Eric Snider of Creative loafing

Either Snider either doesn't know all the facts or he is trying to mislead the station and your audience! His statements are way off base.

First of all, the county did not turn down the change of zoning for the first developer. They in fact approved it and it was a renter of one of the mobile homes in the park that took the county to court and proved they were wrong to approve the zoning increase in density. The county was forced to rescind their approval. Snider also did not mention that this man, a convicted felon, was soon after arrested for being drunk and disorderly at a nearby bar.  During his arrest they discovered he was carrying a concealed firearm. I imagine he is now getting housing provided by the state of Florida.

The first developer offered the owners of mobile homes in the park $18,000 for singlewide trailers and $24,000 for doublewide trailers. There isn’t a mobile home in the park worth ten thousand dollars. The Florida law only requires the owners be compensated $1800.

The new developer first offered the legally require amount but has since increase their offer by thousands, but the “brave holdouts” want many more times that amount. Snider doesn’t mention that. He makes it sound like they just want a decent place to live and not that they are trying to hold the park hostage.

Plus, these mobile homes owners these people do not pay property taxes, the landowner pays that. The mobile home owner is supposed to pay for a registration like you would do for a car or boat. Not too long ago the County discovered that the majority of units in this park had not paid for their registrations for years. Some still have not paid!

And speaking of not paying, did Snider mention that the last brave holdouts quit paying their lot rental months ago and are living there for free? They only have to pay for their electric power; the park pays for their water and sewer. But they want the pool to be pristine and the grass to be mowed because they have rights. Squatters have rights?

Snider said that the Golden Lantern was bordered on the north by Park Blvd and was a waterfront to the south. To the south it is bordered by land owned by Pinellas County that is a conservation easement. That easement then borders Joe’s Creek. The only water next to the Golden Lantern is a water drainage ditch that is full of trash and debris that the park’s residents have dump in it for years.

The Golden Lantern is not just a low-income community it is an out and out slum. Snider infers that crime increased since the landowner started clearing out the derelict mobile homes. Check with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and they will tell you that crime has decreased, not increase. The developer has fenced in the park and there is only one way in and out of the park. The Sheriff patrols the park on a regular basis. Check with them and get the facts, something Snider does not seem to have done.

This park has been an eyesore in this community for many years. In-operable vehicles, trash, garbage, drugs, drunks, drug addicts, stealing, violence, and prostitutes were the norm.  Out of the one hundred and eighty mobile homes at the park the majority of them were not fit to live in and should have been condemned years ago.