The always on-the-ball Tracey McManus has filed a new story about downtown Clearwater, the City Council and scientology.
It would appear that the recently elected city officials have had a bit of a wake up call. The conciliatory language they were spouting a few months ago when they were trying to get elected about how they intend to “work with the church of scientology” is now being replaced with expressions of frustration.
Tracey’s reporting in the Times has been documenting the massive buy up of downtown real estate by scientology and scientologists for years. The alarm bells should have been going off, but city officials (with the exception of Mark Bunker when he was on the council) have been holding their hands over their ears (and eyes and mouths) pretending that if they ignore the situation it will go away.
I have been telling anyone who will listen that scientology’s pronouncements about being interested in revitalizing downtown are empty words — that the ONLY interest they have is what is beneficial to them. Though the city leaders may be finally waking up, they have yet to fully grasp the magnitude of the problem they face. Frankly, scientology doesn’t care what they want. And the cult now holds all the cards. Included in this new article is an updated map of downtown Clearwater, and it is terrifying.
This map tells the story — scientology has effectively accomplished its goal of making Clearwater the first scientology city.
Tracey reports on a recent retreat held by the city where they discussed plans for “awakening downtown” with or without Scientology’s help. Some of the frustration is borne out in quotes in the article:
“I feel like we’re begging for collaboration, for cooperation, for open dialogue with our downtown partners and I feel like we don’t necessarily get the result that we’re hoping for,” said Mike Mannino, one of three council members elected in March.
“I like the idea of being much more transparent going forward,” Assistant City Manager Michael Delk told officials gathered at the Morningside Recreation Complex. “I think sometimes it almost feels like we’re in this cloak-and-dagger experience with Scientology, and I think that’s a bad place to be frankly.”
Over the last two and a half years, multiple city officials have spoken with Scientology representatives in private meetings and phone calls about land swaps or other proposals to activate buildings, but no deal has materialized.
“When it comes to negotiating, it takes two sides to want to work out terms and I just don’t think there’s any interest right now (from the church) in negotiating,” said Mayor Bruce Rector, also elected in March.
At the retreat, Delk said reusing government buildings for things like retail, restaurants and housing is crucial to “deinstitutionalize some of our key urban corridors.” He said Scientology should follow suit.
Delk said Scientology should collaborate by moving some of its ground-floor religious spaces at the prime intersection of Cleveland Street and Fort Harrison Avenue to other parts of its campus.
“The county wants to use their properties to activate the public streets. They want to use them to create a better downtown and I think our other large institutional user down here, Scientology, needs to hear the same message,” Delk told the council.
The stretch of Fort Harrison Avenue between Drew and Cleveland streets, for example, is filled with rows of religious offices that are “very nice and attractive buildings” Delk said, but “sterile — there’s no public life on the streets and sidewalks.”
“What it would require is relocating the institutional space to other areas where (pedestrians are) not as critical to downtown,” Delk said. “If you want to join us on a mission to create a better downtown, here’s how we can collaborate. We should collaborate on principle. And I think the city should stand on principle about active urban streets.”
They may be waking up, but they still have not come to accept that scientology is not going to do anything they do not think is in their best interests. The idea that scientology would give up any of the buildings in their Potemkin Village along N. Ft Harrison Ave is naive. It’s never going to happen. They are likewise not going to surrender any ground floor property at the corner of Ft Harrison and Cleveland — non-scientology related businesses being located inside scientology buildings is so far-fetched it is laughable.
One of the old guard on the council, David Allbritton remains mealy-mouthed — his contribution was to say they should be talking about it more in public: “I think we ought to be talking about this publicly on the dais as a regular talk.” Where have you been David?
Tracey reports that the retreat came as “the latest round of private discussions between City Manager Jennifer Poirrier and Scientology officials appear to have hit a wall. Her talks, primarily with church legal director Sarah Heller, have involved the future of vacant properties controlled by the church.”
The reason they hit a wall is that Sarah Heller has no authority to do anything. She is literally a puppet sent along to give the appearance that discussions are being had. All decisions concerning what happens in downtown Clearwater are made by David Miscavige and nobody else. Meeting with her is a complete waste of time.
Apparently there has been a single meeting with Miscavige recently:
Rector, the mayor, met with Miscavige on April 11, a month after he was elected, but said they did not talk about the downtown properties or any of the discussions being led by Poirrier. The sit-down, he said, was more of an introduction.
Well, that’s nice. Miscavige was scoping out what he is dealing with in the new mayor and how easily he can be controlled. That this issue was not raised by Rector is something Miscavige will have noted — Rector is about maintaining niceties and will beat around the bush. He should have tackled this head on and as the first order of business and that would have indicated to Miscavige that he is dealing with someone of substance. You can bet that if Miscavige was not sitting with all the chips in front of him and wanted something from the city, the niceties would have lasted 2 minutes and then he would have been laying out what he wanted in a very direct manner — no beating around the bush. I have attended many meetings with Miscavige and I know his style and have also heard his analysis of the people he met after every meeting — what their weaknesses are and how best to deal with them. This was not a good start for Rector.
Further confirmation that nothing is happening on the scientology side is the no-response from scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw who “declined to answer why most of the 200 commercial properties bought since 2017 by companies tied to the church are sitting vacant. He declined to answer whether the church would consider relocating some of its ground-floor religious spaces off main corridors.”
Even more telling was his comment that “scientology and the city are in full agreement to “create an active and vibrant downtown” but that the most recent talks with Poirrier have been preliminary as a new City Council just took office.”
“Preliminary”?? This has been going on for DECADES — he is offering up an excuse that it’s because a new City Council is in place? With a straight face? Jennifer Poirrier and Richard Delk are not new… In fact, the article states:
Poirrier has been leading discussions with church officials since she was appointed in January 2023. Her predecessor, Jon Jennings, spoke regularly throughout 2022 with Scientology leader David Miscavige about a potential deal that never came through.
Further, “Shaw said that, for almost a decade, the church has worked on responding to recommendations from city consultants, who in 2014 said Clearwater and the church must work together to change downtown. But he declined to share details about the church’s plan. ‘Beyond that, and since a city/church partnership has not been finalized, it would be premature to say anything else.’
Why would it be “premature” Ben? Somehow, though scientology owns or controls most of downtown Clearwater, it is always someone else who is to blame for their inability to implement the grand plans they have proclaimed they have for revitalizing downtown. They OWN the city. They have billions of dollars. They claim they want to make Clearwater vibrant and prosperous. But there is always something stopping them from doing ANYTHING except buying more properties and allowing them to sit vacant.
At the retreat Mike Mannino said:
“Are we at a point where we need to start bringing the public along with us to have these discussions in the sunshine so that we are all on the same page?” he asked. “Supposedly we all want the same thing, right? We want a vibrant, alive downtown. … So, if we want the same things, where’s the disconnect?”
The answer to his first question is YES. But that comes with a problem they will soon discover. The ONLY way to potentially accomplish anything is directly with Miscavige. But he will NEVER agree to an open meeting — sunshine and Miscavige have never been seen in the same place together.
The answer to his second question is simple. The disconnect is this: scientology ONLY wants what is good for scientology. They pay lip service as an “acceptable truth” to say they want a vibrant and revitalized downtown Clearwater. They own most of it, how vibrant is it looking?
The only thing that Scn listen to is money. If you started to fine them or double their council taxes for leaving buildings empty or not renovating them then you might (I say might) see some action. If you started to appropriate the buildings for the good of the city then you definitely would get some action. It’s time for councils to take back the city as Scn will not hand it to them.
So what are the Scientrolls planning to do with all of the empty buildings in the town? Serious question.
East Grinstead, similar, but not the same.
It is all very strange. Some small cities in Japan are similar, a common pattern is for the railway station to be on one side of the historic town, and the other side to be newly built or just rural. From Akita station, for example, if one walks south-west, one is outside the urban zone in less than twenty minutes, closer to ten.
In several, the new side is dominated by a ferro-concrete monstrosity from a cult religion.
The best example is Hida Takamatsu, the beautiful old town is on one side of the station, the other side is very ugly, and the dominant structure is the world centre of mahikari, ‘the pure light’.
It is even more nonsensical than CoS, but has international fans, mainly beause part of the teaching is that dolls, toys, and other inanimate objects can be blessed, and bless their owners.
The street on the good side of the station is eerily silent very early, I suspect a cult takeover or standover operation. Last time I was there, it creeped me out, so I ran for a train to get away.
A few other towns are similar, nice old town on one side, giant ferro-concrete cult centre dominating the other, mahikari in Takayama is the worst for combination of lies and stupidity.
How long until the local government starts to sell off their own holdings to Scientology? How long until Scientology petitions to have their “zone” incorporated as a separate city? That would need to be done at the state level, but they’re clearly wily, to put it mildly.
Having seen photos of the approach to Clearwater at sunset, it looks nice.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn’t exist.
Clearwater requires the services of an exorcist.
To be honest I don’t think clearwater will ever be released from the control of Scientology. Even if Scientology losses the battle they still have so much money that the could still own so much of clearwater.
I agree. For most that are reading this, you won’t see what downtown CW could be in your lifetime. Sadly it’s to late. It’s Cultwater, Florida. Scientology owns Clearwater and Los Angeles, as they could get away with murder in both places.
They won’t give back what they have. They want to realize what they promised. What others want is irrelevant. They are letting the core of the city die. If the city is unattractive enough, the city management is taken over. Clearwater is said to be the origin of a new civilization. Scientology City.
Mark Bunker took two steps forward. Now that they see the three steps back they’ve taken just since he’s been gone, they are thinking “maybe he was onto something.” I consider this really bad manners and would chasten my grandchildren if it came out of their mouths but…no duh.
It sucks. Nonetheless, Tracey remains vigilant, keeping a close watch on the cult and its activities. I believe and hope that Mark Bunker will make a comeback to the city council. What brought some uplift was reading Valerie’s story on Tony’s blog today about what had unfolded in Wyoming.
I was in Clearwater 2 weeks ago and drove down that strip of N Fort Harrison… it was a Friday night & eerily quiet. “Sterile” is an excellent way to describe those blocks of buildings – it almost felt like a fake movie set to me. Such a waste of a beautiful, waterfront city that could be bustling with legit businesses!
Unfortunately I don’t think Clearwater will change as long as scientology is around as much as all of us want clearwater to change the hold of Scientology still has a tight grip.
The cult has utterly NO interest in revitalizing downtown CW. Never has and I am certain that has never changed.
In 1977 Hubbard had the GO rent a storefront on Cleveland and put one GO staff member (Laura Wolf) in it with the charge of running a completely bogus campaign claiming it was it was intended to revitalize downtown. NOTHING EVER happened. As I recall it didn’t even earn some PR points, which is likely it’s only real purpose.
The cult claiming it will do some good is all it will ever do. Claim it will produce results but it never, ever does. That is the ONLY truth you can rely on. I swear based on 40 years drinking their coolaid.
The city has lost. They should just admit it and ask for a RICO investigation. But they have lost. They should sell the rest to the sciobots take the money and shift operations to a different area. When the sciobot kingdom falls the real-estate will sell for more than the city will be able to pay. Let this be a lesson in what happens when you turn a blind eye while drinking kool-aid.
Mark Bunker tried to tell them, and they wouldn’t listen. There should be absolutely no more ‘back room’ meetings between city officials and $cientology. If Miscavige, or his lackeys, have a proposal, they should make it in public before the entire council.
I feel like I’ve heard this before– and you’re exactly right, in my opinion. Downtown Clearwater will NEVER change as long as they’re there. I’ve lived here since 1977, and I’m still waiting.
The council can change but I’m not sure Scientology or the city will if Scientology still is around.
They lied about who they really were when they first moved into to Clearwater by misrepresenting themselves as United Churches of Florida. Here’s a recap of how NOT to make friends in Clearwater: https://www.tampabay.com/news/clearwater/2019/10/20/scientologys-40-years-of-conflict-with-the-city-of-clearwater-recapped/.
What appears to be the bottom line: Scn has the money to do anything it damn well pleases and the rest of the world’s population who aren’t interested in turning over their money and self-determinism to the fake ‘church’ can go and fornicate with themselves!
To Clearwater’s City Council: Time to take off the kid gloves and open your eyes…you’ve been HAD in a REALLY REALLY BIG way! For those of you on the council who haven’t sold their souls to Scn already, find out who in our ever-expanding Federal government is aiding and abetting this criminal group. Scn has GOT to be protected by Feds in order for them to continue screwing around with cities like Clearwater. They can buy power. They HAVE bought power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It’s literally hopeless. Scientology has won, and the council stupidly let it happen. Until the church collapses, Clearwater is a dead city. So 20+ years (or however long scumbag Miscavige lives) of no tax base, no downtown traffic, and literally no way to change anything. Sorry Clearwater!
I understand that this journalist has nothing to do.. yet the condition of her country (USA) is in a terrible condition. Rents have increased by 30% while wages have stagnated. there are 75,518 homeless people in Los Angeles County alone. throughout the USA there are around 600 thousand homeless people. a hotdog in new york stadium costs $30. the dollar is giving way to the Chinese yuan, countries’ gold reserves are being taken and brought back home. not to mention the rampant crime. in short, this one deals with private properties… and you want to decide what to do with them?! Americans wonder how much they sleep. this should be interned in a forced labor camp. or re-education. or in a psychiatric ward.she probably wants to live in north korea. so he must be willing to face the consequences.