Clearwater grassroots group presents counter-proposal to Church of Scientology buying downtown street
Battle over street with Church of Scientology
As the Church of Scientology seeks to buy a street in Downtown Clearwater, a grassroots group has a different proposal in hopes of acquiring it. FOX 13’s Jennifer Kveglis reports.
CLEARWATER, Fla. - A grassroots group is presenting a counter-proposal to the Church of Scientology's offer to purchase a street in Downtown Clearwater.
The backstory:
In April, council members decided to table the vote to sell a portion of South Garden Avenue to the Church of Scientology. Brooks Gibbs, the founder of Reconnect Clearwater, presented a proposal on behalf of citizens after learning about the potential sale just one day prior.
RELATED: Clearwater leaders delay vote on selling street to Church of Scientology
"It doesn't seem like they want to invite us in. It definitely appears by their actions to push us out," he said.
What they're saying:
Gibbs believes Downtown Clearwater is not the area it used to be.
"The parade used to go down Cleveland Street, when Woolworths used to be here, people used to ride their bikes and enjoy it. It was a very vibrant town," he added. "They [The Church of Scientology] have over $1 billion worth of property holdings. They own 75% of the land here in Downtown Clearwater."
Dig deeper:
The church plans to close the street off to the public and build an auditorium in addition to a park on the parcel.
"The Church of Scientology has a plan to build a park in honor of their founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who most consider a cult leader," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said through the "Save The Garden" movement, a park and green space to promote and preserve the city's history will be constructed.
"We desire to build a park to our civic leaders that were heroes to us. To remember and memorialize them," he said. "This is the start to a mile-long one-hour, what we call memory lane, and we're using QR code technology as well as augmented reality to tell the story of old Clearwater."
PREVIOUS: Clearwater City Council debates selling the Church of Scientology a city-owned street
He said within just five weeks, the group has gained traction in donations.
"The Church of Scientology is offering $1.375 million for the land. We are offering $1.5 million for the land. The Church of Scientology wants to cut off the street. We want to keep half of the street open so that we can use it," he said.
The group said they would either maintain the parcel themselves or create a public-private partnership with the city.
"It's really up to the City Council to decide who will they favor: the Church of Scientology or the citizens?" he said.
What's next:
That will be put up to a vote at the next City Council meeting on Thursday, May 15.
MORE: Clearwater discusses closing part of downtown street to sell to Church of Scientology
In the meantime, the group will hold a rally this Saturday at 10 a.m.
"It's a rally for all of our supporters to come down to Nash Keys on 520 Cleveland Street," he said. "There's going to be some singing, there's going to be some prayer and there's going to be a march, an actual march to walk all the way down here to Garden Avenue."
The other side:
FOX 13 reached out to The Church of Scientology for a comment on this push back but did not receive a response.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis.
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