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 … [Read more...]
New Clearwater Mayor — Proof There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute
Bruce Rector has assumed the position of mayor of Clearwater. He is off to an inglorious start. As a prominent scientologist buys the building that houses the City of Clearwater's government offices, Rector is "hopeful the city's relationship with the church improves, so they can work together to revitalize downtown." I guess he hasn't been watching what has been going on in Clearwater for the last 49 years? Or even in the last decade. As this article states: Since 2017, entities tied to the Church of Scientology have bought 200-some properties in and around downtown, broadening the … [Read more...]
Clearwater: The First Scientology City — Another Huge Step
It didn't take long. Just days after Mark Bunker was replaced on the city council, scientology's latest, and largest single land-grab in downtown Clearwater was announced. The most prominent office building in downtown, current home to the Clearwater City Council, was purchased by Moises Agami, prominent scientologist. He now becomes the landlord for both the City of Clearwater and Tom Cruise... Remember, the guy who replaced Bunker, old-boy establishment favorite Ryan Cotton, is a scientology apologist who "declined to say whether he believes Scientology is involved in the acquisition … [Read more...]
Where Clearwater Candidates Stand on Scientology
Tracey McManus published another of her uniformly excellent articles recently: Where every Clearwater City Council Candidate stands on Scientology I have excerpted most of the answers to her survey and offer my biased views on them. I believe there are just two reasons why scientology is actually being spoken about in this election. It has been a taboo subject for local politicians for decades. They have steered clear of this topic like it was the plague... Now for the first time in recent memory, it is something to be debated. The two factors are Tracey's bombshell article exp … [Read more...]