What started as a simple statement of opposition to Amendment 4 by St. Pete Beach Vice-Mayor Jim Parent has blossomed into a fascinating debate about Hometown Democracy and St. Pete Beach, including rebuttals by former St. Pete Beach Vice-Mayor Harry Metz. Metz is an outspoken advocate of Amendment 4 whose views have been featured by pro-Amendment 4 bloggers and the Amendment 4 campaign.
On August 3, 2010, Metz emailed a link to a recent Hometown Democracy / Amendment 4 campaign press release to the St. Pete Beach city commissioners. In response, current St. Pete Beach Vice Mayor Jim Parent emailed the following:
Harry,
I am not in favor of amendment 4 because I believe it will damage Florida's economy.
Recession, Oil Spill, Amendment 4.
Three strikes. Out?
.
Jim Parent
Vice Mayor, St Pete Beach
Several hours later, Metz emailed the following rereply:
VM
I understand your situation and your hotel neighbor. It's a shame you never had a chance to study A4 in depth
to understand what Florida is all about. I guess you need to live in the area for a few years to understand the
residents who have lived here most of their lives and love our beach.
The economy is down because the DEVELPOERS/HOTELIERS built and built with Corrupt bank loans, people saw the opportunity to make a quick money, some loan officers, restate agents and on and on used their money power to bribe, influence the Politicians. The residents didn't do any of this, they just tried to keep what they had. Now the Developers want to again rape what is left of our state, they will again make their millions leaving this state in shambles, take their millions and move elsewhere to rape and pillage again.
This city doesn't need the large 12 to 20 story hotels, there are many houses that have an extra room or two to accommodate the over flow of tourist this is what the residents have done long before I came here in 1950. Just look at what Ms Martohue wants to do to Upham Beach with the solv Comp Plan, the SMALL HOTEL and houses HAD MOST OF THEIR DENSITY TAKEN and moved most of it to the LARGE HOTEL DIST. The size of the hotel now should be all is needed, many of the hotel now are very deep in debt, why NOW should the resident have to be taxed to support them, and we do support them. What happened to the MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars when the Trade Winds sold two of their buildings as time share. Did they use the profits to upgrade the RESORT, no they put it in their pockets and now cry poor, poor me
The Oil Spill has nothing to do here on West Coast, if the hotels hadn't started mooning and crying poor
because they through they could make some quick money, the attention would never drawn to the West Coast. Look at the Tampa Bay Chamber, they are also crying for more money from BP to alert the tourist that the WestCoast is open for business.
Jim I believe you have a lot of common sense and you do try to study what is on the Commission Agenda, but please open your eyes and ears and see what is going on around you, instead of listening to your neighbor. When was the last time you unplugged your computer an walked around your neighborhood and talked to ALL the residents like you said you were going to do before you walked into your Commission seat. You can talk about strike three and out, please make sure it's not in your backyard.
Harry
Click Here to see Vice Mayor Jim Parent's response to Vice Mayor Harry Metz
Click here to read more about Hometown Democracy and St. Pete Beach
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