For voters, Tuesday is time for decisions

By PAMELA GRINER LEAVY

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 12, 2000

INDIAN SHORES -- Drive through Indian Shores, and chances are you love the small-town Florida beach atmosphere -- and hate navigating the portion of Gulf Boulevard known as the Narrows.

A top issue facing Indian Shores is the widening of the road, one of the last two-lane stretches of Gulf Boulevard on the Pinellas County beaches.

Indian Shores voters will choose a mayor from two candidates on Tuesday. Both favor widening Gulf Boulevard.

Donald Taber, 60, 19531 Gulf Blvd., has been vice mayor since 1998 and on the council since 1996.

"Our beach population is getting younger," said Taber. "Schoolchildren are being dropped off. People are passing in the right lane. Gulf Boulevard is dangerous."

Opposing Taber is Janet Hoppe, 69, 19400 Gulf Blvd., a former council member and former vice mayor.

"The main challenge facing Indian Shores is getting people back in government and getting them interested again," Hoppe said. "The town is like a closed corporation. The people at City Hall are supposed to reach out and find out how the people feel. I don't see any of that."

Hoppe, a former deputy city clerk in Belleair Bluffs, has complained during the current election campaign that 14 of her signs were stolen.

It isn't the first time she has complained about campaign tactics. She filed a protest after she came in third in the 1998 Indian Shores town council race, accusing members of the town's canvassing board of trying to sway voters by holding campaign signs of her opponents outside the polling place. She also claimed that poll workers confused voters.

Also on Tuesday's ballot is a referendum calling for the terms in office of the mayor and council members to be extended from two to three years.

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