Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Today's Letters: Group is hurting itself with actions

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published April 6, 2007

Re: A community divided over kids story, April 5

I can understand the frustration that both sides of the Lakes community and the families are feeling. However, rules are rules and if the Lakes Homeowners Association makes an exception for one, then more families are going to try to get variances and bring in children of all ages.

However, I think the HOA went about this the wrong way. Instead of trying to help the families sell their homes, and giving them plenty of time to do it, especially in the sluggish real estate market of today, it appears that they are harassing the families mentioned in your article. It appears, too, that these families do not have the funds to hire companies to "stage" their homes for a quick sale or to fix up the grounds around their homes for more curb appeal.

The families knew, when they moved into the community, that they were in an over-55 community. They knew what the consequences of their actions would be, yet they still tried to get around those rules.

Perhaps if the HOA were to be more sympathetic to the families' situations instead of being so aggressive and antagonistic towards them, more people might be interested in moving into this community. Right now, I can't see anyone wanting to live in the Lakes community no matter their age.

This is just going to hurt the HOA, the other residents of the community and the three families trying to sell their homes.

Nedda Honig, Palm Harbor

Clearwater turns its back on some 

Re: It's time to improve new lake's prospects editorial, April 4, and Developer abandons renewal dream story, March 5

It was our dream back in 2002 to buy into the revitalization of downtown Clearwater with the city's touting of a new 100-unit residential townhome community.

Numerous city publications went out, along with several interviews about the project on C-View, the city's information channel. We were very impressed and interested, so we inquired and we were shown very beautiful renderings of "city-approved plans" of a 100-unit residential townhome community bordering the new "Town Lake Park" located on Prospect Avenue downtown.

Renamed Prospect Lake Park, it was to be a place to take a stroll and walk your dog and to be surrounded by 85 other neighboring townhomes. (And who wouldn't want to live less than five minutes from one of the top 10 beaches of the world?)

All this advertising was being touted by city officials, Community Redevelopment Agency members and city staff, who chose Bruce Balk of Sarasota as the developer after they had gone on a bus tour of a project he had built in Sarasota and thought it would be a good fit in downtown Clearwater.

The city then entered into the development agreement with Balk. When Balk's plans were submitted and approved by the city, Mediterranean Village Phase 1 broke ground with a ribbon-cutting ceremony involving city leaders, and coffee and doughnuts.

Now our city leaders are quoted in articles in the Times. Correction: These are two-story townhomes, not condominiums. You say these homes are crowded and jammed behind a tall privacy wall. You say city leaders said our homes are ugly and crowded.

I do take personal offense to slanderous remarks about my home. Wouldn't you? Have you ever been in my home? How can you say this? It was the city that brought in this architect, Balk, and approved his plans. Didn't you know what he was building? The city staff even told Balk what color to paint our home!

So please, before you have your comments printed in an article read by many subscribers, check the record of who entered into the contract to build on this site and who has always known what was being built.

City staff also said the city would remove 4 feet of the sidewalk where the so-called ugly, tall privacy wall is and they were to put in lush landscaping along the wall bordering Cleveland Street. It was supposed to be a garden wall. But where is the landscaping that we were shown in the original renderings of the project that the city approved? That never happened either.

We feel we have been abandoned. We have not gotten what we signed and contracted for. We've been patient and waiting and now we feel deceived and defrauded. We like our townhome very much and are very satisfied with the quality of construction. It was built as "hurricane hardened." That was one of the reasons we bought here.

But we never thought our city would turn its back on us for trying to be part of their downtown redevelopment. We trusted in the judgment and knowledge of our city leaders and staff who from day one knew what they brought to downtown. Now we are told we have to take our problems to the developer.

Now the city is talking of changing the original project plans into a mixed-use project. Isn't there some sort of responsibility to the 15 townhome owners who bought and signed contracts for a planned 100-unit residential community? We would like the city to take some responsibility for what it initiated. We are in limbo and no one seems to be stepping up to make things right.

Dianne DeBord, Clearwater

Time to seek new administrator 

Re: New site for ballfields pitched story, April 5

Can you imagine spending over $12-million to design, clear cut, level and concrete 101 acres of Brooker Creek Preserve before you even firm up the cost of the construction that will be placed on it?

Well, that is what Pinellas County Utilities director Pick Talley did with the approval of County Administrator Steve Spratt.

I said before that heads should roll and I say it again. This time don't give Pick the chance to stay a year longer. And let us start to look for a new administrator.

I give a pass this time to the County Commission, even Commissioner Susan Latvala, because they are out of the loop of day-to-day decisions and must act on "valid recommendations" by the staff. However, they need to do more than just show up.

Attilio Corbo, Palm Harbor

[Last modified April 5, 2007, 23:54:49]