I beg to differ with Mr. Dame and the city council; yes, most of the cost of the slips will surely be borne by the 129 slip renters, but the unobstructed view of the entire harbor and waterway will be lost forever to the 100,000 plus citizens of Clearwater. Nobody has yet to say anything about how 129 boat slips will open the floodgates of tourists to flock to the bayfront to see boats going up and down with the tide. What will generate revenue for downtown? As a taxpayer and a consumer there is no interest to draw me to the bayfront. I used to fish downtown and watch the boating traffic, but that will be lost forever. The city has already reneged on a fishing pier for downtown. I still do some shopping and dine out occasionally, but until the construction or destruction of the roads are complete it won't happen very much.
If the city would build a boardwalk and encourage business to build Shoppe's like on Sand Key or John's Pass, that would be a lot more interesting than just a marina. It would give residents, as well as tourists, a destination to come and spend money, not just to look - as long as the city keeps ownership of the land.
How convenient it will be for the new owners of all the downtown condominiums to have the city build them some very cheap boat slips to rent. Of course most of the owners will be Scientologists, not that that is bad, but the city should not be helping out any special interest.
On Island Estates at the Yacht Club you would have to pay $100,000 to $200,000 for a slip. At the Beach Recreation Center, Sandpearl is building 54 slips for $1.2 million dollars of which only 33 will be making any money. That's $22,222/slip, whereas the city is paying $77,000/slip. Maybe they should build 129 for the city (not)?
Make the boat slips on the south side of Memorial Causeway, there they won't spoil the view. The mangrove trees already do that. You could put a thousand slips there.
The fact that the five city council members all are proponents is a little scary, but considering that the last one was picked as a rubber stamp for council until the March elections, they are in a hurry to put their mark on a project during their term in office. No one wants to take credit for the ten million dollar Town Lake and its much heralded townhouse development that is an eye sore on Cleveland Street. When will it, if ever, be done?
Jerry Purdy