Backroom Talk

The Ultimate Spin

You can't win them all. Unless, apparently, you're Belleair Bluffs.

The city recently lost a lengthy and costly code enforcement battle against former Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard and his wife, Teresa, over their stand of bamboo that neighbors complained had become a nuisance.

After a more than four-hour hearing, Special Magistrate Bart Valdes dismissed the city's citation this month, finding that the bamboo did not constitute a nuisance as the city had argued.

City Administrator Debra Sullivan acknowledged the defeat at the Oct. 19 commission meeting.

“We ended up not prevailing in that case,” she told commissioners.

Mayor Chris Arbutine Sr. then slipped on his rose-colored glasses.

"We did a lot of research and we spent a lot of money from the city," he said. "We spent it trying to figure out what is the right outcome of the situation. We avoided a lot of costly lawsuits that could have gone on, a lot of hurt feelings between everyone.

“I think that's a victory for Belleair Bluffs, not a loss."

The city's next major expenditure? A larger spin machine.

A load of campaign fodder?

Largo Commissioner Curtis Holmes had a few choice words for his election opponent at the Oct. 20 commission meeting.

And they weren't in English.

Matthew Faustini, who is challenging Holmes for his Seat 2 commission post Nov. 3, accused some commissioners of favoring special interests over residents. Without naming names, he questioned whether $3,000 in contributions from Realtor political committees with Orlando mailing addresses could influence development and zoning decisions.

Campaign finance reports filed this month show that Holmes received $3,000 from three Realtor political committees.

When his turn came to speak near the end of the meeting, Holmes wasn't having it.

“I have given no favors back, not one,” Holmes said. “So the accusation that he made is caca de toro.”

For readers whose Spanish is a little rusty, that's roughly equivalent to a considerably less polite English expression: bull poop.

Holmes apparently figured he'd found a loophole in the rules of polite political discourse.

“And I'm just telling you that I can say that because it's not English anyway,” he added.

Strange beachfellows

Just as Belleair Beach and Belleair Shore appeared ready to bury the hatchet over beach access, former Belleair Beach Mayor Joseph Manzo identified a potential new common enemy: tourists.

At an Oct. 20 Belleair Shore Town Commission meeting, Manzo warned that a planned 100-room hotel across the bridge in Belleair Bluffs could overwhelm the three beach-access lots shared by residents of Belleair Beach and Belleair Shore.

The 75-foot-tall hotel, planned for West Bay Drive near the Belleair Causeway, was expected to break ground later this fall.

Manzo envisioned shuttle vans depositing hotel guests at the 12th Street access, then moving on to 18th Street and Sixth Street as the lots filled up.

Manzo predicted "disaster" — and suggested the two feuding communities might finally have a reason to join forces.

"I believe both cities will work together," he told town commissioners. "The citizens will work together, because we don't want those people there. You don't want those people there, and they will not respect the property rights. They won't respect anything. Because they're just here on vacation, they're never coming back. So, I am more than willing to work with you. I'd rather work with you than have lawsuits, okay?"

The access lots are reserved for Belleair Beach and Belleair Shore residents only. So any hotel guests wouldn't have the same access rights and would presumably have to look elsewhere for a public beach.

The closest option? Indian Rocks Beach.

Paws and Order

Police officers have been known to carry dog treats in their patrol cars to coax wandering canines into custody. But not every fugitive is willing to surrender for a snack.

So the Indian Shores Police Department, which also patrols Redington Shores, has purchased five telescoping catch poles to help officers round up loose dogs “when the goodies fail,” Police Chief Lee Ann Holroyd told Redington Shores commissioners Oct. 14.

Holroyd said the department has encountered gaps in services provided by Pinellas County Animal Services. Officers must locate loose dogs, restrain them and transport them to a designated kennel.

The new equipment should help, particularly when officers encounter less cooperative canines. Holroyd said officers recently searched for a dog described in a report as “vicious.” But it wasn't one of the neighborhood's familiar bandits.

“One of those dogs has passed,” Holroyd said. “There is one dog left and that dog was in the house barking, so it's not our usual suspects. The dog, we actually had not seen before.”

The department plans to train officers to use the catch poles, giving them another option when a tasty bribe won't do the trick.

A little less weighty

Amid discussions about a multimillion-dollar fire station, beachfront property rights and beach renourishment, Indian Shores turned its attention to something considerably smaller.

Beach toys.

Eagle Scout Reid Mitchell proposed a “Leave One, Take One” station where beachgoers could share buckets, shovels and other toys instead of leaving them behind.

Mitchell came to the Oct. 13 Town Council meeting prepared with a detailed project proposal, complete with a $695 budget, construction plans, safety precautions and a shopping list that included everything from lumber and screws to hot dogs, chips and cookies for the volunteers.

He said the project would help reduce plastic waste and protect marine life.

“My goal is to create something that will benefit your guys's community for years to come and also trying to protect our beautiful beaches,” he told council members.

There's a family connection, too. Mitchell's brother previously installed little free libraries in Indian Shores as an Eagle Scout project. Reid hopes to put his beach-toy station nearby.

Community service seems to runs in the family.

For the birds

A dead palm tree in Belleair Beach managed to stave off code enforcement for months — thanks to some feathered squatters.

The city first opened a case at 110 1st St. in November 2025 over a dead palm in the front yard. After repeated inspections, the owner told the city birds were nesting in the tree and later provided video showing the nesting activity.

That bought the palm a reprieve. In June, after the case had been active for 255 days, the city closed it because the tree was being used as wildlife habitat.

But the reprieve didn't last. Whatever species had taken up residence flew the coop.

After watching the palm for several weeks and seeing no further signs of bird activity, code enforcement posted another notice Sept. 11. The tree finally came down Sept. 28, ending a nearly yearlong municipal saga over a dead palm and the birds that temporarily saved it.

The owner even sent the city a thank-you note afterward, expressing appreciation for officials' "understanding" and "kindness."

In Belleair Beach, even a dead tree gets due process.