TAMPA, Fla. — A grassroots campaign to memorialize African American history in Clearwater — and thwart the Church of Scientology from purchasing another piece of downtown land — has picked up backers and detractors ahead of a key vote.

Dubbed #SaveTheGarden, local residents organized in recent weeks to create an alternative to the proposed sale of city-owned land on a portion of South Garden Avenue, between Franklin and Court streets.

They want to use this roadway for a green space with historical displays. It would serve as launchpad for a mile-long walking tour. The effort falls under a nonprofit called Reconnect Clearwater, which was created specifically for the effort.

In March, the Clearwater City Council voted to move forward with proposed plans from the Church of Scientology to purchase the land for a plaza.

The street segment has parking spots, but isn’t very big. Some locals say they use it every day — other’s say it’s a nuisance for traffic cut-through.

At the March meeting, Barbara Sorey-Love, president of the Clearwater African American Foundation, recommended the land be used to memorialize the city’s Black history instead.

Brooks Gibbs, who runs a local investment committee, didn’t know the land was up for sale until he read about it in the Tampa Bay Times. He then worked with Sorey-Love to bring her vision to life and presented it to the council in April.

The council chose to delay its decision last month and will vote on the sale Thursday.

Nearly 100 supporters and members of the Save the Garden coalition rallied Saturday morning to promote their idea, walk to Garden Avenue and pray over their journey to Thursday’s vote.

“We’re out here to create a new vision for downtown Clearwater,” Sorey-Love said Saturday. One that will “include all of our stories.”

On Monday, in a rare move, the Church of Scientology attended a City Council work session to present on its project.

Council members said the church has shown the city plans for downtown revitalization, which the public needs to see.

Residents continued to voice concerns with the church purchasing more land downtown— which is currently filled with empty store fronts — and that its plans aren’t transparent.

Sarah Heller, director of external affairs for the church, presented a video and overview of the church’s plans along Cleveland Street. But Heller’s presentation included little information about Garden Avenue.

Heller did not stop to speak when a Times reporter approached her.

The church’s presentation wasn’t persuasive to council member David Allbritton, who originally voted in favor of Scientology’s plan in March but has swung the other way.

City Council members have met with the church in private meetings, where members of Scientology have shown more in-depth plans for Garden Avenue. Allbritton said his “patience is running thin” with the Church because it has not made those “grand plans” public.

“My stance on the sale of the public street has shifted as I reflected on what was promised compared to what actually has been revealed,” he said. “Thursday night, I will vote against the sale of Garden Avenue.”

Downtown business owner Tonatiuh Tello, who has been working toward efforts to revitalize downtown, said he got involved with the Save the Garden project because he understands the dynamic between Scientology and the city.

“They made a lot of promises, but they have no plans,” he said of the church after the meeting. “There are so many properties here. Activate them.”

The Save the Garden project has evolved since Gibbs first proposed it in April. Initially, the plan called for honoring seven “heroes” from the city’s African American community, with a vintage playground and a fenced-in park.

It would have been named after Mack Dixon Sr., a prominent African American leader in the city. But members of Dixon’s family objected because they had not been approached for approval.

Now, the project is called the The Garden Memorial, and would be a part of a larger, interactive walking tour.

Pastor Carlton Childs, who is Dixon’s great grandson, said he did not want the Black community to be used as a “weapon to fight your battle with Scientology.”

Gibbs has met with members of the African American community in Clearwater, but Childs said local leaders may have been given “false information” about the project’s aims.

“He’s focusing on just one community and it makes it seem like he’s only doing it because Scientology wants to buy that property,” Childs said. “If that‘s the case, we’ve got much bigger problems than just Garden Avenue.”

City Council members Ryan Cotton and Mike Mannino brought forth a similar question in Monday‘s meeting.

“I like both of these council members, but their tactics to discredit us are unfortunate and mean-spirited,” Gibbs wrote in an email to the Times. “Instead of helping us, they have actively campaigned against us.”

In his email, Gibbs said some African American leaders felt they were excluded from the original Save the Garden vision and others feared city money would be diverted from other priorities. Wednesday morning, Gibbs wrote that he met with Childs to discuss what he characterized as misunderstandings.

“I took full responsibility for our team’s failure to clearly and consistently communicate our mission,” Gibbs wrote. “I’m grateful for Pastor Childs’ encouragement and hold no resentment toward those who, at this time, feel uncomfortable endorsing us.”

Jonathan Wade, a local advocate who made a bid for the City Council in 2022, said at its meeting last month that an African American memorial was better suited for a neighborhood like North Greenwood, which has deep history and is somewhere the Black community already gathers.

“I think people have been used to fight a fight against Scientology,” he said.

Wade and Childs said other issues impacting the Black community, including the hundreds of Black graves the city paved over and funding for the Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood Center in North Greenwood, were more valiant causes to tackle than the Save the Garden movement.

“They could help renovate and maybe put the memorial at the center, if they really wanted to do something constructive toward the African American community, ” Wade said. “But that‘s not what the motivation is.”

Throughout recent meetings, some city council members have questioned placing the memorial downtown, as well as the Save the Garden coalition’s knowledge of Black history in the city.

The Save the Garden coalition has pushed back — and leaders say they are committed to their goal.

“We are not claiming that South Garden Avenue was the center of African American life,” Sorey-Love said during his group’s presentation. “We’re asking that African American life be honored in the center of our city.”

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