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By CHRISTINA HEADRICK and LEON TUCKER
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 29, 2001
The announcement was slipped into the middle of a packed Clearwater City Commission meeting, during a rather ordinary presentation about the city's many budget concerns.
Rather than set aside money for "One City. One Future" projects, interim City Manager Bill Horne explained to commissioners, he's decided to scrap the city's old redevelopment slogan and refer to those projects as "infrastructure" needs.
The "One City. One Future" logo, of course, was heavily associated with controversial former City Manager Mike Roberto. It was the name given to the city's efforts to redevelop downtown and the beach, beautifying Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and improving North and South Greenwood, among other projects.
Last week, Horne said he and the City Commission concluded that the name and the plan needed to go. Some neighborhoods had concerns that the constant emphasis on redevelopment meant the city was overlooking their day-to-day problems, like speeding cars and streets that need to be paved, Horne said.
"We will just phase that out," Horne said. "We won't dramatically eliminate it.
"And when the new commission comes on board, we'll come up with something more appropriate that hopefully allows everyone to understand what our priorities are."
IS IT ME OR IS IT DRAFTY IN HERE?: At the dedication of the Dunedin Garden for the Visually Impaired last week, Mayor Tom Anderson and Commissioner Deborah Kynes were discussing the array of wardrobes in store for the city's upcoming Vanity Fashion Show.
Midway through the conversation, Anderson joked he would do his best impression of Mel Gibson in the film Braveheart by going on stage wearing a kilt with nothing under it to boost the attendance.
If that doesn't bring in the crowds, we don't know what will. The show is slated for Feb. 3.
AND IN THIS CORNER . . . : When 10-year-old Kristen Freshour addressed the Safety Harbor City Commission Jan. 16 about a problem in neighboring Bishop Creek, she drew smiles from commissioners and audience members.
"The creek is just a dump," the fifth-grader at Frontier Elementary said. "It just looks horrible. So I thought I should issue it up with the commissioners."
But Kristen wasn't the only one at the meeting who had creek troubles.
Leslie Grace, who in the past year has addressed the commission on numerous occasions, followed Freshour with her complaint that the creek's flow has been eroding the back portion of her property and said she is concerned her pool may some day fall in.
But when she accused the commission of wasting time and spending money on projects like the Marina Park and gazebo projects, adding they are "not critical," the discussion turned into a shouting match between Grace and Mayor Pam Corbino.
"We are putting forth our best effort," Corbino said. "We have money set aside for all these projects, and one is not going to take away from another."
- Times staff writers Christina Headrick and Leon Tucker contributed to this report.