparkle back to the bayfront," said David Hemerick, a beach resident and an interim city commissioner in 2000.

Added Frank Dame, a resident of Island Estates: "If you look at any waterfront community around the country - San Francisco, San Diego, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, Naples, Miami, Baltimore - they all have thriving waterfronts. And the marinas are catalysts to bring people downtown."

On Friday, Hamilton said he had not spoken with or heard from one person, save Garris, who opposes the idea. He said he had not seen Thomas in a year, but wants to speak with him one on one.

"We have the most underutilized public waterfront on the west coast of Florida," Hamilton said. "This is an opportunity for us to address that."

[Last modified March 18, 2006, 02:30:29]