|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Commissioners clash over MLK memorial
By DAVE SHELTON
Article published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 |
LARGO – City Commissioner Rodney Woods lashed out at last-minute changes being proposed in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial during the commission’s March 11 workshop.
Other commissioners fired back that Woods has shown no ability to raise private funds to finance the memorial.
City Manager Norton “Mac” Craig stunned the elected officials, proclaiming he thinks he can obtain complete funding for the $60,000 from one company which he didn’t name.
“I know of a company that has, in the past, made significant contributions to MLK events,” Craig said.
But, before approaching them, he wanted the commission to first affirm the plan submitted by the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Arts for the memorial to be placed in Central Park.
Earlier in the meeting, the commission appeared split over whether to place the memorial in the park or in the adjacent Largo Public Library. The library idea has been pressed by commissioners Mary Gray Black and Gigi Arntzen.
Woods complained the city’s indecision has made it impossible for him to raise more than $850 toward the project.
Craig said he couldn’t approach the corporation without a more firmer plan from the commission. He said there is no cost estimate for the library location, which could cost less than the proposed park site.
Mayor Pat Gerard said the commission will take a vote on the memorial at its March 18 meeting. She also spoke out against the library site, saying it appears locations for a memorial in the library are limited to the second floor because other areas have already been dedicated to other people.
“I am opposed to putting this (memorial) in a corner of the (library’s) second floor,” Gerard said.
Woods then said “it’s not the community holding this up, it’s this commission.” He said the commission had previously, in unofficial votes, agreed to the park site plans.
“What has changed?” Woods asked.
He said the city was struggling to build a positive identity and “what better brand could this city have?”
Black said she believed an area in the library aimed at teaching civil rights and diversity would promote a better interest than a memorial in the park visited only once a year, on King’s birthday.
Commissioner Woody Brown said he was angry at the mayor who last week accused the commission of having left Woods “dangling in the wind.” Brown said he took exception to that, saying he understood Woods was raising the money. He criticized Woods, saying that he saw no evidence Woods had approached any local businesses for money.
“If I had gotten a letter I know I would have written a check for $100 or $200,” Brown said.
Vice Mayor Andy Guyette added that he felt Woods had learned the memorial doesn’t have community support. Woods countered that the city had received only four letters opposing the project.
Guyette quickly responded that Woods was forgetting scores of e-mails received by the commissioners.
“The e-mails were 10 to one against this project,” Guyette claimed. “Obviously, the community is not stepping up.”
Craig said Woods has raised the $850 from four people – $500 alone from a woman who handed Woods a check at the Feb. 26 workshop meeting.
Woods, not an elected official at the time, was a member of an advisory committee that recommended a memorial in the park in 2002.
|
Article published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
|
|
