To: Al Galbraith
Subject: Deal for beach parking in reach
Dear Mr. Galbraith:
On behalf of the City Council, thank you for your recent e-mail concerning beach parking issues. I appreciate receiving your opinion.
Beach by Design, which was adopted by the City Council, prescribes a strategy for conversion of a deteriorating Clearwater Beach into a healthy resort and tourist destination that will be a financial and community asset for the City for many years to come. Unfortunately, to effectuate this metamorphosis there will be short-term issues during redevelopment---including the temporary loss of parking. It is our intent, however, to replace lost parking consistent with Beach By Design and the redevelopment plan for the Beach.
We have not made a decision on any new parking structures to date. We will examine any proposals from staff for both functional and financial appropriateness, consistent with the economic realities facing all waterfront properties and real estate in Florida. We will also use as a reference point the overall economic benefit of a modern, destination resort and how well placed parking will facilitate that goal.
I would urge you to bear with us as the overall Beach By Design process moves toward realization and not make a judgment at this point. Thank you for communicating your concern and feel free to contact us again if you have further questions.
Frank V. Hibbard, Mayor
To: The Mayor, City Council and City Manager
Subject: Deal for beach parking in reach
Let me see if I understand this "deal" correctly: The city is removing, within the next few weeks, more than 500 of the 755 public parking spaces on Clearwater Beach to make way for a "revitalization" project. If we wait two years (perhaps riding bicycles to the beach in the meantime), we might be allowed to park in some of the spaces to be built for a Hyatt hotel.
Now the city is ready to commit "up to" $9 million for "up to" 300 spaces in a garage to be built more than a block from the beach for a condo project. That garage might be available in two years, if all goes well. We are asked to be grateful because the City has set aside more than $12 million from Penny for Pinellas money for a parking garage, and the leftover cash can be spent on other "big-ticket city projects."
Am I the only one who thinks this is lunacy?
The City calls Beach by Design revitalization. I call it slow death. Hundreds of hotel rooms have already disappeared. The parking will all but disappear just in time for spring break and the summer tourist season.
My cousin in Kentucky likes to come to Florida in the wintertime. They used to enjoy staying at a hotel on the beach. Last year they couldn't find a room on the beach so they stayed on the mainland. This year, they will spend a month in another county. Their behavior is representative of a vast horde of winter (and summer) visitors who no longer patronize shops and restaurants on the beach because they cannot stay there. I fear that their absence will be construed as meaning the beach needs less parking - a vicious cycle, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
My plea to the City is this: Please do not begin removing parking spaces from the beach until the voters have had their say on renewing "Penny for Pinellas." I predict the tax will be trashed by voters who are tired of seeing vast sums of money spent on big-ticket city projects such as the "beautification" of what should now be called the historic former downtown of Clearwater.
Al Galbraith