Scientology says it isn't moving into Dunedin

By G.G. RIGSBY

©St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, published March 12, 1997

DUNEDIN - It has been brought up at gatherings for weeks - at Mardi Gras, at a chamber mixer, at the morning coffee klatch, at a Kiwanis Club breakfast. Then there have been phone calls to City Hall and the newspaper.

People want to know: Is the three-story building in the heart of downtown being bought by Scientologists?

Will the building one day be given to the church and come off the taxrolls?

Will Dunedin wind up looking like downtown Clearwater, filled with church staff members in blue uniforms?

What can be done to relieve the parking crunch that has been aggravated by having so many more workers at that building?

Though tongues are wagging, the people who have an option to buy the building at 380 Main St. say no one, neither merchants nor city officials, has asked them if they are Scientologists.

To set the record straight: The people who run the business that has moved into the first floor, TradeNet Marketing, say they have an option to buy the building. An owner of the building, who is from New York, confirms that.

And those who run TradeNet are Scientologists, as are some of the 70 or so employees, said Steve Wydro, vice president of administration for the company.

But if TradeNet decides to exercise its option to buy before it runs out this summer, Wydro said the building will be used for the business, not given to the church. That means it would stay on the tax rolls, and no uniformed church members would be stationed there, Wydro said.

A spokesman for the church, Brian Anderson, said the church is not interested in owning a building in downtown Dunedin. He said a new building the church is planning across the street from the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater should meet the church's space needs for the "foreseeable future."

"We're in downtown Clearwater, and we're happy to be here," he said. "I do know the church isn't interested in any property" in downtown Dunedin.

Merchants and Dunedin officials who talked with the Times say they have nothing against Scientologists, but a reduction in the tax roll would hurt downtown because redevelopment efforts rely on increases in property values.

And some say they are concerned about the possibility of uniformed church workers flooding the streets and hurting retail business.

"I think it scares people off," said Kandi Bryant of the Dunedin Brewery. "I'd be concerned if uniformed Scientologists took over."

Virgel Kelly, an owner of the restaurant Kelly's for Just About Anything, said, "I don't want Dunedin to be a sea of uniforms like Clearwater is."

Cindy Lou McKeever, owner of Cindy Lou's Antiques, said she was glad when the church bought three old motels on Alt. U.S. 19 in north Clearwater and fixed them up, driving away prostitutes and drug dealers.

But she worried that a trend was beginning in Dunedin when a couple who are Scientologists bought a building downtown and opened Delicious Desserts and when she heard the people who run TradeNet are Scientologists. She said she is not prejudiced. "Delicious Desserts is a fabulous business. They're nice people," she said. "The reason I care as a merchant is that I watched Clearwater die. It's a place that people go around. It's a place that people do not want to do business. . . . Do I want to blame it on Scientology? Yes. It's lifeless. It's a bunch of clones walking around."

She said she does not want Dunedin to turn into "Scientology City."

"The merchants downtown are concerned," said Paul McCoy, whose advertising and agriculture businesses were not allowed to renew their lease in the building at 380 Main St. because TradeNet wants their space. "You can see what happened to Clearwater. They just don't want it to happen here."

"If they're merchants open to anyone, that's okay," said Vycki Peterson, an owner of Vyctoria's Antiques and Gifts. "I don't think I'd like anybody wearing uniforms and passing out leaflets."

The building, which has about 17,000 square feet, is critical to downtown's future, said City Manager John Lawrence. Taking it off the tax rolls, he said, "would blow a huge hole" in the downtown redevelopment tax district. "That would be a killer." City officials say parking is at a premium downtown since TradeNet moved in, winter visitors have arrived and the city has gotten some positive articles in local and national magazines.

People who have been parking on a vacant city lot near the three-story building were barred from the property Friday, making the parking shortage worse.

The city is building a 25-space parking lot just north of the building, and construction should be done in about three weeks. Parking in that lot is likely to be limited to a few hours, the same as some spaces on Main Street, said Robert Ironsmith, director of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Eventually, the city may consider putting time limits on more spaces downtown, he said. The parking issue is scheduled to be discussed at a meeting of the Downtown Dunedin Merchants Association at 6 tonight at the1470 West nightclub, 325 Main St. Jennifer Kemp, TradeNet's executive vice president of administration, said the lack of parking is one of the company's considerations as it decides whether to buy the building.

Lawrence said he has not seen the TradeNet workers help retail downtown."They brown bag and they just don't spill out at noontime in the restaurants," he said. "And they don't go shopping."

But Kemp, Wydro and Don Roberts, owner of Delicious Desserts, disagree. They say the workers eat and shop downtown.

Roberts said downtown is livelier since TradeNet came about five months ago. He said both he and TradeNet are investing in downtown and have its best interests at heart.

An owner of the building, Axel Stawski, said he did not know TradeNet was run by Scientologists but if he had, it might not have affected his decision to give them an option to buy.

"I find it quite offensive to discriminate against people because of religion," he said. However, "if it is detracting from retail or preventing it from improving, that would have influenced my thinking."

For some, the fear is of the unknown. "I think the mystery about them is what concerns me," said Ian McCarthy, an owner of Classic Sign Designs. "If that (uniformed workers) doesn't show up, it doesn't bother me."

One of Dunedin's newest business owners said all the speculation about Scientology moving in has caused her some problems. Kathleen LaRoche said that three weeks ago, someone wrote "We Support Scientology" in chalk on the door of her Black Pearl restaurant.

LaRoche said she is not a Scientologist. She said she has nothing against Scientology but does not appreciate the message on her door. She blames a disgruntled former employee for writing the message and spreading the rumor around town.

LaRoche said some longtime clients at her produce business in Clearwater have asked whether she is a Scientologist.

"It's causing me problems," she said. "It's affecting both of our businesses."

At the TradeNet offices, a sign on the door reads "Authorized Personnel Only." Inside is a room filled with people busy on computers and telephones.

Kemp said the company is a "network marketer," set up like Amway, selling environmentally safe products through distributors, with no retail outlets.

Its best seller is a plastic ball, about 3 inches in diameter, that is filled with blue liquid. It is meant to be put in washing machines and replace detergent. Kemp said the ball, called the Laundry Solution, sells for $75.

She said it lasts for 1,500 loads and "emits a negative charge, causing the water to clean your clothes."

"It's a confidential process," Wydro said.