Countdown To Victory!

Dear Friends,

What a ride it’s been — and we couldn’t have done it without you!

Over 1,000 of you signed our petition, which we proudly hand-delivered to City Council today. Hundreds of you chipped in to help us cover the costs of designing a park, hiring a land-use attorney, and spreading the word across Tampa Bay. Our cause has been featured by every major news outlet in the region and reached supporters in over 40 states and several countries!

But even more powerful than all of that… are the prayers. Countless prayers have gone up asking God for favor — and we believe victory is coming this Thursday, May 15th.

Let’s talk about what victory really means:

Victory is preserving our public land in downtown Clearwater.
Victory is preserving our history, especially the Black history that predates the city itself.
Victory is honoring the people who built Clearwater with a beautiful memorial garden.

Thanks to YOU, that victory is now within reach.

At today’s City Council work session, we had a huge breakthrough. Both our team and the Church of Scientology presented our proposals publicly. We were strong, clear, and compelling. Scientology… not so much.

The swing vote, Councilmember David Allbritton, expressed disappointment in their presentation. Mayor Bruce Rector called it “underwhelming.” Councilwoman Lina Teixeira questioned its relevance to the property on the agenda. Then, the moment we’d prayed for: Councilmember Allbritton publicly announced he will no longer support vacating Garden Avenue to the Church of Scientology.

Tears of joy filled the room.
That means — we saved the Garden.

Now, you might be asking:
“But what about our proposal to install the memorial garden?”

Here’s the deal: If the Council votes 3–2 to deny the street vacation, both proposals—ours and Scientology’s—would technically be rejected.

But don't be fooled: this is still a massive win.

Why? Because the city will keep ownership of Garden Avenue, and that positions us to pursue a public/private partnership where we would lease a portion of land to install the memorial. The project might scale down a bit, but our mission stays the same: to create a powerful memorial garden and a historic walkway that stretches over a mile through downtown.

And without needing to purchase the street, we’ll have more funds to invest directly into the memorial.

That’s a win for all of us.

But we’re not across the finish line just yet. This Thursday, Councilmembers Allbritton, Teixeira, and Mayor Rector need to hold the line and vote NO on selling Garden Avenue.

As long as they stay true to their word, victory is ours.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for standing with us.

Watch today’s presentation at the link below — and get ready to celebrate.

With gratitude,
Brooks Gibbs
on behalf of the Save The Garden team
#SaveTheGarden

PS: Here are two things you can do right now to help us:

1. Email David Allbritton and thank him for committing to vote NO to selling Garden Avenue to Scientology.
David.Allbritton@myclearwater.com 

2. Show up and speak out on Thursday, May 15th, at 6:00 PM (if you can) at the City Council meeting. Visit our events page to get the details.