By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer
Friday, December 17, 2010
NEW PORT RICHEY — Judy DeBella Thomas ended her decade as executive director of Greater New Port Richey Main Street with a wavering voice and a harsh rebuke.
She said her fellow City Council members, Ginny Miller and Bob Langford, were forcing her to choose between her council seat and her job. She resigned so she could cast the vote saving the group's $30,000 in city funding, a grant Miller and Langford opposed.
After DeBella Thomas said Miller and Langford showed a "deep-seated antipathy" for the group, both wildly disagreed. They argued the group would survive, grant or no grant.
In a line that drew snide retorts from the crowd, Langford said, "I don't myself see why Main Street needs to die or even suffer."
That was two months ago. Yet Main Street, dealing with its own budget ...