Winners in races today will chart city's course

Whoever takes the three commission seats, for example, will weigh in on beach redevelopment and help pick the next city manager.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 13, 2001

CLEARWATER -- The victors in today's City Commission election will decide the course of beach redevelopment, oversee construction of a new spring training stadium and a main library, and hire a permanent city manager.

All city residents who are eligible to vote can cast a ballot today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to elect three commissioners to the five-member board.

There are clear choices: Almost all the candidates have argued that the city could be run better, but they disagree on major issues such as how to redevelop the dated motels on Clearwater Beach.

In the race for Seat 3, former Mayor Rita Garvey faces beach business owner and sports agent Hoyt Hamilton. Garvey has promised to help restore residents' trust in City Hall, while Hamilton generally has not questioned public trust in city officials.

Hamilton has criticized Garvey's 18-year record as commissioner and mayor, saying she lacked the vision needed to halt a gradual decline of the city's downtown and beach areas. Garvey, however, has touted her experience, saying that she won't be on any learning curve if re-elected.

Hamilton supports city redevelopment plans, which include spurring the creation of several major new resorts on Clearwater Beach and building a new Philadelphia Phillies spring training stadium. Garvey has been more critical of such plans.

The Seat 4 race also offers contrasts. Whitney Gray, a former teacher who has been active in the Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin, faces former Commissioner Lee Regulski, a retired engineer and a leader of Save the Bayfront, which fought the city's downtown redevelopment plan last year.

Both Gray and Regulski have criticized the fast pace and expense of projects the city has undertaken recently such as the Clearwater Beach roundabout, and they promised to make sure the city is providing basic services to residents.

But Gray has been more supportive of the city's framework to redevelop Clearwater Beach, a new plan called Beach by Design. Yet she has called herself an environmentalist who will not let redevelopment go too far. Regulski has criticized parts of the beach plan and attacked Gray as being tied to "special interests" who have financed her campaign.

In the race for Seat 5, voters have many choices.

Vying for the seat are Lucile Casey, a former Pinellas County School Board member and real estate agent; political newcomer Frank Hibbard, an investment officer with Huntington Bank; Bill Jonson, a retired accountant who has a long history of grass-roots neighborhood activism; and Jeralne Burt, a North Greenwood rental property owner.

Burt says she is running to give African-American residents representation on the City Commission. Hibbard, Jonson and Casey have said they are running to restore trust in City Hall.

Hibbard has been more supportive of city redevelopment plans on the beach than Jonson or Casey, both of whom have questioned whether the city is approving projects before analyzing their impact on traffic, the water supply and other infrastructure.

The winner in the race for Seat 3 -- either Garvey or Hamilton -- will serve the last year remaining from former Commissioner Ed Hooper's term. The victors for Seats 4 and 5 will serve three-year terms on the commission, which pays $15,000 annually.

City Clerk Cyndie Goudeau noted that recent elections in other cities had low turnouts. Largo's election a week ago drew a turnout of only 6 percent.

"I'm afraid that ours is going to be low, although I would still hope we'd have a better turnout than some of those other elections," Goudeau said.

City elections officials noted that two polling places will be different in this election: Precincts 508 and 509 will vote at the YMCA of Clearwater at 1005 S Highland Ave. rather than a nearby city fire station. Precincts 510, 511, 520 and 525 will be at First United Methodist Church, 411 Turner St., rather than the main library downtown.

Residents who want to catch election results tonight can tune into the city's C-VIEW Channel 15 after 7:15 p.m. Results are also to be posted on the Internet at www.co.pinellas.fl.us/soe/, which is Pinellas County's elections home page.

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