City Council on 2026-06-18 6:00 PM - Jun 18, 2026

This time we'll call to order the June 18, 2026 meeting of the Clearwater City Council. If you wish to address the council tonight, please complete a comment card. Comment card is located by the clerk, seated to the right of the dais. When called to speak, please hand your card to the clerk. This time we'll move to item two on the agenda, which is our indication. I'd like to call forward Father Bob Swick from St. Francis of Assisi and ask everyone to remain standing afterwards for the Pledge of Allegiance. Let us pray. Heavenly Father and God of peace, we invite you to preside over this meeting. May there be an embracing unity of spirit. Help the good council to each listen politely as others share their points of view, always striving, always striving to serve the greater good. Amid all the calamity, the conflict, the confusion that screams for our leaders' attention, we pray our council members will be filled with your spirit so they may serve with a special love of community that includes measures of safety for our citizens and our visitors. Guide and inspire them, as well as everyone, with the words of St. John XXIII. In essential matters, let there be unity. In non-essential matters, let there be liberty. And in all matters, let there be charity. We ask all this in your glorious name, Father. Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the Black and States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. You may be seated. Before we go further in tonight's agenda, I'd like to introduce our dais. To my far left is Deputy City Clerk Nicole Sprague. Good evening. To her right is our City Clerk, Rosemary Call. Good evening. Excuse me. To her right is our Interim City Attorney, Owen Kohler. Good evening. His right is Council Member Lena Tasheda. To her right and to my immediate left is Vice Mayor Ryan Cotton. Good evening. To my right is Council Member Mike Menino. Good evening. To his right is Council Member David Olbritton. Good evening. To his right is our City Manager, Jennifer Poirier. Good evening. To her right is Assistant City Manager, Dan Slaughter. And to his right is Assistant City Manager, Al Mata. With that, we'll move to Item 4.1 on the agenda. And I'd like to call forward Cassie Cordova from Public Works for the Pollinator Week Proclamation. Whereas Clearwater is home to many native wildlife and pollinator species, including birds, bees, bats, and other insects that are essential to maintaining a healthy and biodiverse environment. And recognizes that human well-being ultimately depends on well-functioning ecosystems that foster connections between people and nature. And whereas Clearwater is committed to building a healthy, sustainable, and wildlife-friendly community by supporting the vital role pollinators play in maintaining ecological balance and bringing the many benefits of nature to all corners of our city. And whereas pollinator species are in decline due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and other environmental stressors, with species such as the monarch butterfly, experiencing significant population decreases over the past 25 years. And whereas National Pollinator Week is a nationwide initiative that raises awareness and provides opportunities to restore native habitat and support local pollinator populations. And whereas I, Bruce Rector, have signed the National Wildlife Federation's Mayor's Monarch Pledge, committing to taking meaningful action to protect pollinators, including the monarch butterfly, and to support local, state, and national efforts to conserve and restore pollinator habitats while strengthening the connection between our community and the natural environment. Now, therefore, I, Bruce Rector, Mayor of the City of Clearwater, on behalf of the City of Clearwater Council, do hereby proclaim June 22nd to the 28th, 2026, to be Pollinator Week in Clearwater and encourage all residents to participate in community activities that support and celebrate pollinator protection. Cassie, would you like to say a few words? Thank you so much, Mayor and City Council. We are doing this as part of our Mayor's Monarch Pledge that you brought to us last year, and we did our initiatives last year, and we re-signed this year again. So this year we'll be focusing on invasive species removal. We'll do some education and outreach on that topic. We'll put some signs up at our beautiful Moccasin Lake Nature Park. So all this can be found at our website, myclearwater.com slash pollinators. And thank you again for your support. Thank you. Okay. We'll move to item 4.2. I'd like to call forward our, for the Solid Waste and Recycling Workers Week Proclamation, call forward Kervin St. Amit, the Solid Waste Director for the City of Clearwater, and the team. Great-looking team. Whereas the City of Clearwater is committed to maintaining a clean, safe, healthy, and beautiful community for residents, businesses, and visitors. And whereas the dedicated men and women of the City of Clearwater's Solid Waste Department provide essential services every day, collecting refuge, recycling, and yard waste while helping protect public health and the environment. And whereas these hardworking professionals perform their duties in all weather conditions and often under challenging circumstances, demonstrating exceptional commitment, reliability, and professionalism in service to our community. And whereas Solid Waste employees play a vital role in preserving Clearwater's natural beauty and enhancing the quality of life enjoyed by all who live, work, and visit here, helping to keep our city bright and beautiful year-round. And whereas the observance of Solid Waste and Recycling Workers Week provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions, dedication, and sacrifices of these public servants who go above and beyond in their service to the City of Clearwater. And whereas the City Council wishes to express its sincere appreciation and desire and gratitude to all Solid Waste and Recycling employees for the outstanding work commitment to excellence and unwavering dedication to serving our community. Now, therefore, I, Bruce Rector, Mayor of the City of Clearwater, Florida, on behalf of the Clearwater City Council, do hereby proclaim June 15th to the 21st, 2026, to be Solid Waste and Recycling Workers Week in Clearwater. Thank you for being here tonight. Would you like to say a few words? Thank you, Mayor, Council Members, I'm Kevin Center and the Solid Waste Director. Thank you for the opportunity to provide, to recognize the men and women of Solid Waste. As Osher stated, Solid Waste and Recycling Workers are, you know, one of the employees that are the worst, seven most dangerous occupations in the nation. They face numerous challenges, like you said, you stated. They work through heavy traffic, severe weather conditions, active work zones, fires, and a strenuous workload. Despite the risk, they remain committed to what they do every day. They perform their tasks safely, efficiently, and deliver a vital service to our community. With that said, Mayor, I brought a couple of my team with me to celebrate. Jacoby Washington, Assistant Director, Julian Johnson, Senior, is one of our supervisors. Leon Brown is one of our drivers. Kaylin Nichols, she's one of our newest members. She's here for less than a year. And then Matt Anderson is one of our drivers, just part of our team. Thank you very much. We have, I want to say, we get a lot of compliments on all of our city departments, but I just want to compliment you on your team. I don't think one department gets more compliments than your department gets. The folks who serve our homes, I hear people compliment your team in how respectfully and how gracious they are in conversations with our residents and serving our community. And thank you for that. The community appreciates your work very much, and I just wanted to let you know they share that with me and the others on the council frequently. Thank you, Mayor. We are one of the departments that touch every street in the city every week, so it's important. Well, you're appreciated, and we thank you. Thank you. We've got a triple play tonight on proclamations, and the third one is our National Home Ownership Month 2026 proclamation. I'd like to go forward, Dylan Mayhew, from the Economic Development and Housing Department. And it looks like there's a team coming for this one, too. So I just have one name, Dylan's name. Thank you for coming out tonight, Chris. Thank you, Mayor. And I'll read the proclamation and then invite you to make some comments. Whereas the importance of home ownership in American society impacts neighborhood stability and the nation's economic health, and whereas the city of Clearwater is committed to preserve and increase the level of home ownership in the city and participate in HUD's home investment partnerships and community development block grant programs and the state housing initiatives partnership program to support initiatives such as home ownership counseling, purchase assistance, new construction, rehabilitation of its existing housing stock, and affordable lower-cost housing. And whereas the city of Clearwater also commends the efforts of our community's private sector, its developers, lenders, realtors, and nonprofit organizations, all of whom are committed to keeping families in their homes and to promote the American dream to new homeowners in the city of Clearwater, and whereas the Economic Development and Housing Department of the City of Clearwater and its community partners are participating in the free 35th Annual Home Ownership for People Everywhere, HOPE Expo, on Saturday, June 27, 2026 at the Raymond James Financial Center to encourage citizens to take the free home buyer workshop, meet and speak to housing counselors, lenders, real estate agents, and community resource representatives regarding homeownership. Now, therefore, I, Bruce Rector, Mayor of the City of Clearwater, Florida, on behalf of the Clearwater City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 to be National Home Ownership Month in Clearwater. Would you like to make some comments for us? Yes, thank you. Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City Manager, Assistant City Managers, other respective officials on the dais. It is my distinct pleasure to be here tonight to recognize National Home Ownership Month, which is an amazing month, home ownership remains one of the most effective ways for families and individuals to build wealth, create stability, and invest in their future. It strengthens our neighborhoods, our supports, our local businesses, and contributes to the long-term viability of our community. The City of Clearwater, through our leadership, is committed to expanding housing opportunities through programs that assist first-time homebuyers, preserve existing housing, and encourage the development of affordable and workforce housing. These efforts help ensure that more residents have opportunity to achieve the dream of home ownership. On behalf of our awesome economic development housing department and some of our staff who are here tonight, I would like to thank the council, the city manager, and our team, Assistant City Managers, for its continued support of our housing initiatives that make a meaningful difference in the lives of Clearwater residents. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, with that, we'll move to item 5.1 of the agenda. Approve the minutes of the June 4, 2026 City Council meeting. Motion to approve the minutes. Move to approve agenda item 5.1. Second. Opposed, in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Moved with the consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed from the agenda tonight? Yes, sir. Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Move to item 7.1. Declare a surplus, a list of certain real properties owned by the city of Clearwater. Approve the transfer of said properties to the city of Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency. And authorize the permit that shall execute the transaction. This is, who's that? He's coming. Oh, here he comes. They're coming. Good evening again, Mayor and City Council, City Managers and City Managers, and the respective members of the day is tonight really is to reiterate what we discussed on Monday. The purpose of this transfer is for the strategic redevelopment of these properties to the CRA and that we would align these properties of the ownership with redevelopment implementation responsibilities. Again, the properties do include Gould Street, 525 Park Street, 618 Drew Street, North Garden Avenue Parcels. There's another Gould Street, Washington Street, South Madison Avenue. Collectively, these properties represent strategic redevelopment assets and transferring them to the CRA will allow us to implement our plan. If you have any questions, I'm happy to. So you want to hear from the public tonight, desire to speak to this agenda item. I'm hearing, seeing none. Is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Motion to approve. Agenda item 7.1. Second. Those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unameless. Thank you. Agenda item 7.2. Amend Chapter 30 of the Code of Orances, Traffic, and Motor Vehicles to modernize parking operations, update enforcement procedures, and revise related fees and to pass ordinance 9909-26 on first reading. Evening, Mayor, Council members, Marcus Williamson, Public Works Director. We discussed this item on the Monday work session. Again, it updates and reflects our code into some of the current technologies. Stand by if there's any questions. So we're going to hear from the public tonight, desire to speak to Agenda Item 7.2. Hearing, seeing none, is there, may we have a read first? Ordinance Number 9909-26. Ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, amending Code of Ordinances, Chapter 30, Traffic and Motor Vehicles, allowing payment through mobile platforms, allowing digital parking permits, clarifying continuous parking period requirements, allowing phone and email response to parking tickets, requiring an original affidavit or plea to contest parking tickets, increasing the penalties for parking fines, creating mobile payment parking zones, and eliminating the requirement to display parking receipts. Amending Appendix A, schedule of fees, rates and charges, Article 14 streets, sidewalks, other public places, sections 4-5, increasing administrative fees, and increasing fees for removal and reinstallation of pay stations, providing for severability, providing an effective date. Okay. Now is there any, Councilor Scales? If not, is there a motion? Motion to approve Agenda Item 7.2. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda Item 8.1. I'll read the item, and then I have an ask of Council. It's a second reading item, Ordinance 9907-26, approving the right-of-way vacation request for the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization for the city right-of-way, more particularly described as the southern portion of Garden Avenue abutting lots 6 through 11, together with that portion abutting the vacated 15-foot alley line between lots 10 and 11 of Court Square Subdivision has recorded in Platte Book 5, page 53, of Public Records of Pinellas County, Florida. Councilmember, Councilmembers, I received, I guess, a concern from the dais prior to the meeting starting regarding the number of individuals who are trying to enter the building to provide comment to this item, and so I was told that there may be a council discussion is in order in terms of how, due to a safety issue, we can't have additional individuals come in, but to ensure that individuals have an opportunity to speak on both sides. Okay. Yeah. You know, the whole point, legally, of public comment is to allow folks to, why we even have it, is to allow them to comment on an agenda item. So if there are folks here tonight who are here on the property, who came wanting to exercise their legal right under Florida law to make public comment on this agenda item, whether they can make it in the building or not, I think we have to be attentive to that. It's our duty to allow public comment, and if, I don't know how many people in the room or in the adjoining room came to speak or just to watch, but to the extent that folks are outside who came to speak and are being denied their opportunity to be heard because there are folks in the building who don't intend to speak but are just occupying a seat and preventing them from entering, I think that's something we should consider. Question. Do we intend to have any more questions for the applicant? Any logistical question at all? I know I don't. Does anyone else have questions of the applicant tonight? No? Okay. So perhaps one of the solutions would be that all the professionals that are associated with the applicant, since there's going to be no questions being posed to them, if they can set aside and give that space to a citizen that would like to speak. That would be one option. Mr. Menino. Thank you, Mayor. We also have a council rule limiting 60 minutes, so I guess my question to the clerk is, what does the existing sign-up sheet look like on both sides? Last meeting, we went well beyond that hour, and it was 14 and 14. If those outside are well beyond 14 and 14, I think it's kind of null and void. They're not going to have an opportunity to speak anyway. So what is that number? I do not have the number. I think the city manager is getting that number. I do have it. There are 278 people here to support, and there's one that is registered to oppose, but they have not. That's based on who is in the building, and the building's at capacity, so they haven't been able to get to the rest of the people. Got you. That's the problem. Yes. We've got, we have folks who came here to be heard, and they're being denied access to the hearing because we have it over. So I don't know, I mean, I don't know if we need to reschedule for a building that has a bigger room for everyone to participate. I don't know what, but I just want to make sure that we're following our legal demand of Florida law to allow folks to come out and be heard on an agenda item. And I don't think because they couldn't get into the building, because the folks not speaking, not intending to speak, occupying so many seats that they couldn't get in, I don't think that's a good reason to deny them the opportunity to be heard. If I may, Mayor, because we have teams that are out there, there's both more outside that support and that oppose. So there's both that are still outside. The guess is there's about 10 people in opposition that want to speak. Could we get those 10 in? If I may call up Chief Gandy and Chief Pittman from a safety standpoint. Mayor, Council, Chief Eric Gandy. So we spent a lot of time and effort trying to ascertain, along with the fire marshal, what the safe capacity of this building was under these circumstances. And we settled at approximately 650. That's what we have inside this building. If you were to come up with a strategy to allow groups of people to leave and replace them with others, we can help public communications facilitate that. But our sole focus is safety here. We estimated there was approximately 2,000 people outside, and we can't let them stand shoulder to shoulder in all the ingress and egress points. That's not safe. And recognize that the only people screened are those that are in this room. So just keep that in mind. Safety is our primary concern here. If you come up with a consensus on how you would like us to facilitate this ask as a group, we'll be glad to help public communications do that. That's my recommendation. Vice Mayor. Yes, thank you, sir. I don't necessarily think that we're not letting the people in, as the chief just spoke to, or a capacity for safety reasons. I also don't think that it's necessarily right to allow people that showed up at a certain time to sit in line to have to give up their seat if they want to see what our discussion is. However, I do, I think everybody understands my First Amendment cause in hearing people for or against an issue. Maybe there's some type of a way that our team can get that number outside, and then they can be screened to come in one at a time and line up on the side like we did last time in a safe manner. Obviously, they would have to still sit and wait outside, but maybe that's something that we could. Because, what did you say, 14? Ten. Ten. So we only need ten seats. We could take volunteers, ten folks here who would give up their seat to allow ten people to come in so that the public comment is balanced. We could take a recess to allow you to invite those ten in, I guess. Go ahead, Mike. Thank you. If remembering correctly, in the first reading, we had 14 speakers on either side. Speakers speaking against the vacation weren't in this room. They were somewhere in the hallway, I presume. So instead of asking 14 people or ten people that have probably sat out there the longest to get in here, instead of asking them to leave, I think there would probably be ten people willing in the hallway to probably exit so those ten people could stand in the hallway to hear their voice be heard. I'm just – I would probably assume that. Or can we just take the ten that are outside? I'm sure the people willing to sit in the A.C. can sit in the A.C. a little bit longer. And those that are outside, we hear their opinions first and then let them leave. What I hear, it's the preference of the council to free up ten seats. I see head nods that there are folks in the audience who are willing to give up their seat to allow ten folks to come in. So we have it balanced, and we give those folks who are outside a chance to speak. We can take a recess to allow that transition to happen. Yes, that would – obviously public communications would have to do that. My personnel and I have no way of sifting through who's for, I guess, nor do we really care. We certainly are focused on the safety aspect of this. That's what we do, and that's what fire service does. So I think that's something important. We can't do it, but if public communications has a mechanism to ascertain who's for or against it, I'm fine. We'll help support whatever you guys want to do. We can do it. We'll get the ten people. Okay. Okay. We'll recess for how long, but we'll recess until we can get that lined up. We'll stand in recess until we reconvene. Thank you. We'll call the meeting back to order, and so we're at agenda item 8.1. I think we'll go ahead and have a reading of the ordinance now. Ordinance number 9907-26. Ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, vacating city right-of-way, more particularly described as a southern portion of Garden Avenue abutting lots 6-11, together with that portion of the abutting vacated 15-foot alley lying between lots 10 and 11 of the Court Square subdivision, as recorded in Platte Book 5, page 53 of the public records of Pinellas County, Florida, providing conditions, providing severance, providing an effective date. So we'll start now with public comment and invite those from the public who want to speak for this agenda item and who have registered with our city team to do so. For some of you who may have been here two weeks ago know that our council rules limit the overall debate to 60 minutes. So the council will make a decision depending upon what's already been said and who's still left that wants to speak, whether or not to extend that time or not. But our council rules are that it's limited to 60 minutes. So please be mindful of that and courteous to your neighbors that want to speak. The amount of time that it takes each speaker to get up once we start the time clock, that eats away at the time. Your time when you begin to speak will begin not when you start speaking, but when you get to the podium. So please collect your thoughts and be ready to speak once you get to the microphone. And the other thing that I shared last time was I understand that you'll hear some things that you really like and you'll hear some things you don't like, but really any crowd reaction, audience reaction to whatever any speaker might say sometimes interrupts and delays or maybe even prevents the time from somebody else to speak later. So jazz hands are great if you want to show some emotion, but audible noise just really does slow the process down and takes time away from folks who came here and maybe have been standing outside to speak tonight. So please, I just ask you to be courteous to your neighbors. So with that, our clerk, who is the first speaker? 65S. And thank you for the opportunity to talk to you today. I'm Joy Jinduza. I'm the founder and CEO of Postcard Mania. We're a national marketing company employing 400 people locally right here in Clearwater. I followed a boy here in 1988. That didn't work out, but Clearwater sure did. I've lived only in Clearwater the entire 38 years I've been in Florida. Why did I stay? Flag. I've been a Scientologist since I was 12 years old, and being close to Flag was a no-brainer for me. Clearwater became my home. I built my company here, I raised my family here, and I've invested my life here. That's why the completion of LRH Hall is important to me. For many of us, this isn't just another building project. It's something we've worked toward for years. Many of us have contributed to it and look forward to seeing it completed. I have a serious personal interest in the vacation of Garden Avenue for the purposes of making the hall safe. My maiden name is Lebowitz. I'm sure you're aware of how rampant anti-Semitism is right now. It's scary. I was in New York at my son's wedding in October 2025, and I thanked God I was married to an Italian and that I took his name. Hate is so easily accessible and promoted in a way I've never seen. Being both Jewish and a Scientologist, safety is something I think about more today than I ever have. The LRH Hall is for us, but it's also for other nonprofits and religions that need a space for their events. We've assisted over 200 nonprofits through events at the Fort Harrison, and we'll continue that goodwill going forward with the hall, a world-class space for your events, too. I want to feel safe coming and going. I don't want to fear that some erratic individual will drive by and hurt anyone in our community, whether a Scientologist or a Jew or a Muslim or a Christian or anyone. We need Garden Avenue for the parishioners of my church and yours. I appreciate your concern for keeping all of your constituents safe, and I ask for your support in vacating Garden Avenue. Thank you. Next speaker. 65-0. Vicki Lipsy. Thank you. You have one additional minute, four minutes. Good evening. My name is Jill. Just to start, I want to address that the amount of signatures on our petition to save Garden Avenue and our downtown streets would fill the sound plus overflow. So the fact that the 10 of us who were allowed in here to speak tonight, who also showed up over six hours ago but were effectively pushed out of this meeting, do not in any way appropriately represent the opposition to this motion. I'm here tonight for them to urge this council not to vacate South Garden Avenue. While I recognize and respect the many Scientologists who recently shared their desire to build their hall, the awesome thing is that they are able to build their hall without closing off the street. To the rest of Clearwater. In fact, we all know that their original design shows the street still accessible to the public. They can build their hall, and all of Clearwater can keep the street. It's an undeniable win-win. If I'm honest, I'm baffled that we are even here to urge our elected officials not to close down a public downtown street that is off of a state road. If only I had a penny for every citizen here in Clearwater that asked me, why in the world would someone give up a downtown street? That's the exact opposite of what you do when you're trying to grow a downtown. After tonight, our citizens will know the very council members that are eager to disregard the majority of Clearwater citizens and give away our public downtown streets. And intentionally fast-tracking things without even desiring to get to the bottom of who even actually owns the land under the right-of-way. This is a betrayal of truth and a betrayal to the taxpayers of your city. And I will never let up on this. The Attorney General himself said not to vacate a street that is being used by the public. So, Clearwater, pay attention tonight. Pay attention to who is advocating on behalf of a single private entity. And pay attention to who is advocating on behalf of and standing with Clearwater citizens and their desires. There is a win-win option available. Watch to see who chooses that option. Thousands of you, when signing the initiative, declared that you wanted a voice in the future of your downtown. You told me that you didn't think this would matter because the council doesn't, quote, listen to its people. I had desperately hoped to prove you wrong, but as it turns out, you may be right. I'm so sorry. Your voice may appear to not have mattered on the initiative, but there's still more of that to come. But you do have the opportunity to make your voice matter at the ballot box. Don't miss that opportunity this August and in 2028. Make sure that you are putting the right people in these seats. Don't let the GOP and their special interests decide that for you. Lastly, to Ms. Barbara Sori-Love. I am so sorry the Faita Safe Garden Avenue has been this hard. You were the first to present this council with a beautiful vision of using that land to honor the incredible history that once lived there. You advocated for something that all of Clearwater could participate in and be educated by. But until now, council members Albritton, Menino, and Cotton have chosen to champion a single private entity and have worked hard against your vision and the desire of thousands of Clearwater citizens. You are a remarkable woman, and your grace and faith has inspired me deeply. Your tenacity and perseverance combined with the beautiful historic story that you longed to memorialize here is worth championing. And I'm sorry we couldn't convince this council to do the same. Speaker, please. S-66. Good evening, council members. My name is Darren Tessitore. Nine years ago, my wife, our three beautiful children, and I decided to move to Clearwater. We are all Scientologists. For the past 20 years, I've been volunteering for a global drug education program. As a result, I have personally trained over 15,000 driver educators on how to talk to youth about the dangers of drugs and driving. With this, I've been able to reach millions of kids across America, and especially right here in Florida. As a result, I was awarded the Volunteer Gold Service Award. I'm currently on the board of directors for the Florida Driver Education Association. I'm the president-elect for the Southeast United States Driver Education Association, and I'm on Governor DeSantis' Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition. I have communicated with many community leaders around Florida and the United States and the world. A common theme, no matter where I go, is how civic and religious groups working together create a positive effect in the community. Religious organizations often act as bridges between public institutions and local residents. These partnerships are effective in bringing together the entire community. I've told many outreach program leaders around Florida and the United States about the LRH Hall and the opportunities it will create. They were excited by the idea of having a place where educators, volunteers, and community leaders could come. As a Scientologist, I am looking forward to having a place where we can come together for the major events and celebrations that are a vital part of our religion. Over the past 20 years, I've spent my time teaching young people about risk, responsibility, and safety. One lesson I have learned is that most strategies are not caused by bad intentions. They happen when ordinary situations create opportunities for mistakes. Good people make decisions every day, believing nothing will go wrong until it does. That is why I view this request as more than a construction project. Creating a safer environment for the thousands of people who will use this facility, especially children and families, is the responsible thing to do. In my experience, the best safety measures are the ones put in place before they are ever needed. Please vote yes to vacate this portion of Garden Avenue. Thank you. Next speaker, please. 066. Good evening. Thank you for hearing from all of us. My name is Janice Basler, and if you should know, I've been here before. I'm a voter in the city of Clearwater. Sometimes I forget to say that. I've been talking to hundreds of my neighbors. I talked to nine of them last night. I signed the petition, just so you know. They're hardworking members of the community. They were here. They could fill up the library, too. But unfortunately, they're not able to. We are here as their representatives. Please don't lose sight of all of those people that have signed this petition and want to share their voice with you through that paper. I'm not sure what can be said to convince the council to slow down and let the courts determine who really owns this street. You're setting a precedent that we may be sorry for. And you know what? It will be your legacy. I'm not sure how much more the citizens of the county, of the city, need to give. Remember, the hall does not need Garden Avenue to be built. I've seen the plans myself. It can be safe. If they have a big event, they can request to close off the street for that event. You don't need to close down a city street to all of the citizens for this to occur for all of the people here who so desperately want it. It can be a win-win. We can have it all. Remember, elections on two years, for some of you, two years is not that long. Many of the citizens of Clearwater will remember how you voted in this, and you will have to justify that to them when you come up for re-election. Please take time to get an opinion from the courts before you move forward. Thank you for your time. Have a good evening. Thank you. Next speaker. S-67. I'm Kelly Shea. I'm a Scientologist and a Clearwater resident and a mom to five kids. My husband and I own a local photography business, and I've lived and worked in Clearwater for most of my life. My family and I moved here when I was five years old to be part of this community and to be close to flag. Growing up as a Scientologist in Clearwater in the 80s and 90s was not always pleasant. The first friend I made when I moved here was a little girl who was my next-door neighbor. Then, when her mom found out that our family were Scientologists, she told her daughter we were never allowed to play again. I was six years old. As my sister and I got older, we would sometimes go door-to-door for school fundraisers. Sometimes people would find out we were Scientologists and yell at us to get off of their property. As a teenager, I remember being followed for several blocks and videotaped by a man who spoke at this podium just two weeks ago. He verbally harassed me, holding a video camera inches from my face and intimidating me for being a Scientologist. As a young girl walking alone on the street, this was not just uncomfortable, it was scary. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident, and it happened numerous times. It is my understanding that that same man is running for a city council seat in the next election. Despite these experiences, I still flourished in my life. I have created a beautiful family who are all happy to call Clearwater their home. But being a mother now, I'm horrified by the idea of my young daughter being followed down the street and harassed by a grown man simply because of his religion. I would like to think that those days are over, but in reality, they are not. For my family, Flag has always been the safest and friendliest place on earth. I would like the new LRH Hall to be somewhere for us to gather with other members of our church and to participate in events safely. Vacating Garden Avenue would create that opportunity of consecutive space and appropriate buffer to keep event attendees free from harassment and danger. As I raise my kids, who are also Scientologists, I hope they will be able to experience living in a more tolerant Clearwater that practices religious freedom and treats children with care and respect. And I want them to be free to come and go from the LRH Hall safely and without concern. I ask your support in the vacation of South Garden Avenue. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker. 067. Hi, guys. Brooks Gibbs. And, you know, I've been the spokesperson for Save the Garden, and I really don't have anything to say at this speech. I feel like I'm wasting my words. But I just want to commit to you guys that we're still committed to action, whether it's litigation against the city for giving away a street that's rightly ours that we actually own, and a referendum that is the decision you're about to make. You know, we have the right, according to our charter, to reverse that, to put it to the voice of the citizen. And our goal has always been voter approval required for vacation in downtown, the right of way vacation. And why? Because it's not about religion. People don't care about what other religions believe, but they do care about the property, the place that they live. And it's always been about real estate. So I just want to make that clear. You know, we're all free to believe whatever we want, but we're also all welcome members of one community, and we need to keep the grid open. We need to keep the buildings open. Like I said last time, I believe it's immoral. It's wrong to possess property and keep people out. But anyways, I do would love to see the Cleveland Street Alliance come through with their commitment. I think that'd be glorious. I think that could be a lot of fun for everyone. I hope they activate their buildings. They always promise right before they grab more land, if you look at the history of the relationship between the city of Clearwater and the Church of Scientology. But the streets, you know, that's a bridge too far for us. So we will fight it. We're committed to action. And I have nothing else to say. Thank you. Next speaker. 68. Good evening, Mayor Rector and members of the council. My name is Ryan Igoe. I'm a Clearwater resident, an Air Force veteran, and a retired federal firefighter. Federal firefighters protect military bases and installations across the country and overseas. I served on Army and Naval bases. We do the same fire and rescue work as city departments just for the military. For more than 30 years, I spent my career thinking about how people get hurt and how to prevent it. But in those 30 years, my job changed, and it's the heart of why I'm here. When I started, our protocol at a mass casualty scene, a shooting or bombing, was to stay back and wait outside the danger area until the police cleared it. Firefighters don't train that way anymore. As mass shootings rose, fire and medical crews now move in alongside police into what we call the warm zone, the area near the threat that isn't fully secured, so we can reach the wounded instead of letting them bleed while we wait. Departments across the country, including here, are making the same shift right now. The point is this. One of the biggest risks we plant for today is a vehicle entering a crowded area. The solution is distance. Keeping vehicles back from where people gather. In my field, we call it standoff. Now, I moved to Clearwater with my wife and children and mother-in-law because of flag in the LRH Hall. After spending my career focused on protecting people in emergencies, safety is something I think about every day, especially when my family is involved. The LRH Hall is built for 3,500 people. There will be a park on one side and the building on the other, and if there's a public street running right between them, that is a problem. Permanent closure is the only solution that actually protects people. Times Square in New York, Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, were closed for safety reasons. The safety standards, the precedent, and the reasoning behind those decisions are all publicly available. I respectfully ask you to approve this request. Permanently vacate this street. Thank you for your time. Next speaker, please. 068. Thank you for letting me speak. I want to thank you for letting me come tonight. My name is Jan Boggs. We're a small, mighty, grassroots organization that worked hard to collect approximately 9,000 signatures of the citizens of Clearwater who are against the sale or giving away of city property downtown, downtown Clearwater, and starting with Save the Garden and Garden Avenue. I think their voices should be heard and not silenced. I think the hall can still be erected without Garden Avenue, and we, the citizens of Clearwater, can still use Garden Avenue as some of us have used many, many times. It shouldn't be divisive. It should be a win-win for everyone. If you vote to keep it open and keep it as a thoroughfare for the city itself, once it's gone, it is gone forever. I think we heard you all speak of this as well. We just want to protect what really belongs to the citizens and not give it away, and that's pretty much all I have to say. I just, please, please, please, please do not vacate the street that is open and used by the public on a daily basis. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. Hi, City Council members. My name is Colby Rubino. I am a Clearwater resident, a mother, a business owner, and a Scientologist. My family and I moved from New Jersey to Clearwater six years ago because we wanted a better lifestyle and a safe place to raise our children. Today, my children are 11 and 7 years old, and one of the things I value most about Clearwater is the sense of community and opportunity to raise my family here. Moving to Clearwater has allowed our family to grow in so many ways. We have built a business, found a church community, made wonderful friends, and created a life that we are proud of. That is one reason why LRH Hall is important to me. I see it as a place where people can come together for celebrations, community events, and activities that will benefit the community for many years to come. As a mother, I think about the safety of the thousands of people who will attend these events there, especially children. I believe it is important that the Hall provide the safest possible environment for everyone who visits. A few weeks ago, while walking out of the Fort Harrison with my children, we were verbally attacked because of our beliefs. These harassers were videoing me and my children. The hardest part was having to explain that experience to my children. When my husband and I work hard to teach them to respect others, regardless of their background or their beliefs, that experience reminded me how important it is to create places where people can gather, feel welcome, and feel safe. For that reason, I support the Garden Avenue vacation request and ask for your approval. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Thank you. Next speaker. 069. Michelle Moore, Jessica, and Jose. Yes. Good evening, Mayor Rector and City Council members. My name is Jose Estegaribi. I'm an attorney with the Becker Firm, and we have the pleasure of representing Nash Keys, which is a local piano bar and restaurant. The owner, Mr. Tello, is to my right. I'm here on his behalf, and what I'm requesting is not necessarily anything unusual, but I am asking that there possibly be a continuance because we are in the process of filing a declaratory action because really the issue that we see is who is the rightful owner of this piece of property. That's really the issue that we're trying to flesh out is who is the owner of this property, and it benefits everyone, I think, to know who is the owner. I know there's an attorney general opinion. I've read it. I think we've all seen it. We've all analyzed it, but that's not a judicial determination. That's not binding, and so I think by allowing a continuance so that there could be a judicial determination as to who is the owner of the land, that benefits everybody. It benefits the applicant because if they're found to be the owner, then they have clean, clear title. If it's found that the city has that through statutory dedication, then, of course, they can still proceed, they being the applicant, of course, and there would have to be fair market value, which would benefit the city. So, again, I will now defer to Mr. Tello, who is the owner of Nash Keys, as he wants to address you all as well. Thank you. Hi, I'm Tony Tello. I'm the owner of Nash Keys, and just like everyone else who spoke here, Scientology, non-Scientology, Christian, Jewish, all of us, we're all family members. We all have kids, want the best for this community. We sit here talking about discrimination and all these things that we want a safety for a thing. I'm a Mexican-American, first generation. I've seen my uncle hide in a freezer when I was a kid because policemen are taking them out. We talk about discrimination. I've experienced it. I've cried in my mom's arm not knowing where he was going and my uncle were going. That's discrimination I experience today. I've picked up relatives of relatives from what seems to be concentration camps. I've done that. I've lived discrimination. I've sat here on downtown streets telling people when the lucky anchors open, people are telling me to go back to my country. I'm a citizen, born and raised, love this country, family members that bled for this country, people still support this country. My dad told me that the American dream was real, that these people were meant to represent us, and I believe it with all my heart. To see this and to talk about discrimination, where people behind me with the cameras that I've spoke here before, saying that they're harassing my customers, the gentleman's right behind me. That's discrimination. Weaponizing the code enforcement thing, a force department, which code enforcement is here. They're sitting in support. That's discrimination. I don't like when people use doublespeak to pander and represent themselves as a population that's underrepresented or that they fear for their lives. Where I sit here with two daughters that have gotten death threats, that have been told anonymous complaints left and right that I shouldn't do business downtown. You know this. We've heard it. I've had customers of mine harassed, which I believe because it's their color of their skin, saying people who sit here today with us that if they weren't doing anything wrong, they have nothing to worry about. My friends, my citizens, that is discrimination. I don't understand the doublespeak. And it's constant. We had this street for sale for over a million dollars. I sat here and told it was fiscally responsible to sell it for a million dollars. People sat on this board and said that was a smart decision. I stand here. I'm a constitutionalist, and I believe that it should be sold for fair market price. And now it's not being sold for fair market price. So I led to the assumption that it is not the law that we look to follow but an organization that is smaller than the mass majority of the people that you're here to represent. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed of what this has become. I am happy for the Americans to sit on the board that fight the good fight and understand what we're fighting for. But I refuse to hear pandering of discrimination where we are trying to save the garden for the African-American community. I stand here as a gentleman who's faced discrimination currently and ended in the past. What are we doing? I just – that's something I just don't understand. The city belongs to the people. Just give it to the people. If they have this many people sent here to represent them, let it go to a vote. Let the vote stand. Let the people be heard. You want to know discrimination? Stop being public record. Stop being public people from coming in to represent by coming here and busloads and wheeling them in. This is fascism. This is limiting the voice of the people by taking away citizens to be heard. We're now allowing an organization to bus people in to not be able to speak. What are we doing? I stand here because I don't want to fight you guys in the city. I just want it to be back – I want you guys to represent the people. I believe all of you guys – some of you guys might look to be career politicians and might not find this town favorable, but I've given up my father's legacy to come here. I've sold everything to build downtown in Belize, and I believe I am one of the few examples of someone believing in this town and coming here and making a difference. And I try every day to do that. And I just wanted you guys to hear that. Thank you. Technically, that was two speakers, two individuals at the podium, so I'm going to call the next two speakers for the other side. S70. Hello, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. My name is Mark Costantino. I am a Scientologist, a proud veteran of the United States Air Force, a veteran NYPD sergeant, and a recipient of the American Legion Commendation of Valor. Throughout my career, whether serving in the military or in law enforcement, my responsibility was always the same – protecting people. I spent decades identifying risks, addressing concerns before they became problems, and doing everything possible to keep others safe. A year and a half ago, I made the decision to move my entire family to Clearwater. That means our four children, their families, our grandchildren, and my mother, and there's now another grandchild on the way. The reason is simple. I wanted them to be close to flag, and I wanted my family to live in a community where they could be safe, freely practice their religion, and enjoy the benefits of Clearwater. As a father and grandfather, those things matter to me more today than ever before. Over the years, my work taught me an important lesson. When obvious concerns are ignored, tragedies often follow. The safest communities are not the ones that react after something happens. They are the ones that take practical steps to prevent problems before they occur. As a patrol sergeant in the NYPD, it would have been unthinkable not to have police officers posted at any synagogue, church, or mosque during church events or times of worship with special attention from patrol units. It is not saying that people would commit violent attacks on peaceful religious gatherings, but it is a reality I have had to face. When I look at the plans for the L. Ron Hubbard Hall and the Garden Avenue vacation request, I see a practical safety measure. I see a necessity to create a buffer between large numbers of civilians, vehicular traffic, and the possibility of emotionally disturbed people. To me, that isn't optional. It's vital, and it's just common sense. The L. Ron Hubbard Hall is somewhere where my children, grandchildren, and future generations of our family will enjoy it for years to come. As someone who's spent a lifetime protecting people and thinking about public safety, I ask you to do the right thing and approve the vacation of Garden Avenue. Thank you. Thank you, sir. S71. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Angie Colon. I'm a Clearwater resident, a mother of three children. I own two small businesses in Clearwater, and I'm a Scientologist. My family moved here from South Africa when I was 10 years old because of FLAG. Clearwater has been my home ever since. This is where I grew up, where I built my life, and where my husband and I are now raising our own children. I have a community around me that values the same things I do, and that works to improve our environment. In the last year, I probably attended more than 70 events, church and community events at FLAG. We come to these events because it's fun, it's uplifting, and it's an uplifting environment that feels completely safe for the whole family. I've looked forward to LRH Hall for a very long time and to seeing that vision become a reality. As a parent, one of my main concerns is safety. When I was four years old in South Africa, I was waiting at a stoplight with my nanny, and I decided that I knew better in terms of when to cross the street. I broke free from her and ran across the street. At that exact moment, a truck was headed through the intersection and had no time to stop. I was hit head-on, and the next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital. As an adult, my mother later told me that I had to have surgery to stop bleeding in my brain, and that in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, I was about to be pronounced dead three times, but I kept waking up. I can't imagine what my mom had to go through during that experience. So as a result, I'm extra vigilant about paying attention to things like entrances, exits, pedestrian traffic, and how people move safely through an area. This is why I support the Garden Avenue Vacation. I've spent most of my life in Clearwater. I've supported the city as a business owner and a taxpayer, and now I am raising my own family here. I ask you to approve the Garden Avenue Vacation request. Thank you for allowing me the time to share why I support this project. Next speaker. Opposed, 70. Hello, I'm Mark Bunker. I'm sure many of the people in this room consider me a suppressive person. Hopefully, nobody up here does, but more people nationally consider me a national treasure, so I'm happy about that. I'm surprised to hear Garden Street compared to Times Square and the White House Mall, whatever the plaza there is called. Come on, it's Garden Street. It's going to be a street that they want to block off between the L. Ron Hubbard Hall and a park. How many people do you really think are going to show up in that park? How many parks does Scientology have downtown now? There are several. You don't see anyone in any of them at any time. What we're going to have is Scientology being able to take that street off the market, close it off for themselves when all they really need to do is get an event permit to shut down the street when they have an event and protect all the people who are coming to the L. Ron Hubbard Hall. It's a simple thing to do. I hope that you have stadium seating prepared for the new City Hall, by the way. I remember in an earlier meeting, people were saying that I donated $2 million to the L. Ron Hubbard Hall. And, yeah, a lot of people have. A lot of people have been donating to make this hall happen. Same way with the superpower building, the flag building. They broke ground for that in 1998. They opened it up in 2013. During all those years where it was sitting there half finished, they were raising more and more millions of dollars. So whatever time schedule they have for the opening of the L. Ron Hubbard Hall, I'm sure that's going to be backed up as more donations are demanded. Again, they can just block off the street and allow ambulances and fire trucks and citizens to use that street when there's not an event going on. And I'd like to give credit to all the folks from the Save the Garden project who really did a remarkable job gathering signatures. I'm sorry, some of them were tossed out on technicalities. But they showed that there are a lot of people here in the city who are concerned about Scientology's actions downtown. And they're not called to fill up the room. They just let people know when you knock on their doors how they feel. Thank you. Next speaker. S-72. Good evening. Mayor, council, city management, and fellow citizens. I'm Kenan Kinsel, and I'm a Scientologist. My wife and I came to Clearwater from Chicago for our honeymoon over 20 years ago. Instead of returning, we stayed. We raised our kids here, and now we've got lots of grandkids, so we're not leaving. We also stayed to be closer to our church's spiritual home. Much of our extended family has moved here as well. And during COVID, we brought our mother to a Clearwater nursing home so she could be close to family before she passed. My father, he was a Navy Top Gun pilot, and he was retired, and Clearwater would be closer to us, too. I have a degree in aeronautics, and I'm a licensed pilot. I'm also a Clearwater businessman. My brother and I employ around 20 local citizens, and we've brought many of our clients downtown. I'm a member of Amplified Chamber of Commerce. I'm a co-founder of the Downtown Cleveland Street Merchants Association. Try and say that fast. I also served on the Downtown Development Board for almost five years, and I've always been an active local volunteer. In fact, a few years ago, I helped establish a nonprofit called Going Home Clearwater that assisted more than 100 local homeless individuals in downtown Clearwater get into homes. Our hall will be a landmark attraction, and like most people, safety for our friends and children is a top priority. Our new auditorium will host hundreds of events every single year. It will welcome tens of thousands of people from all over the world, and many of them are going to be non-parishioners. We need the Garden Avenue Street Vacation to help ensure the safety of everybody visiting the hall. Thank you for your time, and I respectfully ask for your support of the Garden Avenue Vacation. Next speaker. 071. Sylvia Patterson. You may have gotten an email from me yesterday, and I don't want you to think that I sent it from 100 years in the future. It was just that I accidentally wrote 3026 instead of 2026. So I just came today to say that Scientology can build a hall, and we can have our street. It's a win-win. Thank you. Next speaker. 773. Sorry. My name is Marina Oman. I moved to Clearwater six years ago and have been living here ever since. Me and my husband are also active volunteers in our Clearwater neighborhood, and I have seen each of you in my front yard on one event or another. My home was built 100 years ago for the first mayor of Clearwater, so we're literally connected to Clearwater history and administration. I've been a Scientologist for 26 years. I moved to Clearwater because the flag is here. I'm originally from Russia, and I left my country because of suppression of human freedoms, war, and specifically suppression of my religion. Here, I have an opportunity to see my friends who, like me, left my country out of fear, fear of being pulled into a war or being imprisoned simply for expressing or even posting disagreements with government policy. This includes being part of religions that is not approved by government. My friends are now spread across the planet in Europe, Asia, and even Africa. But flag is a place where we all can still meet. That is exactly why this project matters so much to me personally. Elridge Hall is not just a building. It's a gathering place for people like my friends and me, people who lost everything in order to be free. For us, it represents something that we could not have back home, a permanent, protected, visible symbol that our religion is welcome here. My husband and I have been contributors to our church here and to Elridge, Elridge Hubbard Hall, for quite some time now. Our family voted for each of you a couple of years ago. Religion's freedom is important to me, and I am profoundly grateful to this country for the opportunity to be here. I am thankful for the founding of this nation 250 years ago and for making it possible for people like me to live a better life. Thank you to all Americans for standing for our freedom to this day. I sincerely hope you will continue to do so. And I ask you to vote yes for the vacation of Garden Avenue so that Elridge Hubbard Hall can be built as a safe place for Scientologists from around the world and for the local Clearwater community. Thank you for listening. Ma'am. Next speaker, please. 072. I'm Jill Cunnings. I am not a Scientologist. I am a human being. And I am here today because we are to talk about a street, Garden Avenue. And today was evidence, as we sat outside, of the division of this city. So I am asking that you rethink your votes to give away a street. No one's opposed the hall. No one's opposed about Scientology. We are safe. We've always been safe. I go downtown Clearwater at least monthly with my friends. This is about a street. It is not about anything else. So I ask that you respect that. And I also ask why you would not allow for the lawsuit that is filed against the city that the city then punted over to federal, and maybe I'm wrong on that. I don't know, by the ACLU. Why won't you wait until that pans out? If you decide to give our street away, it's gone. There's no coming back. So I respectfully ask you to please don't vacate what is public and what is ours. And I think that's it except for one other thing. I would, I'm a little confused as to conversations about opinions. The law is not about opinions. The Attorney General's statements are opinions. Our city attorney has mentioned opinions. That's not how we run a city. That's not how you run anything. We follow the law. So I ask that you do so. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. 74. Hello, council members. My name is Diana George. I am a Scientologist, an HR consultant, and I have lived in Clearwater for the past five years. I moved here for the community. I grew up on Long Island, and I remember that the parents on our block looked out for every child in the neighborhood. Everyone knew each other, and if something happened, someone was always there to help. I spent many years searching for that same community I remember growing up, and this search took me to 13 different states, including New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and California, just to name a few. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. One day I was working when I realized that I wanted to be able to help people better. Working in HR means you talk to a lot of people, and I thought if I was near my spiritual headquarters, Flag, I could better myself and thereby better others. Within two months, I moved to Clearwater. Clearwater is the first place where I found that feeling of home again. One example happened just before the most recent hurricane we faced. I urgently needed my car repaired, and I brought it into a local shop. I was surprised to find out that the mechanic recognized me from my morning walks in my neighborhood. It turned out he was also my neighbor. He made sure my car was ready before the storm and trusted me to come back later with payment. That simple act of kindness meant a great deal to me. Through disaster response efforts and volunteer work, I've had the opportunity to help others during difficult times. Being able to support my neighbors when they need it most is one of the ways I give back to a city that has given so much to me. A church's influence extends well beyond its walls, and that's the same for the LRH Hall. It will be a place that reflects the same spirit of neighbors helping neighbors that first made Clearwater feel like home to me. Scientologists around the world have put in a lot of dedicated effort over the years to make this hall a reality. I look forward to seeing more people experience the sense of connection that made me choose Clearwater as my home. Thank you for listening to each of us. I respectfully ask for your vote to vacate Garden Avenue. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. 73. Mike, Master Saria. First of all, thank you to all of you. You got my email before, and I appreciate the fact that you allowed us to come in and speak. So thank you for that. The couple things I want to bring up quickly before I even read this. To all the people who have moved here from out of state to come here, welcome. We're glad you're here. For the city council, eventually you're going to see this whole town owned by Scientology. You know they're buying neighborhoods. They're buying hotels all over the city. But anyway, then I got one other thing to say. I was in line. I came down to get in line around 2.30. I didn't stay, of course. But I didn't see Mr. Agami sitting over here in the front row in line like that, but he must have got a good seat. But let's go to, let's bring up the discrimination. I heard that earlier. I've heard people say that it's discrimination against the church. Can a Clearwater citizen walk into the Fort Harrison Hotel and make a reservation even and walk in there and get a room? No. Can they eat in a restaurant? No. I think that's called discrimination. So tomorrow morning, I will be filing a, let me see if I can bring this up here. I want to make this public knowledge. Section 6.02 in our charter gives people the power to initiate a referendum to call the voter veto, the charter says. The voters of the city shall have the power to require reconsideration by the council of any adopted ordinance, and the council fails to repeal the ordinance so considered to approve or reject in the city election. We are putting the city on notice that tomorrow morning we will start a referendum process to put this ordinance on the ballot to let the voters decide. The other thing on the record, tonight's council must vote no on the issue to vacate Garden Avenue for legal reasons, at very least because the applicant, Flag Service Org, who owns the property on the west side of Garden Avenue, should not have any say in the building process of the property they don't own. You see, if the Flag Service Organization and its representatives, Mr. Potter, were to have been given permission to negotiate the building deadlines, et cetera, on behalf of the property that is owned by distinctly separate legal corporations, the Church of Scientology Religious Trust, who are the owners of the property on the east side of Garden Avenue, then the issue would likely be a major issue to handle as very significant, having religious tax-exempt status with the IRS over its 130 independent organizations, which was the premise of these organizations were separately functioning organizations in all areas. You know, that's just a lot of words. Maybe someday you'll look at them, but we are, we as the citizens will stand tall. It's amazing how many people that I saw online, they don't have voter cards, they don't vote in, they don't live in, some of them don't live in Clearwater, but yet there's a lot of them here. But they have the right to be here. We let people from all over come, and that's welcome. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Next speaker. 75. Good evening, council members. My name is Grace Lomb. I am 19 years old, a third-generation Scientologist, and Clearwater has been home my entire life. Some of my earliest memories are of coming downtown with my mom and brother, volunteering, attending community events, and being involved in the church. Clearwater is where I grew up, where I went to school, and where I started building my life as a young adult. I recently earned my real estate license, and I have also worked as a nanny for several years. I am proud to call Clearwater home. When I was 17, my mom passed away. Losing my mom at such a young age changed my life overnight. The feeling is indescribable. Suddenly, I was figuring out how to navigate adulthood without the person who had always been there for me. During that time, I was surrounded by my fellow church members who cared about me, supported me, and helped me keep moving forward. Without the church, I wouldn't be here today. That is why I felt it was important to come here tonight. As someone who grew up in this community and in this religion, it has shaped me into who I am today. I feel a responsibility to share my story with you. When I think about the LRH Hall, I do not just think about a building. I think about what it represents. It is a place that honors our founder and the history of a religion that has been part of my family's life for three generations. It is also a place where people from around the world can come together for events, celebrations, and shared experiences. My mom loved Clearwater and loved being a part of this community. Some of my most cherished memories are volunteering and attending events with her. I feel incredibly grateful to be so young and have the opportunity to share my voice on something that means so much to me. If my mom were here today, I know she would be more than proud to see me sharing my story and representing our religion. I ask that the council votes yes for the vacation of Garden Avenue. Thank you for listening to me today and considering this matter at hand. Thank you. Next speaker. 074. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Barbara Sori Love, and I am the president of Clearwater African American Foundation. Our mission is to preserve and memorialize African American spaces, places, landmarks, streets. Garden Avenue is one of the three African American communities that was founded here in Clearwater before Scientology came. I was born and raised in Clearwater before Scientology came. I have lived through Jim Crow, redlining, erase cemeteries, and schools here in Clearwater. Legal does not always equal to ethical. I am asking for the mayor, city council, to vote no on the referendum, save the garden. S-76. Distinguished members of the council, my name is Jordan Bull. My family and I moved here 10 years ago to raise our three boys. I live and own a business downtown, and I'm a Scientologist. I want to share a quick story I think is relevant to tonight's discussion. I grew up in a small, rural town, the type of town with more cows than people. For years, there was a highway planned to connect us with the larger cities just south of us. There would be jobs, a mall, movie theaters, real progress for my area. Then it stopped, dead in the middle, literally. They built the on-ramp, they built the rest of the highway a couple exits down, and they left the middle empty. Why? Because someone raised concerns that a bog turtle, a tiny protected turtle, might live in that path. So, we looked, and we waited, and we looked some more. Ten years went by. You know how many bog turtles they found in the end? Zero. And I get it. Looking back, if an endangered species might live there, you owe it a careful look. That due diligence mattered. In the same way, this proposal has been examined from every single angle. Questions have been asked. Reviews were conducted. The facts were established. And at the end of the day, this is nothing more than a routine street vacation. A short, low-use block in the downtown area, this is the kind of thing the city council handles all the time. And here's why it matters to me. Flag is my spiritual home. LRH Hall is a place where my community and like-minded communities can come together. We stand with others behind causes we believe in, and we celebrate what's good in life. And I don't just talk about this city. I actually show up for it. After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, I spent months on the barrier islands helping rebuild those communities, and I've reinvented my entire company to service just those communities and have been hired by the Florida Department of Emergency Management as one of the FEMA Elevate contractors. This is the future that I want for downtown. Finished projects, opened doors, a district that's alive again, instead of one being held up year over year over something that's not really there. We've spent a year now boxing with shadows, and just like the turtle, there's nothing there. And there's nothing to fear. So I respectfully ask for the approval of the Garden Avenue vacation, and let this city keep moving forward. Thank you. Sir, next speaker. 075. City Council, I want to take your time, but please don't give or sell any more of Clearwater away. I moved here five years ago, but have been visiting since 1968. It's always been a very favorite spot of mine, especially the beach. This piece of land is like the gateway to the beach. The rest of the Scientology buildings are imposing and off-putting. They have this piece of property. We don't know what they're going to put on that piece of property, and it could be just as imposing as their buildings. This is all so sad, but I thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. S-77. Good evening. Mayor, City Council, and members of our community. My name is Monica Gonzalez, but my friends call me Momo. I came to you to speak this evening about the vacation of Garden Avenue. I'm a third-generation Scientologist who has lived in Clearwater since 2022. I was at the City Council two weeks ago, and I heard a lot of people talk about why the hall was important to them. I feel the same as all of those people who spoke in favor of the road vacation. I have a perspective I wanted to share that might be a little bit different. Ten years ago, I was visiting a friend in Mexico who lived in a more affluent part of the city, when more than a dozen armed men in masks forced their way into the house. We were tied up, blindfolded, and held at gunpoint for many hours with promises that our lives would be ending soon. I will spare you the details of that experience, but I truly believed that it could be the end. Obviously, my life did not end at that point, because I'm here speaking with you today. But I did reevaluate all of those things after that experience, and it definitely changed my view on the subject of security. After that, I turned to the one place that has always been the safest place I know, my church. It took some time, but I came out of that nightmare even stronger and more determined to succeed. I pay a lot of attention to my environment, and my guard is always up. But there is still one place on this planet where I'm completely free to relax and just enjoy the company of good people without any worry, and that is FLAG. Syntologists know FLAG as the friendliest place on Earth, and that is true to me. When the new LRH Hall opens, I want it to be somewhere I can completely let go of any concern about who or what is around me. Let me be clear. I do not live in fear because of what happened to me. I am conquering my life every day. But I ensure you understand why the vacation of Garden Avenue is so important to me personally, and that is why I ask you to approve this measure. Muchas gracias. Thank you, Mayor. Next speaker. Actually, that is a 60 minutes. Okay. Council, stand? I mean, Mayor, we only have one gentleman left on one side, so maybe just take one from each side and be finished. One more from each side? Yeah. The consent of the consent? Okay. Take one more from each side. All right. Oh, 76? Hello, Council. My name is Eric, Eric Mignola Cruz. I'm concerned about the unity that is in prospect between Scientologists and citizens of Clearwater. I'm going to start with a personal answer, though. Five years ago, I left the Church of Scientology, and ever since, I have been harassed, condemned, and bullied for my support against Scientology. Now, my concern now is since they pride the Scientologists themselves between unity between us residents of Clearwater and themselves, I doubt that there would be such unity in place. Now, my main concern is with an individual that has stated that they believe that Clearwater is this home of Scientology. I say it's already their home. However, this unity is shattered because they want to take over Clearwater. My home is in Clearwater. In order to take over Clearwater, they have to take my home. I want a home in Clearwater. I want family here to live here. I want my cousins to live here. And I condemn the support for annexation of the South Garden Avenue. Thank you, sir. S-M-D-E-8. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Michael Piscuino, and I am the owner and master electrician of Red Royal Electric, located right here in downtown Clearwater. I raised my daughter here. I've owned and operated a successful business here for more than 20 years. Red Royal Electric employs more than 20 electricians and administrative staff and has served more than 11,000 customers throughout the greater Tampa Bay area, many of whom reside in Clearwater. Just last month, during Economic Development Week, I was honored to receive a Certificate of Recognition from you, Mayor, and the Economic Development Team. This was in recognition of my company's outstanding commitment, dedication, and investment in the city of Clearwater. Thank you for that recognition. I have been a Scientologist for more than 25 years and moved to Clearwater to be close to the flag service organization. Flag is my spiritual home. I have personally contributed to the L. Ron Hubbard Hall project. The hall will provide a place where I can come together with my fellow parishioners and participate in international events that will be broadcast around the world. It will also inspire more people to visit Clearwater and experience our city. I believe this hall will be a beautiful addition to downtown Clearwater and a gathering place for both Scientologists and community events. I'm here to show my support, and I respectfully ask that you approve the vacation of Garden Avenue. Thank you. That concludes our public comment. We stayed a little bit past the 60 minutes, but we'll conclude that now. So now it's time for council discussion. So anybody want to go first? Mayor, do you mind just taking a minute and addressing the long list of people on the other side that were probably hoping to speak and not being able to tonight? And understandably so. But I think we probably should acknowledge it. Sorry. Apparently I'll do it. I'm sure there's a long list. We have names of those who signed up, I guess. Council, what I can do is ask staff to collect the cards, and I can share that after the meeting with council. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you. If you didn't make it tonight, you know, part of the reason. But the other thing is thank you to those here in this room for being very courteous to all those who spoke and letting them get up here quickly. And I'm sorry that those who didn't get a chance to speak didn't get a chance. But we definitely will circulate your presence tonight and your interest in speaking. So, okay. With that, I guess we'll start on this end. Do you want me to start again? Do you want to? Seniority. Okay. Seniority. Yeah, whatever you want. Our previous city attorney asserted that the city of Clearwater held fee-simple title to Garden Avenue. I always questioned that position, and now it has been contradicted by an opinion issued by the Florida Attorney General. When the property abutting this segment of Garden Avenue were originally planted in 1922, a public right-of-way was dedicated over privately owned land for street purposes, with title remaining in the dedicator and his successors in title. This was called common law dedication. The underlying property remains vested in the abutting landowners who possessed the legal right to petition the city for vacation of that right-of-way. Statutory dedication came later when the legislature enacted Florida Statute 95.361. The statute does not apply retroactively. The land under the segment of Garden Avenue is owned by the adjacent property owners. So the question is, do we grant a vacation of right-of-way for this segment today? In my judgment, given the extensive precedent for similar vacations, the minimal traffic impact accorded according to recent traffic studies, the absence of any identified public necessity for this segment, the safety and security concerns, and the property rights involved, again, I find no compelling basis for denying this request. Thank you. Mr. Menino? Thank you, Mayor. You made that short and sweet. I didn't say any more. I thought I had more time to prepare and breathe and not. Okay. First, I want to thank our amazing leadership team once again for executing a professional, safe, and obviously balanced evening. I know some people are going to be upset, so I don't want to leave them out, but including our wonderful Clearwater Police Department, thank you for what you said. Okay, no more of that. We already forget. All right. As well as the Clearwater Police Department. Well, I think it's important to thank our staff, Mayor. That's the only reason I'm going to go on. As well as our neighborhoods and communication team that's been running around crazy searching for bathroom passes and everything else. So, Allie and your team, absolutely appreciated. Wow. We live in a very divided country, don't we? And they divide us by politics. If you're an R or a D, they divide us by our faith, divide us by our sexual preferences, divide us by, if you're right-handed or left-handed, in any way possible. And that's a slippery slope, as we've seen in our country and in the world, evidenced by Nancy Pelosi's husband attacked by a hammer, absolutely horrible. Charlie Kirk assassinated on national TV, disgusting. Our president of the United States had his life attempted to be taken more than two times, which led to one of the most iconic images, maybe in American history, our president with blood on his ear streaming down his face, and the words, fight, fight, fight. We all remember that. When, as a community or a country, do we unite, unite, unite? And we've heard that several times, even with Father Bob Swick. He used the word unite three times in his beautiful prayer. We've heard it in here tonight several times, unite. When do we stop judging each other or highlighting our differences? And when do we start building on our commonalities, our shared visions, our shared goals? A united community or country, but let's talk about just our community. It starts in our community, right? A united community is a healthier, safer community. Not just for this generation, but for the following generation. I hope we get there. I hope we become a city that can shift from division to the city of hope and opportunity. I truly hope we can get there, and I think we can. But there's a lot of work to be done, and it's not done by continuing to fan flames of division. But to find our common ingredients and build upon those together, even if it's small things. We've seen a split room tonight. Where we are aligned, we should comment on, because there are commonalities. There's emotions on both sides. But there's tax-paying, hard-working citizens that are passionate about our Clearwater community. They love their neighborhoods. They're business owners. They raise their families, their children. They go to schools. Those are the commonalities we build on and we highlight. This dais is no different. You may hear us disagree tonight, place votes on opposite sides of the spectrum, but don't be fooled. We will leave here and all love each other. We will leave here and still respect each other, because we respect each other's differences. We respect each other's opinions, and we don't take those things personal. We also, at the very beginning of this path of vacation, all five of us were united in that we gave the city manager direction to negotiate what a vacation deal could look like. Now, granted, we were all over the map on what we wanted. I won't say we were. That was probably a heck of a job, like herding cats to figure out what that looked like. But we were united. We're also united in that we absolutely feel blessed and honored to sit in this role and serve the citizens of Clearwater and our Clearwater city. I know that we are aligned in that. We are also aligned in the fact that you will not hear one of us say that this vote that we placed tonight has anything to do for or against the Church of Scientology. This vote is simply on the merits of vacating a right-of-way. That's what the vote is about. So let's keep our mind on that. I want to chat just briefly, and I know we went through this before, for gosh sakes. This is our eighth time together having this discussion on this vacation, the fourth time we sat on council to place a vote. So hopefully we get to an end, and I'm sure everyone's waiting for me to get to the end as well. But I waited for an hour through all those comments, so too bad. Where we veer off differently in this decision-making process has been the evaluation and interpretation of traffic studies and the weight or gravity that we give to an existing comprehensive plan, maybe some on the definition of future or current mobility and transportation downtown. That's where we vary, and our votes will differ. But we are aligned in so many ways. For me, just to share a little bit about how I came to a decision of supporting this vacation, was I didn't start with a yes or a no. I followed the data. I followed the science. I followed the history of decisions being made in our city. And that's where it brought me to support this vacation. First and foremost, does this vacation negatively affect emergency services? No. Does this vacation negatively affect emergency response times? No. Does this vacation negatively affect evacuation routes in case of a storm or a hurricane? No. Does this vacation negatively affect our new, beautifully soon-to-be-constructed PSTA multimodal transportation facility? No, it does not. Does this vacation negatively affect any current or future bus or public transportation routes? No. The traffic studies. Two most recent traffic studies show that in peak hours on non-Church of Scientology events, eight cars in the hour, and 68% of all traffic has been declared traffic from Church of Scientology parishioners or workers. Sixty-eight percent. Lastly, we've heard several discussions about the Attorney General's opinion and how that should be figured in. On the grand scheme, whether the city owns the property or the Church of Scientology owns a property, we've been on both sides. When there was a $1.375 million price tag, assuming the city owned it, the vote was 3 to 2. We flipped that and said, AG's opinion says the Church probably owns it. Everything in the negotiation is exactly the same except a purchase price. Not Nostradamus, but I think the vote's probably going to go 3 to 2. Just saying. The City of Clearwater has requested an Attorney General's opinion 28 times since 1975. All 28 were followed. Not one of them was pushed to the courts. The Attorney General's office has been requested by 16 different municipalities directly related to the vacation of right-of-way. Every single one of those 16 opinions was followed. Not one municipality challenged his opinion. I'm not going to challenge AG's opinion. I have no interest in that. We've come to this point in the decision-making process for me where I don't need to go through the data and tell you why. You've heard it. We've all read it. Respect the opinion. The last thing I would talk about is the vacation of right-of-ways, right? The comp plan is against the vacating any roadway. We all know that is true. The comp plan was against the vacation of Jones Road. It was vacated with no conditions. The comp plan is against the vacating of what used to be connected Drew Street in Cleveland, wrapped around the bottom of Coachman Park, extremely busy road, vacated. I'm supporting it. Our sound is beautiful. The park is beautiful. Vacated against the comp plan. There used to be an alleyway behind Peace Memorial, church, vacated for safety reasons, no conditions attached. Not the same and not vacated, but Cleveland Street is against the comp plan. It's been closed for six years. Now, I supported the closing of that because it helped our businesses survive. Still against the comp plan, but still had the flexibility of council to approve the closing of it and still closed today. With all those things said, and I'm long-winded, I thank you for listening. I support the vacation of this. I think it's time that we find a way in our city to unite, to accept each other for our differences, to find beauty in those, to build on our commonalities and our shared interests, and make Clearwater the most unbelievable, beautiful city that we all know it can be. Thank you. Vice Mayor. Thank you very much. I will be short and to the point, much like Councilman Romanino said he would be, and that he wasn't. No, I thanked him for it. I'm just giving you a hard time. This is the fourth time that we've been up here, and I've been very clear from the very beginning of where I've stood on this issue, and it doesn't change at all today. And something that I will note that is disappointing is that I would agree it is showing that there is a division within the city, because some of the speakers that have stood up here, not only today but in the first reading, have said or mentioned the public or Clearwater citizens. And, you know, we have a wonderful document that I continually reference, and I think that that's good. We as elected officials should. And that is the Constitution. And it allows all people, no matter their race, religion, or creed, to call this wonderful place home. And we've heard some wonderful testimonies to this nation that is just a wonderful melting pot. So I think that everybody needs to realize that, yes, we are the public. Yes, we are Clearwater citizens, and that includes Scientologists as well. So when we say from an opposing opinion that the public deserves XYZ and that Clearwater citizens deserve XYZ and that taxpayers deserve XYZ, I mean, that is the discrimination right there. You're omitting the fact that Scientologists are the same citizens. So keeping it short and simple, this is a matter of safety in my issue. I've said it multiple times, and as a first responder currently still serving, I'll stay in that lane. It was noted up here by former federal firefighters and other first responders from New York Police Department that weapons are one of the greatest dangers that we have because even though our wonderful law enforcement has firearms and such things, when you have somebody that's dangerous and committed to doing harm in a dump truck, a bus, or a pickup truck, bullets aren't stopping that as easy. So, as I've said before, and as I'll stay in the same lane, this comes down to safety for me, and I believe that that has been proven as to the need for this public vacation. I also agree, you know, we have, though it's non-binding, the Attorney General has spoken to this, and thank you, Mr. Menino, for the data points. I'm not going to follow that up, but that's solely based on safety is why I will be supporting this vacation. Okay, thank you. Council Member Tashadam. Well, first of all, I want to start off with thanking leadership and my fellow council members and the staff for really being flexible tonight. I know that I've communicated several times my concern about the safety of everybody tonight as well as equal access by everyone, and so the dedication and flexibility that I saw tonight was awesome. So, I want to thank every single person that was responsible for that and participated in that. So, thank you. Now, the last time I spoke, I really thought it was important that I explain my thought process, and I really went through it quite methodically. Tonight, however, I'm going to pivot a little bit. So, after all these months, you know, talking about the same thing, and throughout all these discussions, we have heard several statements, repeated often enough that they risk becoming accepted as complete truths. And the problem is that many of them omit critical context. A statement can be technically true and still be misleading when it omits the context necessary to understand it. For example, we have heard repeatedly that the city has approved numerous vacations, hundreds, requests over the years, and rarely, if ever, we deny it one. That is true, but that's not the complete picture. Not all vacations are created equal. You can't compare a public street to an easement, an alley, a dead end, a remnant strip of land. They are fundamentally different from vacating an active public street in downtown. Some of the vacations that were referenced tonight have a commonality. They were vacated to increase public access, not restricted. I believe it is important to understand how many of those public streets were actually vacated. How many of them were in downtown? How many are comparable? And then you'll find the real answer, the real picture. This is the first. I also don't believe that thought process of, well, we've always approved all the other vacations before, is sufficient basis to approve one today. Past approvals may be informative. But they're not binding. Each request must stand on its own merits, based on its own location, its impacts, and whether it serves the public interest. Our responsibility is to evaluate the application before us now, not the one that came before it. We've also heard comparisons to Cleveland Street. As someone who helped lead that effort, as president of the Downtown Merchants Association, with the great leadership of our former mayor, Hibbert, I can tell you firsthand that the circumstances could not have been more different. Cleveland Street was a temporary response to a once-in-a-century pandemic. Restaurants and businesses were fighting to survive, with occupancy restrictions of 25%. Closing that street allowed to increase the occupancy, and then we survived. But out of that, something truly special happened. All the business owners came out. All the employees came out. And all the neighbors. And we united and became strong and survived. Even today, those same businesses are still reliant on that extra seating, because the weekdays are still too slow. So they need those extra seating to be viable. But most importantly, Cleveland Street was never vacated. It remains public property. It remains open to the public. Emergency access is maintained. And guess what? If we actually achieve what we want, we can simply open it again. We just lift those little pillars. Garden Avenue is fundamentally different. This is not a temporary operational adjustment designed to increase public activity or support public-saving businesses. It is a permanent privatization of a public roadway. Once vacated, it's gone. Public access is permanently reduced, and control transfers from the public realm to the private. Give me a second. Public access is very important. But the similarities begin and end with one thing. They just involve a street. One closure increased public access and activity. The other one reduces it. That's the distinction. It has also been suggested that there's a component of prejudice behind the additional scrutiny in this request. I personally disagree. But I understand that I may think or see things a bit differently. Where I may differ is how I define equal treatment. Equal treatment to me does not mean identical treatment. Not every request deserves the same level of assessment because not every request carries the same consequences. For example, a patient shows up in the ER. One has a fractured ankle and the other one has chest pain. They are expected to have both professional and caring evaluation and care. But no one expects the same level of attention, assessment, or evaluations, or treatments. Different facts warrant different scrutiny. That's not prejudice. That's due diligence. The debate is always being said that, oh, it's about who's asking. No, it's not. It's about what is being requested. At least for me. In fact, and I'll be honest with you. So let's say instead of the hall, it was, I don't know, a four-story Chanel flagship store with a rooftop champagne bar. And the whole bottom floor was designer shoes. And they handed out, I don't know, vanilla lattes all day long. I would be in heaven. That would be a dream for me. But I'd still want that street to remain open. Because my position does not change based on the applicant. It's based on access. I've also heard arguments that public access should be restricted because someone somewhere might pose a threat. I understand the importance of safety. I've experienced security concerns in my own building as well. But by that standard, virtually every institution, business, house of worship, government building like this library, public venue like Baycare, would ask for a vacation to have a perimeter of safety. And if we're being honest, I would love to have my own perimeter around my building. I don't know, a lazy river with, I don't know, quarterly floating patrols. But that doesn't mean I'm going to ask the public to give up access so that I can have what I want. Safety is important. I understand. But you know what? Local government is routinely asked to balance competing interests. We balance safety with accessibility, safety with mobility, safety with economic vitality. So where do we draw the line between private needs for security and the public's need for access to their own downtown? We've also heard, repeatedly, that the applicant is the city's largest taxpayer. That statement is true. But it doesn't show the whole picture. It does not reflect the complete economic picture associated with both taxable and non-tax-exempt properties. But to me, that's irrelevant. It has never crossed my mind when deciding a vacation or any decision what the rank of that applicant is in terms of roll call, sorry, in terms of tax roll. Their ranking has never been something that I've considered. Now, before I close, I do want to note two distinctions that I think deserve a greater consideration. The first being that we know that the Pinellas County has just released an RFN involving nearly 25 acres of publicly owned land in downtown Clearwater. Now, a county commissioner has just gone publicly expressing his concerns that future proposals could be effected by this decision tonight. And he's asking, and many people are, to postpone until we actually get the response from all those RFNs to see if those needs contradict with tonight's decision. Finally, the last distinction that has received far less attention, and I'm surprised that it deserves, is that this request asks us to move in a direction that is inconsistent with many of the policies we have spent years charting. In fact, I would agree, I would argue, it is not merely inconsistent with that roadmap, it moves us in the actual opposite direction. So when viewed in full context, in my mind, this is not just about a road. It's a discussion about whether we trust the vision we adopted for our downtown, and the policies we created to get us there. These policies were intended to serve as our roadmap, particularly when the decisions before us become difficult. Because when they're difficult, it's very easy, and we're tempted to draw easy comparisons, even when the distinctions matter more. Good public policy, I believe, is rarely found in easy comparisons. It is found in understanding the important distinctions. So I will not be supporting this vacation. Thank you. Well, I will go now, and I promise I have to not be too long, because I think it's pretty clear everybody settled, and this is to the point that was made. I mean, we've voted on this several times, and I think the outcome's already obvious. So I'll try to keep it fairly short, and I'll first try not to repeat or dance around what Council Member Teixeira said. But she made some points that I would have made, and I appreciate her doing that. For me, the first question, and I raised this on Monday, is whether or not the public, by the public, I mean the citizens of Clearwater, the taxpayers, or the abutting property owner, in this case, as was pointed out by one of the speakers tonight, it's not one organization. It's two different entities. Either the Church of Scientology Flag Organization Incorporated, which is a Florida nonprofit organization, which owns the west side of Garden Avenue, or the Church of Scientology Religious Trust, which is a California nonprofit, which owns the east side of Garden Avenue. And the question has been, who owns the land underneath Garden Avenue? And we all know that about a year ago, our city attorney gave the city and the citizens an opinion that, in his opinion, in a 31-page memorandum, was that the citizens, the public, the taxpayers, owned the land under the street. And after that, Council Member Albritton sought an opinion from the Attorney General on answering those two questions, who owns the street and can we request value for that. At the time, we had a proposal first where, I forget the dollar amount, but it was somewhere between a million and $2 million that we were going to get in as a transaction with the Church of Scientology for vacating the street. And as Council Member Teixeira pointed out earlier, Garden Avenue is a lot different from all the other streets or alleys or things that we have closed. One, it's an active street. We can argue about how active it is, but it's active. There are cars using it every day. The public is using it every day. Traffic studies or not, everyone would admit, yes, the public is using it every day. And if you look at Exhibit A to the ordinance, which is a drawing of the street, and it shows what looks like it was the old plat for the Court Square subdivision, it is a large piece of property. In fact, if you look at the lots on the east side or the west side and compare it to the street, you could, as the houses were planned at the time of this drawing, you could put six houses on the street. This street is different. But it's not, it's unlike maybe any other street in the downtown core. So with that, Council Member Albritton had the right to do so and did. He asked the Attorney General for an opinion. And the Attorney General gave him an opinion, which was shared with the entire council, that in the Attorney General's opinion, the citizens did not own the street, that by operation of law it had become the adjoining, abutting property owner. So as I said on Monday, I have great respect for the Attorney General. Great respect. I know him personally. I've had personal conversations with him. And he's a very, he does a great job, and I hope he does well in the upcoming election. But not everyone agrees with him on his opinion. And I can tell you from many years of practice of law, I've disagreed with smart lawyers, and they've disagreed with me over the years on many different issues. That's no offense to the other attorney that lawyers have differences of opinions. And although I would acknowledge that we can rely on that to vote tonight on making the street, it's not the same, as I pointed out earlier, as having a court decide, take in evidence from both sides, and hearing arguments, in our case, arguments on behalf of the citizens and taxpayers, aligned with our city attorney's opinion earlier that they own the street, arguing for them, the folks we were elected to represent, that it's their property. And I've always felt, I even felt a year ago before the attorney general's opinion, that if I were asking for the vacation in the street, I would want that. I would want to quiet the title. But for some reason, this applicant has not asked a court to quiet the title, to resolve this issue once and for all. So as I said on Monday, without that, yes, we can rely on that for a vote. But in the public's mind, they're going to know that our previous city attorney, his opinion was that it was their property. And in vacating this street, in their opinion, overwhelming part of our community, our citizens, we are giving away their property. So I don't think that's good for anyone. I don't think that's good for the applicant. I don't think that's good for our city. Secondly, I would prefer that that issue be resolved by a court one way or the other. And had we done that and asked for that court review a year ago, we might even already have an adjudication one way or the other by now. But we've not. And so, but I pointed out Monday, I think it's a mistake to move forward with vacating the street without a court determination of who owns the street. I think we owe that to our citizens and taxpayers to get that, to fight for them, based upon the opinion of our city attorney, our prior city attorney, that it was their property. But I think we're going in a different direction tonight, so I'll move on to my other argument was, still is, the first time we voted and this time too is, and folks who have come out tonight in significant numbers appreciate you coming out tonight to support this. And I've heard a lot of speakers tonight talk about the auditorium that you want to build. And I understand your passion and interest in doing that. That's a great thing for your organization. The only thing I would say is what Councilman Tickshade has said in a prior meeting. And there was a plan to do that without closing the street before. And you could still do that without closing the street. And I understand some of the arguments on egress and egress and coming in and out of there, but there are large events at the hotel and at the flag building all the time with lots of people coming in. There are lots of large events. I know at the Ossoola Retreat next to the Baycare Sound. So, I don't know that that alone justifies eliminating public use. I don't understand what the public benefit is from allowing that. And as one speaker pointed out, you know, if you do have a large event where you need to block off the street for safety, you can get a permit to do that. So, for me, it's the same argument, really, that I had before. However, Councilmember Tickshade has pointed out the differences between the other streets and alleyways that we may have vacated over time. This is far different from anything we've ever done in the downtown core. And for me, it's just one more street. And this street, we know, and I've shared before, 6.3 million vehicles. That's just vehicles. Millions more people in those vehicles pass through there, pass right by downtown Clearwater per year. I would love to have not just Garden Avenue, other streets, to encourage them to, hey, before we go out to the beach, let's go here to downtown Clearwater, maybe go to a family entertainment center, maybe go to a restaurant. I would love to have more cars using Garden Avenue to access the exciting things we are developing and continue to develop in downtown Clearwater. It also sits close to other streets in the area, I pointed out at the prior meeting, too, Myrtle and Fort Harrison, and sits close to approaching the Pinellas County government properties, which they are trying to redevelop for even more robust activity. And how we can maybe reconfigure State Road 60 and Garden Avenue to accommodate more people coming to downtown Clearwater, I would love to pause on this until we have more opportunity to re-envision what Garden Avenue and State Road 60 entering into the county properties downtown Clearwater might look like. So, for me, I remain convinced that Garden Avenue is important for our future growth, our continued growth in the downtown core. I think keeping this currently active and publicly used street, it is active, and it is currently used by the public, and it is a broad portion of the street, as has been pointed out. I think it's important to the future growth of Clearwater's downtown core. There is no public service by purpose served by closing the street with Coach Moon Park, the Baycare Sound, the Ballad Hotel, the Bluff Apartments, and the significant Canales County government property footprint, already inspiring more traffic and visitors to downtown core. So, the public will need this street and the land underneath it, which many believe the public owns, to support this impressive growth. So, I will be supporting the overwhelming majority of the Clearwater citizens in opposing the vacation of Garden Avenue and voting no on this motion tonight. Any further discussion? If not, then we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor? Wait, we haven't had a motion. Excuse me. Yes. Is there a motion? I have to approve agenda item 8.1. Second. Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. It would be three in support and Council Member Tashada and myself in opposition. Okay. Okay, with that, we'll go to the next agenda item. 8.2. It's the second reading. I'm going to go ahead and read the title. Yes. Ordinance number 9921-26. An ordinance of the City of Clearwater for amending the operating budget for the fiscal year ending September the 30th of 2026 to reflect increases in revenues and expenditures for the Air Park Fund and Special Program Fund as provided herein, providing an effective date. Is there any word here from the public that I desire to speak to agenda item 8.2? Hearing, seeing none. Is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Move to approve agenda item 8.2. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. You're not. I made point three. A point three is a second reading. Ordinance number 9922-26. An ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, amending the capital improvement budget for the fiscal year ending September the 30th, 2026 to reflect a budget increase of $3,574,619, providing an effective date. Any word here from the public that I desire to speak to this agenda item? Hearing, seeing none. Any council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Motion to approve agenda item 8.3. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Okay. Agenda item 8.4. 8.4 is a third reading. Ordinance number 9906-26. Ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, amending the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 28, Article 1, amending Section 28.04, Trading and Selling on Streets, Providing for Inclusion in the Code, Providing for Severability, and Providing for an Effective Date. You don't want to hear from the public tonight, because I desire to speak to this agenda. Hearing, seeing none, is there a council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Motion to approve 8.1. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Two minutes. That moved to item 10. Are there any citizens to be heard tonight on agenda items not on the agenda? Not receiving any requests. Aye. Aye. No one here speak to agenda item 9. With that, we'll move to agenda item 10. City manager reports. Nothing, sir. And item 11. City manager reports. Nothing, Mayor. Good item 12. Closing comments by council members? Councilman Albritton? Nothing, sir. Councilman Albritton? Yes, sir. Councilman Albritton? Oh, I have something to say. Oh, then, go for it. Why don't you go first, and vice mayor will go. Okay, all right. I attended the Village at the Grove event, or they call it the Taste of the Village. It was so exciting to see all the community come out. It was great to have some idea of who might be the business owners, and I enjoyed especially the empanadas. It was great. It was really great to see something that we've been talking for so long actually feeling so much more, like, real, and so thoroughly enjoyed that evening. And then, last but not least, Portugal Day was last week, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. As a daughter of Portuguese immigrants, I'm grateful for the courage it took to leave everything and everyone familiar behind and build a new life for our family. Having made a similar but very much smaller leap myself, I know that it took equal parts of courage, determination, and faith, qualities that I saw firsthand as my parents built a life through hard work, resilience, and perseverance. Those lessons have stayed with me ever since. Obrigado, meu pai. Um grande abraço a toda a comunidade de Portugal. E força, Portugal. Thank you. Vice Mayor. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, city staff, but I believe our next meeting is not until July 16th. So, because of that, to everybody in the audience, to everybody watching at home, to city staff, our law enforcement officers, and, um, everybody else in the city, I hope you have a happy and safe July 4th celebrating this nation's 250th anniversary. Um, I will be on duty at the fire department. However, um, thankfully, um, we do have July 3rd, um, an event at which I will be attending down here with a, um, a drone show, I believe it is. So, that'll be really, uh, fantastic to come and experience. So, make sure you get out, um, celebrate your patriotism, and here's to another 250 years. So, everybody have a good night. Thank you. Mayor, there was one individual who wanted to speak under citizens to be heard but was in an overflow room. Okay, yeah. Okay, we, we'll go back to agenda item 9, which is... Sorry for the casual day at the office here. Uh, good evening, Mayor, Council, uh, and city management, as always. Um, first off, there are more than Republicans and just Democrats for political parties. Uh, that comment's a little out of line with just a little prejudice, considering I might register a nonpartisan voter. Uh, talk about them all, don't mention them at all. It's up to you. We're a country of many parties, and obviously we want to unite. These, uh, little hot mic sessions that keep happening, they gotta stop, because we're all hearing them online, and we don't know how to interpret them. So, it leads me to believe, like, really, who's unbiased and who's not. So, we all want to know, kind of like, what was crazy this evening, that there were a number of constituents that came out to speak, or were they, whether they're for or against it, it wasn't really crazy. It's just due process. It's also First Amendment of speech, which some of this council have been not receptive of, but after the vote this evening, it will be interesting to see who still sits here in a few years from now, and how much of the Elbron Hubbard Hall has been complete, just like somebody else said this evening. I think it took, like, 13 years or something. Uh, unfortunately, there goes my shortcut through, uh, downtown as well. On to other things, though. Chief Gandy, thank you for taking the time of your day to this past two weeks to respond to my emails. Uh, you're, he's still here, he's gone. Okay. His transparency and accountability have gone unnoticed, and, uh, I'm sorry, haven't gone unnoticed, and are appreciative. Rest assured, myself, the citizens of Clearwater and the visitors to our beautiful beaches now have the reassurance that hopefully an incident that happened on the beach less than a month ago will hopefully not happen again. I also appreciate him looking into the suggestions that I had in regards to some of the, uh, other methods of, uh, fighting the bad guys. So, uh, Chief Gandy, thank you again, sir. Uh, Council, I wish you guys have a great weekend. Have a great fourth. Safe fourth. Don't lose any fingers. And, uh, we'll see you guys next time. Thank you again. Thank you. All right. Any other citizens to be heard? Okay. Thank you. Okay. With that, we'll move to item 13, closing comments by mayor. Um, first thing I want to say is, um, is we have, we have, I think, one of the most vibrant, growing, thriving cities in the country. There are so many great things happening in this city. Uh, we're, we're a bigger city than just the downtown core. We have one of the world's most famous beaches, renowned beaches. We have, uh, we have a great U.S. 19 corridor, countryside. We have great neighborhoods all over this city. And there are so many great things happening all over this city. So, we've had some controversy on one area, downtown. Um, but I just want to, um, encourage everybody. Um, don't, don't see Clearwater as just the downtown. Clearwater is a big city. It's vibrant and great things are happening, not just all over the city, but, uh, you know, we've talked and I talked and we've all talked about, uh, the Baycare Sound. It's great success. Coaching Park's great success. We've got the apartment complex on the bluffs going on, uh, the hotel. So many great things happening throughout the city. And, uh, and we'll, we voted tonight, we'll move on, and we will move forward as a community and, uh, united, and we will, uh, continue to make Clearwater one of the best places to live, not just in the state of Florida, but in the entire country. Uh, the second thing I wanted to say is, uh, as Vice Mayor pointed out, we won't be here before, uh, 4th of July, but I want to thank our staff for putting together a really robust week-long celebration of the 4th of July, uh, lots of neighborhood activity. I know our neighborhood teams are communicating, all of our city staff have been really engaged in inviting some things. There's, um, there's even a talent competition, uh, which I won't be competing in because, uh, I even, I think I shied away from asking, uh, from being invited to judge because I don't want any part of that. I want everybody to win. Um, but, uh, there's a lot of exciting. So I'd encourage you to go online at myclearwater.com to see what, uh, activities you can join in for your family. We've always had one, 4th of July, on the 4th, celebration of the fireworks. Because it's the 250th birthday of our country, we're celebrating two days in a row. Uh, first day, the drone show, second day, the fireworks, the traditional fireworks that everybody's come to love. And all that will be in downtown Clearwater. So I encourage everyone to come out, as they always have, and enjoy, uh, not just two great events on two days, but enjoy a week-long celebration of our great country for the entire week. So with that, I don't have anything else to share with you tonight, so we will move on to the item 14, and that is to adjourn the meeting of the Clearwater City Council for June 18, 2026. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.