Convictions

Like that title? Makes you wonder. Am I talking about a trial? Well in a way. I spoke to the Mayor of Clearwater this morning. He woke me, because I had left a message at his office last week. I said that I did not like the idea of selling the property City Hall is sitting on to the Marine Aquarium. He sees it as a move forward or that is what someone has told him to see. We have a 50 year old City Hall that is in disrepair and the Aquarium wants to purchase it. My first thought was but I did not say was I live in a house that is almost 60 years old and when something goes wrong I fix it. I can not afford and did not think the City could either afford to tear down a building and replace it because of some leaking faucets or broken floor tiles. At my house I would hire someone to fix it or figure out how to do it myself.

I offered that I felt the Harborview center was a more appropriate piece of property and that it could more easily draw people downtown. From Crest Lake where the sign points to downtown and used to say to the beach. Could  now direct people to the Winter exhibit. It is funny that the Mayor then countered with that City Hall is only a block from the Harborview Center and I thought and isn't it ironic that the way the City directs people to the Winter Exhibit is from Fort Harrison instead of using the large signs near Crest Lake or any other signage to direct people down Cleveland Street. That seems strange to me now. Do they not want downtown to succeed or do they not want people to see that it is not successful?


Sea Shell Motel


All of this reminds me of when I was young and my parents were active in the political circles. They would pass out pamphlets, go door to door and drive in caravans of people in support of one candidate or another. My mother was very outspoken when it came to tearing down the old Sea Shell Motel and building the Holiday Inn Surfside. The first tall building built on the North End of Clearwater Beach except for Mandalay Shores. If you don't know what buildings I am referring to. Now it is the Surfside Double Tree and 880 Mandaly that has been standing all my life. I know why it was a big deal. Letting one high rise lends room for another and then another and how many condos can the North End of Clearwater Beach hold. Well I am pretty sure that we have reached the limit of what will ever be lived in considering a good portion are not lived in. But somehow developers are like used car sales men. They can sell ice to Eskimos and a Condo to a bank every time. I used to think what difference does a hotel make or a old building being torn down. But I know now that when Calvary Baptist Church moved out to McMullen Booth and they built what oh yes, a condo building that is what, again empty instead of using it for the Library that was also in disrepair and needing to be replaced. Seeing a pattern. This is where my convictions come. I do not know what is wrong with preserving a beautiful old building that is in good shape. Pinellas County has reached it's saturation point and honestly does not need another condo unit.

I know that most people that live here have not lived here all their lives most probably did not go to school here but those of us that did see pride in saying the attended the Original CHS. Sorry to those other CHS graduates that lived in East Lake Woodlands and went to the New School that barley has 20 years of history under its belt. I liked that I went to a school that had teachers that had gone to school and had some of the same teachers I did. Some of these people I still know and have some of the same values that I do to preserve what is good in this community. Keep an old house as the Clearwater Historical Society.

So this conviction I have infuriates me when I think about what will be left for my nieces and nephews when they are grown. Will they believe that only new things are good and old things should just be thrown out or torn down. Or should they learn that keeping old things in good shape is a way in showing the value to what we have in this world and not everything or everyone is disposable.