Here is the proof.

When Mayor Petrila first ran for election, his campaign's message was clear: "We don't want to be Clearwater Beach."

That wasn’t just a slogan — it was a promise.

Mayor Adrian Petrila first ran on that message and won with an overwhelming majority because St. Pete Beach residents were crystal clear about what they didn’t want:  overdevelopment, expansion, unchecked density, congested roads, under capacity infrastructure, environmental impacts, and decisions driven by developers instead of neighbors. 

He listened. And he has repeated that same commitment again this term.

So when mayoral candidate Scott Tate sent out an email on January 22 entitled

“Don’t ‘Clearwater’ Our St. Pete Beach!”, residents should ask an obvious question:

Why should we believe Scott Tate?  Why did he copy Mayor Petrila's platform?

St. Pete Beach didn’t wake up yesterday worried about becoming Clearwater. Residents have been fighting these battles for decades — against oversized developments, mass expansion, traffic congestion, fragile infrastructure, and backroom decision-making: 

Those concerns were raised loudly and repeatedly, often only to be ignored by a small, elitist group who knows better than us, which includes Scott Tate's supporters.

Now, we are to believe Scott Tate wants to echo the residents same concerns?  Let's see...

According to public records, Tate has owned a home St. Pete Beach since 2021. That matters — not because newcomers aren’t welcome, but because history matters. Understanding who fought these battles, who ignored residents, and who sided with developers is essential to judging whether a candidate is credible or simply convenient.  

There’s an old saying: 

Show me who your friends are, and I’ll show you who you are.

A look at Scott Tate’s host committee, his supporters, is revealing:

• It includes former Commissioners who resigned rather than comply with Florida law requiring financial disclosures. Why refuse transparency? What didn’t they want residents to see?
• A former mayor who actively urged residents not to sign petitions for referendums that would give residents the right to vote on items like height and density in our Comprehensive Plan:
  
   *The Mayor and Commissioners attempted to thwart residents efforts for wanting to exercise their Constitutional rights!  Residents won.  Why was this mayor and commissioners working against the people who live here and their lifestyle desires?  Notably, he too refused to complete the required financial disclosures. What's to hide?
• According to City records, an appointed Commissioner who was told by his own district, — by a 5-to-1 margin — to oppose the massive Sirata expansion in its proposed form. He ignored them and voted for the developer and against the residents and his neighbors. That’s not representative government; that’s arrogance.
• And it includes a former Planning Board member and real estate agent who openly stated she didn’t respond to residents’ calls or emails because she was only there to hear the applicant and city staff — not the neighbors and taxpayers she was supposed to serve. Unsurprisingly, she voted in favor of the developer and against the residents and neighbors as well.

This is not coincidence. It’s a pattern.

Scott Tate may be late to adopting the “don’t Clearwater our beach” message, but voters should ask themselves whether it’s genuine — or simply a recycled talking point crafted by the same development-friendly insiders who have pushed mass overdevelopment and expansion for years against the desires of the residents:

St. Pete Beach residents have been played before by candidates backed by these interests — candidates who campaign as protectors of the community and govern as enablers of overdevelopment, expansion and their supporters...against the residents' wishes.

Join us in our efforts to protect St Pete Beach by forwarding this article to neighbors and friends and re-electing Mayor Petrila on March 10th.

https://voteforadrian.com

If you would like a yard sign, to donate, or to find out how you can volunteer to door knock or wave signs on election week, please go to his website. It’s important that our neighbors are well informed and they get out to vote.