supermikeman

I think they want the property all to themselves. They want Clearwater to be Scientology's Mecca and don't care if tourists or residents want to be around them.

With regards to ousting them out of Clearwater; it's a big city in terms of land area. I think it's second behind St. Petersburg in Pinellas county. In my opinion the city might be better off making a community area elsewhere in the city. They don't have to sell any more land to the church if they don't want to but I feel that continuing to try and revitalize downtown will be just wasted money and effort.

I think they're becoming more insular. My guess is they're holding tight to the Whales (members with a lot of cash) and are trying to hid their shrinking numbers to justify donations from the wealthy.

I mean kind of yeah. Honestly it's frustrating, cause if Scientology wasn't so crazy and sketchy I wouldn't mind a block or two where they can have their church and buildings. It's not like we don't have big churches in other places in the county.

Do you think revitalizing Downtown Clearwater is a lost cause? Feels like a sunk cost fallacy and maybe the city would be better developing other areas east of downtown.

Most people guess that they're trying to control the land around Flag (they're spritual HQ). One guess I have is maybe they want to bring in the majority of Scientologists to live nearby so they can control what's left of their membership. It's just a guess though.