08/31/2026
Wednesday, I attended the monthly meeting of the Big 'C', the Barrier Islands Beaches Chamber which was held at the Treasure Island City Hall. I was surprised not to see Kathleen Peters there, since she does live there. Oh well. Commissioner Chris Latvala was a featured speaker to talk about Pinellas County. (Yawn!) The main issue presented was the budget cuts being made as mandated by the State of Florida and then a discussion about the upcoming amendment 3 ballot initiative (trying to eliminate residential property taxes). I could not believe the level of uncaring and lack of defiance that came out of that man's mouth. Commissioner Latvala expressed that the sky isn't falling and that Pinellas County will still be here, just smaller and less services for residents. Let me repeat that, "a lot less county resident services!" He rattled off plenty of cuts such as handing back Weedon Island and Shell Key back to the State of Florida to maintain, closing some parks during the week, further reductions to libraries, cuts to county staffing, and then increases to parking fees at beaches to name a few. Why don't you just take away a few more resident amenities while you're at it? We have fewer residents in the county now than in years past, but he is ok with still allowing the Sheriff's office to have a hefty rise in their budget, especially when there are under-served areas in our county by the various fire departments. Where's the Sheriff Office cuts? Then Latvala chimed in about amendment 3, which he plans to personally vote for. This, despite the fact that if amendment 3 were to pass, it would cripple the budgets of most of our beach communities and cause even more heartache at the county level with a drastically reduced budget. He simply couldn't care less. In his position, I'd be jumping up and down and making all kinds of noise. I wouldn't be taking this lightly, and I am already campaigning on bringing more money into the county to be able to reinvest into our community for residents. While I've been knocking on doors in my district, I'm advising people to vote "NO" on amendment 3 in November. I hope everyone remembers this in 2 years when he's up for re-election. Commissioner Latvala is truly the epitome of a man with no original ideas. In 2028, make sure to vote for the other person, because there will be a Democrat running against him! Please make a donation today to help me get elected this November 3rd. www.davidglennjr.com
