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'Point man' shores up beach power with unity
J.J. Beyrouti has managed the seemingly impossible task of uniting the many beach cities and towns as a political force.
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[Times photo: Cherie Diez]
J.J. Beyrouti plays tennis recently at the municipal tennis court.
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By AMY WIMMER
© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 5, 2001
REDINGTON SHORES -- When elected officials on the beaches need a representative of their own, who gets the call?
Lately, it's Redington Shores Mayor J.J. Beyrouti, who has become the beach cities' "point man" on negotiations with the Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency hoping to add a new layer of regulations for building along the coast.
Beyrouti's elected colleagues on the beaches also have nominated him to a new seat on the county Tourism Development Council, a spot the beaches lobbied aggressively to receive.
How has Beyrouti become the right-hand man on the beaches? He says he embraces ideas that will help the beaches succeed: He wants the 10 cities and towns, as unique and occasionally divided as they might be on some issues, to work together. He believes the rest of the county should pay more attention to the beaches, a big selling point for luring tourists and new businesses to Pinellas.
"I look at the beaches as the great asset of Pinellas County," said Beyrouti, 49. "We believe that our county should take care of the beaches, which are competing with other coastal communities."
A few months ago the beaches delivered that message loud and clear to county officials. They suggested that, without more help attention from county officials, the beaches could leave and form their own county, taking their highly valued waterfront with them.
These days the county is pursuing improvements to Gulf Boulevard more aggressively, and the elected officials from the beaches get together every month to discuss issues that affect them all.
Beyrouti couldn't be happier.
"We are working with the whole community in mind, not individual cities," Beyrouti said.
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