In case there is a slight doubt that commission candidate Chris Tollette and newcomer candidate David Gryboski are not firmly joined at the hip to Pine Avenue Restoration (PAR) principals, the following email is black and white, proof-positive. Individuals who received the Coleman invitation provided it to this blog, just in time for us to report it prior to their meeting at 6 p.m. today. These individuals understand that the true value of our city lies in what Anna Maria is today, not what some outside investors want to turn our city into tomorrow!
----- Original Message -----
From: Micheal Coleman
To: Jane Coleman
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 8:50 PM
Subject: Meeting Fri Oct 9
Just a forewarning, you may get this message more than once. It's important to get the word out so multiple lists may be used, and you may be on more than one.
Time: Approx 6pm
Location: vicinity of the Sandbar, tba
Hi all,
You are receiving this for the following reasons:
1. You are a member of the Island Business Community
2. You are employed by an Island Business
3. You recognize the importance of a viable business district
4. You have expressed support for either Chris Tollette or David Gryboski, or both, in the upcoming election
We are re-convening our Business Group to discuss the upcoming election and the importance of it's outcome to all who believe that a healthy business district is essential to a healthy community.
Frankly, the more you learn about the positions being staked out by those seeking to replace Chris Tollette on the City Commission the more you'll realize their plans directly affect you, your business and this City as a whole. Not just a little, but in potentially devastating ways. Think Long Boat Key. Take a drive down there and check out their "business district". They have finally, after 16 years, begun to recognize the damage caused by the very policies now being sought by those seeking to stack the commission with an anti-business majority. Imagine Anna Maria following suit and becoming a seasonal bedroom community, available only to those of independent means.
If you are tired of fighting your battles alone while a few elites who think they know better than the rest of us gang up against you, now is the time to unify.
Please attend, and spread the word for others to attend as well. We will be discussing specific issues that directly threaten our economy, our jobs and our community.
Michael Coleman
*****
A note to Mike Coleman:
None of the issues before us today were issues until PAR brought the outside investors to our community with a plan to change things. Your claims in your email are pure paranoia: Nobody is trying to take away anybody’s jobs; nobody is trying to ruin our economy; and nobody is trying to put anybody out of business. For you to say otherwise is total and complete nonsense. I, in my terms in office, and those on the dais today, have supported a viable and healthy business community. In fact it is a policy we unanimously ADDED to our comp plan during its latest revision.
It can all be summed up in Dale Woodland's words: “98% of our city is residential, 60% of our commission is pro development. Our city needs more balance on the commission.”
This is Harry Stoltzfus' response to Coleman's email. He personally presented it to the business community Friday 10/9.
ReplyDeleteDuke
My name is Harry Stoltzfus. I am a candidate for Anna Maria City Commissioner.
You are receiving this letter because you are either a business owner or are employed by a business here in Anna Maria.
Some opponents to my candidacy have begun employing strong-arm tactics on my business friends and acquaintances here on the Island. If one dares to show public support by displaying one of my signs, within in minutes someone pays them a visit. By a combination of lies and half-truths, my supporters are made uncomfortable supporting me publicly. Most of them remove my signs. In spite of these tactics, many of them continue to support me privately.
I’d like your support as well. Let me make my case.
· I am a businessman. I own a contracting business, Harcon Corporation (www.harconcorp.com), which I founded in 1988. I have eleven employees. When I met my wife Cathy, she owned two retail clothing shops in two resort towns on the Eastern Shore of MD. You’ll be hard-pressed to find two more pro-business people on the planet.
· If you’re looking for a fight with one of a “few elites”, you’ve picked the wrong battle. I am the fifteenth of sixteen children. I’m one of the few people you’ll ever meet whose Dad was actually a sharecropper. My childhood memories include sifting through the dumpsters at the A&P in Chestertown, MD looking for fruits and vegetables that were only half-rotten. Half-rotten means the other half is still good.
· I support a viable business community. I have no problem with the growth in the wedding industry to date, but I do have concerns about the future. According to the Islander, we’ve gone from just over a hundred weddings to over a thousand in three years. What if that becomes three thousand weddings? Or five thousand? Anna Maria is a pretty small place. There are limits to what it can accommodate. As I’ve stated previously, we’ll deal with issues of traffic and parking as they arise.
· I am opposed to imposing minimum rentals on properties in the residential zones.
· I am pro-business, but I am also personally discriminatory. I’m hoping in all this growth and development, some of the businesses that result actually provide services the residents can use. Sorry, I’m having problems getting excited about a bakery on Pine Avenue whose specialty will be wedding cakes. But my daughter Molly is only fourteen. Maybe in ten years I’ll feel differently.
· Please feel free to contact me with your questions and concerns. I am not a rabid anti-business zealot. I think you’ll find me a reasonable man.
I would be honored to be your choice for Anna Maria City Commissioner. harry@harconcorp.com; 779-9838
I won’t ask you to put up a sign.
Fifteenth of 16 children! Anyone with that credential AND who promises to work to keep Anna Maria residential gets MY vote! Seriously, though, Stolfus, Woodland and Quam care about the residents and commissioners are elected to serve the voters, not a development block that does not care about residents.
ReplyDeleteSo.
Remember to ask for an absentee ballot if you aren't in town. You can request them online but it takes a few days to verify your information so do it soon. Just Google "Manatee County Absentee Ballots" then scroll down the left hand side to Absentee and Early Voting.
Good luck Harry, Dale and John!
I have been reading with interest the comments of the blog. This past week I have received 3 calls from North Bay Blvd. neighbors asking me if I was aware that Harry placed a sign in my yard after I left the island to return to Virginia for awhile. I always appreciate neighbors letting me know when something is noticed in my cottage or yard, but I let them all know that I gave Harry permission to place a sign because I support his candidacy.
ReplyDeleteToday I mailed my absentee ballot voting for Harry, Dale and John. We desperately need resident representation on the commission. Coleman uses fear, a traditional motivational factor, to imply that business interests are under threat on in Anna Maria, when, in fact, they have dominated decisions by the commission with the growth of PAR and the recent AMI "destination wedding" industry.
Bev