St Pete Chamber of Commerce - an Unethical Pay-to-Play organization.

Last month, the Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the City of St. Petersburg on behalf of Greenleaf Capital, publicly endorsing Greenleaf’s proposed marina redevelopment. Here is their letter:

Chamber of Commerce letter in support.pdf

Download PDF • 96KB

That letter, however, contained blatantly false and/or misleading claims. When confronted and asked to retract these inaccuracies, the Chamber refused. Even more troubling, the Chamber's executive director admitted that the Chamber conducted no due diligence whatsoever — no fact-checking, no verification of their claims — simply because Greenleaf was a member and we weren't. In other words, they are a pay to play organization that doesn't count ethics as part of their business practices.

In short, the Chamber of Commerce chose to act as a mouthpiece for a developer rather than as a responsible community organization committed to truth and transparency.

Contrast this to CONA, the Council of Neighborhood Associations of St. Petersburg, who were deceived by Greenleaf into publishing a similar letter. Upon learning the truth the president of CONA immediately retracted their letter. This was a great display of every day good-ethics.

Here are two letters to the Chamber of Commerce regarding their unethical behavior. Please read both of these:

Letter2 to COC.pdf

Download PDF • 726KB

POST_4822921_chamberrebuttalletterhead.pdf

Download PDF • 693KB

Please see a subsequent post for a DO-NOT-DO-BUSINESS-WITH-THESE-COMPANIES list. The companies on that list participate as the governing body of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. Anyone who allows such unethical behavior won't get our business.